A Horse For the Force
by Vimesenthusiast
Summary: Ranma overhears some things that make him question his life in Nerima, then goes to see Dr. Tofu for some answers. While fighting those that came after him, Ranma makes a crazy decision, using the Nanban Mirror to get away from everyone chasing him. Only to land on a random planet in a Galaxy Far Far away before the events of Phantom Menace. Chaos, meet well laid plans... uhoh...
1. Chapter 1

A Horse for the Force

Okay, bad title I know, but I couldn't stop myself.

 **I need to apologize to those who have already read this story! When I looked at the time-line, I had a date I wanted to use as a target for Ranma's introduction into the Star Wars universe. I also wanted Ranma to be somewhere between the ages of Obi-Wan and Anakin, as well as others like Shaak Ti. However, not only was the date I wanted the year before Phantom Menace rather than the ten I thought, I was judging Obi-Wan by his looks in those comics as well. Did you know he's 24 by the time of Phantom Menace? And Padme is 14? Um… a ruling queen at that age... suddenly her incredible level of naiveté makes so much more sense. Oh, and Anakin is around 11 during PM.**

 **So I was forced to head back and make some changes, removing the age reduction and changing a lot of things after that to make up for it. The combat between Dooku and Ranma is very different, though the changes start well before that.**

* * *

 **Prologue: A Horse Breaks Its Bridle**

Leaping through the early evening two nights after the Wedding Massacre, Ranma found himself still angry about the whole thing, which was rather odd for him frankly, but something no one else could possibly blame him for. Having a cure that close and having it snatched away from him had hurt, almost as much as eating Akane's cooking. So much so Ranma had decided to take yesterday and hunt down Happosai.

What Happosai had told him though and proved by pointing out Pantyhose Taro and Rouge, made Ranma wince even now. _How did all of us miss that? You can't cure one spring with another, they just merge! Unless you nullify the first one somehow. The Phoenix tribe seems to be able to, but I'm not 'xactly their most popular person, now am I?_

That thought was a grim one. It'd taken them several weeks to move through China after his battle against Saffron, and Ranma still couldn't get over the fact that he had almost killed someone. He would have too, if not for Saffron's regeneration into an egg. As a martial artist Ranma knew that eventually he might be called upon to take someone's life in defense of someone else, but he had not been prepared for the reality of it.

 _If only Dr. Tofu was still around_ , he thought to himself shaking his head as he thought about the older man who had helped him think his way through several problems since he had arrived in Nerima. About six months before the Phoenix people first appeared Dr. Tofu had moved away. Not disappeared, just moved away. Since then Ranma had found out for himself (he couldn't afford Nabiki's prices) that the doctor had gotten married. Ranma supposed that the doc's old lady had gotten fed up with him not settling down and arranged matters herself, something Ranma was all-too-familiar with when dealing with his own parents.

 _Thank Hachiman mom didn't have any outstanding marriage contracts fer a daughter. With the way she'd been at me about acting girly when I'm a girl, she might be just as quick to force that on me as oyaji is in tryin' ta get me ta marry Akane. Still without Dr. Tofu around, I lost the only person around here I can speak to about serious matters._

Ranma had gotten into the habit of going to the doctor a few months after he first arrived, and so long as Kasumi wasn't around Tofu was a source of good advice, when he decided to give any, and a willing ear most of the other times. He'd also given Ranma a lot of medical books, some of which he'd even tried to read, and some of which had actually helped him advance his ki healing massively. That was why he didn't have brain damage after all the hits to the head he'd taken since arriving in Nerima.

He couldn't talk to Hiroshi or Daisuke about anything serious. They were a good source for information on normal things, most of which Ranma labeled under the title 'boring' in his mind. It was a gigantic file, almost as large as the file marked 'girl issues I don't want to touch with a ten foot pole'. But talking to them about serious matters like martial arts, marriages, fiancés and girls in general, that just wasn't going to happen. _And of course I can't talk to anyone actually involved, the moment I do they try to twist it around to their advantage!_

It had taken him a while to reach that conclusion, but Ranma had finally learned that he really couldn't trust anyone even indirectly involved in the crap that was his life. Nabiki was the most blatant, with Akane next in line. Several times Ranma had told Akane about learning some new maneuver, only to learn that Ryoga had somehow learned about it. Ranma didn't think she was doing it on purpose, but Akane just couldn't keep a secret to save her life.

His mother wouldn't keep secrets from his oyaji, and the less said about Genma's ability to keep anything secret the better. Soun too wouldn't keep a secret, and couldn't seem to talk about anything serious without turning into a blubbering mess anyway. And Kasumi, well Kasumi was a very good listener, but she also would not keep secrets from her family. She had also lost a lot of points from Ranma when she joined in with her sisters to make fun of his fear of furry devils. That had happened over a year ago, but it still stuck in Ranma's craw.

And as for his other two fiancés, talking to Shampoo was pretty much like talking to Akane only worse. The bubbly Amazon couldn't keep a secret to save her life and always tried to turn things to her advantage. _Not as if I trust her anyway, with all the times she's used magic on me. Stupid Amazons, stupid laws. I know I've got Shampoo ta thank for Cologne bein' here, and without Cologne's training I wouldn't be nearly as good as I am, but still. I was wonderin' if continuin' to learn from her is worth the baggage months back, now it just don't seem worth it anymore. Of course, getting rid of them somehow is gonna be… tough._

Ukyo was actually the best listener among the three, and would only use what he told her to her advantage if it was about the whole contest between her, Akane and Shampoo for him. Better, she had even come by the day after the wedding to apologize, catching him before he went after Happosai and actually looking remorseful. _I wonder if the others'll apologize? I doubt it, but it'd be nice._

By this point in his thoughts Ranma had crossed most of Nerima and reached the Tendo dojo. Leaping up onto one of the outer walls Ranma dropped down on the other side quickly. He moved as silently as he could, not wanting to deal with the Amazons or anyone else who could be watching the house. That was why he stopped by a small bush in a corner of the property, his hand lashing out faster than almost anyone in Nerima could follow, chopping into Sasuke's neck.

Before the little man could slump forward Ranma grabbed him and laid him down gently. _Sorry dude,_ he thought to himself _, I don't mind you spying on us most of the time, but I really don't wanta deal with either of your crazy charges tonight._ Ranma actually approved of the little ninja's loyalty, not the people he was loyal to, but the loyalty itself was worth praising in his opinion.

That was why he thoughtfully pulled out a pad of paper and pencil, writing up a little note on it before sticking it on the unconscious ninja's chest. 'Find some new hidin' places, and don't just switch 'em up every other day, it's predictable. Check out the area near the eaves of the house and maybe underneath the porch, we just cleared it out o' spiders so its useable again.' Then Ranma ended it with a smiley face and a chibi version of himself holding up two fingers in a victory sign.

Chuckling quietly, he left the ninja there moving from shadow to shadow towards the Tendo house. Ranma could've used the Umisenken, but he had promised his father he wouldn't use either of the sealed techniques save in matters of life and death. And one thing that Ranma didn't do was break promises, at least not when they impacted what he saw as his personal honor or the Art.

 _Besides,_ he thought to himself grimly, as he was almost to the house, _this is good stealth training, and my oyaji had a point, which he immediately proved in the worst way possible, but still, the techniques he created are too dangerous to let fall into the wrong hands._

He was about to jump up onto the windowsill of the guestroom that he and his father had shared for almost two years now when he heard voices. Pausing he cocked his head, wondering what Nabiki and Akane were talking about. The two of them almost **never** talked, especially since that incident where Nabiki had become his official fiancé for a time, so it was odd. _Especially since Nabiki had a part in wrecking the wedding, not that I'll ever be able ta do anythin' to get back at her._

"I don't get it,Nabiki," Akane was saying as Ranma moved to stand underneath Nabiki's window. "It's not like you to make a plan like that and not make money off it. But there's no way those freaks and psychos paid you more than the damages to the dojo cost us." Despite the topic, Ranma was surprised to hear that Akane was almost calm sounding, not accusatory, simply questioning.

 _I know I've been away for a few days, but there's no way that Akane could've gotten over her anger that quickly. Not these days._ Akane had begun to worry Ranma, the amount of anger-based ki that she had been using for years unconsciously had seriously started to affect her, though Ranma seemed to be the only one who noticed it. And he didn't have any idea how to convince her not to keep using it. Talking to any girls let alone Akane about anything like emotions or anything beyond schoolwork always seemed to end up with him getting bashed. _Still however Akane has dealt with her anger she's got a point._

"Oh like you care." Nabiki scoffed, and Ranma heard movement up above him, as if Nabiki had moved in place or was doing something else, like those leg exercises she was always doing. "I know that you had your own plans Akane, but I had to scuttle the wedding quickly. One of my factors…"

"Oh call them spies, or enforcers or something, that's what they are aren't they?" Akane broke in, scoffing. "My sister the budding yakuza oyabun!" Again despite the words Akane sounded almost amused.

Nabiki's voice however was rather hard when she replied. "Since they're working in our favor sister, perhaps you should call them factors or agents rather than anything derogatory? They did just save our family of a debt of ¥170.5 billion."

Up above there was a sound of a body slamming into the floor as Akane possibly fell out of her chair, a sentiment that Ranma had no trouble understanding, since he had almost fallen forward to slam his head into the side of the house. He stopped himself just-in-time though, scowling angrily. _Oh fuck-me-sideways oyaji, what've you got me into now?!_

Above him Akane asked the same question and Nabiki replied. "There's a reason why Genma and Ranma never stayed in one place too long: debt collectors. The debt collectors know where they're living now, and a lot of them have banded together to call in the government. The government in turn is preparing an action against Genma, and anyone else with his family name."

"Worse, there are at least five more families around Osaka and two more in Korea he also apparently sold Ranma to. Most of them are willing to take a cash buyout, which is where that last seven billion yen came from."

Akane and the unseen Ranma were silent for a moment, considering the huge amount of money. Then Akane asked the question Ranma was privately wondering. "Why haven't you shared this with Daddy? Surely the news that the Genma sold off his son that many more times and the times we already know about plus the debt should cancel out the engagement right?"

 _Something is wrong,_ Ranma thought, frowning heavily now as he concentrated more on Akane's tone than the discussion. He didn't really care about money one way or the other, after so long on the road he could make do in the wild, or living off the land in cities easily enough. Besides, he had always loved to travel, and having an actual reason to run around made a lot of his father's actions when they were younger more understandable. _Of course he also brought us here but…_ Ranma shrugged, all too used to Genma screwing him over. The future could take care of itself in Ranma's opinion.

But Akane's tone was bothering him. It was so lacking any kind of emotion when it was talking about their engagement. It actually hurt a little to hear her talking about it so… so detached like. _What's going on here?_

"You really think our father would listen to me? Father wouldn't listen to me even if I had the evidence in front of us, and I don't. In fact if one of my agents hadn't decided his loyalty to me counted more for his loyalty to the government, I wouldn't know about this now. He could be fired or even arrested for discussing a case like this with those involved. We need to wait until Ranma's 18, then instead of having a religious wedding we can have a formal change of name for Ranma, add him to the Tendo rolls and remove them from the Saotome, which will leave their family with all of the debts and leave us free and clear."

"Whatever, it's not like the marriage between our houses really matters beyond the whole honor thing Daddy's always harping on about. You know I was only going through with the marriage for the cure anyway, and **not** to get it for Ranma."

Down below Ranma's heart sank, but he didn't stop listening.

"Now that's cold sis." Nabiki said and there was actually a note of censure in her voice. "After all the times Ranma saved you, don't have any friendly feeling for him?"

"Have feelings for that **freak,** hell no! The **freak** revels in his female form, using it all the time to get treats, using it in some of those dumb ass martial arts contests. As if any of that **shit** mattered!" Akane said in reply, her voice getting louder with every word. All those so called martial artists aren't really ones, they just use tricks to make their styles seems unique! And that's not even talking about the way he's leading on Shampoo and Ukyo! The fucking **pervert**!"

Ranma's teeth clenched and his hands formed into fists. He was about to jump up onto their windowsill and retort angrily as he always did to Akane's accusations. He thought this was more of the same as always, her accusing him, never taking any of the blame for herself and always seeing him in a bad light. Yet in comparison to what had gone before it was almost a relief to hear Akane sound back to normal.

Then she went on, saying something that shattered Ranma's heart. "Besides, you know Ryoga and I have been going out for a few months now ever since that whole Pantyhose incident."

 _A heart breaking should make a noise,_ Ranma thought to himself in the corner of his mind where he could still think, slumping silently to his knees as his head came to rest against the wall of the Tendo place. _She's been lying to me that long? No wonder she's been so much more violent ta me lately when Ryoga an' I fight!_ His hands remained clenched, and he had to stop himself from jumping up again to accuse the damn bitch.

"You know I never liked that." said Nabiki, and now her voice was cold, almost angry. "You leading on Ranma as you have, it makes you a damn hypocrite and worse. You're my sister, and I'm not willing to betray you or deal with the fallout if Ranma became truly angry at us, but why can't you simply transfer the engagement to me if you don't care?"

Nabiki went on in a much more normal tone, there even seemed to be a smile in it though Ranma couldn't see it. "I've always been interested in seeing if Ranma's stamina carried over into other things, and kissing a girl could be interesting. I can't experiment around here after all, it would ruin my rep, but if I was formally engaged to Ranma…"

"Because I won't lose to those bitches, that stupid cook who dresses like a boy or the bimbo gaijin! If I back down, it makes it seem as if I've acknowledged that they're better than me, that they're better than me at martial arts and as a woman! After so long listening to Ranma's jibes about my figure and everything else, I need all the assurances in that area I can get!" Akane retorted hotly, and Ranma could hear something straining as if Akane was pending an iron bar, something she had begun to do recently.

"Besides, you know that neither of them will fall for your tricks a second time."Akane went on, in a somewhat calmer tone. "Shampoo would just kill you, you couldn't fight back like I could."

Down below Ranma rolled his eyes, slowly coming back from the precipice of the fury Akane's betrayal had driven him to while he continued to listen. Akane then went on to rant about Shampoo, and Ranma's ki sense could actually feel the anger and rage from above him like a forest fire concentrated in one place. _She really is using angry ki too much, it really is affecting her, but… well, it's not my problem anymore…_

After several more moments of ranting Akane calmed down, and went on in a more normal tone. "And, don't talk to me about that perverted crap! Two girls together, that's just wrong! I don't how you're able to think about that! And besides, I doubt Ranma would even know what to do, not like Ryoga."

"Oh kami-sama," Nabiki said in a tone of revulsion. "Don't tell me what you two get up to, I don't want to know. How you can stand someone who turns into a little pig rather than a sexy as hell redhead is beyond me. And it's not perverted Akane, simply different."

But after a moment Nabiki went on more thoughtfully. "Still, it **is** odd that Ranma hasn't tried anything would with any of us. I know he's honorable and all, but I don't think I've ever even seen him physically **react** if you know what I mean. Not even when Shampoo glomps on him, and I'll admit that girl's body is better than most porn stars. And a lot of the times when his two perverted friends at school bring up girls and stuff he reacts as if he hadn't gone through puberty or something."

For some reason that stuck in Ranma's mind. Maybe it was because he was desperate for anything to grab onto at the moment, rather than the rage and grief he was feeling, but it did strike him as odd too. They'd had health class and he kinda knew what Nabiki was talking about, and Ranma knew his self-control wasn't that good, so why?

Ranma shook himself, pushing his body away from the wall as the two girls upstairs continued to talk, now moving onto less important subjects like schoolwork and where Nabiki was planning to go for college. Their closeness was surprising, but Ranma had other things to worry about. _I need to talk to someone about this, someone I can get on my side on this, about everything they just said, and not just about Akane and Ryoga. That I'll deal with on my own._

For a moment Ranma thought about simply running, simply leaving Nerima and never coming back, but there were at least a few people here he cared about, and in particular one who might be able to help. _I need to talk to mom, I just hope she listens._

 **OOOOOOO**

Kasumi frowned, moving out onto the patio and looking around moving towards the back of the house for a moment. Looking around she frowned further, then shrugged. Her control of the house's Wa was not perfect, she routinely missed Sasuke's presence, and even occasionally missed Genma and Ranma so it wasn't unusual. With a shrug Kasumi went back inside, looking up into staircase she called out "Nabiki, Akane, dinner's ready."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma cross the distance between Nerima and the district where his mom's house was still being repaired quickly, landing in front of it he was about to knock on the door when he paused. For some reason, a thought occurred to him: _if Nabiki and Akane are so different when they're not around me, are they the only ones?_

After the shocking revelations of the past hour or so, Ranma was in no frame of mind to chance anything. So instead of knocking on the door, he leapt up onto the roof landing lightly and then down into the small garden at the back.

"…And I still cannot believe that you were so stupid and thoughtless as to take part in ruining the wedding! You even went so far as aiding in the destruction of the only cure that could have returned our son to normal!"

Hearing that, Ranma winced. Knowing that his mother still had problems with his female form wasn't exactly surprising, but the vitriol in her voice was shocking. And it made him leery about trusting her as well, especially since she still carried around that damn contract and katana everywhere she went.

Inside his mother went on. "I've long been concerned about how that form affects our son's mind. Why hasn't he been manly with any of his fiancés? Surely choosing one of them shouldn't be that difficult."

"I don't know anything about that, dear." said Genma slowly, and Ranma actually smirked a little despite her his ongoing emotional roller coaster knowing how his father had to be walking on eggshells right now.

Looking inside quickly Ranma saw that the two of them were sitting at a table. Yes his mother did have the honor blade out, cleaning it while staring across at his father. _Heh, serves oyaji right._

"But, it might not be that simple. It turns out that the Spring of Drowned Man water wouldn't've cured Ranma, or even me. Instead it would've merged with the existing curse. I would've become a panda man, and Ranma would've become…" The bald man shuddered a little. "Apparently the Grand Master actually knew that, and that was why he was so quick to drink the water rather than let it be used. It wasn't a totally uncaring act, whatever fun he had doing it."

Ranma scoffed outside shaking his head. _Right, you only asked him about that after just like me. You were just as self-servin' in the battle at the wedding as anyone else oyaji._ Still Ranma was actually relieved. His father wasn't acting any differently now than he would if Ranma was around.

"You mean our son is stuck with that body for the rest of his life?" His mother asked aghast. "That is most distressing. Especially given the fact that you vowed to make him a man among men. How can he fulfill his end of the agreement when he is stuck with that female form for the rest of his life? I warn you, one more step out of place from either of you, and I will not hesitate to enforce that pact."

Nodoka's voice had become colder while Ranma watched as her face had frozen at the news that his cure couldn't have worked. "Tomorrow we will discuss how best to educate our son in order to meet the honor obligations upon him, and to ward off any influence his female form has on them."

Ranma really wanted to blame that idea for the way his mother was acting, but she was so obsessed about manliness, and when he was in female form 'girliness', that he couldn't really say that was the case. _She's just like all the others_ he thought to himself, _using honor against me, not carin' about me as a person! Well, well screw her too_! Gripped by sudden anger Ranma turned away, leaping out into the distance.

Behind him Genma moved far faster than his bulk would suggest, ripping the door to the garden nearly off its hinges. He stood there for a moment, staring out into the small garden looking around irritably. Behind him his wife asked "What is it?"

Genma frowned thoughtfully. "I could've sworn…" After a moment he shrugged and came back inside.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma scowled as he raced back into Nerima, shaking his head. _I can't trust mom, and I sure as hell can't trust dad, but who can I trust? I could go to Ukyo, but I don't think she could help me with this. There're too many honor obligations on me, too much coming at me all at once! I need to get away, need to talk to someone completely unconnected to everythin'! I need to find Dr. Tofu again. But Ukyo might be the only one who cares that I'm gone as in really cares rather than cares that his meal ticket, her toy, or cover or, umm….whatever Shampoo thinks of me as, is gone._

He landed on the roof of Ukyo's eatery, and was almost immediately challenged. "Halt varlet, who goes… oh, Ranma-sama, it's you. I do apologize, but might this humble one ask what you are doing here so late?"

Ranma looked around, only now realizing that it was actually the middle of the night by this point.

Then he turned back to Konatsu who had moved out from a shadow by a cooling fan, one hand delicately holding a kunai. As usual Konatsu was dressed as a female ninja, fishnet underthings, a pink ninja suit, and his long hair done up in an intricate style, held in place by a hairclip that could no doubt double as a weapon. _The only guy around here that can match some of my skills, and he dresses more like a girl than any of my fiancé Akane should take tips if she's so worried about her own femininity._

That thought brought a scowl to Ranma's face as the memory of everything he'd learned came back to himagain, overriding his normal amusement and good humor at the Konatsu's cross-dressing. "Sorry…" he said a little shakily before he drew himself up. "Er, I mean I'm sorry I'm here so late." He went on in a more normal tone. "Didn't realize it was so late. Is Ukyo awake? I'd like ta talk to you two."

He knew Konatsu would listen in anyway, better to have him in front where Ranma knew where he was.

Ukyo had actually been asleep, but after Konatsu woke her up gently, was more than willing to hear what Ranma was there to say this late at night. She knew that her friendship with Ranma had taken a few hits lately, but deep down she still cared for him, though not romantically. She taken a good, hard look at herself lately and realized that the two of them just weren't compatible. Ukyo was ready and willing to settle down, head to college, get a good education and continue to run her small stall until she could move on to bigger and better things. But Ranma was the eternal wild child, and the idea of seeing him ready to settle down was just silly.

Besides, she wasn't blind, she knew why Konatsu hung around her and had taken to calling her his mistress. She was still uncertain of her own feelings towards the male kunoichi, but they did make a strangely decent pair. "So sugar, what brings you to my rooftop this evening?" She asked smirking even as she moved to cook them some okonomiyaki.

Ranma however held up a hand as she moved towards her kitchen. "Don't, I don't think I could keep anythin' down right now. So many things've hit me tonight, too much stuff I need ta deal with. I need to go, I need ta get out of Nerima. I don't think I'm gonna be coming back, and I figured you should know why."

"A moment please." said Konatsu sharply, holding up a hand. Konatsu delicately got to her his feet, moving with all the grace of a ballerina or a high-class acrobat and quickly disappeared to most normal people's senses, hurrying towards the door. A moment later he was back, brushing one out of place strand of hair back into his coif. "I needed to make certain that there were no listening devices or anyone trying to overhear us. One can never be too careful after all, and news like that…" The cross-dresser shrugged.

"I should've thought of that." Ranma said shaking his head. "I'm just too rattled right now."

"We're here to listen to you if it helps sugar, that's the least we can do." Ukyo said sitting back down next to him and taking his it gently. She winced a little when Ranma looked at her somewhat distrustfully and moved away slightly, but still smiled at him encouragingly. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

Ranma bluntly stated the most important part of what he had learned. "According to her, Akane and Ryoga have been going out for six months." Ukyo's eyes widened while Konatsu's narrowed in speculation but before either could say anything Ranma went on. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg."

The retelling took about forty minutes or so going by the clock, by the end of which both Ukyo and Konatsu were both looking angry, though most of the money matters had gone over Konatsu's head just like it had Ranma at the time he heard it. "That's some tale sugar." Ukyo said shaking her head. "Though it explains a lot. I was surprised that Akane's attitude towards you didn't change after the whole Phoenix Mountain thing, and the Seven Lucky Gods crap before that. After all…" she smiled whimsically. "What girl doesn't want her knight in shining armor to ride in on his white horse and rescue her?"

"Apparently one who's already got a prince in mind." Ranma laughed, now seeing some humor in it. "Of course her prince doesn't have a sense of direction, so in terms of savin' her, he's pretty useless."

His listeners laughed, though Ukyo was looking at him worriedly. Hiding his hurt under humor was what she'd expect from Ranma, but no one should be able to do that when they'd just had their heart ripped out. Ukyo might not have liked it, but she had always known that Akane was the one who'd been in the driver's seat in the race for Ranma's hand. To see him able to see any humor in this, well, it was just weird.

"Well anyway." Ranma said with a shrug. "I figured you two should know what's going on. I'd get out of dodge if I was you. The fallout of me leaving is going to be huge, and Akane and the others are going to look for someone to blame."

"I was planning to move away anyway sugar."Ukyo replied, coming back to the here and now. "I'd offer to go with you, but…"

Ranma shook his head quickly. "I need to be alone for this, there's more going on than just Akane and her… does the word cheating even apply since we weren't, y'know in an actual relationship?" Ukyo again frowned again at that, as did Kotatsu, but Ranma went on not noticing. "Well anyway, some of the other things that I overheard tonight have bothered me a lot, and I need a doctor's opinion on some of them."

Ukyo nodded her head, then reached across and brought Ranma into a hug, noticing that he stiffened a little and tried to shy away but she wouldn't let him for a moment. "I understand sugar, I hope whatever doc ya go to can help you get your head on straight, and whatever you do outside of that…" she shrugged. "I hope you find a place where you can be happy. I'm sorry that place wasn't with me." At that Ukyo pulled back smirking while she smacked Ranma on the shoulder. "But I can understand that you're still looking."

Ranma stared at her then nodded smiling and punched Ukyo in the shoulder before reaching across to shake hands with the cross-dressing ninja. A moment later Ranma was gone, and Ukyo turned to her other friend. "We got a busy night ahead of us sugar, so let's start packing. Once the news that Ranma's not going to come back from this gets around all hell's going to let loose, and I'd rather Cologne and Happosai in particular not come looking for us." Ukyo was willing to put herself and Konatsu up against most of Nerima's martial artists, but not the two grandmasters or Genma possibly, if he took the fight seriously.

"Shouldn't we go after Ranma-sama?" Konatsu asked. "I realize he wants to be alone, but is that really for the best?"

Ukyo shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe not, but it's him making that choice not us. Besides, both us've caused trouble for him in the past too, we might be sad about it, but that's in his mind somewhere as well. Maybe a clean slate is what he really needs." That thought was somewhat painful but Ukyo knew that Ranma really would want space from everything that reminded him of Nerima after something like this. "Come on honey, we've got packing to do."

 **OOOOOOO**

It took Ranma two days to cross most of Japan down to Honshu where Dr. Tofu's new practice had opened. It was small and homely like his last one, and Ranma smiled. Tofu really did like that whole personable touch. Ranma couldn't really picture him working in a huge hospital with lots of other people. And Tofu also always opened his own door, which was a problem at the moment. Dr. Tofu blinked in shock looking at the young man before him. "Ranma, how, wha…UMmph!"

Dr. Tofu's head jerked back at the blow to his chin, and then he was lifted off his feet and dragged further into his practice before he could recover. "That was for leaving without saying goodbye to anyone, not even Kasumi!" Ranma said setting the doctor on his feet and closing the door. "The whole clean slate thing is appealin', but **you** don't have people chasing after you, ya could have at least left a message behind or something."

"Dear who's this?" Said a young woman, coming out from inside the offices. She was tall, taller even then Kasumi and had a rangy look like a former athlete who had only recently stopped exercising regularly. She had black hair down to her waist done up in a long ponytail, and moved somewhat gracefully, not martial artist gracefully but certainly athlete gracefully which matched her body's build.

On one finger however was a wedding ring, which caused Ranma's eyebrows to shoot up. "Damn doc, you really did get married, what the hell?"

"It's true." Tofu replied, wincing a little as he felt his jaw. "I suppose I deserved that, but there's more going on than you know. This is an old friend Keiko, don't worry, we'll just be talking for a bit."

"More than a bit doc, I didn't come here just ta smack ya one for leaving. Like I said, I understand now why someone would just run away, but my reasons are way larger than yours."

Tofu frowned thoughtfully motioning Ranma into his observation room. "Before you ask, the reason I didn't say goodbye even to Kasumi is because of what my old sensei found when I met up with him at a symposium about two months before I actually left Nerima. For one thing, my sensei pointed out rather bluntly that the difference in our ages isn't that all that much different from Akane and me."

At Ranma's shocked expression Tofu's laughed quietly. "I've known about her crush on me for quite some time Ranma, it was rather obvious after all. When that was pointed out to me, I realized how foolish it was chasing after a girl half my age. Then he found out that I have… well the technical terms are a bit above even your ki knowledge Ranma, but what it comes down to is that I am physically allergic to being near Kasumi."

"It was masked by my, um well you know how I acted around her, turns out my father had the same reaction to my mother, but he was able to control it over time. I never would have been able to, and I would have continued to be a major danger to anyone who came to me for medical attention during that time."

"Thereafter he introduced me to Keiko, his daughter, and the two of us hit it off. With her I was able to get over my 'love response' in a few weeks after falling for her, just like my dad did with my mother." Tofu paused for a moment, sighing. "I can't say I was happy about leaving Nerima behind without saying goodbye to Kasumi, but a clean break really was necessary."

"I guess I can understand." Ranma said with a shrug. "Whatever Doc, like I said I wasn't here just to smack you one, I need your help."

"I'm always willing to lend an ear Ranma," said cautiously. He was always leery of getting involved in Ranma's adventures, knowing what they could cost him.

Ranma related everything that he had discovered recently, watching as Dr. Tofu took it all in. After moment the doctor shook his head. "I would've never suspected that Akane would be so duplicitous, I definitely think that girl needs to see a psychologist. It says something about her that she was able to convince herself that her cheating on you and keeping it a secret was all your fault in the first place. And Nabiki not telling anyone about it, that is a pure enabler attitude."

"I think I need to see a psychologist too Doc, since I ain't nearly as angry as I should be about it." Ranma said with a shrug. "At first I was furious, and a little weepy I'll admit." He said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Even that small an admission of softer feelings came hard to Ranma.

"But not now. And on top o' that what Nabiki said bothered me. I mean you know how boys are supposed to, er, react to girls, I mean, um, physically?" Ranma said trailing off in embarrassment and looking away. "That um, that ain't ever happened ta me. And given the fact that Shampoo jumps on me every time, well Nabiki mentioned that it was kind of odd that it never did, and I wondered if there was something that could, you know be, wrong with me in that area…"

Looking at the embarrassed and almost scared young man in front of him Tofu frowned thoughtfully. He was almost inclined to ask about Ranma's female form reacting in an aroused manner to exterior stimuli, but he knew the youth had problems with his female form even now. _Plus he'd probably kick me through a wall for suggesting it._ "There are pressure points that could have that effect, but why would anyone have done that?"

"Doc I stopped askin' questions like that a long time ago. If there's some way Genma could screw me over, he'd find it. Anything that wasn't the Art was a waste of time, I mean I ain't exactly interested in that kind of thing either, that's one thing oyaji was right about: the Art bein' more important than that stuff. It's just if there's somethin' wrong with my body, I want it fixed."

Dr. Tofu frowned further. He always considered Ranma's single-minded nature odd, but combined with the other things Ranma had just mentioned and his other observations during his time in Nerima, it might be there was something odd about Ranma even beyond whatever had been done to make him not become sexually aroused. "All right Ranma lay down on the bed and we'll see what we can find. I never did do a full physical on you did I?"

Ranma shivered a little at the very idea, not exactly comfortable with the idea of anyone touching him at all. But this was why he'd come to Tofu. He knew he could trust the older man, at least as far as Tofu not using what he found against him was concerned.

The procedure took over an hour, as various injuries and odd reactions were noted, with Tofu pausing a moment and actually shaking his head a little in jealousy at one point, making a comment about being thankful his wife wasn't in the room. Then he actually blushed a little as he performed the same physical on Ranma's female body, a process that was even slower and much more cringe-inducing for both of them.

Finally Dr. Tofu stood back shaking his head thoughtfully and very grimly Ranma was worried to note. "Well Ranma, I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?"

"How's about the good news?"

"Well the good news is I do know what's wrong with you, and they're both relatively easy to fix. Putting them on you in the first place would've been much tougher, but fixing them is much easier."

"Both?"

"You have two closed ki points. The good news is that reopening them should have an almost immediate effect on the flow of your ki. I noticed that your ki flowed differently than most men, but I'd put it down to the training you went through, more fool me I suppose."

Dr. Tofu shook his head. He would castigate himself for years for not noticing this, and wondered why some of the other masters in Nerima haven't noticed. Deciding to think about that later he went on. "The first is the Youthful Mind point."

He pulled out his trusty Betty, which he had brought along from Nerima pointing at a point here and there on the back of her head, and then twisting it around to point at two points on her chest. "Those are the points that would've been hit to inflict the Youthful Mind on you. It's a technique developed in the distant past by samurai who wanted to start training their children very early in their development. It makes you more pliable, and hampers both emotions and higher-end thinking in favor of heightening your ability to learn things physically."

Tofu shook his head again ruefully. "I can't believe I didn't spot it, I thought you were just a regular martial artist with a case of ADHD when it came to anything else." Once again Tofu had to stop himself from slipping into self-recrimination. Instead he turned Betty around once again for so that her front was towards Ranma and touched three points down low right above his crotch region. "This is called the Imperial Favor technique. It kills off practically your entire libido."

"Libido?" Ranma asked, cocking his head. "What's that mean?"

"I think I have several books you need to read Ranma." Tofu replied, shaking his head quietly. "The Technique was developed in China during the period where the eunuchs began to take control of the Imperial bureaucracy, suffice it to say it helped them add new members to their numbers, but it certainly hasn't helped you. However…" Tofu frowned thoughtfully. "I can undo the Youthful Mind right now, the other one I want to do a little more research on the effects of undoing it before I do anything, and I have no idea what the points being on you together could have done."

"Mind if I do some exercises while you do, Doc?" Ranma asked getting up off the bed.

"Certainly, just don't break anything." Tofu left leaving Ranma to himself for few moments before coming back with a large tome. He sat down reading through the old looking text thoughtfully then looked up at Ranma, watching as the youth moved through some kind of kata with such speed and precision most Masters could not have matched it. That brought to mind Ranma's physical abilities, which Tofu knew for a fact was so far beyond human norm that it was almost unbelievable. In fact no one outside of Nerima and certain parts of China would believe it at all.

 _But in relation to undoing the Imperial Favor Technique that's not a good thing._ "As I said, Ranma," Tofu spoke, getting the boy's attention. "I could undo the Youthful Mind point now. The effect of undoing it will be slow to build, and it won't affect the Imperial Favor technique, I wanted to make certain of that. But undoing the second, um undoing it might have…"Tofu groped for an example that wouldn't make the nervous young man in front of him bolt.

"It might make your ki go out of control." He said finally not wanting to try and explain what really might go out of control. The Imperial Favor technique had indeed been developed by the Imperial bureaucracy, but they hadn't actually been the ones to create it. It wasn't initially created to make the process of creating a eunuch easier, but to punish those accused of sexual deviancy. Yet it didn't actually **kill** the libido, instead it **suppressed** it.

"Picture a spring Ranma." Tofu went on, now not trying to lie or change the subject at all but not being completely truthful without actually touching on the subject matter. "You've been living your life with it wound up, pressed down as it were, as much is it could be. Once I release that point all that energy is going to come out. Especially since I think the Youthful mind is going to mess with your ability to handle your emotions somewhat. In fact, considering that, I'd recommend we wait on undoing that technique as well, just to be on the safe side."

"Cool!" Ranma said holding up both hands and making the victory sign, utterly ignoring everything Tofu said about his emotions, confident in his self control. "You mean I'll be an even better martial artist, faster, stronger and all that?"

"Yes I can honestly say that will be part of the side effects." Tofu said. "The main effect will be different, but after solving this issue, you'll be able to react normally to stimuli, and other things."

Ranma nodded, taking it at face value that Tofu meant his heightened ki would be the main point. "Still don't understand this libido thing doc, but if it makes me at least normal in one way I guess I'll jump on it."

"Good, but I'll need to prepare a room for you. After all, you wouldn't want to accidentally hurt anyone until you got control of it, would you?" Once again Tofu did not specify what **it** was, allowing Ranma to draw his own conclusion, which the younger man did nodding seriously. _A little white lie won't hurt him._ "In fact, while I find someplace to do this, I'll teach you how to release the points yourself."

Finding a safe place to do this took the rest of the day, and the room wasn't a room, but a former isolation-style jail cell. The area Dr. Tofu had set up his practice in wasn't quite run down, but it wasn't high-end either, and had several old buildings from World War 2, the jail being one of them. The walls were still solid, and with the help of a few of the locals Tofu was able to prepare one of the rooms for Ranma.

Watching the men work Ranma wondered why they were bringing in those magazines and laughing to themselves. Though the water, large portable light along with food supplies were also a little worrying. "Interestin' place doc, though I gotta ask why it wasn't torn down. And um, is there something ya should be telling me?"

"Oh, there was a plan for this place to be turned into a year-round haunted house, though it never went anywhere. As to your second question, I have no idea how long it will take you to get control of your ki Ranma." The doctor replied. "I'd rather you stay here until you're certain that you can jostle someone in a crowd without shattering every bone in his or her body."

"WHa-? Ranma gasped, looking at him aghast. "It's gonna be that bad, really?"

"Ranma, you routinely move faster than most people can see using that Amazon technique correct? Until you figure out how to control your ki, you might be moving even faster than that normally and not even notice it. And as you should know, speed has a mass all its own. And that doesn't even consider your ki itself going out of control."

"That would be bad." Ranma nodded his head seriously. Unlike most of the others in Nerima, Ranma had always taken the Art and the Code seriously. The idea of accidentally hurting someone accidently like that appalled him. "Though if I'm gonna be in here for so long, I would've preferred to have somthin' to say 'bout the reading material Doc. And what's in those brown bags anyway?"

"Graphic novels." Dr. Tofu said with 100% accuracy. "I thought you might like them especially after you're done undoing the Imperial Favor Technique. Now, show me that you've learned where the pressure points are so that we know there won't be any mistakes."

"Cool." Ranma said raising one finger to his forehead in a salute. "Hope there's some Naruto in there. I'm **this** close to figurin' out how to create my own version of a ki blade, like that lightnin' attack o' the One-Eyed Emo. Shapin' ki out of your body like that is really hard, but I think it's doable."

"That's nice Ranma." Dr. Tofu replied shaking his head. He honestly hoped that this wouldn't change Ranma so much, his single-minded attitude towards the Art was actually something Tofu admired. He just hoped that ability to concentrate and bring so much intelligence to bear would now spread to other areas of study. _And whoever actually marries him will be very happy if it does,_ he thought to himself laughing quietly. _Well, so long as they are bisexual at least._

Ranma nodded and did so gesturing to the different parts of his body he'd have to touch, looking a little uncomfortable at some of them down near his boy bits, while also explaining how hard he'd have to touch each of the pressure points. He was actually grateful that he'd be alone to do that, having someone else around for that part would be weird.

"I would recommend you remove the Youthful Mind point first Ranma, but that is up to you." Tofu said, moving towards the doorway. "Good luck." With that Tofu left, locking the heavy door behind him.

Ranma frowned hearing the locks on the door. _Doc must be really worried about my ki going out of control doin' all this ta isolate me. Hmmf, I'll show him, I bet my control is up to the task whatever happens. Still, best follow his advice about the order._ With a confident smirk on his face Ranma raised his hands up to his head, tapping here and there on different points of his head, and then two more on his chest.

For a moment nothing happened and Ranma frowned, wondering if he had done something wrong in the order or the pressure needed. But after a second Ranma's teeth clamped down while his heart sped up as rage hit him, more rage than he had ever felt before, more sadness. It was as if that first moment where he learned about Akane's betrayal had come back to him multiplied a thousand times over.

A small trickle of emotions before had suddenly become a flood. Everything that he had learned back in Nerima as well as everything before that but which hadn't registered for long mixed with other things that had built up inside of him without Ranma even noticing. Ranma went mad, sobbing, screaming, shouting about Akane, about his mother, about his father, and not surprisingly the Kunos and Amazons.

Pounding the floor and the walls Ranma was completely out of control with rage and grief as it hit him all at once, his ki igniting and roiling off him as Tofu had warned him, though not actually believed would occur, rather more afraid of what would happen when Ranma's libido was awoken. Tofu had no idea how much ki Ranma had built up since Tofu had left Nerima, enough to challenge Herb, a dragon descendent. Now that ki was flaring out like a heat haze, burning the ground of the cell underneath Ranma.

How long that went on Ranma didn't know, but when he finished he wasn't in the cell he'd begun in, instead he was in one of the outer rooms of the former prison. He blearily looked through tear streaked eyes at the carnage of his trip through the former penitentiary, shattered walls, ripped out doors, hell even melted bars here and there, along with the floor looking as if it had been scorched.

Ranma chuckled a little weakly before leaning against the outer wall, which had shattered in a few places, around what looked like holes made by his fists marching through it. "Wow, I don't think anyone's going to want to use this place as a haunted house anymore. Not without a lot of redecoratin' and rebuildin'." He shook his head laughing while his voice echoed through the confines of the jail.

He shook his head, thankful the doc had gone to such lengths despite his initial arrogance about his control over his emotions. "Damn, I always looked down on the others fer always getttin' so angry all the time, particularly…" Ranma paused, shaking his head and not wanting to use **her** name lest he set himself off again. _And that was only one of the techniques, what's going to happen when I release the other one?_

Moving back through the wreckage of the jail Ranma sat in the center of the semi-bare room he had started in. For a moment he debated waiting to do the next one. He knew his emotions were all over the place, hell his hands were shaking, and the doc had told him not to rush the process. But after a moment Ranma's usual confidence came back to him, if somewhat limited. _I'll hold on until my hands stop shakin' can't make a mistake in where I press or how strong after all._

How long Ranma meditated he didn't know, but it was dark out by the time his hands stopped shaking and he stopped feeling spikes of rage and sadness. _Okay, let's do this!_ After centering himself for another moment Ranma began to touch the required pressure points, wincing a little at the pain of them. It was like pressing a sore black and blue mark that went right to the bone, which caused flares of pain to spread out nearby even while the ache at that point receded.

The last one in particular doubled Ranma over in agony as ki began to flow through his body in a way that it wasn't used to. "All right, that **hurt!** That hurt like nothing I can think of…" After a few moments the pain receded, and Ranma frowned. He could feel his ki was building up somewhat, but not nearly as much as he had feared given how Tofu had been going on about it.

There was a sense of something else building up too, but he couldn't what it was. "I don't see what doc was worried about this point fer, the first one gave me a hell of a lot more trouble…"

Then it hit him, and he looked down in pain as a part of him that had never responded to anything shot to attention. "Wh-what the hell!?" Then he groaned aloud as that something he couldn't identify roared through him. "GUHHHH, wha…."

Images of the girls he had known in his life began to go through his head. Things he hadn't noticed before really, or had simply thought were interesting in a mild sort of way. Now the mere memory of them made all his higher brain functions shut down.

For several hours Ranma lost himself again, his body demanding his full attention. Afterwards his pants were soaked as if he'd been hit by a super soaker. When he hesitantly touched his pants over his crotch he found them very sticky as well as simply wet. Worse there was a smell in the air, quickly dissipating but still noticeable that Ranma couldn't place.

Even as he watched though his crotch region began to twitch again, his penis once again showing signs of heretofore unknown life. For a moment Ranma was almost tempted to redo the pressure points, not having any idea how to deal with this. But he wasn't one to give up, and the feeling of his ki moving through his body told him that even trying would be a **very** bad idea indeed. Putting a dam up in front of a small stream was one thing, putting it up again after that stream had become the Chang Jiang at full flood was something else entirely.

"Er, maybe something to take my mind off it." Ranma thought, moving over to the bags of graphic novels. His mind however was replaying conversations he and his two friends had several times, where the two of them talked about girls to what he thought was excess. _Huh, if this is what they have to go through, maybe they ain't as perverted as I thought. Now if I could only remember some of the terms they used…_

By that point Ranma had reached the bags, and gratefully began to pull out a strange assortment. Some were medical texts, mostly about pressure points, ki, old style healing and other things of that nature, simple copies of older tomes that Tofu had tied up with a note, saying it was a Christmas present for not noticing the problems in Ranma's body before this. Ranma grinned then stuffed them all into his ki space for now, joining a few other books he already had in there that he had bought at some point thinking they might help him but never was able to muster enough interest in to actually read.

The second set looked at first like school books about human anatomy but there were others that had title which caused Ranma, with his slowly growing knowledge of this area of the human condition, to blush. "'Romance and You, the Do's and Don't of Dating', 'It's Perfectly Normal', 'How babies are made'? Umm…."

It was the last group of books however that caused Ranma's face to turn red. Though, he was astonished to note, that didn't take all of his bodies blood since his lower portion was still demanding most of it. These were indeed graphic novels, but of the adult kind. Some of them almost reminded Ranma of a few similar books that Ranma had seen Hiroshi and Daisuke bring to school, but they had never interested him before.

Now it was all he could do to tear his eyes away from the images. There was one of some older woman wearing only an apron, another was a school girl sucking on an ice cream bar, and then there was some girl his age in an extremely loose kimono wielding a blade. A few others showed images of various characters from different animes he had seen in situations that they would never be put in in the original.

He looked at the three small piles then muttered hesitantly, "Um, I suppose I should, um, kind of switch off maybe?" Messing up the books in a large pile, Ranma then closed his eyes and waved his finger over the pile, picking out the first book. Opening his eyes, he found he had picked up the 'It's Perfectly Normal' textbook. "Ugh, well, um, I suppose it would help, even if it looks boring…"

For the next hour or so Ranma worked his way through the book, with his own face showing his growing disgust and some interest as well. After the first chapter he took a break, checking out the graphic novel with the kimono-clad girl on it. After about twenty pages he threw it into the wall followed by a Moko Takabashi which incinerated it. "Gah, okay, I might not know what I like, but I sure as hell know what I don't! Blech!"

Throughout the night, Ranma did this, reading the book slowly and then switching to a manga after every chapter. At one point he hesitantly changed form into his female body, and was utterly astonished at how **responsive** his breasts became, though he was a little too leery to try anything below the belt.

It still felt amazing and Ranma spent an interminable amount of time playing with himself and figuring out what he liked and what he didn't, reaching what he had learned was called 'the clouds and rain' several times, before changing back and doing the same with his penis, or what the mangas called his dick.

But Ranma was surprised to note that when he 'came' as the mangas called it in his male body, it felt more intense than in his female form. Though the sensation didn't go on for as long, and didn't have those little aftershocks he felt when in his female body.

In male form he had far less of what the book called erogenous zones. His breasts and nipples were just there, which was really weird to Ranma, why would one form be so much more sensitive than the other? He found the answer to that out several chapters later, and the answer made him literally retch into one of the corners of the room thinking about Kuno or some of the other freaks out there that had hit on his female form doing that with him.

The thoughts about Kuno and the other assholes started the rage/grief cycle all over again, causing Ranma to back away from what he was doing and force himself into some of the most difficult katas in his repertoire to get his anger out. After that he was tired and ate something before falling asleep only to wake up a few hours later as dawn broke with drenched pants and sleeping bag again. Groaning he took some time to clean both his clothing and the bag before stuffing it back into his ki space, along with the rest of the food Tofu had left him. He hoped to be done this whole thing in the next few hours.

Once again Ranma spent some time reading through the book, surprising himself by actually understanding a lot of the things it talked on, and on how well he concentrated for so long on something that wasn't martial arts related. For some time he simply read the book rather than the mangas, having burned several of the doujinshis. The content of those disturbed him greatly. Then he switched off to Romance and You.

Several times he had to stop, dealing with spikes of anger and rage as he was forced to realize how badly they had all been screwing one another over. Yes, Akane was in the wrong going out with Ryoga and not telling anyone (and now with his heightened ability to concentrate on things, Ranma could actually think of a few moments which might have pointed to the fact, if anyone had noticed, least of all him) but Ranma had also been at fault with how he treated her.

 _With how I treated all of them,_ he thought morosely. _Especially Akane and Ukyo. Shampoo'd be after me whatever she actually thought 'cause of those stupid laws of hers, but I shoulda never led Ukyo on like that. Akane was right about that damn it. But I wonder why nobody ever told me why name callin' and stuff like that wasn't good. They told me not ta do it, but never explained_ _ **why**_ _! I mean, how was I supposed ta know? Genma always motivated me like that, hell name callin' was how he showed affection too!_

Yet after what she had done to him, he couldn't find it in himself to really be sad about his not having treated Akane better. _Especially since she sure as hell don't have the female equivalent o' the Imperial Favor point or the Youthful Mind point on her, or does she?_

For a moment Ranma actually thought about that then shook his head, speaking aloud. "Nah, if she did, she wouldn't be datin' Pig-boy. She might be a bit repressed, and Kuno's crap might've made her paranoid, but that's still no excuse fer going behind my back." Ranma's teeth clenched at that and he hurriedly stood up, moving to go through one of his katas.

After that he went back to the book, blushing at parts and forced to relief some pressure a time or two despite his roiling feelings at the girls he had left behind in Nerima. Nabiki for some reason particularly made him have control issues. He could remember all too easily the number of times she had been doing leg exercises or something else in his presence, wearing those yoga pants of hers…

While Ranma, after reading the first few chapters of the second book knew it would never work between them, she was easily one of the sexier girls he'd meet. Shampoo and Kodachi, the other two girls that fell in that category, scared him more than they aroused him. Kodachi was just insane, and Shampoo, she had gone from hunting him down for several months in order to kill him to hunting him for marriage. While the change made sense to her, it sure as hell hadn't to him at the time, and while he understood it from her point of view now, it was still bizarre to him now more than a year later.

The sun was high in the sky by the time Ranma had finished all he wanted to read in that book. A lot of it he didn't care about, such as how to act in public, how girls should act with boys they like and shit like that, but some of it was actually really helpful. "Have to think about getting Doc some kind of present fer helping me with this stuff. It answered a lot more questions than I had when I showed up at his door."

Ranma sighed, then pulled out one of the bentos that Tofu had left for him, before going through another kata, still needing to deal with some of his anger, strangely enough fueled by the food. He remembered how the others had tried to poison him with Akane's food so many times despite knowing how bad it was. And he remembered how Kasumi would always make him and his father delicious food but never really helped him otherwise, even when it would help calm down the issues all around them.

He sighed sadly, realizing that he wasn't close to dealing with his emotional issues. He felt he was somewhat in control of the other thing, his libido, but the emotional thing was still getting him. Yet even his libido control or whatever might need some work as well before he trusted himself in public. It seemed to come on him suddenly so Ranma wasn't ready to leave the jail just yet.

That was unfortunate because the rest of the world was ready to force him to rejoin it. Ranma looked up in dismay as the walls all around the jail cell were blasted apart. In one of the holes stood his Genma, followed by Soun, Happosai and Nodoka, Ranma was dismayed to see. That group was high on the list of people who evoked the most feelings in him.

The other holes were actually a relief in some ways, not so much in others. In one of them stood the Amazons, all three of them. In another working together for now at least were Akane and Ryoga of all people. And in the last was the two Kunos having made two separate holes in the same wall.

"I'll have to thank you son-in-law, your self-control going out of whack as it did today allowed us to find you much quicker than I had anticipated even with Nabiki, narrowing down our search to this area of Kyoto. Your self-control is normally ironclad," Cologne cackled. "I wonder what happened to make you go out of control like that."

"Boy!" shouted Genma, "You've run long enough, it's time to return and marry Akane as honor demands!"

"Ranma!" bellowed Ryoga from the other broken wall with Akane next to him. "How dare you make Akane cry!"

"You will tell me where you have spirited my air pigtailed goddess foul sorcerer!" Said Kuno from where he had broken through a wall as well.

Ranma glared all around them then noticed Happosai staring at him in shock. The old master and the young prodigy stared at one another for a moment then Happy shook his head, moving back and away rapidly, leaving his two stupid apprentices to deal with this.

How the Grandmaster had figured out at least a little bit of what had happened to Ranma was beyond him at present, though given his skills in other areas it wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was that Cologne wasn't aware, but Ranma guessed that was simply because she wasn't using her ki sight or whatever her version of that technique was.

However Ranma put that minor mystery to the side for now, his lips peeling back in a grin that showed all his teeth. _Without Happosai involved, this battle just became a lot easier especially since I'm in no mood to hold back!_

"Assholes." Ranma said cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. "You lot picked the wrong moment to mess with me. I'd suggest ya take yer boyfriend and leave Akane, unless you don't want yer secret boyfriend to actually be good for anythin' in that area for a few months."

While Ryoga blustered and moved forward angrily Akane was frozen in shock. "How did you … I mean I don't know what you're…"

"Oh don't bother," Ranma said laughing coldly as everyone else turned to stare at the two accused. Even the wanna-be-samurai stopped pontificating for a moment staring in shock at Akane and Ryoga. "I heard you and Nabiki talking Akane, about how you had to put off the wedding until you could figure out a way to not have to pay the ¥170.5 billion debt that that oyaji somehow built up?"

Now everyone was looking at Genma who blanched. "I-I don't know what you're…"

"Yeah, I know money matters go over your head oyaji. So how about the five families near Osaka that you sold me to, or apparently the two families in Korea? Do ya remember them? By Hachiman, you spout on and on about family honor. What family honor did you actually leave us!?" Ranma roared.

"Quiet boy!" Genma bellowed, getting back into form. "I did it all for you and for the Art, life is hard on the road!"

"The Art is the only thing you ever did right oyaji." Ranma said shaking his head and moving back slightly to the side, so he could keep all the possible combatants within his line of sight. "I'll admit you taught me to be better than anyone else, but after this is all over, ya'll should probably talk to about the pressure points he used on me and what they'd done long term."

That caused Cologne's eyes to widen, and Ranma could feel, (gods he could actually **feel** it, his ki sense was through the roof! WHY?) when she began to use her ki sight like Happosai might have had done before, though Ranma hadn't felt anything from him. Almost immediately Cologne backed away, her face pale. She was so shocked she almost fell off her staff.

Cologne opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was overridden by Kuno's haughty bellow. "Your small minded monetary concerns are not mine! You will release your hold on the pigtailed girl and you, you foul cur," he said, now pointing at Ryoga. "You have shown your true colors at last, ensorcelling the most glorious Akane as the pig-tailed knave hast done before. Release her from thy clutches, or prepare to face the justice of heaven!" In his hand he held a real katana for once.

Next to him Kodachi scoffed laughing her mad cackle as she stood there in the leotard that, despite himself made Ranma stare for a moment, though he thankfully did not react physically, her cackle saw to that. "HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Brother dear, if you harm a hair on Ranma-sama's head, I will tie you up and feed you to Mr. Turtle! He's been looking peaky lately. As for your harlot, if Ranma-sama will agree to go out with me, I will deal with her as she should be dealt with, and the pigtailed girl as well should she show such stupidity as to show herself in front of me!"

Ranma's teeth ground together, irritation rising within him. Thankfully at that point Ryoga had enough and charged forward. "How dare you make those accusations Ranma, I'll kill you!"

"Bring it on Ryoga!" Ranma shouted back, leaping to meet him with a kick to the face that Ryoga only barely got his hands up in time to block. Even so the power of the kick threw him backwards. But Ryoga was a good enough martial artist to roll with it.

While fell backwards Ryoga's hands flashed from the front from guarding his face to the back of his head pulling off two of his bandannas. They quickly hardened it into weapons stronger than steel and he hurled them at Ranma.

But Ranma dodged them easily, smirking that arrogant grin that always irritated his opponents. "You're going to have to do better than that Piggy!"

"Ranma don't you dare pick on Ryoga!" Akane said getting over her shock at her and Ryoga's relationship being outed like this to charge forward, her mallet at the ready.

"I attack!" said Kuno, jumping forward with his own blade.

"Ranma, how dare you lead on Shampoo and get in the way of Akane and Ryoga's pure love!" Mousse shouted his hands suddenly full of knives.

"Aiyah, you come home with me now, airen, if kitchen destroyer and spatula girl not interested in you anymore, you and I now can live alone and no one be bothering us!" Shampoo said, entering the fight, though she aimed for Akane rather than moving after Ranma.

Genma grimly charged forward with his friend at his side. "You will come back and do the honorable thing boy!" He neglected to say what the honorable thing was in this case however. Despite not truly being able to control himself from reacting as he normally would, i.e. putting all the blame on Ranma, Genma had actually heard Ranma's accusation against Akane, and even more surprisingly he had seen the truth of them. But that wasn't enough to make him stop thinking about Ranma as his meal ticket.

Smirking Ranma dodged Akane's blow, jumping up to meet his father in midair. He batted his hands to either side before mule kicking the older man in the face using the momentum to springboard further into the air. Doing a role in midair Ranma blocked a throwing knife from Mousse then twirled, grabbing the end of the ribbonthat Kodachi had just shot at him for some reason, pulling it out of her hand easily.

Using the same technique that Ryoga had the ribbon quickly hardened into a long pole, which slammed into Mousse's head sending him sprawling to the ground. "If you want me to go back with you oyaji then you're going to have to take me by force!" he said, now standing on top of the ribbon/pole, balancing easily.

His mother had paused thoughtfully, staring at Akane coldly. When she spoke it was in a calm tone of voice as if the battle before her was simply background noise. "Obviously if Akane has chosen to cheat on my son in such a manner, then she is no longer in consideration to marry him. But the Tendo household has two other daughters, and certainly one of them might prove suitable. As for the other accusation, I would have to see proof of that before believing my husband could be so lacking in common sense and honor as to build up a debt of that size. Regardless Ranma, you will be coming home with us."

"I'm never returning to that place!" Ranma bellowed, punching out hard at the Kuno, catching him on the chin and smashing his head into the angle of one of Akane's mallet blows, which sent him flying through the ceiling of the increasingly abused jail. "Besides, I could never inflict my crazy life on Kasumi, as much as she coulda helped me I can't say I wouldn't've done the same if I wanted my life ta be normal. And as sexy as Nabiki is, she and I'd get on like oil and water!"

Ranma used Mousse's back as a springboard to leap over Shampoo who had turned to attack him when he said that. "Silly Airen not talk about other womens like that in front of Amazon wife!"

He landed directly behind her, grabbing her around the waist for a second and whispering in her ear. "Sorry Shampoo, you might've had a chance with me before if I hadn't had those pressure points on me, but there's been too much bad blood and too much damn magic between us."

Feeling daring and still riding the high of having his emotions and feelings and above all his released libido at that moment, he reached down and smacked her on the ass, causing her to squeak a little in a very un-Amazon manner before he leaped away from Mousse's enraged assault. He absently noted that the boy had actually thrown the kitchen sink at him that time. Oh, and several kitchen knives. "Did you ransack someone's kitchen Mousse?"

"How dare you treat Shampoo so?!"

Shampoo for her part seemed to be caught between outrage, some other emotion that Ranma had never seen on her face, and amusement. However she turned, twirling her maces meaningfully. "If Airen want touch Shampoo's rear, all need do is ask, but must take on date first!"

Ranma laughed, euphoric. Not about smacking Shampoo's ass, though the feel of it on his palm was something he knew he'd remember. No what was making him laugh was the fact that he was taking all of his opponents on, every one of his normal sparring partners, friends, enemies whatever the term really was for their dysfunctional group, in neutral! It was so **easy**! _Those pressure points might've helped me learn when I was younger, but it's obvious they were holding me back now!_

He knew he wasn't really in his right mind just yet. He hadn't had the time to really get to grips with his emotions completely, simply get them under control a bit, he knew there was a difference in the two. And whenever he looked over at Akane his grief and rage came back, though the rage was slowly receding into simply a dead sort of sadness coupled with a dark humor.

"My son," said his mother in a loud voice to carry over the din of battle. "It isn't very manly to ignore your mother!"

To everyone else there it was as if Ranma suddenly teleported in front of her. His eyes were still red-rimmed from his emotional roller coaster. Indeed, tears were still streaking down his face despite the manic snarl on his face while he confronted one of the people in his life he was most enraged at and feeling betrayed by. "Really? Then exactly, in a single sentence or less, explain what 'manly' is supposed to be! It seems ta change every day with whoever the hell you're talking to and your moods save for the perverted crap that makes it sound like your idea of manly is like a fucking hentai tentacle demon!"

"None of that!" His mother said, making the same mistake that her husband had in falling back into old routines. "I am your mother, you will obey me!"

"That sounds more like I'm supposed to be your slave rather than your son!" Ranma bellowed into her face, then back flipped up into the air to avoid Ryoga's furious charge, watching with a laugh as Ryoga slammed into his mother.

Mousse and Akane attacked him from behind while Shampoo was ensnarled by Kodachi's second ribbon. Dodging under some kind of pole-weapon seeking his head, Ranma angrily shattered Akane's mallet with a single finger. He stared furiously into Akane's shocked eyes for a moment. "I thought I loved you! Lucky me I think I was wrong, you cheating, lying shit! You and Nabiki are so alike it's not even funny!"

There was a bellow behind him as Genma extricated himself from the rubble of the wall that Ranma had thrown him into. "Boy, you will come back to Nerima with us!"

The battle went on from there, moving through and destroying more of the prison, until they broke out into what must have been the exercise area. Watching as the remaining combatant's chased out Ranma sighed sadly, a sudden realization hitting him. _They'll never stop. They'll never stop coming after me. The Amazons can track and Genma ain't exactly a slouch in that area. They'll just keep following me rather than admit I don't want anything to do with them!_

For a moment his eyes flicked over to where his mother was being helped along by Cologne, glaring angrily at Ryoga who had rejoined the battle without even making certain she was alright. _I don't want ta have anything to do with any of them, users, abusers, deluded fools the lot! I'll be the first to admit I ain't perfect, I know I've got problems, but at least I'm starting to get over 'em. But none of these people'll ever let me go!_

A sudden thought hit him. _The Nanban mirror!_

By this point his father and Ryoga were both on him again. But Ranma weaved between their blows, a snap kick lashing out before becoming over 500 similar kicks hammering into Ryoga's chest throwing him backwards into Mousse. The male Amazon had been trying to use Ryoga as cover for a moment to get in close with a pair of extremely large sabers of some kind.

Ranma was now moving faster. No longer coasting in neutral he dealt with his father brutally. Even so, Genma was a martial arts master. Say whatever you would about his morals, his ability to think things through, his personal courage and his general attitude towards women, he still was one of the finest martial artists living. He kept up with Ranma blow for blow for a time, but he didn't have the sheer endurance or the depths of ki that Ranma had.

He began to falter somewhat as the two dropped back to the ground and when they landed he made a mistake. Genma looked down wincing at his hands for just a second, and Ranma pounced.

"Moko Takabashi!" he bellowed, thrusting out his hands. Rather than a basketball sized ball of ki or even an ovoid with a similar circumference what came out of Ranma's hands was a wave of power, slamming into Genma and carrying him up backwards roaring in pain.

For just a moment everyone paused in shock and Ranma took advantage of it. Reaching into one of his ki pockets he quickly pulled out the shattered mirror, which he kept in a small specialized segment of his ki-space. The mirror had originally been a tool that Happosai had used to try and return to the past for some reason Ranma couldn't remember, but Cologne had said it was also able to travel in space as well. All the user had to do was cry on it, wishing to be somewhere else, and it would do the work.

Unfortunately, the mirror had been broken slightly when they went to the past after Happosai, and it had barely been able to work long enough to get them to back to their own time. Even so, Ranma had carefully gathered the pieces of the mirror, gluing it back together over time and keeping it safe in his ki space, which he had learned from observing Mousse a few weeks before that.

Ranma knew it was a long shot, but what else could he try to completely throw his oyaji and the Amazon's off his trail? Ranma thought he might have to force himself to cry or something, only to lift a hand to his face and wipe away a tear realizing with a jolt he had never stopped since confronting his mother. He stared hard at all of them, lingering most on Akane and his mother and said simply. "Take me somewhere, take me somewhere I can find acceptance, where I'm needed!"

The mirror began to glow, shaking in Ranma's hands as bits and pieces of it began to glow brighter than others and he winced as it somehow began to drain ki from him to power it. It was obviously on its last legs, and for a moment Ranma feared his desperate gamble wouldn't work despite feeling the drain.

But that wasn't his only problem because he had stayed in one place for too long. "Shi-Shi Hakoden!" Shouted Ryoga, having pushed himself to his feet again.

Like Ranma's earlier attack this wasn't a sphere of power but a wave, powered far more by Ryoga's depression than raw power in this vase. Even so Ranma couldn't dodge it, and the blast zoomed towards Ranma. Yet instead of hitting him it disappeared as if being sucked into a vacuum cleaner by the mirror, merging with the light coming from it. There was a sound of breaking glass, then a tearing noise, and suddenly Ranma was gone.

It was that simple, after the noise and the lights receded enough to let everyone see there wasn't anything there. The mirror was gone save for a few small fragments of glass falling from where Ranma had stood holding the mirror but they disappeared before they even landed on the cobblestones. There was no rubble, no hint that Ranma had ever been there. He was simply gone.

Cologne and happy looked at one another from where they were sitting on one of the nearby rooftops giving them a birds eye view of the battle. "That was odd," Cologne said blandly, though her face showed her shock. "I wouldn't have thought the old mirror had any power left to it."

"Do you know when was it made?" Happosai asked.

"Sometime during the Xia Dynasty, that's about all I know for certain. Why?"

"Sometimes those old magic devices are able to use ki as a secondary power source. In the early days there wasn't much of a difference between the two disciplines I've heard. Before even my time!" Happy cackled, shaking his head. "I think the wild horse has well and truly found a way to get out of the bridle."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Cologne asked cocking her head.

Happy smiled blandly around his pipe, holding out of the pouch of tobacco which Cologne took gratefully. "It bothers me somewhat I'll admit. He was the finest martial artist of his generation, and certainly the finest one my school's ever produced at such a young age! Still, it isn't as if Genma's without his good points, and there are a few other practitioners out there."

"And the fact that two of those practitioners are young and nubile girls has nothing to do with your attitude?"

"Of course not!" Happosai said with a laugh shaking his head. "I'll miss the boy, but after those pressure points were released…" He shook his head. "I couldn't control him, I simply couldn't have kept up with him for very long. I'm old and even with my ki-leaching technique I doubt I'd have the endurance to last long. The Boy had as much ki as Herb for Kami-sama's sake! I'm a letch but I'm not stupid. What about yourself? You've tried for even longer that I've been around Nerima to get him to pair up with your granddaughter, haven't you?"

"Yes but now I know at least part of the reason why our ploys never worked." Cologne said glaring down to where Genma was moving around rapidly, trying to pick up the trail while angrily shouting at the others. "Genma and I will have words about that, and given the events here, I doubt the Council will be angry with me. Especially if I have Genma's testimony however willing or no."

"Leave him in enough pieces for him to be useful to me my dear, and I won't get in your way."

Down below people were beginning to realize that Ranma was really gone, and they had no clue as to where he went. From Ryoga, Mousse and the returned Kuno there was jubilation though in Kuno's case it was tempered by the knowledge that the pigtailed girl might well be out of his reach as well. Kodachi was still unconscious elsewhere in the former prison.

For Akane there was anger, a lot of anger. She'd wanted to pound Ranma herself, his disappearing like this was a copout in her opinion. On the other hand, he was out of the way for good apparently. That meant she and Ryoga could come out into the open about the relationship and she wouldn't have to deal with the pervert's actions, or his freaky-ass friends. In other words, her life might actually return to normal.

She conveniently neglected to remember that Kuno had been bothering her long before Ranma had shown up. Or that a lot of the other craziness seems to revolve around an area itself rather than Ranma.

Shampoo however was looking crestfallen and angry. She turned to glare angrily at Genma and Akane, her maces gripped in her hands so hard their shafts almost warped in her grip. Mousse's glomping onto her however gave her another target. "With Ranma out of the way we can be free to act on our feelings for one another, my love! Now let us GAHHH!"

While Shampoo proceeded to make a very bloody mess of her would-be-paramour Nodoka slumped to the ground, staring at where Ranma had been in shock, rising horror and, far more powerful than either of those emotions, guilt. "What have I done, what have I done?"

 **Chapter 1: When in an Unknown Land…**

Ranma groaned through parched and cracked lips, woken out of the deepest sleep he had ever had be the feeling of something nibbling on one of his fingers. "G-get off…" he muttered, trying to turn his head, but found that he felt as weak as a day-old puppy. Worse actually, Ranma couldn't remember a time when he was this weak, not even when that damn moxibustion weakness point had been used on him.

It took him several moments, but Ranma was finally able to open bleary eyes. Looking up he hoped that the mirror had done its work, and that he wouldn't see the Tendo house or anywhere else he recognized. And he certainly got that wish.

Instead of anything that looked human-like Ranma stared up into trees that weren't quite like any trees he'd never seen before. They looked shiny almost, and while their trunks looked like oaks, their leaves looked like pine, save for small flowers here and there which for some reason were on the portions of the branches pointing down toward the ground rather than the sky.

Here and there those trees gave way to even larger trees, ones that looks like baobab trees except their colors were all wrong. Rather than the normal sort of gray brown trunks they looked black and green, and they had vines hanging from their branches which seemed to sway gently in the wind.

 _Okaayy…._ Ranma thought, wanting to pull at his pigtail for a moment, a habit he'd gotten into when he was thinking, but he was simply unable to get up the energy to so much as twitch his hand. Even so, his thoughts were still relatively clear. _This is interesting. So where have I landed? Africa, South America? I'm pretty damn certain I've never seen any pictures of trees like this so some kind of rainforest is the best guess._

Slowly Ranma looked down to where he still felt something nibbling at one of his fingers. He grimaced slightly when he saw his hand, the hand he had been holding the mirror with. It was badly cut about, sliced here and there when the mirror shattered, slicing his hand badly though he also noticed that he wasn't holding any of the shards of the mirror itself any longer. Given his limited knowledge of magical devices Ranma decided that probably meant it had used all of its energies and simply disintegrated. It wasn't the strangest thing he had ever heard of after all.

Though the thing licking daintily at the blood on his hand... It was small, about the size of two of his fingers put together, and it looked like a cross between a mouse and a lizard. It had reptile eyes, but fur, a small mouth and six legs that looked like those of an iguana or something, but it had the tail of a squirrel. He slowly licked his dry lips and said softly. "You're the strangest little critter I've ever seen. And I've seen quite few strange things in my time."

His voice startled the little critter off, and it raced away. Ranma shrugged, making a note to bathe his hand in hot water to kill off any germs the little thing might've been carrying. Wearily he closed his eyes once more, trying to take stock of his body. He didn't feel any broken limbs or anything, which was a good sign, but he was so **exhausted**!

And he had absolutely no ki left to speak of, just barely enough to keep his body running. _Still it worked, and I'm not about to complain._ After a moment he began to concentrate, sending out his senses and trying to connect to the ambient chi in the world around him.

That was how he termed it anyway, ki was inner strength, chi was the ambient energy of the world. The difference between the two energy fields had been explained to him, but since he'd gotten both the Japanese and Chinese explanations, they had sort of jumbled together, leaving him only certain of the name both schools of thought used for the same energy field.

Ranma had thought up a technique after watching Happosai drain energy from girls underwear and girls themselves to do the same thing. Though it wasn't so much draining as simply connecting himself to the infinite loop of the energy all around him. It was not something he had ever attempted before but right now, he just needed at least a little to move around with.

 _And for some reason, I can't feel the little loop I set up to feed my ki space._ The technique Mousse used and Ranma had learned drained a tiny, very tiny but constant trickle of power from the user, the cost of keeping it running increasing or decreasing by how large a ki space or how much organization you put into it as well as your skill with the basic technique.

Mousse had taken it to extremes, and actually poured far more of his ki into the technique than any of Ranma's other rivals actually had access to. Since he had found that out Ranma had always wondered how good the boy would become if he stopped pumping all that ki into what Ranma saw as a gimmick rather than a real skill, but now he'd never find out.

Ranma had never gone to that extreme of course. He kept two small ki spaces, one for magical items people had used on or around him in the past, and one for everything else. Neither were organized of course, since that would have taken more energy. _But not even feeling the little bit of ki I put into it…that either means the technique failed for some reason and I didn't bring any of my shit with me, or…_ Ranma shook that thought off and began to concentrate, sending out his mind into the world around him.

His eyes opened wide however when what he had thought would be a trickle was instead a torrent. _Holy crap! That should_ _ **not**_ _have been that easy!_ It was as if the chi of the world was simply waiting for him to draw on it. That was just **weird**. Cautiously Ranma reopened the connection to his environment, trying to control the torrent as it flowed into him, re-filling only his physical energy. For just a moment, there was a sense of something, an emotion, but Ranma couldn't quite grasp it and it was gone before he could even say it was there with any certainty.

Moments later, a process that should've taken him several hours was finished and he stood up, cracking his neck and stretching his arms up above his head explosively. He had taken enough to get his body up and going, not enough to fill his ki reserves since that went against his beliefs. Take what you need and no more from nature, else it would harm the area around you. _Though here that might not happen so quickly as it would back in Nerima. Where the hell am I?_

He stared around him, taking in the trees and everything else around him much more clearly now, and noted that baobab trees he had noticed before seemed to have small spikes sticking out of their trunks and the vines that fell from their branches. _Nasty._ Somewhere nearby he heard what sounded like a wolf's howl except it hiccuped, sounding very odd indeed, and he could see or hear lots or tiny birds or other things moving about.

Nearer to where he had landed, Ranma could see a smallish impact point where he had been lying. Scattered widely around it however was the remains of what he had been holding in his ki space. "Fuucckkkk…."

Ranma really didn't like to think about what that said about how low his own reserves had gotten. His ki space had never failed him before, not even when he was fighting Saffron or Herb. If it had failed, then he might have literally been an inch away from dying. _And if I came this close without that blast of Ryoga's helping me…_

He laughed suddenly, scaring a few more birds and other critters away from having a rummage around his scattered junk. "Thank you Ryoga you asshole, you might've screwed me over way more than I ever did you, but that last attack of yers might've saved my life."

He looked down at himself wincing a little. His pants were ripped and he had a few tiny bruises from where things had imploded towards him when the ki space gave out, sending everything inside outward like an airtight bag bursting. His hand was badly cut about, and his chest too had some lacerations on it. Everywhere he looked any of his skin that had been exposed looked as if it had been badly wind or sunburned. His body also creaked and groaned in a way he was unused to, as if it had been put under great strain or perhaps pressure recently.

His stomach gurgled, reminding Ranma that regaining some physical energy wasn't quite the same thing as filling up his physical form. "First, I find something to eat, then I'll try ta figure out where I am. If the little critters here've already eaten all my emergency food I'm gonna be pissed, or more pissed than I am now." Ranma knew he still had to really deal with his anger and grief issues caused by the events in the past week.

Routing through the stuff he had kept in his ki space he quickly separated it into useful and not useful piles. The unusable pile was much larger than the usable one. _Damn,_ he thought to himself shaking his head, _I really build up a lot of junk didn't I?_ The unusable pile consisted of used towels, the fluffiest of which he grabbed, old videos he had seen a time or two, maps of places he had been with his father, several dozen weapons he'd 'confiscated' from Mousse, a few take away boxes of food that he never got around to eating from Shampoo's place which were well past their sell by date, and even a few from Ukyo's.

The usable pile was much smaller, but still contained a lot of the necessities. It consisted of four sets of underwear, one Chinese silk shirt, his old long-sleeved communist shirt and pants combo, one muscle-T, a dozen exercise bars which were actually still edible despite a few of them having been torn open. It also contained a few surprises: a tiny flashlight and a Walkman that actually worked for all that they had been banged up something fierce when his ki space had given out.

The best parts were a large backpack, the same one he'd used for years on the road with Genma, a first aid kit, an outdoor cooking kit, and a sleeping bag. Those last three he'd added to his ki space the moment he'd learned how to do it in the first place, and they had proven useful time and time again.

After gobbling down four of the energy bars, Ranma disinfected his hand with some of the rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit, then bandaged it lightly. With his ki healing the cuts would be gone within a few hours, or at least he hoped they would be. But he would still have to be careful about weird ass diseases in a place like this. It was true that he hadn't really been sick his entire life, but that didn't mean he was going to take any chances. Then after pulling on the muscle-T and a new pair of pants Ranma packed his backpack as well as he could.

That took him some time, since he didn't have the ki available right now to enlarge the backpack's interior. He ended up tying the sleeping bag to the top of the backpack, but had to leave the first aid's kit's box, stuffing its contents in here and there. By the time he was done the sun was right overhead, shining down into the forest or jungle. Looking at the unusable pile, which included the love-pill bracelet and a few other magical items, he decided to dig out a hole and bury the stuff. He really didn't know if there was anyone around here, but some of those items they were just too dangerous to leave lying around on the jungle floor.

With that done, Ranma hopped up from where he had been standing on the floor of the jungle up into the canopy quickly leaping up until he stood standing on top of one of the trees tops, staring around him. Once he reached the top of the tree he had to pause, gasping in breath for a moment. Then he looked around taking in the view with a faint smile on his face.

Nowhere where Ranma looked could he see even a hint of civilization, which reinforced the Amazon jungle/Congo idea he supposed. Turning around 360° Ranma stared up behind where he had begun to look around, noticing that he was on the side of a huge mountain that was gradually heading up into the distant clouds. Ranma laughed somewhat crazily. "I've always enjoyed nature and livin' off the land, but this is a little ridiculous."

His smile widened into a grin when he pulled out the Walkman, taking one of the earbuds and sticking it into an ear. It had been a gift from Hiroshi, who was into American rock for some reason. One of the songs however was just too damn appropriate for the moment, and he put the headphones on his head as he began to move forward, one ear still uncovered so as to let him listen to the surrounding sounds while "Welcome to the jungle" began to blare.

Deciding to head further up the mountain in an effort to get a better idea of the lay of the land Ranma turned in that direction, making his usual good time through the canopy. He stopped at one point to fill up all his water bottle, which haven't had had any water into the last at a small stream marveling at the clear water and the small fishes that actually thankfully looked like normal fishes is of a type he hadn't seen swimming around in it.

After that he took to the canopy once more, heading further up the mountain as the day wore on. As he moved through the canopy on autopilot his thoughts were elsewhere. His emotions thankfully had settled down from the roller coaster they had been, the challenge of his local environment having driven out his anger and grief at his fiancée cheating on him and his mother reacting as she did. For the most part anyway, Ranma knew it would come back when he settled down for the evening, but right now he could set it aside to concentrate on the major issue at hand.

His ki was flowing better, stronger and faster. Even with the local chi being so easy to access and so powerful, regaining enough energy to move around easily should've taken him far longer than it did. It was as if his ability to regenerate ki had been heightened tremendously. But there was something else there too, the chi carried things to him, connected in a way to the material world that was so beyond his understanding it was insane. So beyond his comprehension Ranma refused to allow the chi to interact with his ki reservoir, cautious of it and the effect his brief spurt of hate had on it.

Ranma paused suddenly, feeling eyes upon him, not human eyes but animal, though what had warned him he couldn't say. Before he could figure out where the feeling was coming from, several large apelike creatures bounded towards Ranma from the trees surrounding the one he had stopped at. Like the little creature that had been nibbling on his fingers they looked like a cross between a mammal and a lizard. They had long lizard like claws coming out of their paws, but bodies that looked like a monkeys', and faces that looked sort of like a lemur yet with a mouth full of large fangs.

They all roared some kind of challenge, charging at him from all sides. Ranma frowned, looking around for an escape route then decided to hell with it, and charged to meet the ones coming at him from the front, leaping into the air which seemed to startle them. He slapped one hand down using it as a springboard to flip himself over the two coming at him from the front, his other hand lashing out with a punch that caught one of the beasts in the side of the head mid-leap, sending it tumbling down to the floor of the jungle below with a startled squeak, though not doing much other damage, as weak as Ranma was at the moment.

Landing on the next tree over Ranma chance to glance around him. He then noticed down below what looked like small family units hurrying away on the lower bows. There even seemed to be a few very crude huts scattered around on the lower boughs. "Oh."

Now knowing why they were attacking him Ranma decided to simply run off, quickly racing through the trees. Noticing that a few of the hunters or guards were still chasing him Ranma frowned and sped up further, going as fast through the canopy as his weakened state would allow. With that he left them behind quickly, though he had to stop and rest for a few hours afterward. _Geez, is this how normal people feel all the time? I need to find a place to stop and start working on building up my strength and reserves._

After his rest Ranma reoriented himself to move up the mountain again, now not letting himself be lost in his thoughts as he took in the surrounding with much more seriousness. Doing so he noticed several animals on the floor of the jungle. There were a few varieties of small critters that scattered here and there as he moved through the canopy and one large herbivore of some kind that looks like an armored rhinoceros the size of an elephant and with an elephant's trunk.

Just in case it proved intelligent Ranma waved at the thing, but it placidly kept on eating from the leaves of one of the baobab trees. It's prehensile nose was able to reach into the spikes of the tree to pull out the small flowers that were everywhere on it, unmindful of the vines that were trying ineffectually to grab or choke it. Ranma made a note of the tree's action too, and steered well clear of the possibly carnivorous trees.

Ranma kept on going through the day, moving higher up the mountain, but never leaving the jungle behind or breaking out into any other kind of terrain. Soon it was almost dark out, and he frowned pausing on one of the more normal looking trees to stare around him looking down into the canopy in particular to check to see if there were any of the monkey lizards around. Thankfully there didn't seem to be, and he found a particularly large branch to lay out on for the evening.

He decided not to use his sleeping bag, afraid that if he got too comfortable hit tried to move in his sleep and roll off the limb. Instead Ranma leaned his backpack against the trunk using the sleeping bag as a pillow and tried to get to sleep with the unfamiliar noises of the jungle all around him. He desperately needed it.

His dreams were disjointed affairs, very odd ones in very different ways. Some were simply memories: the fight back on Earth, his battle with Saffron, his fiancée's words and his mother's recriminations. All that he had suspected he would be hit by once he closed his eyes. One of his dreams however was very disturbing, almost as much as the pit which he'd been tossed into to learn the neko-ken.

The dream didn't really have much in the way of imagery, it was mostly a feeling. A feeling of darkness pressing in, a shadow over the sun blocking out all light but it wasn't as if there was one source of light but thousands, all of them very weak individually. Even when they were brought together they were still very weak, far too weak to break through the shroud of darkness. There was malevolence in that shroud a lurking evil, a desire for destruction, revenge and above all power.

It tried to push in on a few extremely bright lights, which had burned some of it away. One by one they failed, leaving only one light burning away against the shroud. Somehow, Ranma didn't know how, but he knew that light was supposed to represent him.

That dream-realization woke Ranma up, staring around him in the dark of the jungle making certain that someone wasn't really searching for him. The sounds of the jungle had obviously changed in the night, but there was no other indication of danger. After staring out around him he fell back to sleep, and the feeling of the shroud was gone as if the presence behind it had moved on unable to find him.

The other dreams he'd almost expected but not quite, their tone if not their content. Given the night before, Ranma knew he'd probably be dealing with the male equivalent of wet dreams which his friends called whack-dreams for some reason. But the content of these dreams was well off what he had thought.

He had thought he would dream about a few of his fiancés. Yet the next morning he woke up after vague dreams and not so vague imaginings focused on a few of the other girls in his life.

His imaginings featured Hinako-sensei, who despite her need to drain ki to retain her real age had a very nice, tight body, with all the muscle of a trained dancer and, as his friends always made certain to point out, huge knockers. There was also one about Kasumi which made him feel guilty for a very different reason than the one he had about Hinako, and for some reason a few dreams Minako and Makoto from the Sailor Moon anime, which was Kasumi's favorite anime. Nabiki too featured prominently in his imaginings though those always ended the moment she opened her mouth afterward, invariably demanding money or something else to keep quiet about it.

Akane didn't feature in a single imagined scenario, not that first night or any other. She did appear in a few memories-turned dreams, but they never ended well. Ukyo and Kodachi didn't show up at all, but Shampoo did rather frequently, though more often than not in the imaginings side of things rather than memories-turned dreams side.

Coming fully awake that first day in his new environs, Ranma groaned finding that his pants had become drenched once again. "Note to self," he murmured as he pulled his pants and underwear off quickly exchanging them for a clean pair. "Need ta get this under control 'fore I find some civilization."

Over the next few days Ranma slowed his progress during the day, taking longer breaks to deal with his thoughts and emotions now being free from the Youthful Mind technique. He destroyed several large boulders that were sticking out of the jungle canopy, ranting and raging but eventually getting over his issues with all those he had left behind.

It was actually rather therapeutic, allowing Ranma to work through even more issues than he had thought he had, not just with Akane and his family but everyone he'd dealt with. He even was able to figure out, at least a little with the help of the romance book, how a lot of the problems had been his own fault. Though Ranma would never admit it aloud a lot of the stuff in Nerima had become so bad because Ranma himself didn't care enough to put in the effort to try and really find solutions, simply coasting along, not caring about anything but learning new techniques.

Devoting his entire life to the Art like Genma had shown him had hampered his ability to deal with other people, yet even so Ranma should have been able to notice that things tended to get worse when he responded in a Genma-approved fashion or ignored things in the hopes they went away. _I really fucked up by the numbers sometimes didn't I? Still don't have any idea how I could've gotten Shampoo off my back and still gotten Cologne ta train me. But I might've, well, I guess, I kinda_ _ **did**_ _lead Ukyo on at first._

 _And looking back on it it's pretty obvious that always pointing out how my female body was better than hers, or that she might have issues with bein' seen with a girl half the time, especially since she always thought I was a pervert._ Ranma tried not to think of Akane's name, since that seemed to be a trigger for some of his anger issues. _But damnit, she did the same thing, not just with Ryoga but with that guy from the monster zone too. Why the fuck could she_ _ **be**_ _nice to them right after meetin' 'em, and not me after she learned o' my curse?_

During these episodes he noticed that his emotions were actually upsetting the local chi, making it simmer and crackle as if it had taken on the rage and grief of his emotions. It was a very weird effect, as if the chi was actually emotional ki, but it was easy enough to deal with. He knew the hazards of using emotional ki like Akane or Ryoga did, and cutting himself off from the ambient chi allowed him to ignore its feedback effect on his own emotions. It was just one more mystery to add to the list Ranma had been building up since arriving wherever the hell he was right now.

Two weeks passed, and Ranma had finally gotten rid of all of his anger issues, returning to his normal laid back self, though there was a lot more going on under the surface than had been the case back in Nerima. Every night after his normal katas he would read one of the medical books that Dr. Tofu had. He didn't understand a lot of them, but he was getting there slowly, especially on the alternative medicine stuff, moxibustion, pressure points and other such.

However his ki reservoir was only slowly refilling itself thanks to his distrust of the local chi, and having prioritized sending his ki to aid his healing. His aches and pains were mostly gone, but the skin issue had only begun to clear. Ranma wasn't certain why that was, he was simply happy his skin had begun to turn back to normal. But Ranma had run out of emergency bars about ten days after he arrived wherever he was, making his ability to replenish his ki much slower.

He was beginning to think of trying out some of the local animals to see if any of them were not poisonous (always better to assume they are and be surprised when you're wrong) when he at last broke out of the jungle at last, coming to what looked like the outside of a huge caldera. He had seen it coming, which was why he knew it was a caldera in the first place, but the rock face was almost sheer, with few handholds.

Ranma was about to turn away and find another direction to head thinking that the view he would get from up there wouldn't be worth the effort of climbing when he heard a dull roar in the distance. Much louder than any animal could've produced, the noise was coming from almost directly overhead. Frowning Ranma retraced his steps jumping back further into the jungle and stopping on one of the highest trees in the area to stare up into the sky.

From there he saw silhouettes barely visible moving through the upper atmosphere. They soon resolved themselves quickly into several large shapes, which seemed to gleam dully in the light of the sun.

They kept on coming down, moving towards the interior of the caldera, resolving themselves further into five large ships of some kind, though four of them resembled one another, while the fifth was larger and seemed less maneuverable. They all looked about as aerodynamic as bricks though, which made Ranma wonder how the hell they were still flying at all, and then it suddenly clicked on him. "Weird ass trees that no one's ever seen or taken photos of, even weirder animals that look like a cross between mammals and lizards, and now flying ships that look a lot as if they should crash the instant they try ta lift off. Toto, I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore..."

Despite the thought that he had somehow landed on an alien world Ranma almost sighed in relief, knowing now that he had been right to head up the mountainside. After all, ships like that wouldn't be simply touching down randomly. There had to be something there, some city or other.

Ranma eyes narrowed when he saw lights began to blossom moving from the ships down towards the ground and other, far fewer lights from the ground up. Ranma hadn't read that much science fiction books, but he had read a few graphic novels. Those had to be weapons of some kind, and that couldn't be good. A second later and Ranma began to hear faint booms in the distance.

Frowning heavily and wondering what the hell was going on Ranma moved toward the caldera again, jumping up it in a way that would've made the monkey-lizards green with envy. Quickly he was on top of the caldera's edge, staring around. The edge was a natural cliff face about forty feet up from the center of it, but Ranma easily jumped down and made his way towards what looked like a smallish town of some kind which was possibly six miles or so deeper inside the collapsed top of the volcano.

The area between him and the town was covered with small orange and red bushes of some kind he hadn't seen yet, but not enough camouflage in the light of day to let him close without someone seeing him. Frowning Ranma paused, concentrating and pulling the Umi-Sen-Ken technique around him before racing forward, still using cover as much as he could just in case.

The largest ship had landed in the center of the town, which Ranma could now tell seemed to be a kind of shanty or mining town of some kind. Despite the oddities of the buildings, much more rounded and octagonal than square as they would be back on Earth, there was something about them that screamed that the they weren't really permanent dwellings for the most part. There just seemed something lopsided or ramshackle to them. He had seen the like in China several times, though what the heck they were here for he didn't know.

Four of the ships continued to circle over the town, their weapons blasting out with concussive force occasionally. Thanks to this overhead coverage by the time Ranma had reached the town most of the action was over. The attackers were in the process of looting the town, smashing into flimsy doorways to grab up anything they could find.

However Ranma was surprised to note that it didn't seem to be materials of any kind that the attackers were really here for. Rather they seemed to be searching for the people. Everywhere Ranma looked the pirates were driving the people of the town towards where their ships had touched down on the outskirts at what looked like some kind of landing pad.

As Ranma drew near enough to make out details on the people in the town and those attacking it Ranma paused in consternation then shook his head slightly kneeling down behind a piece of debris from some kind of hover car or something that had slammed into the ground here, killing its driver. _Of course, as if I needed any more proof that I'm not on Earth any longer. Stupid stinking magical devices, well I asked to be someplace else, and I definitely got that!_

None of the people he could see, either the attackers or the town's inhabitants were human. A few looked like they had evolved from something relatively close to humanity, the only physical differences being in their coloration and the size of their eyes, though their hair was much more uniform looking in texture than . After all very few humans had naturally light pink or dark purple colored skin in his opinion, and blue was an almost unknown color in most human circles as well.

These were outnumbered by others however that were more obviously not human. There were several dozen individuals that had somewhat long necks and very small heads without a hint of hair on them, along with another race that looked almost exactly like one of the Christian devils, complete with horns. Others looked almost like, and Ranma shuddered when he looked at them, furry demons from hell only crossed with some kind of werewolf.

Still others, and these seemed to make up a large number of the attackers, looked like the orcs from old-fashioned fantasy novels. Another race had orange scales or skin and three eyes, one on a prehensile stalk in the center of their foreheads. They were as obese looking as the orcs, but this type of alien seemed to be the ones in charge. The six of these aliens Ranma could see were giving out orders to the orcs.

They too seemed to be taking orders over what Ranma assumed were radios on their heads. They paused to listen before shouting orders at the others who were forcing the majority of the townsfolk towards the two waiting ships at gunpoint. Ranma was astonished to also note that some of the orc-like creatures were using huge pikes or halberds of some kind. Their ends seemed to shake a little in place, which was also odd.

Ranma took it all in at a glance, his tactical mind which had allowed him to be adaptable in so many martial arts contests coming to the fore here aided by the Youthful Mind having been removed. _The orcs seem to outnumber the other races, but most of them use those halberd things rather than what I guess are lasers or similar. And every group of them is commanded by one of the orange skinned ones._

As he watched one of the orcs brought his halberd around to slice into the back of one of the long-necked creatures, who had been moving much slower than his fellows and seemed stooped, possibly with age. As the old alien collapsed to the ground from the blow Ranma grimaced angrily, his hands flexing with a desire to rush out and attack the bastards.

Here and there he could see other bodies dotting the landscape of the town, including what looked like a clump of some other kind of alien, smaller of stature from what he could see from here. He wondered idly why that race had been weeded out from the others and executed like that, but frankly he didn't care about the reasons, only the fact that these bastards seemed more than willing to kill.

Ranma had been taught many things by Genma. A lot of it had proven false, and Genma didn't follow even a third of what he preached. But some things had stuck with Ranma, even now when he could fully understand how Genma had screwed him over. His love for the Art, his desire to be the best he could be was one area. The other was the Code of the martial artist. At its simplest form the Code stated that all life was precious, and that the strong should protect the weak.

But the darker aspect of the Code was if you were prepared to take a life, then you were also prepared to lose yours. These people had shown themselves utterly ruthless, willing to deal out death to anyone who didn't seem to be strong enough or whatever other criteria they had in choosing who they would be taking with them.

Ranma therefore had to be willing to match them. He wasn't happy about it, but he knew he had to be prepared to take their lives here. Or else he might not be the only one paying the price for his hesitation.

Moving forward Ranma was careful not to bang into anything that could make a noise, and always steered clear of the guards who looked like orcs, fearing that if they had a better sense of smell than humans they might be able to smell him. The Silent Thief technique tricked the mind into ignoring the individual, but Ranma had never tried it against anyone who had a better than average sense of smell, not even animals. He also hoped none of the aliens had some kind of sonar, since he didn't think the Silent Thief would stand up against that.

Nearer the ship Ranma scowled angrily watching the women being separated from the men. Several more men were gunned down after protesting that and Ranma's teeth ground together audibly despite his best efforts to control himself. After his 'health education' over the last few days he could all too easily figure out the reason behind separating the womenfolk.

 _But the womenfolk aren't gonna be as guarded once they're taken onboard the ship_. Ranma didn't want to start a fight out here, not with all the civilians around and not without knowing what kind of weapons those ships could turn on him. _But inside_ _I'll be able ta keep things close. And I don't care what race they are, I don't even care if my ki is so freakin' low I probably can't pull off much ki attacks, if I can get in close I'll slaughter them._

With that rather grim thought Ranma ducked back around what looked like some kind of control tower for a moment. Coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken for just a second he reached into his now redone ki space and pulled out a bottle of water he'd warmed at a spring a few hours back. _Here goes nothing_ he thought pouring the water over his head, being careful to not get her shirt wet. She then pulled on a large and face concealing cloak from one of the nearest dead bodies before moving out quickly, crossing the distance between the control tower and the last group of females being loaded onto one of the two ships.

Just as Ranma had hoped the inside of the ship was a sign of some confusion. It was a large hangar bay of some kind but it was overcrowded at the moment with the incoming prisoners and their guards. This allowed Ranma to squeeze into the center of a group of the women before coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken.

Because they had felt her before actually seeing her, none of the females around her, which represented several of the races he had seen, noticed him or gave him a second glance. One or two of them did a double take staring at Ranma's red hair then down at her bust but they were too busy with their own fears and concerns to really bother looking too closely at the redhead.

All around him there were barked orders, and Ranma grunted irritably. _Great I should've thought of that, can't understand a word they're sayin'._ Ranma knew he had a decent ear for languages, he'd been able to pick up Putonghua over the last few years thanks to Cologne and even Shampoo occasionally helping, though mostly to get close to him and try to seduce Ranma with her body. He'd learned English easily enough on the road, and could speak a smattering of Chosŏnmal, tiếng Việt, and even quite a bit of Lhasa Tibetan, all of which he'd learned passing through those countries with Genma.

But even so learning a new language would take time, and he'd need a reference point of some kind too, and reading it would be even worse. _Think of that later,_ Ranma ordered his own brain. _Now is not the time, and a battle isn't the place to start learning shit like that. I'll let my fists do my talking for a bit first._

Soon enough Ranma and the rest of the female prisoners were being hustled along one corridor, while the men that had already been brought into the ship were being herded in the opposite direction. The attackers didn't seem to care about segregating them by race, instead separating them by good or bad looking, which seemed to follow the human idea despite the alien's own body types.

They were lead to the end of the corridor, where there was a single door leading into a large holding area. The floor was littered from the refuse of what Ranma assumed had been its last inhabitants, as well as dozens of very cheap looking, ratty blankets tossed here and there.

As Ranma was hustled in through the doorway one of the guards grabbed her shoulder, then a hand was pulling at her hair as one of the orange skinned aliens talked to one of his fellows in seeming excited tones. Up close Ranma could tell that they were most definitely meat-eaters, all of their teeth came to points despite missing several of them here and there, and their skin was definitely scales rather than skin.

"Look at this one, wonder what a base-type human is doing out here, and check out the chest on her! How much you want to bet she's a slut that took up with one of the miners? Well, are you a good whore girl?"

Luckily for both the guards and Ranma's plan, Ranma didn't understand a word of what was called Galactic Standard, nor did he do anything other than grabbing her hair. If he had and given Ranma's nightmares about men in general touching his/her female form, she might not have been able to control herself. Instead Ranma simply glared at the guard then stamped on his foot before moving inside. Having carefully gouged the strength of the stamp of course, he didn't want to shatter the asshole's foot after all, not yet.

While the guard hopped up on one foot for a second yelling at her angrily and waving his gun the other one laughed. "We're not supposed to shoot any of the pretty ones, and she's one of the prettiest of the lot. You know the boss'll want to sample her personally before they start breaking her, and he'll take any damage you cause her out on your hide."

"I hope by the time he's done she's not as pretty anymore! That hurt!"

"You can be such a crechling." said the second one shaking his head irritably. "Come on, there's four more that can be put in this room before we start going through the next group."

Soon enough the door to Ranma's prison closed, and he moved over to it rapidly, putting his ear against the door. The last slave who'd been pushed in was one of the odd catlike looking females, and she looked at him quizzically. "What are you doing? You don't think there's going to actually be any chance of us escaping, do you? I wouldn't bother even dreaming about that. These bastards seem to be old hands at slave-taking."

The redheaded young woman she was addressing waved one hand as if almost shooing her off, but the cat-woman stepped towards her, reaching out to grasp her shoulder. "Listen, I saw you stamp on that one guard's foot, get it out of your system now. Later on if you do that to any of them they'll probably shoot you, and might shoot lots of us as well in reprisal. It depends on how **valuable** we are to them." She spat the word valuable then cocked her head when the redhead flinched a little under her touch.

Ranma hesitantly pushed the older woman's hand off her shoulder, thankful beyond words that it was a hand rather than a paw, given that the woman's semi-catlike appearance was already freaking her out that would've been a little too much right now. Looking around Ranma once more took stock of the women around her.

All of them were youngish, and all of them ranged from good-looking to downright gorgeous. Those humans that simply had different color schemes were exotic and immensely attractive, making Ranma happy he wasn't in his male form since he doubted he could have kept from reacting to them despite their current situation. Even in his female body Ranma could feel herself react to them, but thankfully not as noticeably.

That didn't even consider one of the alien females in particular. She looked almost human in appearance, her body that of an extremely fit dancer, though her breasts were larger than the equivalent would be on a human woman. She was bald, but had two long head tentacles falling down her back, tied with some leather bands. As Ranma watched their ends seemed to twitch in what he thought was some kind of nervous reaction. She was also wearing what looked like underwear of some kind, putting her body much more on display than the others, which caused Ranma to flush slightly and look away hurriedly lest her reaction(s) start to become visible through her shirt.

Turning back to her interlocutor Ranma shrugged, a faint blush still on her face. "Wish I could understand ya, but I can't." He said aloud watching as the furry-demon woman's eyes widened in surprise that he wasn't speaking the same language.

"What language is that? I've never heard that before. Why aren't you speaking Galactic Standard?"

Ranma frowned, trying to figure out a way to start the process of learning a new language without anything in common. A moment later however all their attention was diverted as a low throbbing sound went through the deck below them. Then there was a warning blare from a speaker overhead, and the thrum increased dramatically. Ranma felt the moment the ship lifted off, then some kind of artificial gravity kicked in as the ship powered away from the town and up into the atmosphere and space beyond.

The next few hours actually passed uneventfully, either because their new owners were busy about the ship, or because they wanted the girls to have time enough to realize the depths of their helplessness. _They might think time in here'll make us more pliable or somethin'_ Ranma thought to herself shaking her head. _Sure as hell wouldn't work on me, but its working on some of these other girls._

Indeed Ranma could tell that a lot of the women around them who had seemed to be trying to keep their courage going were now down on their knees or were leaning against the bulkheads, their eyes vacant. Several of them were openly crying. There were a few exceptions though, including the one with the two long head tentacles. She seemed more resigned than anything.

Ranma frowned, concentrating on her face, which was not an easy task given his newfound hormones and the woman's clothing, trying to figure out what she was seeing there. His/her ability to read expressions wasn't the best, but if human facial expressions carried over, it looked as if the green-skinned girl was used to feeling helpless, or as if this kind of thing was nothing new to her.

 _Not good. I am definitely not getting a nice fuzzy feeling from this new galaxy, universe, dimension or wherever the hell I am now. Great…I coulda at least tried ta just run first, made my decision when I had a clear head, but no! I had to be fuckin'_ _ **dramatic**_ _! Would it've been so hard having 'em follow me around for the rest of my life on earth?_

 _Yes, yes it would_. Ranma decided a moment later shaking her head with a small smirk. _Besides, once I get outta here, I'll have a whole galaxy to explore! Just think of the number of marital art styles out there!_

Then she shook herself. _Come on Ranma, ya need to think of a plan. You can either breakout and cause some havoc, sneak out an' look fer a specific target, or wait and see who's first to come and sample the goods._ The redheads' lips formed into a small snarl at the thought, but she went on, her thoughts a little cold now, though not quite on the level of the Soul of Ice. She had not been able to enter that technique's mental state since undoing the Youthful Mind, which she had mixed feelings about.

 _The first few will obviously be the officers, rank having its privileges an' all, so that could be a way to cut the head off the snake._ That wasn't really a viable plan however since Ranma had no idea if the leader had competent underlings, or if it would be the real leader at all rather than one of his favored underlings or whoever was in charge of breaking the slaves. He also couldn't take them hostage, the attackers, slavers or whatever they were had far more hostages then he would in that sort of situation. _And I can't pump 'em for information because I don't understand what they're sayin'. So breaking out it is._

Ranma moved back to the door, testing it for a moment and looking at its hinges before looking out the grate that would allow a guard to look inside. One of the two orange-scaled aliens was out there, possibly the same one that had pulled her hair earlier. Then she looked around, making certain there weren't any video cameras or anything in the hold their work. There was one up top on a swivel mount, but it seemed to be stuck in position, banging back and forth in a small arc rather than rotating the entire way. S _hoddy maintenance, possibly the only good sign I've seen so far._

Thankfully Ranma hadn't noticed any other video cameras out in the corridor either. _Good._ With that in mind Ranma looked at the lock on the door then shrugged. It was an electronic one, and there didn't seem to be any way to input anything into it on this side of the door. _Still, that doesn't mean I can't break it somehow. Either it'll break and open, or break and stay shut. Either way works for me. I can get out another way though the door would be much quieter._

The portion of the lock on this side of the door had only a small panel to it, but Ranma was able to pull it out of the rest of the door, using her nails to remove the small bolts. He paused a moment looking at the bolts in amusement. _An entirely different world with so many different alien races, and bolts still look the same. That's actually kind of cool when I think about it._

By this time a few of the other slaves who were more aware of their surroundings at this point were noticing what she was doing, and a few were already moving come to whisper urgently at her but Ranma again couldn't understand them. "Stop it you fool! If you make trouble for them don't you see they'll take it out on all of us not just you! I won't have my child…."

"Oh hush, if she's got some kind of plan, maybe she'll succeed, it's worth a try." Said another voice.

"Better to live a slave than to die and have our body ejected into hyperspace!" Said another voice.

"I've got a younger brother aboard this ship, and I'll do whatever I can to get him out of here." Said a fourth hotly, her voice a near snarl.

Ranma ignored them all which was quite easy considering their voices were simply background noise. When he reached into his ki space to pull out his bottle of water again however all of them looked on in shock. "What?" One stammered, "Howl?"

Hearing the shock in the voices around her Ranma looked back at them winking at the one who had stammered, one of the good looking human-type aliens with the odd skin colors. She then dumped the water into the electronics of the door, which immediately caused sparks and a fritzing sound. To Ranma's surprise the door opened rather than simply stayed shut, and the orange-scaled alien on the other side turned his three eyes widening while one hand fell to the gun at his hip.

Before that hand could finish its journey however Ranma had him by the throat with one hand and the other gripping his gun hand hard. She broke his wrist with a single twitch of her hand while the other hand crushed the alien's trachea stopping him from being able to scream. The last thing the aliens saw was two bright blue eyes staring into his.

Ranma shuddered, before reflexively throwing the dead alien into the prison cell behind him as she realized she just killed for the first time. Ranma hugged herself for a moment then shook her head angrily. _Enough, I'll worry about that later, we've got more important things to concentrate on now._ Quickly moving back into the cell she forced the door closed through brute strength, a feat that had many of the girls whispering though Ranma found it ridiculously easy. The door wasn't very thick after all.

Then Ranma moved over to the dead body, plucking out the alien's blaster. Holding it up in her hand she waved her other hand around at the crowd of women who were now much more aware of their surroundings. Half of them had been woken up by the sound of the door opening, and now all of the women in the cell were looking on, their faces showing the full gamut of emotions from horrified and worried to hope.

One of them, one of the long-necked ones came forward, taking the gun from her. Ranma motioned to the doorway and then stood as if standing guard to show what she wanted the aliens do and the alien nodded in reply. "I don't know why you can't seem to speak Galactic Standard, or even where you came from really. I don't think I ever saw you around town. But if you think we have a chance of breaking out of here, I'm all for helping."

Ranma nodded with a smile, not able to pick out many of the words though she thought she'd figured out which word meant 'you' in that speech. Then she knocked on the door twice in quick succession then paused then knocked three more times in a slow beat. She stared at the guard earnestly, then did it again before nodding as she opened the door and left.

Once in the corridor Ranma covered herself once more in the Umi-Sen-Ken as she moved down the corridor, very grateful that there were no other guards or surveillance equipment here. It looked as if only the pretty girls and women were worth putting a permanent guard on. She quickly found the hangar bay they had been brought in by, which was teeming with work being done on what looked like some kind of equipment or other.

 _That stuff looks like mining robots or something. So is this some kind of rival mining group, or pure slavers that're gonna put the miners to work for 'em? I read stories about how people would get all, what was it, fuedin' and a'fightin', if someone was trying to work their claim in the American Old West, and in Japanese history the same sort of thing happened between feudal lords. But in space? If you can get ta other planets, what the hell could be worth so much that you'd want to round up your competitors like this?_

Shrugging that minor mystery off Ranma continued to move around, making a mental map of the ship. The corridors were uniform, and were all about 15 feet tall, probably to accommodate the height of different aliens though only the long-necked ones that were among the prisoners needed it on the ship right now. There were elevators here and there, and when Ranma entered one he saw that there were at least four levels or as many as six in most of them, though two of them in the direct center of the ship had seven.

It must have been the ships nights time because Ranma didn't run into that many aliens, only a few walking the corridors here and there and some in what was obviously a cafeteria which he entered with the help of one of the aliens coming out at just the time he reached the doorway. Squeezing between the orc and the wall had been difficult without touching them, but Ranma had done it, not that she got anything out of the effort.

He'd hoped that some of the alien's food would at least look like something he could try, but that was not the case. Ranma wasn't willing to try 'nameless meat soup', especially not 'nameless meat soup' cooked for aliens that look so much like orcs. Still, he was able to steal some hot water to change back to his male body at least. While parts of his mind was busy making a map of the ship and making notes of the two alien types cataloging what could possibly be weak points and other things like that the rest of Ranma's mind was trying to come up with a plan of action.

 _Problem one, while a lot of the miners look the type that'll be good in a fight, the pirates or whatever seem ta be better equipped, and they might have more numbers. Problem two, would the miners know how to work this ship if we could take it over? And problem three, this ship was one of five, and those four other ships were guard ships. That might mean they've got better weapons and armor than this one. And I got no idea what their reactions would be if this ship started to break away or whatever_.

Ranma had just decided to see if he could find an armory of some kind when he began to notice that the area he was now in, which was on the fourth floor of the ship near the center of it, looked much better kept up in the rest of the ship. _Officer's country?_ He was at the outside of the ship as well rather than the center, which was proven when he walked down the corridor and noticed that it actually had small portholes allowing someone to look out into space. The view though stopped his feet for a moment.

It wasn't stars, it wasn't even just blank darkness. Instead there were uncounted billions of lines of color, all mixing up in a way to make the greatest rainbow ever imagined look tame in comparison. After only a second of staring Ranma had to turn away, his eyes watering. _Holy fuck, what the hell?_

A stray thought or memory struck him of a book that Nabiki had red once, a science fiction book, something about the way ships traveled. _Hyperspace?_ For a moment Ranma stood there trying to remember what Nabiki had said about it, but then a small evil little smile appeared on his face. _I wonder what would happen if this ship suddenly lost its hyperdrive or whatever you call it…_

 **OOOOOOO**

It took Ranma another thirty minutes to find what he hoped was the engine room. It was a large room at the back of the ship encompassing four, maybe even five stories of the ship and was filled with computers, pipes, what looked like some kind of generator and a lot of other junk that Ranma didn't understand the purpose of. _That's alright though,_ Ranma thought to himself cheerfully _. I don't have to understand what it does ta break it._

Any normal space-fairer who had the ability to hear Ranma's thoughts at that moment would've been horrified. Messing around with hyperdrive engines was not recommended at the best of times, there were few more horrifying ways for a spacer to die than for his ship to disintegrate around him in hyperspace, or just to go off course. While many of the main hyperspace lanes were so because they were clear of obstacles, those lanes didn't extend to the sides, above or below very far. So if you came out of hyperspace in the wrong place you could find yourself coming out into the center of a star, already in the grips of a black hole, or bouncing off the edge of some other gravity well.

Ranma didn't know any of that, of course. All he was interested in was the idea that maybe messing with the engines would drop them out of hyperspace into realspace, while the rest of the ships in the convoy or whatever kept on going.

From his perch up on top of one of the large pipes, Ranma looked around, clinging there with ease, out of the Umi-Sen-Ken for now. He couldn't use his ki sense when in the Umi-Sen-Ken very well for some reason. Now however he could sense seven aliens all around the room. They radiated to his senses somewhat oddly, but Ranma put that down to the fact that they were aliens rather than anything else.

He noticed that three of the aliens were of a new type he hadn't seen before. They looked like menial labor and were being treated almost like slaves by the orange scaled aliens too, though they didn't seem to have collars or anything on them. They were squat somewhat ungainly creature that would only come up to his chest if that. They seemed to walk on all fours for preference, with long back legs and somewhat shorter forelegs with three large fingers on the front hands, but with very dexterous toes.

One of the orange-scaled aliens seemed to be in charge here. He wasn't really doing much, simply sitting in one of the chairs at a console with his feet up and some kind of magazine open in his hands. Curious Ranma jumped down entering the Umi-Sen-Ken in midair to land lightly behind the alien. He stared over the aliens shoulder at the magazine before blushing hotly, moving away quickly while shaking his head. _Should've expected that, porn magazines exist even in space, what a revelation, not!_

He very carefully ignored how good looking the white skinned alien on the page had looked, or how enticing certain… parts had been, needing to concentrate on the here and now. _And besides, remember Ranma you're a boy again, ya can't go perving on girls like that._

Frowning thoughtfully Ranma simply looked around the engine room trying to decide what the weakest point was and what could most easily be broken before realizing that he had really no idea. Shrugging, he grinned. _When in doubt blow stuff up. First though, let's see if I can find the armory._

That was actually quite easy. The armory was at the center of the ship on the other side from the hangar bay. They were connected by a short corridor moving sideways across the ship which Ranma had bypassed because he had seen what looked like some kind of heavy gun turret stuck in the ceiling set on a pintle mount. It wasn't moving thankfully, which Ranma put down to either shoddy maintenance or someone trying to save a little bit of energy or something.

The armory wasn't as impressive as Ranma had hoped. None of the orc's pikes were here, which made Ranma think that maybe they were personal weapons. But there were a hundred plus blasters there, large two handed weapons that Ranma supposed were the sci-fi equivalent of rifles. There was also a camera on a working swivel scanning the room, which made Ranma curse.

While the Umi-Sen-Ken covered him and anything he was touching, he couldn't hide the fact that a weapon had disappeared if he picked it up. The 'not interesting' or 'not my problem' field of the Umi-Sen-Ken could not match up against something like that. _Maybe if somethin; else was happening in the room ta trick their minds into concentratin' on, but as it is, no._

Frowning thoughtfully Ranma made his way out of the room, bypassing several of the orc types who were walking the corridor grunting occasionally and pushing one another by leaping up and sticking to the ceiling for a moment. _Scared Spider maneuver, one o' the most useful martial arts techniques I've ever learned_ Ranma thought to himself rather happily. Akane had laughed at him when he had decided to create that technique after reading a few American comic books about a hero named Spiderman. But it certainly came in handy.

Ranma leapt down after the two orcs had passed, racing down the corridor in a hurry now. He had to finish this tonight, he couldn't let the night cycle of the ship pass him by. Nor was he willing to try this against at some later date, not if it meant leaving the slaves, in particular the women, in their captors' hands.

 _I've been lucky so far that none of these bastards have tried to go and 'sample the goods'. If they had, an alarm would've already been raised, and I would've faced a tough choice._ That choice would have been to fall back and help protect the women giving up his primary advantages, his mobility and ability to stay hidden, or leave them to their own devices with only a single gun to protect them.

Soon after that, Ranma came upon where the male prisoners on the ship had been imprisoned. It was a smaller area then the ones devoted to the females, and guarded by not one orange-scaled alien but two orcs directly outside the doorway carrying those weird pikes of theirs. Luckily there wasn't any kind of camera or whatever watching the doorway. The two orcs were leaning against the wall on either side of the doorway, which allowed Ranma to move between them to stare through the bars of the cell into the interior, though he had to stand on his tiptoes to do it.

Here again he ran into a problem. There was some kind of recorder set in the ceiling of the room, and this one was moving around just like the one in the armory. That definitely limited his options.

Frowning thoughtfully, Ranma moved away from the door again, staring at the two aliens on guard, both of whom were asleep slumping against the walls. It was tempting to start the party here, but Ranma decided against it. _No, best to give the crew something else to concentrate on before I raid the weapons locker, then come back here._

With that in mind and knowing he was running out of time Ranma raced back to the engine room, nearly colliding with two of the orange-scaled aliens as they moved down the corridor. However he reached the engine room without further incident then looked around trying to figure out what to break and how to do it.

Finally he decided on a series of large pipes and energy runs coming out of the generator and into the wall directly behind it. Several of them looked rusted, and Ranma figured that was a good indicator that maybe this was a natural weakness of the engine. With that in mind, Ranma leapt up onto the top most pipe staring down at it then came out of the Umi-Sen-Ken. He paused for a moment, then blasted straight down with a ki shot. "Moko Takabasha."

The Fierce Lion's Roar's blue sphere cut through the pipe cleanly, and immediately some kind of extremely cold liquid began to gush out, some of it splashing on Ranma and causing him/her to change forms. But the big surprise happened when the ki blast bore through the bottom of the pipe and then into the energy runs. The explosion picked Ranma up and threw her up into the air to slam her back into the ceiling of the engine room, throwing shrapnel and everything else every which way.

Even though Ranma had been ready for something to happen the explosion caught him/her by surprise. She grimaced as several bits of shrapnel cut into her skin here and there while she raised her arms to protect her face. One in particular nicked the redhead's side, causing her to wince irritably, but Ranma could feel her ki healing already going to work. Ranma continued to cling to the ceiling, pulling the Umi-Sen-Ken technique around him again.

Below her the aliens began to scramble around in a panic. "What in the universe just happened?! Why did we lose containment?" The one in charge threw aside his porn magazine, rushing over to stare up at the damage before turning quickly to slam his palm down on a large flat area on the side of the generator. Another panel popped up next to it after a bare flicker of an instant, and his other hand shot out to slam a large red button. "Emergency shutdown!"

The hum of the generator, which after Ranma's bit of sabotage had become more of a high-pitched whine, suddenly stopped. Alarms began to blare now, and from some kind of intercom a voice began to shout angrily. "What the hell is going on down there?! We're still six hours out from our destination, why did we come out of hyperspace, and why are the alarms blaring!?"

While the three-eyed alien that had apparently hit the emergency stop tried to explain matters into the intercom to whoever was on the other end, the other aliens grabbed up some emergency gear and began to deal with the fire that Ranma had caused. He winced guiltily however as he noticed that one of the menial aliens had been hit by a bit of the shrapnel. It wasn't badly hurt, but it was noticeably limping, one of its back legs cut in a few places near its foot.

One of the other orange-scaled aliens was down, holding his gut where a piece of shrapnel had embedded itself. But seeing as he was part of a slaving group and obviously there by his own choice unlike the menials, Ranma wasn't prepared to waste any sympathy on him.

Quickly Ranma made his way over to the hatchway into the engine room, then from there made his way along the ceiling using the Scared Spider technique until she was by the armory. She waited there as several dozen of the orange skinned aliens raced down the corridor towards the engine room shouting to one another. Ranma noticed that none of the orcs seemed to have been roused to help deal with the crisis, which was another sign that maybe they were simply dumb muscle.

She opened the door to the weapons locker immediately coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken to fire a Moko Takabashi at the camera, destroying it before racing into the room and gathering up as many of the weapons as he could stuffing them into his ki space before racing back out. She then paused, firing off another ki blast destroying the heavy gun in the corridor moving across the ship just in case.

With that done Ranma raced along not caring that she slammed unseen into one of the orange-scaled aliens, sending it tumbling with a squawk of surprise to the corridor floor. Ranma was out of sight down the corridor before the alien could do more than shout in shock.

Ranma swiftly came to the holding area for the male prisoners. Dropping out of the Umi-Sen-Ken as he was moving forward she noticed that the two orcs were now awake and grumbling to one another, shifting uneasily on their feet as the alarm continued to blare and the voice shouted through the intercoms. Neither orc had time to bring their pikes down to bear on him before Ranma jumped up, her fists lashing out to either side. Ranma's punches slammed into the orc's noses at far faster speeds than most humans (or aliens) could hit, throwing them backwards against the walls with their faces smashed in, dead or unconscious.

With that done Ranma moved forward two steps to the jail's door. Grabbing the bars of the door's small viewing flap, Ranma ripped the door off its hinges, tossing it behind him down the corridor.

Inside the male prisoners had woken when the alarm went off and were milling about uncertainly. Several of them near the doorway trying to hear what was going on before Ranma had ripped the door off its hinges. Now they all stared at Ranma in shock. "Does anyone know who this girl is?" asked one of the more alien looking miners, a huge slow moving creature, that had long hair and tusks, looking around at the others. "And… um, where did the door go?"

"Noooo… I'd remember those… I mean her…" said one of the human-looking aliens, leering at the redheads breasts.

Ranma didn't notice the man's look, instead staring all around at the miners. She smirked at them then waved her hands, as if she was a magician about to perform a conjuring trick. Then without further ado Ranma began to pull out weapons from her ki space to exclamations of shocked surprise. "Hey all, hope you like know how to use these."

One of the miners, another young male from the race that most looked like humans with odd skin colors, in this case light purple, moved forward hesitantly picking up one of the guns. Inspecting it, he nodded at the girl who seemingly had some kind of weird power to hide things. "Who cares who she is, or what the hell she's doing." he said turning to the others with a fierce grin "For my part, I'm suddenly feeling a lot more confident now without ships overhead threatening to bombard us into wreckage. How about it, who's ready to skrog these kriffers up!?"

He was answered with a roar as the miners all moved forward quickly grabbing up weapons.

Ranma nodded her head rapidly. "I'll show you where the girls are being kept, we don't want these bastards to be able to take them hostage against you all." None of them seems to understand and Ranma rolled her eyes before pointing down the corridor then at herself. The blank looks continued even while some of the miners began to move rather uneasily around her, one of them stopping to put some laser rounds into the orc's heads.

Shuddering a little at that Ranma made motions to her breasts. Then she pointed at the prisoners before pointing back down the corridor. "I think she wants to show us where the rest of the women are." Said one of the older prisoners. "Is that it?"

Ranma looked at him blankly then did the same motions again, saying aloud. "I can't understand you, but the women are that way, that way? God I'm sounding like an American tourist just speaking loudly and clearly in Enlgish, as if that'll help. Ughh…" Ranma shook his head before turning and moving off.

"I think that's it!" Said another miner, one of the aliens with longer necks. "Those of you with family go with her and guard the women. The rest of us let's raise some hell!"

A moment later Ranma was gratified to notice that several dozen of the male miners were following her. The redhead raced across the hangar bay, stopping halfway to knock out several of the orc aliens that had gathered there, possibly as a first response in trying to retain control of the prisoners. Ranma barreled into them like a bowling ball hitting ninepins, scattering the orcs easily their best efforts to hack at her with their pikes. _They might be strong in comparison to most aliens but they've got nothing on a martial artist,_ she thought to himself grimly _._

Leaping up Ranma dodged a pike that an orc tried to hack at her with, grabbing the orc by the head and flipping over it. Using it as a handstand, she kicked out at two others before twisting its neck with an audible 'Crack'. Ranma winced in revulsion at having killed again, almost automatically reaching mentally for the Soul of Ice, but she fought the instinctual reaction off. That kind of thing could get to be a habit, and Ranma wasn't willing to fall into it.

Ranma raced on, coming upon two of the orange scaled aliens about to head down the corridor towards where the women were being kept. Attacking them from behind, Ranma slammed their heads together before they even knew she was there, tossing them to the side before racing on. Arriving at the door into the women's cell Ranma did the knock he had shown them before he left.

The women must've been on edge already from the sirens and the shouts through the intercom because the door was opened a second after Ranma finished the special knock. Over a dozen of them stared out at her then over Ranma's head towards the running men. The men in turn shouted gleefully when they saw wives, daughters or more often than not simply significant others. Some of them stopped at the other two doors on this corridor, opening it to reunite with the women who hadn't made the cut to be among the best looking bunch, and there were shouts of joy all around.

While the families were reunited Ranma grabbed two of the younger, tougher looking miners that had followed him. They looked at one another in shock as the girl carried them back towards the start of the corridor, their feet not even touching the ground like they were small packs of food. Once there, Ranma pointed down at the floor and then at them emphatically. "Hold here, guard here, understand?"

"I think she's trying to tell us to guard this position. " said one of them to the other, shrugging his shoulders. " It's a good idea too, since this is the only entrance to the women's areas."

"I wonder why she can't speak Galactic Standard." said the second looking at the redheaded human girl. "And where the hell she came from. Coffec was right, she's damn memorable for such a short thing. Plus there weren't any true humans among us except for old man Dufty, and he was gunned down before we boarded the ship."

"Worry about that later, if it's really something to worry about at all considering this crap we've found ourselves in." The first man muttered, going to one knee and siting along the top of his blaster rifle down the corridor at one of the orcs Ranma had knocked around in the hangar bay. A second later blaster bolts raced down, catching the orc in the chest and face. He nodded at the young girl, who nodded back then raced off leaving them behind to their surprise, having thought that she would stay with the other women now that the men were armed and moving around the ship.

They watched astonished as the redhead leaped over two more orcs entering the corridor, kicking out to their heads as she went. The two orcs flew to the sides, slamming with enough force to shatter some of their bones against the sides of the corridor despite their layers of fat. "I'm not certain what race she is, but with strength like that, I don't think she's fully human whatever she looks like."

"You think?" The other miner scoffed. "I don't kriffing care what she is or where she came from! Whatever she is, we owe our lives to her. I just hope that the kriffing retrofitted corvettes keep right on going. We can't take those gunboats." The miners had figured out that they had fallen out of hyperspace, but had no idea why and no idea if the gunboats had kept on going or not.

The rest of the battle against the slavers was actually anti-climactic. Miners were a belligerent sort at the best of times and all of them were used to looking after themselves. Moreover the ship's crew was actually much smaller than Ranma had thought. The men alone among the prisoners outnumbered them two to one. And the orcs were useless at range, which meant the miners could cut them down with relative ease so long as they saw the orcs coming, even on the ship. They seemed to be able to absorb a lot of blaster bolts, but not enough to make a difference when the miners had their blasters on full auto.

Realizing this Ranma took the time to hit up the commissary in search of hot water. The redhead poured water over her head transforming into his male form with a sigh of relief. Then he joined the battle occurring elsewhere on the ship.

 **OOOOOO**

Jedi Master Dooku sighed staring at a screen of text in his room on the _Consular_ class cruiser that was carrying him to yet another interminable peacekeeping mission. While he would never say it aloud, Dooku felt that his diplomatic skills were not the match of his martial ones and he would much rather deal with a straightforward problem than endless discussion. Though he supposed as a Guardian that should have been a given, but even Guardians could not turn away from diplomatic missions.

That didn't even consider the fact that he felt that the Jedi Order should not be called upon as mere diplomats of the Republic. _If politicians can't solve the problems that they themselves are creating, then what good are they? The Jedi Order is meant to serve the Light side of the Force. Not the law, not the Senate, but justice and the rights of the common sentient being. When did we become part of the corruption?_

Dooku knew that some of his thoughts were fueled by simple grief. The death of his latest padawan on a mission she shouldn't have even been a part of and which the Jedi Order should never have been called to deal with in his opinion had hardened his thoughts against the current course of the order. _The Jedi Order was created to defend others, not to serve a corrupt government. We serve the Light side of the Force, of balance, justice and peace. We are not a police force nor are we diplomats, simple voices of the government, of those in power. Laws matter yes, but only if the people who made them actually follow them, and it must be the people or their peers in the senate that bring them to task if they do not. A fact my current mission is an excellent example of, yet here I am, a Jedi Guardian on a diplomatic mission._

The Gran Protectorate had originally been a simple colony of the Gran on the planet Malastare. The Gran were originally a peaceful race from the planet Kinyen. But due to a series of social issues the colonists leaving had caused, the colonies had become isolated from the rest of their people. This changed the Gran on Malastare very much for the worse. Their society became much looser, much more corrupt and violent without the ability to interact with their fellows.

Worse, they oppressed Malastare's native population, the dug, creating a slave race. Though thanks to the dug not having a senator and the Gran of Malastare being very influential thanks to the planets resources and position in the galaxy, the label 'slave' had yet to stick, since **of course** the Republic did not allow slavery. The Gran were merely aiding and defending the dug, not exploiting them, not at all.

If there was one thing that irritated Dooku, it was dealing with two-faced politicians. He'd met the Gran senator several times, and he was one of the most two-faced of an already two-faced lot.

Recently, the Protectorate had begun to send privateer wolf packs into the systems around Malastare, taking over anything they could, wiping out a few small mining operations and, rumors stated, enslaving some of their populations to be sold to the Hutts in the Outer Rim. That was why a Guardian like Dooku had been chosen for this mission. But instead of searching for evidence as he had wished, Dooku was being sent to simply warn the governor of the Protectorate that such acts were not allowed and to clamp down on the 'pirate activities' around his system. The evidence that the acts were actually government-backed had been tossed out as inconclusive, and the Jedi council had gone along with things rather than make waves.

 _And_ _ **that**_ _right there is the point isn't it? The Jedi Order doesn't want to change the status quo, turning a blind eye to the growing corruption and abuse of power in the Senate and even on a planet by planet basis. We have simply become a tool of the Republic, not the people we were meant to serve. We have become too staid, too certain, we no longer grow, and we follow the Senates orders like good little lap dogs!_

With a sigh Dooku turned the screen off, leaning back as he closed his eyes, centering even so, he could not throw off the direction his thoughts were taking.

 _I know there are voices in the Senate that try to act against the corruption, but they too are part of the system, and the system itself marginalizes such voices. I can see the Republic crumbling slowly but surely into warring interest groups, corporations and guilds. And the Jedi and our abilities go to the group with the highest number of representatives in the Senate!_

 _Is the only recourse for me to search out the Sith? For all their use of the Dark Sid and their evil deeds, they continued to change, to adapt and to grow. And they sometimes forced the Jedi, and the galaxy as a whole, to do the same. It was only after they were vanquished that the Jedi pruned themselves back in fear of the temptations of the Dark Side. We need to expand again, to start to grow if we wish to change the Republic as a whole._

Just then something niggled at the Jedi Master's senses, causing Dooku to come out of his thoughts with a start. _What… some kind of odd ripple in the Force, but what, and where?_ For a moment he stretched out his senses, feeling through the force around him out into space. After a moment he found it, small and at the edge of his senses yet so odd, so strange, so **new**!

It was very hard to put it into words, but it was as if the Force itself was, was almost giggling at a joke, specifically a joke at someone's expense? That was the impression he got from the force ripple, which was simply **bizarre**! The Force should never be able to feel like that, it wasn't a living thing after all. Yet after a few moments, there were other ripples, the Force not so much laughing now but joyful, surging in a way that Dooku had never felt or even read about.

Swiftly coming out of his meditation Dooku moved over to his room's intercom speaking crisply into it. "Captain Rocol, please take us out of hyperspace now. I realize that we are not yet at our destination, but something has come up. The moment we exit hyperspace do a full system scan. Something unusual is going on nearby, and I wish to know what."

It was readily apparent the moment the moment the cruiser left hyperspace that Dooku had a grasp of the understatement. This was part of the Hydian Way, but in this area there shouldn't have been any ships stopped going from up one place to the other. This system was a nothing system, a brown dwarf with only a single tiny planet at the outskirts of its gravitational field, a luckless capture from some neighboring star system at one point in its past with no exploitable resources.

However, now this system held not only the _Consular_ class-cruiser but another ship. It was a freighter of Gran design ship of a classification that was three times heavier than the Jedi cruiser, though not as heavily armored. "It's a retrofitted heavy hauler master, the kind used to move large groups of people in not a lot of comfort, master Jedi." said the captain, Michael Rocol, when Dooku arrived on the bridge. "Our sensor readings indicate that it dropped out of hyperspace due to some kind of malfunction in its hyperdrive."

"Correct me if I'm wrong Captain but wouldn't that sort of malfunction have completely destroyed their hyperdrive?" Said Dooku smiling slightly at the younger man, a Corellian by his accent. The Corellia system was home to quite a few of the crew members on Jedi cruisers, despite having a somewhat more independent streak when it came to Republic politics than most. Corellia as a whole was known to produce incredibly gifted sailors and pilots, along with rogues, smugglers, and any other kind of spacer imaginable.

"Most hyperdrives have an emergency cutoff switch my Lord. If you're very lucky or very good at your job you can possibly survive a malfunction of the core." Michael's tone seemed to indicate which he thought it had been in this case. Scuttlebutt had done its work, and everyone in the small crew of seven knew about Dooku's mission. Corellians as a whole were death on slavery, whatever its official label, and the captain's disdain for the Garn of Malastare was palpable.

"Could it have been sabotaged?" Dooku asked.

"Possibly if you knew what you were doing sir." The younger man replied. "Or, as I said before, get incredibly lucky."

"Are they radioing any kind of distress signal?"

"No my Lord, we're getting readings signifying a lot of inter-ship chatter, but nothing we can pick up from this range."

"Bring us in closer captain, but keep the shields up just in case." Dooku ordered. The captain nodded, and the ship immediately began to move forward. By that point the captain had pulled up the ships registry. It was a Garm Protectorate ship owned by the government under the name that translated into common as _Power's Delights_.

Soon enough they were alongside the other ship and the communications specialist easily broke the inter-ship communications protocols. After listening to the garbled reports the man, a Mon Calimari, began to chuckle in the wet hacking way of his people. "It seems as if the ship is having internal problems, a 'slave' revolt. They even call them 'slaves' on their inter-ship transmissions."

Dooku smiled somewhat evilly. "Methinks my upcoming meeting with the Protectorate's governor has just become much simpler."

"There is some talk about a young human man or woman starting the trouble, but it is so garbled and laced with what is clearly attempts to cover their own rear quadrants that I can't say anything more than that I'm afraid. But it does appear as if the so-called slaves, all former miners, are wining." The Mon Calimari male, whose name was Ocko, shrugged his shoulders in one of those human gestures that had jumped to practically every species in the Republic which had shoulders.

"Do you think we could access the docking bay remotely?" By that Dooku meant it if they would be able to access the other ships computer to turn on the magnetic field that would keep in the air while simultaneously opening the docking bays doors for them to enter.

"We should be able to do it sir. Most ships' hangars can be remote accessed on a reserve frequency in case of onboard disasters, but it will take several minutes to set up. And after we'll have to pilot in ourselves." The captain reported.

"Of course." Dooku smiled faintly. "In that case captain, bring us in closer, and send the signal when ready. I believe I need to investigate this personally."

 _Is this the Force's response to my question? Is whatever over there going to help answer my questions about my path and about the Order as a whole?_ For the first time in several years Dooku found himself faced with a mystery, a mystery of the Force and he was surprised to find that he was actually eager to solve it whatever the outcome might be.

 **OOOOOO**

The slavers had soon realized that the battle was a hopeless one. Outnumbered, and thanks to Ranma stealing every weapon in their armory, outgunned the only two places on the ship that were still under the slaver's control was the bridge and the captain's quarters directly adjacent to it. The corridor that led to the bridge was guarded by four gun emplacements stuck on the walls that ran off independent power sources, and the miners had no wish to tangle with them.

However the bridge was now cut off from communications, sensors, even power, thanks to a few of the miners slicing into the bulkheads and cutting out routers for the ship's internal energy. Every other part of the ship had been overrun by the miners. Though Ranma didn't know it, the bridge crew couldn't even self-destruct the ship now, not with the miners in command of the engine room and the damage they and Ranma had done already.

The last battle came when a dozen orcs and three of the orange scaled aliens gathered in the docking bay before trying to push down the corridor towards the women's side to take them hostage against the rest of the miners. But they ran into the miners that were on guard duty as well as Ranma, who had come back after he realized that the miners had the rest of the battle well in hand.

Well that and he began to be irritated when all of the miners in the engine room had begun to shout at him the moment they saw what he had done to the engine. One of the weird little aliens had apparently seen him on the pipe before he fired off his Moko Takabashi. Ranma didn't understand a word of what they were shouting, but it certainly didn't sound like compliments.

After the battle Ranma escorted the single girls and the families out from that area and into the docking bay, trying to ignore the looks he was getting from a few of them, including the green-skinned one with the head tentacles. From there they began to spread out, going through the cargo stacked there looking for anything they could use. For a moment Ranma was at a loss as to what to do with himself. After all, he still couldn't understand what anyone else was saying, he didn't have any technical knowledge of the ship to help the women and men here or anywhere else on the ship.

He wasn't the only one who seemed to at a loss as to what to do though. The green skinned woman with the head tentacles was looking rather lost as well. Yet every time he looked in her direction, the alien woman was looking at him, her head cocked to one side as if she was trying to work out a puzzle. Ranma saw her face firm for a moment, then twitched when she began to move toward him.

Just then some kind of announcement went on over the ships broadcast system. "Warning incoming shuttle, warning incoming shuttle."

Ranma felt some one's hand land on his shoulder and was pulled back towards one of the walls. Looking up he noticed it was one of the women, thankfully not one of the ones that looks like a human crossed with a furry devil. She said something to him, but Ranma shrugged incomprehension and the woman sighed before nudging him into position against the wall.

Moments later Ranma watched in shock and as the outer bay doors opened, but none of the air was sucked out into space. _I thought that space was a vacuum,ain't it supposed to suck stuff out?_ Ranma's thoughts paused as he noticed some kind of blue shimmering screen covering the bay doors, spreading from one edge of the opening to the other. _Some kind of shield to keep in the air? That is so cool!_

Slowly a ship came into view coming from what Ranma estimated was the front of the slaving vessel, moving along its side until it was right outside the docking area. Then the main engine cutoff and smaller ventral thrusters began to fire, pushing it sideways into the hangar Bay. Then those too cut off, and something else on its bottom began to allow it to hover in place slowly coming to a rest on the floor of the hangar bay. As soon as the new ship was inside the hangar bay the doors began to close.

The moment they closed the door alongside the new ship's side opened, and Ranma stared seeing the first human he had seen since coming to this galaxy or whatever. He was a tall man, extremely tall in fact, and he looked elderly, just out of middle-aged or so, but fit, limber and wide-shouldered. His hair was going gray where it was cropped short on his head, and his aquiline features were stern yet inquisitive as he looked around. He was garbed simply, and he didn't seem to have any visible blasters on him or anything of that nature. On his waist he carried a long slim cylinder of some kind with a slightly hooked end to it, but if it was a weapon it was a type Ranma hadn't seen yet.

Yet even without a visible weapon, Ranma knew this man would be dangerous. He moved with all the confidence of a martial arts master, and his body was in complete and total control as he moved forward lightly on his feet. Ranma couldn't tell what kind of style he practiced, he wasn't close enough to see any of the telltale clues in the man's eyes or body language for that, but the confidence the man carried himself was the tried and tested sort.

And Ranma ki sense was telling him that the man had a major reservoir to him. But for some reason it was also entirely connected to the chi all around them. So much so that Ranma could barely tell where one ended and the other began.

While Ranma was making these observations the man was doing the same looking all around him, taking in everything. As he moved forward a few of the miners moved forward to talk to him. They were interrupted however as one of the women rushed forward shouting angrily.

Dooku had taken in what had obviously occurred here in a glance, a ship crewed by Garn and Gamorreans had for some reason taken several dozen miners of various races captive. Yet they had seemingly bitten off more than they could chew in some fashion, which matched with what his crewmen had taken from the internal ship coms.

While his eyes were flicking here and there a delegation of what were obviously miners walked towards him. At the same time Dooku began to expand his senses outward, trying to pin down the disturbance in the Force he had sensed. He had barely begun and had already gotten a sense of the individual he was here to see being nearby when his concentration was interrupted. "You, Jedi! Child kidnappers!"

One of the women, a by her looks had raced forward, pushing aside two miners who tried to stop her, and was now in Dooku's face, pushing at him and shouting angrily in his face. "My son, where is my son! You took him, you took him away! His father should never have let you do it, my baby!"

Dooku winced internally. This wasn't the first time he had met someone who had a child that had been taken up into the order, but it was never easy to deal with. Medical hospitals the galaxy over routinely checked babies and toddlers for force potential and if the potential was high enough to warrant interest the order routinely sent a Jedi to look into it. If true, the same Jedi would convince the parents to give the child up. He knew that in his own case that had been a very uphill battle given his age, but for the most part the parents were happy to send the child to where they would get training in their unique abilities. Or at least that was what everyone was told. Dooku had never been sent on such a mission, so didn't know the truth of it.

"Madam, I…" Dooku began.

His calm words however were interrupted by the woman actually pushing him physically. "Where is my son?!"

Frowning Dooku held up a hand waving it briefly as he sent out a pulse of Force into the woman's mind trying to calm her down. The next second however he was forced to dodge backward as a foot flashed through where his head had recently been.

Ranma glared at the old man, pushing the woman back behind him, fists clenched. Ranma didn't know what he had been doing, but Ranma had seen the old man send out his ki to interact with the woman somehow via his ki sense. It almost looked like some of the healing techniques that Dr. Tofu had used in the past, but not quite, having something in common with Hinako's ability to drain someone's energy of someone else as well.

Whatever the case, even if it might have been more along the lines of Tofu's rather than Hinako's technique, Ranma was unwilling to let him complete it. "I don't know what you're doing to her, but where I come from you have to ask for permission to do something like that."

It was **him**! Dooku stared at the young man in front of him. He looked possibly eighteen, maybe younger, and he stood like a warrior, his body tensed, ready for anything. But that wasn't the reason Dooku was staring at him, no that was what his Force sense was telling him. The boy was a **fountain** of the Living Force, more Force power then Dooku had seen in anyone before, save perhaps Yoda and some of the other Masters of the order. It was wild and untamed, yet it all came from **him** , and not from his connection to the Force around him!

The young man dropped into what Dooku easily recognized as a unarmed combat stance. Reflexively Dooku began to use Force Control, trying to calm the youth down as he had tried the woman, only to break off in surprise as the boy rocketed forward faster than anyone not Force-assisted should've been able to do. He blocked a punch that would've impacted his chin, wincing in pain at the strength, calling on the Force quickly to reinforce his body then ducked to one side to get away from a kick and punch combo before the young man landed, kicking out to try to sweep Dooku off his feet. Dooku jumped over the kick, thrusting out with one hand in a Force Push to send his opponent away hoping that he would calm down.

Ranma grunted as the wave of almost invisible ki slammed into them. But he kept his footing, rushing forward.

"Calmly young man, please I come in peace!" Dooku barked then watched in surprise as the young man made no sign of having understood his words. A bare second later Dooku was forced to dodge several different punches and kicks moving faster and with greater accuracy that few non-Force users could've kept up with. Dooku jumped away, putting more distance between him and the young man, activating his lightsaber so automatically he didn't even think about it first.

Unfortunately rather than backing off the young man took Dooku's activating the weapon as a further challenge. He grinned and kept on coming, seemingly without any recognition of what the lightsaber meant. Though that was interesting, Dooku had to concentrate on the here and now.

The young man was fast Dooku thought, moving his head fractionally to dodge a kick. His free hand reached out to grab attacker's arm, but he was already out of the way of the grab, his hand chopping out so fast that Dooku barely pulled his own arm back in time, only his battle precognition allowing him to do so. _**Very**_ _fast! And I am no master of unarmed combat._

Dooku had long looked down his aquiline nose on unarmed combat, thinking it brutish and inelegant in comparison to lightsaber combat. _Still, there are ways about that._ He jumped back, Force pushing the pigtailed youth away from him for a moment, having to fight his own instincts as his blood rose at the bare challenge the young man posed. Somehow the Force was telling him that this fight needed to happen, the young man was simply too combative to listen until he was beaten down a bit.

 _Somewhat like the Mandalorians in that aspect._ He mused, while flicking his thumb on the setting control of his lightsaber for a moment. Dooku was about to lower its settings when the young man was on him again. He dodged several kicks and punches, reposting so automatically he couldn't stop himself. Dooku then watched astonished as the young man dodged, his fist flashing out to almost catch Dooku in the throat. _The young man doesn't have any kind of survival instinct! Or simply doesn't understand what a lightsaber can do!_

Dooku swayed to one side, now taking part of the battle in earnest, his sword flashing here there and everywhere. Unfortunately his Makashi, his favored style, was a from based entirely towards lightsaber duels rather than towards an unarmed combatant. Some of the parry's and swings in particular had to be regulated, changed to allow him to face his current opponent's unarmed style rather than use the actions of his opponent's lightsaber against him in a variety of ways, particular changing the momentum of his own blows.

The Jedi master's surprises did not stop there. They continued when Dooku thrust swirly at the youth's chest, pulling back just enough so that the blow wouldn't penetrate, instead only burning away a bit of the young man's clothing. But the young man blocked it before Dooku could pull back! And instead of the young man's hand either being cored through or at the very least burned badly, he simply batted it aside, with a hand was glowing with blue gold with Force Energy, though the energy faded quickly at the point of impact.

Dooku's eyes widened at that sight but he backpedaled quickly deterring or blocking the young man's assault automatically with his blade, while trying to make sense of what he just saw. _Calling upon the Living Force like that, actually bending the Force around you enough to make it visible, I've never heard of anything like that except possibly Sith Lightning. Wasn't there another kind of lightning, something Light based?_ Dooku wondered. He'd never gone into that area of research unfortunately, but even so this was something else entirely.

 _Still, if this mystery youth can do that, it means I no longer have to hold back so much._ With a small smirk on his face Dooku stopped falling back, his blade swinging much more purposefully as he now began to push the young man back in turn.

Ranma grinned, matching the old man blow for blow, dodging what assaults he could. _I've got a major speed advantage over him, and I'd bet strength too. But that powersword of his, damn that thing ate through my ki shielding technique like nothing else!_ That was a technique Ranma had developed after fighting Saffron, a sort of extension of the body strengthening technique. Instead of keeping your ki flowing in your skin, which was easy and became automatic after the Bakutsai Tenketsu training, you covered your skin with it, creating a sort of cushion. It was hard as hell, but was the start of shape manipulation, an area Ranma was anxious to get into. _But that blade, it nearly cut through my ki even in that bare second of contact!_

 _Even strangers he's somehow anticipating all of my own attacks! That's damn amazing, since I_ _ **know**_ _I don't have any tells. Could he be reading my mind just enough to keep ahead of me somehow? Whatever he tried to do to that woman was centered on her mind… Damn, I don't have any defense against that kind of thing, time to switch styles._

With that in mind Ranma began to modify his style. He added more wildness to it, some uncontrolled movements here and there. He also opened up some holes in his own defense, thinking to lure the old man into a trap.

Dooku didn't fall for it, though his eyes did widen appreciatively at the young man's attempts. But then he frowned as one punch got through his own defense, impacting his upper arm with numbing force even though it was a glancing blow. _**Strong**_ _too, and adaptable, able to use more than one style at will, a sign of a true master. I wonder where he learned how to fight, some of his moves look similar to the Echani style, but also perhaps the Palawa, but the totality is something I've never seen before._

 _Yet he isn't the only one who can change styles._ With that Dooku changed to Ataru. This was the lightsaber form favored by his master, Yoda, which was centered on acrobatics and mobility. Dooku used a Force Jump to get above the young man, slicing downward quickly as he twirled in the air, before righting himself right before he landed, coming back quickly, moving and jinking from side to side.

Ranma laughed wildly, matching the old man still. _So he knows more than one style too. Well I can adapt!_ With that thought he began to utilize more kicks and the occasional attempt at a false grapple into his assault, which caught the old man off-balance slightly.

A kick caught the old man in the shin rather than the stomach Dooku thought the youth was aiming for, causing him to stumble slightly. But even so he used that stumble to roll, bringing his lightsaber around in an arc that would've bisected Ranma if he hadn't jumped away quickly. Swiftly Dooku pressed his advantage, reaching out with the Force.

As Ranma was in midair he felt himself being buffeted by something, some kind of ki technique from the old man, not quite the same as the first one he'd tried. Instead of pushing this one grabbed Ranma, flinging him further down the cargo bay. Before he could right himself Ranma slammed into one of the crates there with enough force to leave a dent in its side. But Ranma flipped himself up over it, grabbing it by the top and hurling the large crate at the old man.

Somewhat astonished at his opponent's strength Dooku raced forward, his lightsaber out. Slicing through the container entirely he jumped up into the air to meet the young man, who had leapt into the air after his projectile. Dooku used some of the small white boxes that the crate had contained, jumping here and there and meeting the young man punch for slash.

He also used the force to grab at the small white boxes, attacking Ranma from every angle he could. He also tried to move them out from underneath the youth's feet as he used them to stay in the air. Yet even so as the battle continued Dooku was amazed at how good the young man was in midair, seemingly able to change direction and move with an ease that was astonishing despite this interference.

Seeing a chance Ranma suddenly grinned, and instead of blocking or trying to get out of the way of a blow from the old man's weird powersword grabbed the blade of it his fist in blue and gold ki. The ki shield began to dissolve swiftly from whatever power was in the thing almost faster than Ranma could renew it, but he was undaunted. His other hand disappeared into the speed assault of the Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken.

With his battle precognition **screaming** danger Dooku swiftly turned his lightsaber off, the blade disappearing from his opponent's grip. He quickly activated it once more allowing him to block a few of the punches the young man was throwing so fast he couldn't follow the movement. But several of them got through, the young man was so blindingly **fast!** The Jedi Master's own reflexes couldn't keep up despite his battle precognition.

One blow smacked him in the ribs, and he felt something give way, despite his Force assisted durability, a technique most Guardians learned first developed by the old Force Warriors sect. Even so his lightsaber bit into the young man's thigh, though not nearly as far as Dooku had thought it would. Another blow caught Dooku's shoulder, and he could feel his shoulder break. Wincing Dooku Force Grabbed the young man again, flinging him away as hard as possible knowing the young man was now much more durable than his being human suggested.

Ranma grimaced as he slammed back first into another crate of a different variety, smashing through its side with a splash. The container had obviously been some kind of water tub, and Ranma groaned as he felt the change happen.

Across from him Dooku gaped, his lightsaber turning off as he stared at the young redheaded woman who had just been a young black haired man. And for just a moment there he had felt the Force shiver a little in that odd amused laugh sort of feeling. "What," he gaped "What just happened?"

Dooku wasn't the only one staring astonished at the young man-turned girl. Many of the miners hadn't made the connection between the buxom redhead and the young man who had suddenly appeared to aid their bid for freedom. Some of the women had suspicions, but no one had figured it out, the most anyone had thought was they were siblings, and since the ship was so large, not seeing them together didn't really register to anyone. After all, the idea someone could change gender on the drop of a hat like that was so bizarre it would never occur to anyone.

Now that they saw it however, many of them began to mutter amongst themselves. While male Ranma had been in the doghouse for his destruction of the hyperdrive, female Ranma was lauded as the one to really start the ball rolling in their escape. The women were smiling at seeing the young woman who had rescued them, and the green-skinned girl with the head tentacles in particular was staring at her avidly.

Ranma pushed herself out of the container, wringing out her shirt in such a way that caused almost every male within the hanger to blush, smirk appreciatively, or outright leer before being smacked upside their heads by nearby women. Finished with his shirt as much as he could, Ranma stared across at the old man who that was now staring at him/her, obviously not ready to continue the fight. "What, never seen a cursed person before?" Ranma laughed. That had been the best fight she'd had in ages.

 _Even if that powersword was able to get through my body's natural toughness, s_ he thought wincing a little as her injured leg took some of her weight after she stepped out of the ruined crate. She grinned suddenly, wondering if this form would give her an advantage if the fight continued. _Heh, even the guys who knew about my curse never wanted ta fight me in this form when I was wearin' t-shirts._ She shuddered, and not from the cold. _Um, on second thought, nah. Ergh, let's not go there. The idea of any guy touchin' me is just… brrrr, and the idea of 'em leerin' at me ain't much better._

The fight had taken only about 5 to 10 minutes, during which all of the miners and their families had watched in astonishment then for some in amusement. Now seeing their savior and realizing her and the young man who'd destroyed the engines were one and the same, one of one of them made to stand forward. "Master Jedi, the young woman, she doesn't seem to understand Galactic Standard or any other language that we know, but he was the one that helped free us! He, she, um, whichever, showed very strange powers doing so. We thought he was a Jedi youth of some kind." The man then went on somewhat querulously. "Though we have no idea about his odd changing gender at the touch of water thing."

"I don't know what he is." said Dooku calmly, letting none of his pain show. "Other than a rambunctious young man who enjoys fighting a little too much for even my tastes." Watching the youth he could tell that the young man had listened, and was now looking between the miners and the woman who had accosted Dooku about her son in confusion.

For his part Ranma really was confused. He had thought that the old man was some kind of detective or something, the miners were very respectful of him, and seemed to think he was on their side. But then the woman had charged forward and gotten into his face. Even then Ranma wouldn't have attacked him but the old man had tried to do something to her and then Ranma when he interrupted the attempt. Now though the miners had calmed the woman down and were still talking in respectful tones to the old man. Who, now that they had paused their battler seemed in no hurry to resume it.

After a moment Ranma sighed, holding up her hands and sitting down in a lotus position staring at the old man. Her intent was clear, and the old man smiled back at her. Ranma was both relieved and confused when the older man kept his eyes on Ranma's face, not even glancing down at her chest in the nearly see-through t-shirt she was wearing.

Dooku actually chuckled a little, having watched the young man/woman whichever, regain control of herself. Deciding to address him as male until proven otherwise, he said, "Your attempt to defend that woman from what you might have seen as an attack was admirable young man, as is your self-control and combat abilities." Wincing slightly Dooku pulled a nearby crate toward him with the Force and then sat on top of it, taking up the same position as the redhead, his hands held up in token of peace.

After the redhead nodded at him and lowered her arms, Dooku tapped his communicator to send a message to the captain of his ship. "Captain, I believe we have a protocol droid aboard. Could you send it out please? I have a task for it." then looked back up at Ranma, who was still watching him intently. "I believe young man, that when we are able to the two of us will have much to discuss."

* * *

 **End chapter**

As you can see, this is close to where Dooku fell in with Palpatine, but not quite. His initial reasons for searching out the Sith was his concern on the way the Jedi were becoming mere tools of the corrupt Senate. Now it's questionable if he ever will fall to the Sith, though he still has a Bleeping ton of reservations about the Jedi Order. Ranma will understand that, and what he thinks of their Code is unprintable. This story is more comedy and combat based, with some world building and romance thrown in. The main girl will be Shaak Ti, who Ranma would meet in a traditional Ranma way, and maybe two others. Possibly not as well, and possibly not Aayla, as much as I love her looks and some of her character, I am going to be pairing her with Harry in my other SW cross, so having her in both might not happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Star Wars Ranma2

FIRST OF ALL, AN APOLOGY:

When I wrote up my original teaser chapter I made a **major** , story-changing mistake. I had an event in SW canon that I was using as a target for where in the timeline I would be introducing Ranma into the SW universe. The mistake was that I went by my notes and what I thought the age of Obi-Wan in a comic book series was rather than making certain by double-checking before I started.

Turns out he wasn't 16 as I thought, but 24 and the event wasn't 10 years before the Phantom Menace, but a year, so there was no need to de-age Ranma as I did. Yeah, big mistake, and I'm sorry about that. In other news, did you know that going by the timeline on the wiki, Padme was **14** in Phantom Menace? Umm…A reigning queen that young? Makes her naiveté understandable.

I have gone back and corrected the previous chapter on the age thing, changed the combat between Ranma and Dooku to conform to that, as well as several other points. **I urge that you all go back and read the prevalent points before reading this chapter.**

Anyway I don't own Ranma, or Star Wars. Oddly enough, I apparently share this trait with George Lucas…weeeiiirrrrrd.

Here is chapter two of _Horse for the Force_. I realize that I said I wouldn't be putting out anymore chapters for this story, however I have been on a semi-large Sci-fi binge lately, and this was one story that profited from it. This chapter is, I would call it mostly a transitional, expositional chapter, where Ranma learns the local language, has some fun, and Dooku and Ranma start to learn from one another before Ranma is introduced to the wider universe.

Of the two SW crossovers, I have decided to follow this story for now. I want to thank Starboomer, Master Braedan, Drac-Frst, Lokarryn, Just Your Average Dropbear, Valdiusmacto, Druc1fer, DrkShadw and several others for giving me their well thought and articulated opinions about both stories. Reviewers like that, like Mordreek, Naj. P. Jackson, BigCC, Byakugan789 and others of that nature are nine course meals to us writers, regular reviews keep us going, those kinds of reviews make writing even more fulfilling.

This story won for a few reasons/points which were raised that I agreed with:

1\. The switch between ki and Force power can be a pretty smooth one in comparison to the magic/Force connection.

2\. HP/SW already have several fics going on, most of which are very damn good. Ranma doesn't have any, and never has had any good ones (well, there is one on Anime adventure, but it's just a thinly disguised excuse to have a lot of lemons).

3\. Ranma right now is a teenager/young adult, which means I can go write into the good stuff. The canon stuff, the romance stuff, the chaos, and the violence, the glorious violence.

4\. With Ranma, I'm not going to feel the need to correct everything about the Jedi order. Just start the ball rolling with a few discussions, then show it going on in the background, as some of the examples of the Chaos Factor at work.

I would like to thank Anothony444, Byakugan789, and Ultimaflare0 for their aid in editing this work.

And now on with the show!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: +12 Kick of Reality Readjustment to Your View of the Galaxy**

For a few moments Ranma and Dooku waited in silence. The Jedi Master had several dozen bruises, including one cracked rib and possibly a broken shoulder, but Dooku was keeping the pain at bay with the ease of long practice, suppressing pain being a Jedi trick that every Jedi padawan learned before becoming a knight. Dooku was also smiling, staring at the female Ranma like a man not in lust as most would understand the term but in knowledge-lust, wondering what this youth represented.

In those few moments of peace, while the miners milled around them, the somewhat beyond middle-aged master went through the fight in his head. It was true that both of them hadn't gone all out. The boy had never given off any truly murderous thoughts, simply the most pure sense of enjoyment in battle Dooku had ever felt, so the Jedi master had never felt the need to go for the kill.

For his part, Dooku certainly wasn't out to kill the young woman especially after watching him do that Force shielding technique which in and of itself was something Dooku was eager to learn. The speed technique as well: when Dooku thought of using something like that while using a lightsaber, the possibilities were endless! _And is she healing as I watch? That is faster than the best Jedi healer could match, without any conscious effort on his part. Yes indeed, this youth represents a treasure trove of Force knowledge._

 _He may also hopefully help me with my moral quandaries as well. I cannot believe the Force would guide me to find him, her… that is going to become irritating._ Dooku shook his head, returning to his original thought with some difficulty despite his mental training. The odd feeling of the Force during that change, and the change itself, was enough to shake the confidence of any man. _At any rate, I cannot believe the Force would guide me to him if I was supposed to learn only his physical skills._

Even better from Dooku's perspective, he had not felt a single flicker of barely anything that anyone could point to and say that the young man had anything to do with the Dark Side. There had been a brief spurt of anger right before the young man confronted him, but that was all. _Which given what he might have thought was going on, is possibly understandable. And it did not impact his Force abilities at all._

For this part, Ranma was feeling a little confused. He'd already picked up a few words of the local language, along with a lot of inflection, and he was beginning to understand that he might've screwed up, possibly big time. This old man represented some group or other that most of the miners seemed to respect implicitly, and Ranma had jumped the gun with whatever the old man had tried to do to that woman, who was now sitting in a corner being consoled by two other women. It was true that those women were shooting dark looks at the old man, but for the most part it seemed as if he was well-respected here whatever her beef with him.

 _And damn can he fight like a bastard! I know I hit him with at least five or six Katchu-speed punches. That should've laid him out, busted at least a few of his ribs but he's still standing! And while he seems a little too welded to that light-blade-thing that is a deadly ass weapon! Ate through my ki shield like nobody's business._

Ranma could already feel her ki healing going to work however, so that was not a major issue. However she did not want to see what would've happened to her body if she hadn't been able to create that technique on the fly. _I don't think even the strengthening technique would've stopped it._

She smirked while adjusting her chest a little under her shirt in a way that made many of the men look away hurriedly. _His reaction to my changing form was hilarious, but not the kind that I thought I'd get honestly. I mean I know I'm hot in this form, much as that's caused me issues in the past, but he didn't even look at me. Hell, he hasn't looked at my chest even once! No, it was the change which astonished him so much. I suppose that's normal, but getting no reaction at all to my body is kind of weird. Maybe he's gay, ugh… Let's just change the subject now brain…_

A few seconds passed as these thoughts went through both of their heads, then there was a clanking noise from the ramp up to the smaller ship the old man had arrived in. Ranma looked up at first suspiciously, then with wonder. A robot, real honest to Amaterasu robot was coming down the ramp.

It was silver in color with a large bulbous head with big wide 'ears' that reminded Ranma of the smaller aliens who had been killed by the raiders rather than captured. Its fingers didn't look like they articulated well, and it had a grill instead of a mouth, set below wide glowing yellow eyes which were indented into the robot's face.

D-25SZX was a protocol droid, and had been a proud servant of the Republic Diplomatic corps for over two-thousand years, over which time he had served with dozens of Jedi Masters. He was a valued and honored member of his classification. He greatly enjoyed missions like these, where he was sent out from the familiar, staid confines of Coruscant into the wider galaxy to provide knowledge and experience to the mission.

Although at this moment 25 was wondering what exactly his current partner for this mission wanted him for. "You called for me master Dooku?" He asked his voice a crackling, elderly sort of tenor.

"Yes, 25. This young man does not speak Basic, instead he speaks a language I've never heard before. Do you think you can place it?" Dooku asked while another man came out of the ship after the android, moving his way.

He was the chief medical officer on the ship, not a doctor by any means, more of an EMT but normally more than enough to handle the scrapes and bruises that would come on a _Consular_ class cruiser like the _Kaiseki_ _,_ Dooku's current ship. He began to run a medical scanner over Dooku, hissing a little at the readout while the droid moved in Ranma's direction.

Seeing the young man's eyebrows rise Dooku pointed to his mouth. "Talk please young man, this droid will try to help us communicate."

Ranma cocked his head, understanding two of the words there, the ones that the old man was using to address him. "Ranma, I'm Ranma, old man." he said pointing at himself at his name.

Dooku did the same, saying his own name, "Dooku, Jedi Master. A pleasure, though one I believe will become more so when we are actually able to communicate."

Nodding, Ranma turned back to the robot which by this point had made its way to him and it nodded his head. "Greetings, I am D-25SZX protocol droid. I am fluent in over 400,000 dialects, and have been programmed with samples of 1,000,000 more. Could you please speak a full sentence to me?"

Ranma only got a few words out of that, but discerned the gist of it. Evidently the old man, 'Dooku?', though if that was his first or last name Ranma didn't know, had called in this droid to see if it could help them talk to one another. "Yeah I doubt you're going to have much luck. No way you've ever met someone from Japan before."

"Well, whatever so yeah I'm Ranma, I came to this dimension, universe or whatever as some kind of magical accident, basically because I…" Ranma paused for a moment and then shrugged. "I was too emotionally hyped up and insane at the time to think about what could go wrong. Gah, admitting that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

He grinned then, looking around at the aliens in the ship waving at a few of them who looked back. They waved back, with more than one of them smirking at him. The green-skinned girl though stared back in such a way that Ranma had to look away hurriedly, a not-unpleasant shiver going down his spine and a flush coming to his cheeks. "Er, um, n-not that I'm exactly unhappy with this. A whole new universe to explore! Just thinkin' about what kind of martial arts are out there for me to find and incorporate into my own style makes me want ta jump for joy. This is going to be **awesome**!"

Throughout Ranma's speech the droid had stood there silently. When he finished, it nodded. "Please wait, scanning. "After a moment it began again. "This dialect is not among my known mastered languages, nor among any of the other dialects which I have samples off. Fascinating, a challenge."

Seeing the consternation on Dooku's face (but were his eyes lighting up with even more interest than before?) Ranma shrugged at that, and switched to Chinese. "I wish I could remember what nation sent that monkey off into deep space with a recording of their language, but I can't. Think it was Russia, but I'm not very good at Russian. Hell, can't even remember if the recording was actually sent, or a hindsight thing mentioned in the news."

"Fascinating, the human female can apparently speak **two** unknown languages!" 25 held up its digits counting off one two and then waggling the third with its head cocked in an interrogative manner. Evidently 'body language, normal human, base' carried over, and the youth spoke again.

Ranma said the same words he had spoken again in Korean then clicked two of his fingers. "Wasn't there some kind of plaque on the moon or something that was sending out some messages? Or was that just in that one movie? Well whatever, the line sounded damn good. Ahem, 'I come in peace for all mankind?'" Ranma grinned and held up her fingers in the peace sign hopefully as he spoke in English again.

There was more than a little bit of laughter at how ridiculous she looked just then from the miners. Ranma laughed too, turning to smirk at the miners before moving back over to the shattered remains of the water container while the droid turned to Dooku.

"Master Dooku, the youth speaks no language that I am familiar with. However, body language, or at least the most basic, ahem, primitive sort carried over. There are also some nuances of tone and inflection that carry over, and I **am** loaded with a teaching protocol. It will be a challenge, but I believe that I will be able to teach him Basic given time."

"Young Ranma seems to be picking words up quickly, or at least inflection and tone." Dooku murmured. As a Jedi Masters he was of course a master at reading other people's body language, and the youth was something of an open book in that area. At least her face was. His/her body language was silent. There was no hint of anything in her body, save a sort of coiled readiness that Dooku had seen in other incredibly advanced hand-to-hand combatants. "Can you give me an estimate on how long that might take? I wish to speak to Ranma as soon as possible."

"That will depend upon the youth's ability to concentrate and to learn. Add to that…" The droid turned to look at Ranma just as he was heating up the water before splashing it on himself. "I… error, error, error, what just, what just happened... Does not compute! I am a protocol droid, I am programmed to deal with peculiar and unusual of occurrences, yet I cannot, this does not…processors, overloading!"

"25!" Dooku barked, coming up with a solution on the fly. "Put the last 20 seconds into long storage memory, then label it as 'unexplainable mystery of the Force'. You can do that can't you?"

The droid, which had been twitching and shaking his head spinning on its shoulders, slowly stilled. "Memory has been placed into long talk term storage under the heading 'unexplainable mystery of the Force', thank you Master Dooku."

Dooku sighed in relief. _Although how a full body sex change, at least I think it's a full body I'm not about to ask, can be done through simple application of cold or heated water is beyond my knowledge as well. Though there is that odd flash of, of laughing amusement when it occurred from the Force. Yet one more question to ask when we're actually able to communicate._

For its part Ranma had simply smirked as the android went into its funk, understanding only one or two of the words spoke. "Sorry 25, but some humans had the same reaction back where I came from."

"25, take Ranma over to a corner and begin to talk to him. Radio the captain to bring out whatever you need as a teaching aid, while I deal with the ship and these gentlemen." Dooku said crisply, reluctantly putting the mystery of young Ranma to one side so that he could deal with the issue on the ship.

He nodded at the ship's doctor, who had ignored everything else to create a makeshift sling for his arm, while also wrapping some bandages around Dooku's middle. Understanding the nod the medic shrugged. "You're good to walk around master, you're not the first Jedi I've seen too, so I know what damage you all can take. Though I wouldn't use that shoulder for a bit, say a week or so?"

"Understood. Talk to the miners, make sure that none of them have any medical needs or require medical attention quickly." With that Dooku nodded once again to Ranma who was being led off gently by 25 back toward where he had been sitting.

Ranma nodded back and Dooku turned to the slavers. "Now, we were talking about where your mining stake was. I realize this might be painful to you, and I apologize, but could you tell me exactly what happened when the Gram and their allies fell upon you? Then, we'll need to go over where…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Several miles below what was termed the normal street level of Coruscant, hidden among the miles and miles of abandoned cityscape, there was a room. This was not a normal room by any means. Scientific equipment lined several walls, along with several specimen containers which held bits and pieces of hundreds of alien races.

The back wall was dominated by a massive Hypercom setup, one that was not on the grid for such. In the corners of the room were large black urns, the stone of them so black they seemed to drink in the light. Here and there scattered throughout the large room were other devices and items, someone's idea of memorabilia perhaps.

And in the direct center of the room facing the open area around the door, there was a throne. It was straight-backed and made of steel of all things, with no cushions on it to soften its surface. The man who had created it believed that such things were unnecessary believing the mind should always be in charge of the body.

The man currently sitting in the chair did not share that opinion, and had placed a small cushion on the seat for now as he read the message from his teacher. It could only be decrypted here in this room, or else he would be up in his own suite, sitting on his own throne, which was much more to his tastes. However, secrecy was bred into his bones by this point, so he didn't object overmuch. His name, though it was not the one he had been born with, was Darth Sidious. He was a Sith, an Order of force users that used the Dark Side, as the Jedi did the Light Side.

To one side of Sidious stood another figure. He was a Zabrak male, whose red skin was festooned with black tattoos all along his body, most particularly his face. This gave his already fearsome visage an even more terrible appearance. His name was Darth Maul.

Yet for all his fearsome appearance, it was the man on the throne who held the power here, not him, and Maul knew it, staying silent as the man on the throne finished reading the message from his teacher and considering its contents.

 _Excellent, plans are proceeding apace. The Huk war in particular is a master stroke by my teacher. The Jedi will once again be seen as tools of the rich and the Senate, pushing public perception of them further from the justice they are supposed to serve in that area of space. Public opinion, propaganda, and the voice of the powerful, when all of those turn against the Jedi, their_ _ **doom**_ _is assured!_

The Senate was almost entirely their tool now, not so much because it moved to their wishes, but because the response of every person within it was calculable. They all had buttons that could be pushed, and Sidious knew each and every one. _I can play them like puppets on a string, and we are the masters of those puppets, or rather_ _ **I**_ _am the master._

He smirked a sinister smirk there in the dark of his hood. _Even now Plagueis is out in the Outer Rim fomenting further dissent against the Senate, making it seem as if the Republic is not concerned about those planets at all. The seeds of war are growing, and soon these little flare ups will grow in turn. And when they do, Jedi will start to fall. The feel of those points of light going out, it will be… glorious…_

 _Plagueis still serves purpose, especially out in the Outer Rim, yet soon it will be time to take the lead of the Grand Plan solely into my own hands. But not yet. Once the Veil of the Dark Side has grown to completely block out any visions of the future any of the Jedi attempt to see, then, it will be time to remove him. And at the moment, my apprentice leaves much to be desired. Maul is a blunt object, I need to find someone else, and my candidate for such is a fruit not quite ripe enough to fall into my hands just yet._

As if his thoughts on that subject opened Sidious up further to the force the man felt a shiver through his senses. The force was rippling, changing, and the future, which had been so certain, changing with it.

To his side Darth Maul frowned, sensing a shift in his master's emotions. "Master?"

Sidious spoke aloud, using the words to direct his own thoughts more than speaking to his apprentice. "Something has shifted, changed, centered on one of my pawns." He did not use the pawn's name, though it reverberated in his skull slightly, forcing him to realize that some portions of the plan might have to change.

 _Dooku, something has happened to make him no longer wish to find the Sith. Interesting, and very irritating in the long term. No one else could serve as well as a figurehead on many levels. Hmmm…_ "I must meditate on this. Give Vilmarh Grahrk his next set of instructions, then leave me."

Even before Darth Maul had left, his master had slipped into a meditation trance. He sent his senses out through the Force, passing beyond Corsucant's system and through dozens more, until his senses finally hovered around Dooku, trying to get a feel on what had changed.

Yet he could not. The ripples in the Force and the future were too powerful near Dooku, they had not settled yet at all. Indeed, they seemed to be growing, changing all the time in a typhoon of chaos the likes of which Sidious had never even dreamed of before.

Some of those eddies Sidious could read still indicated he would indeed come to the dark side though later then the man had expected, but those were few and getting fewer. Some of them indicated he would become the banner-bearer of the Jedi. At the same time others said he would break the Jedi but not join the Sith becoming an enemy in some ways, and an ally for some of his power grabs… very odd.

Hours later the man's senses retreated to his body and he snarled, frustrated. _I do not like not knowing what is going on, not knowing what has caused Dooku to change to become a source of, of what I can only call chaos! Chaos can serve our purposes, but it is not easily directed, especially when we were not the one to set it into motion in the first place! I need to think on this further, it is obvious that these ripples are not only affecting Dooku, but others as well and the change in the future will grow immensely. I need to put surveillance in place to observe anything to do with Dooku. Luckily, I already have people in place on Malastare, we will see what they report._

 **OOOOOOO**

As the Jedi master moved off deeper into the ship, Ranma and the droid were being observed.

Twila'Cren was a Twi'lek, a native of Ryloth who, much like many of her race, had left Ryloth a slave when she was six or seven. She had been trained to dance and to pleasure her master in any way he wished, yet thanks to her master gambling her away against an undercover lawman, she had eventually been freed. But though free, Twila had no real skills except dancing and other… similar talents to pay her way.

Thankfully since she had been freed Twila had been able to choose who she danced for, and she was good enough, and pretty enough to have her choice of jobs. Twila'Cren had actually enjoyed her time in the mining camp. Most of the miners were decent enough people, and the master of the bar she had worked at was a tough old coot who liked to look but not touch with a silver tongue and a steady aim with a stunner. Until the Gran slavers had killed him.

Once the slavers had landed, Twila had resigned herself once again to be a slave, while inside her soul died a little. But the redheaded girl had given them all hope when she broke out of their cell, and then she delivered!

Now she cocked her head thoughtfully, staring at the youth who was now talking to the protocol droid. _So, the young male that was so instrumental in the battles after we were freed was also the young girl who freed us in the first place. Though_ _ **very**_ _odd, that makes this easier._

 _And I think that he or she deserves a reward,_ Twila thought, straightening her spine resolutely as she made her way up through the hangar Bay towards the remarkable human male. _I don't have money, but I noticed her glances in my direction, and his too, so there is one method of repayment available to me. Besides, in either form he/she's rather good looking, it could be fun…_

With a faint smile on her face she moved towards the droid and the human male, who saw her coming. She smiled wider as Ranma blushed, looking away quickly. Evidently he was much more innocent than most humans she'd met, and certainly less-confident when it came to the opposite sex than most humans his age tried to appear. _That could actually make this more fun, still he does have a pulse_. She thought, giggling as he glanced down at her chest before looking away hurriedly.

25 noticed the human's change in body language and turned, staring at the Twi'lek who had walked up. "Yes, can I help you miss?"

"This human, I heard him give his name as Ranma, he does not understand basic?" She asked, cocking her head to one side while her lekku, which she had hung down her front now rather than back, twitched.

"That is indeed correct, it is something I am endeavoring to start to address. Are you volunteering to help? I have to inform you that unless you have an ear for languages yourself, it will be very difficult."

"Nothing like that no. But body language, or body signals, are they the same?"

"So far they seem to be, at least to a certain degree. Of course even within a given species each planet will develop subtle differences in body language, even certain distinct body signals, such as the charm signs of Coruscant, or the finger signs of Atuapu. And from there clothing and coloration also differ from one society to another in conveying signals. Of course in this case that is immaterial, but it is something to bear in mind once we are able to communicate verbally to a higher degree."

"I just want to make certain that there is going to be no misunderstanding of what I'm offering." Twila said smiling faintly as she gently pushed the droid aside to stand in front of Ranma, who was still trying to look anywhere but at Twila, blushing hotly with one leg crossed over another.

Twila leaned over his makeshift chair, one green-colored hand lifted, touching his jaw and gently turning his head back to look at her. She stared into his blue eyes, searching for something even Twila didn't know the name for then smiled. "You saved me from a life of servitude and worse, and I would repay you in the only coin I may."

Ranma stared at her, shrugging incomprehension, even as his blush deepened.

"As I said," the droid from behind her said, sounding test. "He cannot understand Basic, I think he understands the words for 'you' and 'I', but that is it, your sentence and your intent… oh my." The 'oh my' was a response to Twila suddenly leaning forward, pressing her lips against Ranma.

Though Ranma had no idea what the alien girl had been saying, there was no misconception possible in the kiss she was giving him. The alien girl's lips tasted of cinnamon and spicy hot pepper, a very strange combination that was somehow distinctly alien, not that Ranma had anything to compare it to. _This is my first real bleeding kiss, Sanzenin can go freeze, I'm definitely not counting that shit's kiss!_

Ranma kissed back, clumsily at first but learning quickly, trying to emulate what the girl's lips, which were **so soft,** was doing only in reverse as it were. When the girl's mouth opened slightly against his and her tongue, which was longer and thinner than a human's, tapped against his lips, his lips opened of their own accord, and his tongue slid out, caressing and questing into the girl's mouth as his arms rose, moving around her. His leg fell from his waist, and he pulled her down onto his lap.

Twila was now enjoying this immensely! The boy had started off rather clumsily, but he was almost as good as Twila now her down. She began to grind her waist against his, feeling his rising reaction to her against her own panty-clad center. _Good stars, he's certainly well above human norm in that area, and if he learns everything else as fast as he learned how to kiss mmmmm…_

For Ranma, the floodgates had opened. His repressed libido roared out, breaking his self-control as he gripped the girl's waste hard, holding Twila against his chest and waist as the kiss deepened. She was lithe and desirable and she was grinding against Ranma in such a way as to stop all of his higher brain functions. All he felt now was this raging torrent that had to be released.

It was only 25 speaking up that caused that torrent to recede in both of the participants, his voice even dryer than normal. "I am not a master of human or Twi'lek mating rituals, save where it may impact diplomatic discussions of course, but isn't it normal to begin the mating dance in private rather than in public?"

Twila'Cren slowly pulled back, breathing deeply her eyes half-lidded at the sheer passion of the kiss they had just shared, a small yet incredibly and joyous smile on her face. Oh yes, this was going to be **fun!** She looked around however at the crowd of miners, most of whom looked like they wanted to whistle, while the women were either giving her a thumbs up, or simply staring in astonishment.

"The droid's right." She said, reaching down to take Ranma's hand and pull him to his feet. "Let's go find one of the rooms around here, I think that will be a better environment for our… discussion… than out here in the open."

Ranma finally broke out of the daze the kiss had put him in, tearing his eyes away from the green-skinned girl's beautiful face and body with more difficulty ever run into when trying to control himself before. As soon as Ranma did so, his senses flowed back to him, and he blushed scarlet, realizing the two of them had been making out in front of an audience, which acted like a cold shower on his senses.

 _What am I doing!? I barely, hell I don't know her at all, hells, I don't even know her name for certain! Damn I really am a pervert like Akane said! No, wait she's the one that started it, I just, I just lost control._

That thought finished the process of bringing Ranma completely back to himself. If there was one thing that Ranma did not like, it was being out of control of his own body. Even when he gave himself to his instincts completely in a fight, it was his mind and his combat instincts rather than his body. But right then, when that girl had kissed him, all the hard-fought control over his libido he'd worked on since arriving in this universe had disappeared.

 _Was I really just about to hop into bed with a complete stranger? Do, do I really want the first time I, I make love to someone to be with someone I just met literally a few hours ago?_ With an effort of will Ranma regained control of himself, pushing his desire to the girl down, making his physical reaction to her recede as well.

"Wait." he said holding up his hands, breaking the girl's grip on his hand and ignoring the pouting look on her face with difficulty. "Just wait. I'm not that is, I don't want." Ranma paused. "I, I don't want my first time to be with, no that's not right either, I mean you're beautiful but I…" he stuttered to a halt again when the girl leaned in, placing her forehead against his staring into his eyes, that faint, almost sinful smile still on her lips, which looked so kissable it was really distracting him. There was no comprehension of his words in those eyes, though Ranma guessed that she thought he was giving her compliments.

Despite his body telling him to grab the girl and start kissing her again, Ranma gently pushed the girl back by the shoulders, looking at 25. "I don't want my first time to be with someone I just met." He said, enunciating each word clearly, hoping the droid had absorbed enough of his own language to get some sense of what Ranma was saying.

25 cocked his head, then said. "I believe the youth is trying to say something, perhaps you should back off a moment miss?"

Twila did **not** want to back off, her body was literally on fire from the kiss she'd exchanged with the young man, and she couldn't understand how the youth had regained control of himself so quickly. Still, she did as asked and Ranma breathed a sigh of relief.

He talked to 25 for a few more moments trying to convey what he wanted to say, but 25 didn't have enough of the vocabulary base from any of the languages Ranma spoke to understand. Desperately Ranma looked around, staring at the miners who had, now that the floor show was done, gone back to their business for the most part. He saw one couple, an older man and woman who were talking to a younger man and bounded over to them, leaving 25 and Twila behind him looking bemused.

He stopped nearby, looking at their hands and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the both of them were wearing rings. Tapping the older man on the shoulder he said, "Excuse me." Then he pointed down at their rings tapping his own finger.

The older man frowned looking over at 25 who had come up behind Ranma. "What is the young man trying to ask, he wants my ring?"

"I do not believe so no. Judging by the context, and the fact that he has been trying to convey something about an unwillingness to perform the mating ritual with the young Twi'lek here, I believe he is trying to say that he wants to say something about relationships."

The older man nodded, looking over at his wife who frowned then smiled a little and held up the hand bearing her ring finger. Her husband put his own hand in hers, and they held them out to Ranma. Ranma nodded then tapped their rings and looked at Twila. "I want something like that, I don't, I mean you're beautiful and I'm sure it'd, um, y'know be fun and all, but I, I want to be in a relationship with someone and build up to that point…"

He tried to use gestures to convey this meeting, doing a sort of dance with one hand, continually pointing to where the couple was holding hands. After a moment Twila finally got it, smacking her forehead. "Are you serious? You want to be in a relationship." She turned to the droid. "Pull up some videos of couples going on dates or something similar on that datapad of yours."

The droid did so before pointing to them. He had quickly found several and clicked through them while Ranma looked on. They began with a couple on a date moving to a couple holding hands, and ending with a traditional wedding on Chandrilla. Ranma nodded along at the sequence, though paused it before the marriage sequence, switching the datapad back to the video showing couples on dates.

"So you'd prefer to date someone?" Twila said sighing faintly, the last of her own ardor having cooled noticeably. "That's a problem, because I'm really not interested in a long term thing. I wanted to reward you for saving us." She slinked forward, touching Ranma's jaw, enjoying the fact that he blushed immediately, desperately looking away from her chest region. "And that offers still open…"

"Oh give over Twila," said the older woman, pushing at her shoulder slightly. "The young man wants his first time to be romantic and with someone he truly cares for, he doesn't even know you yet. Why don't you want to date him?"

"Well for one thing," Twila said, stepping back and putting her hands on her hips to glare at the older woman. "I think he's going to be involved with the Jedi. You know how they are, no attachments. And, even if he isn't going to be involved with the Jedi, I don't think he's the type to be tied down to one planet. Whereas I would rather like to find a single job and stick with it someplace safe."

"Don't we all," said the old miner shaking his head mournfully remembering the loss of their home. Even if they went back, it would never be the same, too many friends had died when the slavers arrived. "If you're just interested in 'rewarding' him though, I don't think you need to worry about that. He doesn't seem to be the type to need repayment for a good deed."

"It's not **just** because I want to reward him, no." Twila said tartly. "A larger part of it is I don't like being indebted to anyone, my whole race is indebted to too many. And far too many people would hold such debts above my head." The fact she had thought it would be fun was also in there, but not something she wanted to share right now.

"I don't think the idea to do that would even enter the young man's head." Said the older woman, watching as Ranma looked between them his brows furrowed as he tried to figure out what they were saying. "If you want a one night stand with him, just say so."

"Can you find some video or other to describe a one night stand?" Twila asked, turning to the droid once more.

25 shrugged. "That might be a little too sophisticated, but you're welcome to try."

Twila did so, putting together after a few moments a sequence of videos. It showed two people meeting in a bar, getting to know one another, then heading towards a bed, before fading to black. Then they were shown exiting the room, immediately going their separate ways.

Ranma blushed throughout the movie, which was a little odd Twila then he frowned as the two figures moved away from one another going their separate ways. He shook his head looking at Twila. "I don't want that." He said, and Twila frowned before sighing.

She pointed again at the video and then pointed to herself indicating she wanted that. She smiled at him, indicating that really was what she wanted, and then slowly ran her hands down her sides tantalizing him, while her lekku twitched slightly, sending a message all their own to those who could read such.

For moment Ranma simply stared at her hands as they moved down Twila's body, resting on her sides then her hips, and then moving back up again, tantalizingly moving to her stomach right below her breasts before moving away. He gulped, then stared at her, at the video, and then finally closed his eyes, shaking his head rapidly. "No." No matter how good looking she was Ranma didn't want his first time to be with a complete stranger who he'd never see again afterwards.

A few of the miners nearby, and one or two of the crewmen of the Jedi's ship shook their heads at that, muttering to one another that Ranma had to be insane to pass up what Twila was offering. A few of the women thought it was romantic, but made no move to offer to date him, and more than a few also though he was being stupid, though admittedly for more convoluted reasons than the men. But Ranma was resolute.

Seeing that Twila sighed, nodded her head in understanding. "I actually respect that, and if I was looking for a relationship at this point, you better believe that would be a mark in your favor Ranma, but I'm not." She leaned forward, kissing him lightly on the lips pulling back before either of them could get to into it. "It really would've been fun though."

With that she moved away, shaking her hips just slightly more than normal to make certain that Ranma knew what he was giving up. The groan of agony behind her was all she could have wished for, as the Jedi Master returned to the hanger bay.

A few hours after that incident, Ranma and 25 were still talking in a corner of the hangar bay while elsewhere on the ship event continued apace.

At Dooku's command the _Kaiseki_ stayed where it was, where Dooku hoped to keep it until the freighter jumped into the Gran system. Dooku hoped to see what this ship's arrival in his destination would cause before revealing his own presence. If he was lucky someone would recognize it and call it by name, giving him even more leverage to work with. He already had two of the astromech droids from his ship working on cracking the captain's personal files, and they were making decent enough headway, but every little bit helped.

Most of the crew of the ship had congregated in the hyperdrive system. It was a very makeshift job, and the captain was not at all happy about it, which the captain, Michael, made certain that Master Dooku was aware of the moment the Jedi master explained his plans to the man. "This systems been shot to hell sir, frankly I wouldn't trust it at all. We might, just **might** , get a single jump out of it but that's about all, but what condition the ship'll be in when we come out of, or even where in the system, that's up in the air."

"It would be that inaccurate?" Dooku asked somewhat dismayed. He had thought his ruse an excellent idea, but it didn't seem to be a viable one.

"Sir, we'd need a full engineering crew and parts to get this running again, that's the truth of it. Right now I would not trust it with my life, let alone the civilians or yours."

"Your devotion does you credit captain, thank you. If that is the case, can we transport all of the miners on the frigate? Including the prisoners?" Several crewmen, including one who had confessed to being the ship's communication officer, had surrendered, and surprisingly been taken captive by the miners during their takeover of the ship. Those prisoners, the ship, and the captain's logs would give Dooku enough hard evidence to really hammer the Gran government in his negotiations.

The man winced. "I don't think so sir. We could possibly head for the nearest Republic planet, but even a short jump like that with this many people would overload our atmospheric systems."

"You said we might be able to get one jump out of it, could we jump there and get repairs?"

"Not with any speed sir, which given the plan of your schedule is of the essence I'm afraid." Michael frowned, thinking hard, going over what he knew of the local star systems. "I think there are a few Alderaan Ranger ships near here, helping local law enforcement groups hunt down pirates. A few of them could have the carrying capacity for the miners."

Dooku frowned closing his eyes for a brief moment, sending his mind out into the Force. Then he opened them, nodding decisively. "Can they be here in the next few hours?"

"I… I think so master Dooku, if I get the message off quickly. Why?"

"Just a Force premonition, I believe that this slaver ship's friends are searching for it along its route." The miners represented a financial resource after all, as did this ship, an even larger one at present. "I will need your crewmen's aid to take statements of the miners, all of whom will be going with the rangers. I will also canvass the prisoners, four of which will be joining us, as will young Ranma."

"I'll get right to it then sir." The captain nodded crisply moving away, already talking into his communicator summoning up his crew from various areas of the ship. As he moved out of hearing range however Dooku could still hear him start to mutter under his breath. "And if that kid goes anywhere near my engines, I'm going to whack him upside the head with a spanner!"

With that being taken care of, Dooku talked to a few of the miners once more then sifted through the prisoners for three more to add to the communications officer. After that, Dooku made his way back down to the hangar bay, where he was unsurprised to find Ranma and 25 talking. 25 was holding up a large tablet and showing images as he enunciated words carefully, with Ranma doing the same. "Have you made much progress?"

"Master Dooku." 25 said turning his head to them as Ranma did the same. "Yes, barring a few interruptions we've made very good progress. Young Ranma learns remarkably quickly, and seems to retain knowledge far better than the human norm. Nonetheless, I believe it will be at least a week, possibly two before he is fluent in Basic enough to communicate effectively."

"Two weeks?" Dooku said surprised. Most of the time when younglings had to be taught Basic it took months. _And wasn't it supposed to be that the older a person was, the harder they found it to learn languages?_ "Do you think that is normal for his race, or is it just Ranma?"

"I believe it is just Ranma, Master Dooku. All the body language I'm getting often is the most basic of human standard as I said earlier."

"I see." Dooku said with a nod. "Very well, continue. We will talk soon." he said to Ranma nodding his head at the youth.

Ranma nodded back with a faint smile before turning to 25, pointing at Dooku as Dooku walked off. "Tell me about him, and this Jedi thing."

25 shook his head. "You do not have the words yet for that." He said in a sentence that Ranma had heard before and understood the meaning of. "Let us continue for now."

Ranma rolled his eyes but did so, starting to do some sit-ups and push-ups in place as he looked at the images while listening to 25 describe them. The droid had mimed him doing such things when it began to notice Ranma becoming antsy and inattentive. _Man, if only the teachers back at school could've let me do this kind of thing in class, meh too late now._

Within an hour, a few more small frigates arrived. Two of them quickly took off the miners, including Twila'Cren much to Ranma's relief/regret. Two of the others slaved the larger ship to them, then all four went to hyperspace quickly, their destination Alderaan. A planet known for its devotion to diplomacy and peace, Alderaan was both home to the Rangers and a planet which routinely was used to house evidence or witnesses in cases ongoing against members of the Senate or other planetary governments, its own government's probity unquestionable by any save the most corrupt.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several days passed by with the ship in hyperspace which Ranma put to good use studying the local language almost all the time. By this point Ranma was becoming more fluent in the local dialect every day, adding words to his growing vocabulary. He still screwed up a lot of the specific words, and his general knowledge of this universe was still lacking tremendously, but for only a few day's work the ability to speak at all and be understood was still an achievement.

Despite the droid's aid in helping him and his general awe of being in space however, there were some aspects of it that Ranma just could not get used to. Getting out of the sonic shower, Ranma shook his head. _How the hell these people think that's a real shower is beyond me._

Ranma understood the need to conserve water aboard a spaceship, after all you could only have so much interior space. But the entire 'sonic shower' idea was just **weird**! _I don't actually feel clean, not really. Worse, it don't exactly help with my self-control issues._

He was still dealing with 'odd' dreams every night, and more often than not had to clean his sheets before leaving the small room he had been assigned upon coming aboard (more of a closet in size really) before starting his day. Luckily there weren't any girls among the crew to cause him to react, giving him more time to try and get a handle on that kind of thing. But his body's control wasn't coming nearly as easily as his emotional control.

 _On the other hand, I bet if I did try to have an actual shower aboard the ship, the heating or something would break. Stupid water attracting portion of the curse!_

It was all too easy for Ranma to remember the hundreds of times water simply reacted oddly in his presence. Traveling uphill was one, splashing far harder off the pavement just to get him or one of the other cursed individuals rather than splashing like normal another. Or the one time he tried to take a shower at in the boy's bathroom at school. The water, which had until then been warm enough to make steam as it fell out of the tap, had a bare few minutes into Ranma's shower turned cold as the heater broke. He'd had to break several people's legs that day…

Out of the shower he pulled on a shirt one of the ship's crew had given him. It was a little tight, hugging him like a second skin, but Ranma didn't mind _. At least I'm not trying to wear it in my female form,_ _ **that**_ _I'd have a problem with._

 _Now,_ he thought, stretching and cracking his neck and shoulders, _25 said I should probably talk to some of the crew to, what was it 'get used to lingual shifts' or something? Don't know what that means, but whatever._ Once fully dressed, Ranma moved through the ship, nodding his head at a crewmen moving about the business, an alien that looked sort of like a grasshopper standing on his hind legs called a Verpine.

The crew of the small cruiser was composed of six, three human men and three aliens. Apparently two of the aliens were technically female, including the Verpine, but their forms were such that Ranma couldn't think of them in that manner.

A few minutes later he entered the bridge of the ship, which was a small area only big enough for one observer, the captain, and three other stations, with very little room in between. The captain of the ship, Michael, turned as the door to the bridge opened. He nodded politely at Ranma though internally he was still wondering what exactly the younger man was. Jedi master Dooku was obviously fascinated by him, and the captain had heard all about Ranma saving the would-be slaves. But his strange abilities, and of course the curse threw Michael off, as it would anyone.

"25 said I greed to talk, learn more, is okay?" Ranma asked in his pigeon Basic.

Michael nodded. "That's fine, er and that's need there, not greed. We're in hyperspace right now so we don't have much in the way of duties except to watch our boards for anything going wrong. Ask away." He smirked a little, deliberately waggling his eyebrows, knowing Ranma was far better at body cues then at verbal ones. "Though I'm surprised you don't want to talk to Carson, he'd be happy to talk to you all you want."

Carson was the cook aboard the ship. He was the only one who had not been involved in repairing the hyperdrive of the slave ship, and as such hadn't met Ranma before Ranma came aboard. When he did, Ranma had just had splashed himself deliberately to deal with Twila and a few of the other girls trying to get a rise out of him. Carson believed himself a suave womanizer, and had immediately hit on the small busty redhead only to be turned down via a kick to the crotch.

The younger man smiled showing all of his teeth for a moment as he reached down to the small handrail separating the operations area from the observer's position. The metal under his grip bent easily under his hand, and he cocked an eyebrow. "Dead male what say?"

"Nevermind!" Michael said waving his hands quickly. To his other side the other crewmen laughed at his misfortune.

The Mon Calamari communications specialist waved his hand. "Do not mind the captain." He rasped. "He is a typical Corellian, they always think they are more amusing than they actually are."

"As a captain of the Republic fleet I am above such slander, but as a Corellian I take offense at that remark, and will have my revenge." Michael laughed.

"Corellian," Ranma said mouthing the word a few time before getting it right. "Human world?"

"One of them is, er, Corellia's the name of the system, and one of the planets." Michael said elaborating slightly. He turned to his computer, punching in orders, and a small hologram of a star system appeared in the observation area causing Ranma to turn around and look at it.

"Corellia." Michael said as he stood up from his chair to come over, pointing at one of the planets. "This is my home planet, Corellia itself." pointing at it, the hologram obligingly enlarged at his touch. Then it was substituted for several pictures of the planet itself, showing forests, mountains, oceans and blue skies along with several large but seemingly beautiful cities.

Ranma stared at it, a wide smile on his face. "Beautiful." he said in Japanese then tried in basic. "Er, more than pretty for un-living things?"

"Beautiful or gorgeous or I suppose. In terms of planets picturesque?" Michael guessed.

"All of above." Ranma said with a laugh causing Michael and the helmsman, another Corellian, to laugh as well.

Michael went on, shrinking that planet and pointing to the others. "Selonia, Drall, Tralus, and Talus. The Five Brothers, they're called. Selonia is the home planet of the Selonians."

A image appeared, standing taller than a human set next to it for comparison. It had fur and coloring that reminded Ranma of otters or maybe stoats. "Huh. Two… er… people… in one system, normal or not?"

"Species. Very normal, most planets, while governed by one race or another, will have a smattering of other races represented among its population. If by that you mean if it's unusual for a planet to be the home system for two different species, well, **that** is unusual. But humans didn't originate in Corellia, the Selonians and the Drall did."

Another button popped up an image of a Drall, which barely reached the human's waist. It was a furry mammal looking alien which again didn't wear any clothing, though with his fur, it probably didn't need any.

"Huh." Ranma mused, staring at the image.

Michael turned the hologram back to the system, and continued on, speaking about the planets, and the fact that two of them, Tralus and Talus, had been colonized originally by humans from Corellia.

"What this?" Ranma asked as Michael finished speaking about the Twins, pointing between them at the point directly between the Twins as they moved around one another.

"Ah, one of the greatest mysteries in known space, Centerpoint Station. All three species that live in Corellia believe that someone created Corellia using Centerpoint Station somehow. After all, no other system has ever been found that has five planets capable of bearing life, let alone three that could support the evolution of intelligent life."

He laughed quietly. "Of course, even though billions of scientists have studied it for thousands of years, we're no closer to figuring out its secrets than we were in the beginning. There's a sect of Corellians made up of all three races, that look on it as a mystery and as a point of pride. That we were brought together for some reason, some destiny in the future."

"Create?" Ranma asked sharply. He hadn't actually understood a lot of what Michael said, in fact he was only getting one out of every four words or so, but **that** word came through clearly. "Create system? How?!"

"Like I said, no one knows, but It's not normal for that many life bearing planets to be in the same system, and the system itself has some other anomalies, like Centerpoint itself, and the Twins."

Ranma frowned. "Strange, yes? Not normal?"

All three of his listeners laughed then, even the Mon Calamari. "Definitely not normal." The sensor specialist said.

Ranma turned to him. "Your home where?"

"Dac. We too share our system, and our homeworld itself, with many other intelligent races which have evolved within its waters. Though not without tension it must be said." His voice was dust dry even for a Mon Calamari as he referenced the state of fragile peace that existed between his people and the Quarren. "An aquatic world," he said simplifying slightly at Ranma's look of incomprehension.

Michael tapped a few more buttons, and pictures of Dac came up, showing a planet almost entirely dominated by blue sea.

"All planet water?" Ranma asked in shock.

"There are a few places of rock and earth yes, but mostly it is just water. Our first cities were underwater, our first civilizations too, before we learned to make them float. We were extremely advanced before we went to the stars because of the need of our environment."

The picture slowly moved away from the planet, showing the massive rings around it, man-made space stations ringing the planet. "What those?" Ranma asked staring at them intently.

"Construction rings for the creation of starships." The Mon Calamari said. "We have a thriving mercantile fleet, as well as explorers and a defense fleet."

Michael nodded. "The Mon Calamari are reckoned as some of the finest ship engineers in the known galaxy, though very rarely do they sell their ships to others. Not even the Republic has access to their ships. And they are also rumored to be the slowest." He teased, looking over at the coms specialist. "Every ship they make is seen as a work of art, and that kind of perfection takes time."

"Amazing." Ranma said shaking his head. "Ship and stuff so different here."

"Your people haven't started to make their own ships?" Michael asked. Ranma had not opened up about his origins, but his lack of Basic made everyone assume he was from some backwater way out on the Rim.

"We not go past moon." Ranma said with a shrug. "Sent unmanned, little things, to see what out there?"

"Probes?" Michael guessed.

"That work." Ranma said with a shrug. He smirked then at Mon Calamari. "I visit your world, I go swimming, good fun! Have to be in female form for that though. If most people you, I not get hit on, right?"

"Yes, what **is** with that?" The Mon Calamari asked, voicing a question that the entire crew wanted the answer for, while ignoring the second part of what Ranma had said, since it was true. Humans and many other races might find one another attractive, but Mon Calamari did not find human attractive or vice-versa in the main. "I've never heard or seen of anything like that, changing from one sex to another upon the application of water. Which were you originally?"

Ranma laughed. "Been wonder why no one ask that. I born man first, then idiot father take me on training journey. I then… hmmm…"

Realizing he didn't know the words for curse or magic Ranma frowned tugging at his pigtail as he began to think how to explain. He decided he couldn't explain the actual magic of it, but maybe he could explain how it happened. "We go to training ground, it have lot of poles stuck in water. Job was to fight one another on the poles, not get wet follow?"

"Pretty much." Michael said with a grimace. 'But you seriously need to work on your grammar before you talk to anyone important. I know that they're not supposed to, but I think even Jedi Council at least make first impressions on how people talk."

"Jedi." Ranma said. He had made the connection that the Jedi were an order of ki users, who served this universe in some fashion as a police force or diplomats, though what the Force was and why he was getting quasi-religious overtones when hearing about the Order eluded him. "Have lots of questions about them. I explain first then you explain Jedi?"

Michael looked around at the others, who all nodded. "We won't answer any questions that we don't want to, but yes, we can talk about the Jedi."

"Okay. Anyway, my father big time idiot! He not listen to a warning about the training ground. Training ground each pool have something different …" Ranma frowned, realizing he didn't have the right word, substituting "died from water?"

The Mon Calamari frowned. "'Drown'?"

Ranma nodded. "Drown in them. Weird forms, weird creatures, small creatures, large, not matter, all die in water. Anyone else falls in water take on form of what die there. I start winning against father, smack him into pool of drown…" Ranma frowned again, thinking of how to explain, then brightened, smacking one fist against his palm as he pointed at the hologram thing. "This have picture of animals?"

Fascinated and wondering where this story was going and frankly thinking most of it was made up Michael nodded, and showed Ranma how to work the controls. Eventually Ranma found something that looked sort of like a bear. "I knock my father into a pool, and he came out looking like this creature."

"That was a much better sentence." Michael said nodding his head. "You're learning quick! Quick question though, how big was your father before?"

"Come to think of it, where does the mass go when Ranma changes forms? Ranma's what, four, six inches taller in his male form?" The Mon Calamari asked.

"Oh that's easy," Duncan, the helmsman said. "It goes straight to his tits!"

"I've talked to you about that kind of language before on the clock Duncan." Said Michael glaring over at the man, while Ranma looked as if he was trying to work out what the guy had said. "You're just lucky Ranma didn't understand what you just said, or else he'd probably kill you right now."

"Oh come on you know it's true!"

"Doesn't matter if it's true or not, we're a diplomatic corps crew, not some low life pirates. When you're on duty you watch your language!"

"Or?" Ranma said, having finally worked out what Duncan said, reaching out with two fingers again to bend the separating rail out of shape once more. "I watch it for you, yes? As for father, he big fat man, but mostly muscle." Ranma said rather grudgingly.

"But still there must've been some kind of mass conversion correct?" said them on Mon Calamari.

"I don't know what that is." Ranma said with a shrug.

"Now there your grammar was much better." Michael said with a faint grin. He could also tell that the boy's accent was beginning to resemble that of a Corellian. Not that Michael had any problems with that of course. He frowned for a moment thinking how to explain what the problem was from their perspective, then nodded. "Duncan, stand up for second."

Duncan groaned, but stood up. He was a larger man, very much given over to fat, the only one among the crew who was really overweight. "He weighs more than I am understand? His **mass** is more." Michael said pointing first at Pearson then himself.

Then Ranma understood, and he laughed. "It magic, it doesn't have to care about mass. Who knows where it goes." Ranma shrugged, using the Japanese term for magic since he didn't know the word in Basic.

Even so, the meaning of the word came through and once the crew took his meaning they all shivered a little. "That is honestly terrifying." Said the Mon Calamari, who doubled as the ship's second engineer. He knew what kind of energy was created by that kind of matter conversion.

Ranma shrugged. "It's just the way it is. Now…" he grinned. "You answer my questions yes? Republic, what is it? How many planets, how many people?"

"Species again, and thousands, hundreds of thousands." Michael said with a shrug. "Can you read our language yet?"

Ranma shook his head but the Mon Calamari raised his own hand. "We can set him up on the hologram device in the sitting room. That's easy enough he can watch some of the history vids and get some more info that way."

"That work." Ranma nodded, having gotten the word video, and hologram device.

"We'll set that up down in the lounge then, and either of us, Master Dooku or 25 will be available to answer your questions, okay?" Master Dooku had after all said that they were supposed to go out of their way to help Ranma understand Basic, and this seemed to be part and parcel of that.

Ranma nodded. "There anything I can do for you guys? Lift stuff?"

They all shook their heads and Ranma shrugged. "All right, I owe you a flavor, okay?" Michael nodded, understanding Ranma meant 'favor', and Ranma left the bridge.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several hours after he had left the bridge Ranma leaned back rubbing at his forehead thoughtfully. The historical videos that the crew had set up for him were very informative. They were also bizarre. Ranma was no politician, nor was he a history expert or anything like that, but there were several themes that he noticed throughout the videos. One was the sheer, ever-growing **size** of the Republic. Ranma didn't know a word even in Japanese to describe how monstrously huge it was. _So many damn races and worlds, Blessed Amaterasu, I never imagined anything like this!_

Anyone else would have been intimidated by the size of the universe he had suddenly found himself in, but Ranma frankly did not think like other people. He saw all of these different races as opportunities, opportunities to find new martial arts and figure out a way to integrate them into his own style. But the history of this Republic, all of the wars and all of the collapses followed by it coming back and the place of the Jedi in it, all of this was strange. The videos made assumptions of what its watchers would know and Ranma didn't know those things, or at least that was what he hoped.

As he was about to get up and head to the training area to work out, mainly to clear his mind, the hatch to the lounge opened and Master Dooku walked in. "Ranma." he said with a nod. "I understand from the crew that you are able to communicate well enough that we can understand one another now?"

"Understanding you is easy, getting grammar and words right hard, harder?"

"The second one yes," Dooku said with a nod. "Even so, remarkable progress for under a local week. Still, I did not come here just to congratulate you on your progress. I have some questions for you, and I imagine you have some for me."

"I do, but you go first." Ranma laughed, picking up his glass of water and miming pouring it over his head. "Age before beauty."

Dooku smiled politely, shaking his head internally at the youth's odd sense of humor, a sign of his wild nature. _A Jedi he could never be, yet with my own reservations of the order these days, that's probably a good thing._ "My first question I suppose is a series of small interconnected ones. I use the Force. When you made those shields of yours against my lightsaber, what was that?"

Ranma held up a hand, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them with a smile. Rather than one large ball of ki, which he could've created easily these days, several small lights appeared at his fingertips, and he began to juggle them from one finger to another. "This is ki. My life energy, my power, like a robot? If a human, or alien I suppose…"

He stumbled a little there before going on. "If someone can learn how to use, it they can… use… it, gah." He frowned, having wanted to say 'someone learned how to call it up they could manipulate it'. "Trouble is I know how to explain it, but I don't quite have the words yet."

"Eventually however your vocabulary will be large enough." Dooku said with a nod, reining his curiosity with all the skill of a Jedi Master, having already learned something, perhaps. "This is only our first discussion trust me. But you call it ki, life energy? Can anyone learn to use it or is it only available to a few?"

"Ki what it is in my first language, life energy what it translates to in Basic." _Or English too I suppose, but meh._ "Learning about it hard, but no special skill needed save being fit and spending time."

For a moment Dooku was silent, taking in the idea that Ranma had not been born with the ability he showed. After a moment Dooku changed the subject, wondering if the boy knew of the connection between the Living Force which was found in all living beings, and the Unifying Force which resided the rest of the universe around him, the Force of star, rock, and the galaxy as a whole. "And would you label that the same energy that is all around us?"

"That what I call chi." Ranma said with a nod. "I not use it."

"Why not?" Dooku asked intently, leaning forward at this sudden observation.

"Several reasons." Ranma said with a shrug. "First, back home, if do that hurt the… the area… I think, around me. For another, here the feel of the chi here different, more…" Ranma frowned again slapping one hand on his thigh angrily. "I not know… er…My feelings, it change it, yes?"

Throughout this bit of frustrated discourse Dooku was watching Ranma for any sign that the Living Force in the boy was responding to his emotions, but was astonished to see that it was not, not even a flicker of it. _Either he has incredible control, or his emotions are completely disconnected from the Living Force within him! Fascinating._ "Yes _,_ that is normal here. Are you saying it is not normal at home?"

"Yep. Is that why you not react when I change to female? Need to keep emotions under control?"

Dooku recited. "There is no emotion, there is peace. Also, ew." He smirked at the last words, watching as Ranma laughed.

Then moved by a Force led instinct, Dooku recited the Oath that all Jedi vowed to follow when they made the change from padawan to Jedi. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. That is the oath of the Jedi. It keeps us from the Dark Side, from falling into dark emotions and letting our emotions affect our actions and the Force."

"That sound stupid." Ranma said bluntly, having sat silent as Dooku recited the lines from memory. "Emotions part of life. Teach control and understanding, teach venting possibly, but not allowing to feel, not allowing to understand? Stupid."

Dooku frowned. Of all the things about the Jedi, the way they dealt with emotions was not one of the things he had questioned about the Order. "Perhaps you'll change your mind when I tell you about the Force?"

"I open to listening." Ranma said with a laugh. "But I know about emotions affecting ki."

"How so?" Dooku asked, leaning forward intently, his eyes narrowing.

"It my turn to answer questions." Ranma said firmly smirking at the old man. "You've asked several."

"I recall that you asked a few yourself Ranma." Dooku said with a smirk, "But ask away."

Ranma laughed. "Same question back at you. What do you call chi, what do you call ki? What do you use? You made those things fly apart, attack me! No martial artist could do that, could create wind and then throw them maybe, but, but **will** them to attack? Strange."

Dooku nodded then it moved his head hands and feet into what Ranma thought of as the lotus position. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, his hands beginning to glow green. "This is the Force. You seem to separate the Force into two categories, your own and that around you. That is not the case. Or rather it is the case and it's not. The Living Force is within all living creatures, but it is but a small sample of the total Force the total Force is woven through everything in this universe. Do you follow?"

Running his finger along his pigtail Ranma frowned in thought. "Think so, not getting all the words, but enough. This Force, tell me about what you believe."

Dooku nodded and went on to describe how the Jedi saw the Force. He could tell that some of the information was disturbing Ranma, though not why, and vowed to question the boy could much more closely when he was fully up to snuff on Basic.

After he finished Dooku asked, "Now, you tell me. What do you know about emotions affecting your ki?" Dooku was almost desperate to learn the techniques the boy obviously knew with the Force, but he had to make certain, had to know where the boy's knowledge came from first. _Or else any chance my sharing them with anyone else from the Order will die stillborn._

"Using emotions to power ki easy yes?" Dooku nodded. It was a fact that strong emotions could allow someone to connect to the Force easier than quiet contemplation or control. It was one of the reasons why the Dark Side was so insidious or at least it was supposed to be according to all of the records.

"But the more you use a single emotion to call on your ki, the more that emotion controls you. Eventually, it starts to… to wipe out all other emotions. I knew a girl…" Ranma frowned, looking away for a moment, his hands clenching with remembered anger for a moment before he shook it off. "I knew a girl who was falling into that trap and a boy who already had. He used depression to power his attacks."

"Depression?" Dooku asked, astonished. "I have never heard of such a thing!"

Ranma shrugged. "Self… hmm self-killing?" Dooku frowned, making a go ahead gesture, not certain what word Ranma was trying for there. "It took him over even more than anger did the girl and faster. Some days depression all he could feel. Make his attacks powerful, but him predictable. He was a… Friend, enemy rolled into one?"

"'Rival' I believe, and that first would be self-'destructive' …"Dooku mused. "We might have to come back to that point."

"I thought of him as rival." Ranma said with a shrug. "But he go behind my back and…" Ranma frowned waving that off. "Anyway, girl was having same trouble. First time I met her, she was quick to anger, but also had some nice moments, could control herself. Two years later, she stronger, she able to call emotion attack into being far faster, stronger attacks. But no longer in control, anger slowly controlling her."

Dooku frowned thoughtfully. "Do you think with anger there could ever be any kind of control? Or do you think it would dominate anyone?"

Ranma cocked his head frowning at the question. "If by control you mean control of emotion, if it all you use to power ki eventually no. Hate all you feel eventually. It is a corrupting effect. Besides, anger make, makes you a better warrior maybe, but not better fighter."

"Your grammar in particular is all over the place, present and past definitive is definitely in need of work." Dooku mused. "Still, you've given me a lot of food for thought already but I have one last question."

"My turn again." Ranma said with a smile.

Dooku frowned but nodded. He wanted to simply ask his questions and have the youth answer them, but he knew this had to be a two-way street. Ranma was not a Jedi, and did not respect him automatically as Dooku had gotten used to, and Dooku could not afford to alienate him. _The Force sent me to him for a reason, I cannot simply demand answers from him, or else I might push him away._ "Ask away."

Ranma shrugged, martialing his words and making an effort to get them all out correctly. "I suppose both questions tie into same things. One, I want to know more about the Jedi Order, its place in the galaxy. And want to know why the Republic not have a real galactic police force. I looked at those words up on purpose, it is **very** strange to me that the 'government' doesn't have some kind of military force to keep the peace. There have been wars lately?"

"The Stark-Hyperspace war and a few other violent conflicts yes." Dooku winced remembering the role he had played in one such. Dozens of Jedi had died then, and many more Mandalorians. "And that question my young friend, is one I have often wondered."

Ramos shook his head. "You Jedi being police Force, it doesn't make sense. Martial artist not police force, never enough of us, and you be diplomats too, why? Need bigger forces unless they are one of you for every hundred? Or if every government works well with you?"

Dooku barked a laugh that had absolutely no humor in it. "I understand your point, but that one is one I cannot answer, at least not without sounding like one of the video documentaries you have been watching. Again I think that will have to wait until you familiarize yourself more with this universe. Still, for first talk I believe we've gotten quite a ways. Now would you be willing to answer my question?"

Deliberately using the same words Dooku had a moment ago, Ranma nodded. "Ask away."

Smiling at the jibe, if jibe it was, Dooku asked, "How long would it take you to teach me some of your ki techniques? You're stronger, faster, your reaction time's the only thing that I can keep up with. I think all of that can be attributed to your ki techniques, but if the Force is the same as ki, then it is possible I could learn them."

Ranma frowned pulling it his ponytail thoughtfully, again putting his words together carefully. "Some techniques are easy to learn once you know how to use ki, but I'm not certain how that reacts to you and your use of the Force. They could help, or could hinder. How did you first learn to connect to Force?"

"Through meditation, through thoughts of clearing the mind feeling the Force around you and letting it fill you. Meditation is the very start of the process. Concentrating and directing the Force comes later."

Ranma frowned. "That sounds more like a monk than martial artist. Not know any monks who use ki, will have to think about it. You have any videos that show start of training?"

"No, I don't have anything like that on this ship, all such training videos are kept in the Jedi archives. There are some books about it, but you can't read Basic can you?"

"25 and I am concentrating on how to speak it. Then I learn reading, so can translate some of my own books." Ranma smirked, reaching into his ki space pocket and pulling out a book, watching as Dooku's eyes widened. "That a ki technique too." he explained, and watched as the old man's eyes lit up with knowledge-lust. "That one easy enough to understand, difficult to do first time though."

Dooku nodded, trying not to show his astonishment too openly as he looked at the book which should never have fit into the pocket that Ranma had just pulled it out of. He thought at first that that was the 'magic' Ranma had mentioned about to explain his 'curse', but no the boy said it was a ki technique, which meant it might be learnable by Force users! _That alone would be a major help._ "And these are?"

"Medical books." Ranma said, bringing out a second book, followed by a third, and comics. "Art of War. Comic books, other things."

Dooku nodded staring at the books then at the ki pocket then at Ranma, making a note of the one called Art of War, assuming that it was a book on the youth's martial arts, or perhaps the thinking behind the multiple styles the youth used. "Let us make a deal my young friend. You will remain with me for as long as it takes you to learn the local language and to read it, during which you and I will continue our discussions about this. I will teach you about the Jedi, about the Force, and about the galaxy as a whole if you have any questions beyond what our videos can show you. And you will teach me about ki."

Ranma cocked his head thinking hard. "I teach you some ki, but not until I learn about Jedi. You good, but oath bothering me, and government too."

"Trust me my young friend you're not the only one bothered by that one." Dooku said with a laugh. "I will take an oath to never abuse your teachings if that is what it takes."

"That a start but wait for next time yes, give me another few days to learn the language at least, to better figure out the oath." Ranma nodded.

"You'll have all the time in the world alas." Dooku said with a laugh. "I will have other duties once we exit hyperspace. I have a corrupt government to bring to heel, with the aid of the testimonies of the miners you saved and the ship you helped them take."

Ranma laughed evilly. "Have fun."

"It's not my idea of fun." Dooku said with a laugh, "but I will get some satisfaction nonetheless."

 **OOOOOOO**

Dooku was unfortunately correct. Upon exiting hyperspace into the Malastare system, the Jedi master went on a diplomatic offensive that left the Gran Protectorate's government reeling. After two weeks of hammering them, the Senator of the sector, which had been chosen from Malastare, had been forced to step down due to public disapproval for his actions and for his personally having a connection to a slave ring, which was proven by the captain's files.

The planet's government as a whole had also been implicated, and to keep that from getting out agreed to sharply curtail their expansionist policy. They also had to agree to Senate oversight of any further expansion plans, and a Senate backed teams of investigators would be going through all of the government-owned mines and other industrial assets. Dooku doubted they would find anything though, since by the time the investigation team could be put together, any slaves would have been removed. After all, there were still the 'protected' Dugs.

Dooku's heavy-handed pressing for more and more concessions angered many of the Gran government officials, but there was nothing they could do. Dooku had already sent off a copy of the evidence against the Senator, along with a copy of the captain's personal logs, which constituted the majority of his evidence save for the miners themselves, to the Senate. The miners had begun to go public with their story on the HoloNet with the Alderaanian government's tacit backing. It was a major scandal, one the Senate could not sweep under the rug like it had so many others thanks to Alderaan's King and Senator pushing it as hard as they could.

But the Protectorate itself would remain in power, and at least half of those involved in this scheme would continue to retain their power base despite the loss of face. The evidence against them from the former captain's files was nowhere near as solid as it was against the Senator. _Worse, I doubt we will be able to save very many personal slaves as Twila used to be. Those kinds of slaves will slip through the cracks no matter what we do. Slavery might be outlawed by the Galactic Republic as a whole, but there are glaring holes in that law, starting with Ryloth itself._

The Twi'leks had no other major export that could bring otherworldly interest to their planet and had never developed the ability to make their own ships or even hyperdrive ships. Slavery was their primary export long before the planet joined the Republic. While the Republic itself outlawed slavery, it looked the other way if Ryloth dealt with the other galactic powers out there, such as the Hutts, the Outer Rim territories, the small but growing Corporate Sector, and the Hapes Consortium.

 _Worse in my opinion is that slavery isn't as uncommon as people think even in the Republic itself! Oh, it's illegal to buy or sell slaves in practically every Republic system, but actually owning them isn't illegal. So you can just buy one elsewhere, bring him or her in like an indentured servant and you're protected by the law, as if people are property! The Gran and others are especially guilty of this._

 _And of course even if the Republic tried to crack down on that, we'd run into horrendous opposition. Too many senators, corporate leaders and other influential people 'know someone' who has a slave, and the slave is perfectly happy under their care of course! The Senate lacks the will to do change its own laws, let alone try to help the Twi'leks figure out some other export._

Dooku saw this as a sign of the Republic's deep and almost institutional corruption, which brought to mind the Jedi Order's place in it, and the fact that the Order had begun to run into the fact that enforcing the Republic's laws was not the same as upholding justice dozens of times over the past few years, and that the Order itself was seen as interfering outsiders. Such opinions were getting louder as the Senate began to become more and more openly corrupt and factional.

 _Enough,_ Dooku thought to himself pushing away from his recorder where he had just written up another report for the Jedi Council on his mission. He wasn't done his mission, not yet, the droids were still pulling more and more information off of the captain's logs every day, and that was allowing him to continue to hammer the Gran government.

Until that flow stopped, Dooku would continue to drop tiny little bombshells into the halls of power here on a day to day basis. _Time for my daily exercise with young Ranma._ Every night Dooku returned to his ship, where he remained despite the government's protests that they could have put him up in a hotel or villa to talk or train with Ranma for at least an hour or so every evening.

Training with Ranma was very much a mixed bag for the just past middle-aged (and let no one tell you different) Jedi master.

While he couldn't truly add any new skills to his lightsaber abilities, or use his Force abilities given the fact they were sparring in an enclosed area keeping up with Ranma's speed and the strength of his blows, even when he wasn't going all out was proving a tremendously difficult exercise for Dooku. And though Dooku would not admit it, he needed the physical exercise, and the outlet for his irritation after hours upon hours of deliberating and pontificating and talking **endlessly** with the government officials, the news reporters covering the story and the public.

Ranma too seemed to get quite a bit out of their spars and began to anticipate Dooku attacks, in particular coming to understand the different styles of lightsaber dueling to a degree, their strengths and weaknesses, which was astonishing to the white-haired Jedi. Dooku had never seen **anyone** with a learning curve for combat like Ranma. Indeed, it dwarfed the youth's ability with languages, which itself was astonishing.

But it was the discussions with Ranma which Dooku came to enjoy the most. Sometimes these were simply the exchanges of stories. Ranma would tell of some of his adventures in his old dimension, while Dooku would do the same, covering his years as a padawan, his exploits and his mistakes both. The two of them had talked about Ranma's origins, and had come to the conclusion that Ranma had indeed somehow jumped dimensions. While mathematically conceivable, this of course wasn't something Dooku had ever heard of before yet it was the only possible explanation.

Some of the adventures Ranma shared were equally beyond Dooku's comprehension. He didn't know how people could act like Ranma described he and his fellows sometimes did and get away with it. The curses however worried much more, so much that it was visible on his face despite his Jedi self-control, a human teenager turning into a small black pig, or a young woman turning into some other kind of little creature, which for some reason Ranma had trouble describing. The idea of that much mass somehow disappearing with the application of water was surreal to the Jedi master, and very worrying too.

The martial arts techniques on the other hand, those were not only impressive but verifiable. Ranma demonstrated a few of them for Dooku, not just the enlarged ki space, which in itself was quite simply a game changer if the Jedi could learn to use it. But also the Breaking Point technique, and his own durability, the real reason behind that particular Amazon training regimen.

That durability had startled Dooku immensely when he came upon Ranma testing it against blasters.

 **Flashback:**

"Are you certain you want to do this?" Michael asked looking askance at Ranma who was holding his hand out to one side in the small mechanics room onboard the _Kaiseki_. "I mean, I get that you think your body's durable and all, but blasters aren't toys."

"I am." Ranma said. "Better know quick before later."

Michael sighed but nodded bringing up a blaster that he had taken from the ship's stores. He wasn't a good shot, having never really practiced with blasters all that much, diplomatic corps crews were not often called upon to fight after all. But from one end of the small room to another he could hardly miss. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you, and if Master Dooku finds out, this was all your idea."

Ironically as he said that Dooku opened the door behind him. But before the older man could ask what was going on, Michael raised a blaster to his shoulder and fired.

The red pulse of plasma energy shot out, smacking into Ranma's outstretched palm and causing Ranma to wince slightly, wringing his hand out for a moment before opening his palm. As Ranma had expected the blast didn't do much. It had left a small sting and the feeling of heat, as if his palm had touched hot glass, but that was about it.

Dooku paused in mid-shout, mouth agape before his self-control reasserted itself. He strode forward, waving Michael aside when the captain noticed him and made to explain himself. "Another martial arts technique?"

"Endurance training," Ranma said with a nod still wringing out his hand. "A little pain, but that's all."

Dooku opened the youth's hand to stare at the palm where the blaster bolt had hit only to shake his head in astonishment. There was a small burn there, which he noted was already healing, but that was all. "I think that alone my young friend is a technique I would be most interested in learning."

 **Flashback End**

It wasn't only in the realm of martial arts/Force techniques that meant their talk mattered more to the Jedi master.

Ranma had a very odd outside perspective of not only the Jedi Order but the Republic, and indeed simply how things were in the universe that sometimes gave him insight into things that Dooku took for granted. For example, Ranma asked at one point how different star systems communicated with one another. So Dooku had described the Holonet, the vast communications network that allowed every planet in the Republic to talk to one another via hyperspace-based communications.

When he had described it Ranma had asked who ran it, and when told that it was the Republic itself, the central government that ran the HoloNet stations Ranma frowned, and asked "so they be able to hear in on anything they wanted to?"

Dooku spent about twenty minutes trying to reassure the young man that was impossible, but by the end of had convinced himself that it probably **was** possible. And a major concern if he wanted to keep Ranma's presence a secret which he instinctively did, all of his instincts were telling him to do that, a sure sign of the Force making itself known. Sooner or later that secret would be out of the bag, but until then Dooku wanted Ranma to acclimate himself to this universe and learn what he could from the youth and vice versa.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma looked over with a smile on his face as the door to the exercise room opened, absentmindedly ducking his head to one side and reaching out with the flick of a finger to smack a little training ball away when it tried to capitalize on his inattention.

Dooku frowned thoughtfully, looking at the 20 training balls in the air around Ranma, who didn't seem any worse the wear for their attentions. "You know you're supposed to use those when you're blindfolded yes?"

To his surprise Ranma replied. "I did that already today. This is a speed exercise, not a sitachill exercise." He frowned, knowing that word was wrong.

"Situational, or awareness." Dooku enunciated then smiled. "You're getting even better at speaking, good."

Ranma shrugged. "Learning is somewhat easy, but speaking is harder." He looked at Dooku thoughtfully. "You in mood for train, or talk?"

Dooku frowned. He'd been hoping to get to this point with Ranma for a few days now, but honestly after the week he had had Dooku decided he was not in the mood. "Exercise first I think, then talk."

Ranma nodded agreeably, moving over to take his stance as the training balls all scooted back to the small egresses that held them during downtime. Dooku calmly pulled off his robe, setting it aside as well as his normal lightsaber picking up two of the training sabers kept on ships seconded to the Jedi Order, just like the training balls.

He held one out towards Ranma who shook his head. "It interesting, but I'm not ready for it yet." He smirked. "I hurt myself more than you."

Dooku nodded, set it aside then brought his own lightsaber to power before flicking it up in a salute." Might I ask that you refrain from hitting my face?" As the youth opened his mouth to respond he went on smoothly, interrupting any kind of joke the lad might have made. "I have diplomatic meetings to see to this evening and every day for the next few weeks, I can hardly show up to them with bruises on my face."

Shrugging, Ranma bowed, and the battle began.

Several hours later the two of them met up once again in the training room after having taken showers. Dooku was as he had thought, bruised and battered somewhat, though Ranma had thankfully refrained from hitting his face as Dooku had requested.

Ranma on the other hand was severely singed in places from the lightsaber. He had wanted to see what the lightsaber would be able to do to them without a ki shields in the way, and now knew: if that lightsaber had been at full power, Dooku would've eventually been chopping off limbs. The extra endurance and durability that he had learned after reconstructing the Amazon's Breaking Point training did not avail him long against a lightsaber, unlike the blasters.

With a weary chuckle, Dooku moved over, pressing the button which raised the seats and the rest of the furniture once more. Sitting down, he motioned Ranma into a chair across from him. "Ahh, I think I needed that. Now, I believe we were talking about meditation, and the differences between your type of meditation and that the Jedi use."

 **OOOOOOO**

"And so this mission will conclude most satisfactorily, though some of the Senators allied to the Protectorate will have egg on their collective faces since the Gran senator was hip-deep in the expansion project, as well as the slavery that was mandated by it. Unfortunately, I will still be here for a while to make certain that the lesson sticks."

Several days later Dooku sat once more at his desk, though this time he was not talking to any local minor functionary, or writing up notes for the Senate, he was talking via Hypercom to several members of the Jedi Council. These were some of the most respected and experienced Jedi Masters of the Order, though not all of them fell under that category in Dooku's opinion. The two main members Grandmaster Yoda and Master Windu did however and it was to these two that he addressed his words.

Throughout the discussion of his mission Grandmaster Yoda sat silent, his ancient eyes closed as he took in his former padawan's words. Now, as the other Masters talked amongst themselves about how the fall of a sector senator could possibly open a power vacuum in the Senate, Yoda opened his eyes. "Something else on your mind you have my former padawan. Connected but not part of your mission, to do with the saved miners, it does. Share this you should."

Dooku smiled thinly. "I do have something else on my mind Master yes, but with respect, I prefer not to share it over the Hypercom. I would like to share it in person, primarily because I have recently learned something that makes me distrust the sanctity of messages such as this."

Mace Windu stared at him in surprise. "What do you mean? Why would anyone want to listen in on Jedi communications?"

"For thousands of reasons." Dooku said shaking his head. "Surely you know that Master Windu. The Senate has factions, factions which will of course be following the movements of Jedi as a matter of course, and it is the Senate and the Republic itself which run the Hypercom."

"Nonsense." Said Adi Gallia, a master Dooku felt was too young and untried to be on the council, despite her skills in diplomacy. "The Senate doesn't control the entirety of the Hypercom, only a few select bands."

"Yet it does control the Hypercom stations, and the underlying software." Dooku countered. "Those we cannot be certain of."

"Enemy you see when none there is ." Yoda said frowning heavily, but there was no censure in his voice. Rather his eyes were locked on Dooku's face, a thin but actually quite warm smile on his ancient face. "On this matter, your concerns we will understand. Looking forward I am, to seeing you in person. Know what is on your mind, I would."

Dooku nodded his head wondering how that meeting would go. Ironically he was looking forward to it too. Ranma had no respect for anyone who didn't earn it from him personally. And his last discussion with the youth had been rather amusing, filled with tales of his adventures back in his own dimension having to do with the 'grandmaster' of his martial arts style. And Dooku, showing a bit of mischief that was not in keeping with his normal personality, had decided not to give Ranma any kind of description of Yoda or the other Jedi Masters. It would be… interesting to see his reaction to them, especially the diminutive Yoda, considering his past with this Happosai creature.

"I look forward to that as well Master." Then Dooku sobered. "I have heard whispers and seen several news reports about violent attacks by the Yinchorri against other Republic worlds? What is the Senate doing about it?"

"The Senate is not going to be doing anything, there is no clear consensus, and none of the world's so far attacked have powerful enough backers or senators to Force the Senate into action, indeed most of the attacks have occurred against pirate or known smuggler's dens, which have won the Yinchorri some goodwill from the Senate. Despite this, there's no doubt their depredations will escalate in time. If so, it will be up to us to keep the peace," Mace said. "I have assigned Naeshahn and his padawan Ebor Taulk to look into it."

"It is far too often up to us to keep the peace." said Dooku sharply. "Either the Republic needs to start building up a larger military force of its own rather than continually relying on us, or we need to start training our Jedi to a higher degree for combat missions, Masters."

"That thinking is premature, there are flare-ups like this every hundred years or so." Said Oppo Ranisicis. Yoda and Mace however were both silent, standing back from the debate.

Dooku shook his head. "The corruption within the Senate is becoming more and more obvious my fellow masters, and we are more and more being seen as a tool of the Senate rather than the people! I have talked to Gran here, to people who espouse views that they wanted to move against the corruption in the government here. But they were afraid that the Senate would not stand for it, that they would face **us** at the conference table against any such move."

"We are on the side of stability, that is what we must hold paramount." Said one of the Masters, named Koth if Dooku's memory served, a friend of Windu's and another one who Dooku felt should not be serving on the council. "Nor is it our task to police the Senate itself. We are servants of the Republic. Where the Senate needs us, we will go and keep order."

"No!" said Dooku sharply. "We are servants of the Light side of the Force, and we are **supposed** to be servants of justice and the people. In nowhere in there is the Senate or its members and their various demands mentioned. Even the Republic itself isn't mentioned, it's just that the Republic has been the best way to serve justice and law for so long that we have blinded ourselves to the creeping corruption at the highest echelons of its government!"

"A discussion for another time, this is." Yoda said suddenly. "Too much emotions there are tied into this. Too close to this issue you have become my former padawan. The greater good and the larger picture you must start to see."

Dooku frowned, but sighed. This was a conversation he had Yoda had had several times since the disastrous Battle of Galidraan which had started Dooku's thoughts in this direction. "You are right master, my emotions do carry me away, but that does not negate anything that I have said."

"On the contrary it does." said the Lannik Master Piell sharply. "Remember your oath to the Order master Dooku. We are not the leaders of the Republic, merely its guardians."

Dooku drew himself up staring hard at the other master. "I do not need to be reminded of my duty or my oaths. I do not think…" he said looking over at Yoda. "That I am the only one whose emotions are running high on this issue, perhaps I have brought it up too often. We will leave it for now. What did you mean when you said would that the Jedi were going to have to handle the insurrection?"

Mace spoke up, from where he had been silent watching the other Masters talk. "As Grand master I sent two of our Jedi in to arbitrate matters, once they report we will consider further."

For a moment Dooku had a premonition, so strong that he thought at first it had come from the Force, but no it had only come from his own mind, and his understanding of the Yinchorri mentality. _Those two Jedi will never return._ Looking at Yoda now he saw that his master was tired age and authority weighing on him heavily. _And I think Yoda suspects that._

"I cannot say that was a good idea Masters, the Republic has its own diplomatic corps to handle things if talk at all can solve the issue. At least without involving the larger factions the senate has begun to split into. In any event Masters I should be here for a few more weeks, unless you wish to send someone to relieve me?" He added hopefully, hoping to lighten the mood of the meeting.

It worked, and there were more than a few chuckles, including from his old Master. "Stay on station you will." said Yoda shaking his head. "More knowledge of the situation you have, contacts you have made. Foolish we would be to remove you at this point." He then gained a very sharp look indeed as he stared at Dooku. "Talk in the future we will in person about many things my former padawan."

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time Dooku was talking to the Jedi council, Ranma was out and about the spaceport for the first time since they arrived. He actually wouldn't have ventured out now, except that Michael and Duncan had invited him out with them, first insisting that he needed new clothing, and second that he needed to get away from the ship for a while.

Between them the two Corellians had paid for several new t-shirts for Ranma, along with a leather jacket, the sort that many spacers seemed to wear. They also bought him some new pants and a hoodie, though Ranma thought they were rather ridiculous, and it would've taken an army to part him from his silk pants. They also tried to buy him a set of bra and panties as a gag gift, but after Ranma threatened to break their legs, that stopped.

Now Ranma glanced around the somewhat dingy bar that Michael and Duncan had dragged him too. It was a large place, Ranma estimated the cruiser could have fit in here comfortably. It had three stories, the topmost of which Michael had said was devoted to inhalers and other recreational drugs, the idea of which made Ranma shiver. He had seen the destruction a martial artist could do while drunk, what one could do on the equivalent of LSD was horrifying. The second floor had a large open area in the floor which allowed the people up there to watch what was going on down below.

The first floor was dominated by several bars along its walls, though one of them seemed to be somewhat special, since it didn't have any stools in front of it. The upper body of a droid with six arms and two heads was stuck on a conveyor belt of some kind, moving it along the bar while it took orders, its arms a blur behind it. There were several dozen speakers sticking out of walls from where Ranma was sitting, providing a musical background to the horrible din of hundreds, possibly a thousand or more voices.

It was interesting, but not really Ranma's scene. _That and the music_ _ **sucks**_ _here! What the hell is that stuff, techno-pop babble crap… ugh… So glad I have my CD-player with me. Pity Michael made me leave it behind damn it, my ears will have their revenge!_

At first Ranma had thought they were just going out to see the sights, maybe get out past the city limits into the wilderness Ranma had spotted a time or two. Ranma had never liked cities, not even Tokyo, which Nerima was technically a part of, and this city was no better. Instead, here they were in a place that was so like yet unlike many such establishments Ranma had been in with his father it gave him an odd feeling of nostalgia and irritation from those memories.

Irritation because many of those memories ended badly, with Ranma dragging back Genma to their hotel. Nostalgia from some other memories of the places: his first pit fight, which was damn fun at the time, and the few times his old man had taught him things in places like this, such as how to spot concealed weapons. _Not that I need that now,_ Ranma thought as he sat alongside Michael, drinking a glass of water. _**Everyone**_ _here's armed!_

That was very true. Most of the men here went about with blasters, a few carried large knives as well, even the dozen or so women among the patrons carried weapons. Michael had told him that this was a spacer's hangout, where offworlders came to burn off some energy while in port.

And of course most spacers carried weapons these days. There were dozens of star systems that didn't have some kind of danger, be it from oppressive governments, smugglers, pirates, criminal gangs and so on, but they were in the minority. So it simply made good sense to most spacers to be armed whenever they could. Even Michael and Duncan had weapons, though Ranma didn't honestly think they knew what to do with them.

Here and there through the crowd droids moved. Most of them were designed to look like human women in body type, their metal casing and faces giving the lie, and Ranma wondered why someone had designed androids that looked like that. _Actually come ta think of it, I don't want ta know. Nor do I want ta think too hard on why they look like human women on a planet where humans ain't the majority. Ugh…_

Through the throng however Ranma saw a commotion occur around a droid that was definitely not like the others, something that thankfully took his attention away from such thoughts. It was one of those little short dome-shaped ones called astromech droids. Though this one wasn't like the two that made up the majority of the cruiser's maintenance crew along with the Verpine.

The color scheme on this one was red, gold and black swirled in a chaotic pattern, making it stand out. On its dome it carried a tray on a holder welded into place and on the side it had a small slot that was apparently for money, given that people were dropping bits of the local currency into it before they grabbed a drink from the tray.

As Ranma watched, a human patron reached over grabbing up several drinks and turning away seemingly without paying. The droid danced in place, the lights around its top blinking while it possibly said something in those beeps his type used to speak, which Ranma couldn't hear over the sound of the crowd. It moved forward, banging into the legs and rear of the human, who turned, snarling.

The man reared back for a kick, but the droid dodged to one side on its little wheels, then, while the man was trying to regain his balance a small door on its side opened up. A mechanical device of some kind popped out on the end of a servo-arm, and an electrical charge jumped from it to the man's thigh, causing him to bellow in pain and tumble to the floor.

One of the locals moved through the crowd, gesticulating angrily at the droid, helping the human to his feet and then waving an angry finger at the droid for some reason as the human looked vindicated. Ranma didn't know why the human wasn't getting in trouble for not paying and didn't care. He was more interested the local.

As Ranma watched, he smacked a small silver disk onto the side of the droid, then used a remote control of some kind. The droid's lights dimmed noticeably, and it seemed to sag almost on its treads. It moved off docilely, and the local turned back to the customer, saying something that again Ranma couldn't make out.

 _Hmm… interesting. Little guy had spirit in him, it, whatever, but that thing on its side seems to've taken the wind out of his sails. Wonder what it is and what an astromech's doing here at all. Aren't they supposed to be used on spaceships? Can't understand why one'd be used here._

"Earth to Ranma, you listening?"

Ranma turned back to the table, looking over at Michael. "What?"

"I was saying are you interested in making a little money?"

Ranma shrugged. "Depends on what you have in mind."

"'This place may be one of the higher-end establishments that cater to spacers, but it's still got a few gambling opportunities. One of them's an arm wrestling competition held here every night at the same time. You go 12 rounds against other spacers, then you go against a Wookie, and then if you beat him, you go against the owner of the bar. Of course, few people get past the Wookie. Each round is worth more money, you follow?"

"I follow now why you wanted me along." Ranma said dryly. He shrugged. He'd done pit fighting and some underground street-fighting with his old man when he was younger, it was a quick and easy way to earn some cash so he had no issue with that. "We split 50-50?"

"Come on, Ranma I'm the one that knew of this place 70-30."

"I'm the one doing the work." Ranma replied firmly. "50-50."

"60-40." Michael's smirking. "Consider the 10% you paying us back for the clothing, and you said you owe us a favor."

"50-50, and I not tell master Dooku. I think the Jedi not care for gambling yes?"

"That's dirty." Michael said growling a little. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"Been manipulated and used my whole life over." Ranma said with a grim smile. "I don't mind you taking some, but I take half."

"50-50." Michael nodded. He did not want to know what the younger man meant by saying he'd been manipulated and used all his life. Ranma was remarkably silent about his past most of the time, but the flashes he let out were sometimes humorous, sometimes bizarre, and sometimes worrying, like that last hint.

"I'll go sign you up for tonight." He winked and Ranma and Duncan. "We might even get a little bit of local company, you know? Like that Twila girl."

Ranma blushed hotly at the memory, while Duncan rolled his eyes. "Why you turned her down is beyond me, kiddo." Duncan turned back to his meal as Michael got up and headed towards the bar at the far end of the smoke stained and darkly lit room, while Ranma went back to crowd watching, with a purpose now.

A few minutes later, just as the droid he noticed a few moments ago passed behind him Ranma leaned back nonchalantly. His head smacked into its side, knocking the odd cylinder stuck to its side off slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, Ranma watched as its lights started to light back up to the level they had been before then stopped before dimming back quickly. It rocked in place, making a light warbling sound, as if questioning what was happening.

 _It's amazing how alive the little critters can make those noises sound,_ Ranma thought. Aloud he asked, "So, what you in for? You not like the other serving droids yeah?"

The droid beeped at him low but irritable now, and if the droid could snarl with beeps, Ranma somehow felt it would be. Ranma's smirk widened a little. "Would that be something like 'what you think I'm here for stupid human, my stupid owner sold me'?"

The droid beeped again this time slightly more conciliatory. "Nah it cool, I be called lot worse than that. What's your name?"

The droid played some of the local music then some Ranma recognized from the background music of the bar and Ranma frowned. "Music? Song? Tune?"

As he said the word 'Tune' the droid played something like a gong sounding off. "So Tune, that's cool name. Definitely better than making a name out of yer line or whatever. You happy here?"

The droid beeped again this time going back to its other more growl tones. "Thought not. I'll see what I can do about that, lay low about being free for now, and we'll see."

The droid beeped as if it was trying to sniff in disdain and moved off through the crowd but Ranma simply shrugged that off. "What are you up to kid?" Duncan asked, having watched all this in silence.

"Most ships need astromech droids right? Eventually I want own ship, so droid."

"That's putting the hyperdrive before the ship you know." Duncan said, amused. "Ships cost a lot, especially if you want one with its own hyperdrive, and especially if you want one large enough to live on comfortably that isn't so old it'll fall apart on you the moment you turn your back on it."

Ranma shrugged. "I see a chance, I take it. Droid still come in handy whatever happens."

A few minutes later as Ranma continued to drink his water slowly, Michael came back. "All right," he said wringing his hands together in delight. It's all set up, and I even got good because you're a mere human, and…" He trailed off, glancing at the water in Ranma's hand. "And I said we were signing up a female friend of ours, since that got me the best odds of all. So…"

Ranma growled a little, staring around at the mass of aliens and humans, and having no desire to deal with wandering hands or anything of that nature, having seen more than a few women in the crowd having to deal with such. _Still, the payoff will be worth it._ "I go and change, but I take seventy instead of half."

Michael winced, but given the odds he'd gotten, he and Duncan would actually still make more money if Ranma entered the contest in his female form. "Alright kriff it, just get outta here and change the contest's gonna start up in five minutes."

"Good, there something I want to buy anyway." Ranma smirked then moved away through the crowd, exiting the bar for a moment before coming back in his female body.

A few moments later a tinny robotic voice rang out from the speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is nine o'clock local time, and that means one thing, the arm wrestling competition is about to begin! Will the contestants please line up to the right of the bar-droid?"

Ranma got up, nodding at Michael and Duncan who both wished her luck. Ranma simply smirked, moving over to take her place in line. The line formed along the bar with the droid's body stuck into a conveyor belt. It began to repeat itself as each contestant filed by. "Please remove all outer clothing to make certain that no devices have been used to enhance strength forearms must be bare."

In response Ranma shrugged off her jacket, tossing it back towards Michael. She ignored a few whistles of appreciation from a few human males nearby as they gawked at the formfitting nature of her undershirt. Then he laughed as he heard a few loud smacks as some nearby women took exception to the noises.

As Ranma waited for his name to be called, she thought about the glass of water he had been drinking earlier. _Now, if this place was back on Earth it wouldn't have mattered how long I spent in female form, that would've splashed on me somehow triggering the change. Here the water attraction portion of the curse doesn't seem to be active. Interesting, I wonder if it would come back if I tried to stay in male form for too long._

A few seconds later Ranma heard her name called, and moved out to the table designated while the crowd of onlookers to her right facing the four tables set out for the competition and the bar behind them began to pass bets between them. Ranma noticed Duncan and Michael both working the crowd a little and groaned aloud.

 _If they make too much money on me, Murphy 's Law is gonna kick us all in the ass and something's gonna happen. I wonder if it'd just happen to them and not me since they're the ones doing the betting._ She scoffed at that shaking her head. _Yeah right, since when does Lady Luck ever miss an opportunity to kick me in the balls?_

He sat across from some strange werewolf looking alien. It had bluish fur, a full mane of hair, and wore pretty much the ubiquitous spacers outfit, jacket, pants and undershirt. "A human female!?" The werewolf growled. "Really? How drunk were you when your friends signed you up for this?"

"I'm not drunk." Ranma said with a smile. "Don't worry about me doggy."

The werewolf growled in laughter at what he thought was false bravado, set his arm on the table and waited for the signal. Ranma did the same, gripping her opponent's hand firmly, not even noticing as the werewolf tried to tighten his grip at an attempt at pre-contest intimidation.

As soon as the watching droid said "Contestants, start! The werewolf growled in shock and pain as the back of his hand slammed into the table.

The droid moved over on its axles along the bar. "Contestant Rico Zeis is out in a new record for swiftest first round victory!"

"I wasn't ready!" Rico growled, setting his hand again on the table. "Again!"

Ranma shrugged put her own arm back on the table and as the werewolf growled "go!" once again slammed his palm down onto the table with barely any appreciable effort.

"Contestant Zeis, this contest is over. Please vacate the table."

Since there were four other matches going on at the same time Ranma's quick victory hadn't actually been noticed by many of the crowd. Most of those that had seen it assumed that his second victory had been the only one. A few of the onlookers noticed, including one or two humans who frowned wondering how the young woman had done that, but all of them eventually put it down to the Shistavanen being drunk.

Ranma's anonymity ended with the next match, when he was matched up with a Gran who looked like he did construction work for a living, bulging muscles on his arms to go with his bulging stomach. Despite this, Ranma dealt with him easily smacking his hand against the table within a few seconds of the match starting.

As she was walking to the semi-finals, Ranma heard some mutters about him, causing her to chuckle internally. "Maybe she's from a high-grav world, human just on the surface you know?"

"Or maybe she's got a robot arm under synth-skin."

Ignoring these speculations, she sat down from across his opponent, some kind of lizard creature that stood taller than most humans by a foot, dwarfing Ranma slightly. The creature hissed, shaking his head. "I know not what you offered the Shistavanen, but you have nothing to offer me. I wish to rip that Wookie's arm off, and you are standing between him and me."

Behind him, were several other lizards, hissing and whistling to one another in their own language. They sort of reminded Ranma of newts with their faces, but not quite, sort of a cross between newts and alligators. But that didn't matter right now. "Don't even know what a Wookie is," Ranma said cheerfully stretching her shoulders a little before placing her elbow on the table. "Sorry you not going to face it."

The alien, a Trandoshan, glared at him angrily thinking the human female was making fun of him with her accent and not knowing what Wookie was. They were rather distinctive after all, much like his own people. And the hatred between their races was also well known.

Before the droid had sounded the start, the Trandoshan began to push against Ranma's arm, trying to twist and grip Ranma's hand in such a way as to cause pain, but Ranma simply bore it stoically. _He's definitely stronger than the others, but I would say he's not even as strong as Kuno back home, and he was the weakest physically of all of us. Akane'd rip his arms off for him like he wants ta do to this Wookie, whoever that is._

Ranma twitched her arm slightly, and the Trandoshan's arm noticeably dipped before he got control of himself and tried to push back. Ranma held their hands there grinning into the Trandoshan's eyes for a few moments before slamming his hand down on the table causing cheers and cries of consternation and howls of shock to reverberate throughout the crowd.

The Trandoshan roared, getting to its feet reaching across the table with both of his arms towards Ranma, who kicked out of her own chair and leapt into the air above its arms. A kick smashed into the lizard's face, flinging him backwards, his nose and jaw shattered.

Ranma stood balancing on the table for a moment looking around at the crowd and shrugged her shoulders. "Sore loser?"

For a moment the crowd had been shocked into silence by the sudden outbreak and cessation of violence, but now there were roars of laughter and cheers of approval. Ranma ignored it all, dropping to the floor as the lizard aliens took their compatriot and dragged him off. From where he was sitting nearby Michael cocked his head at Ranma who shrugged. "He live, I pull my kick."

A few moments passed, and Ranma was then ushered to the finalist's table, where a huge furry creature was already waiting for her. Ranma cocked her head and asked, "You a Wookie? That lizard guy not like you."

The massive furry beast made loud growling noises, though it didn't sound angry, more amused if Ranma was reading it right, and she shook her head. "Sorry I not understand your language. I'm learning Basic, it enough?"

The Wookie chuffed, nodding his head and reaching out to pat Ranma with a hand that would've driven most humans to grunt at least while Ranma simply smiled. "Still not getting it."

"I think he's saying he liked the way you dealt with the Trandoshan kid," said an older voice. Ranma turned slightly to see a large, middle-aged human male coming through the crowd from a back room. "You beat the Wookie, you have to face me next, but you've already given a damn good show."

Ranma shrugged. "I martial artist, I a **lot** stronger than I look."

"Truer words I've never heard." The man laughed then nodded at the droid set into the bar. "Start the match."

Ranma was surprised by his opponent's strength but not really impressed. The Wookie was far stronger than the 'Trandoshan' had been, possibly through training or possibly through body type. Yet compared to Ranma, he was only almost up to Akane's level. "Sorry furry dude," said Ranma in her own language, shaking her head before switching to Basic. "But you lose."

With that Ranma began to exert his own strength, slowly but surely bringing the Wookie's arm down despite his best efforts. It took Ranma a few moments mostly because she didn't want humiliate the Wookie as she had the Trandoshan alien.

When the back of the Wookie's hand finally tapped down there was a cheer from the onlookers. The Wookie stood up, cocking his head to one side, and nodding his head, reaching across to slap a hand on Ranma's shoulder before heading off without another word.

For his part, the owner of the bar now looked rather astonished, shaking his head as he laughed. But his eyes were not smiling as he looked at Ranma. "No human's ever been able to out arm-wrestle a Wookie! Have you been gene-enhanced?"

"Just a martial artist." Ranma said with a laugh. She threw back her red hair, smirking up at the taller man. "So I wrestle you now yes?"

"Arm wrestle," the owner said, smirking a little at the innuendo for a moment since he certainly would have liked to 'wrestle' with the short redhead, preferably on his bed. But from the redhead's expression it wasn't a come on or anything, just a word missing from the sentence.

Sighing he nodded at the droid on the bar, which pressed a button on a small control console behind it. The table where Ranma had faced the Wookie and the floor several feet around it rose two feet into the air allowing the crowd to see what was going on much more easily.

Stepping up to the side of the raised dais, the owner of the bar pulled on his elbow for a moment, and suddenly his skin seemed to come off, leaving a fully articulated mechanical arm behind. There were some murmurs of that from the crowd, but mostly the sounds were amused, to the tune of 'ahah' as if the watchers had just worked out a trick.

Michael moved through the crowd as they all began to exchange further bets. After all it wasn't every day that someone got past the Wookie to the proprietor of the bar. "Kid, you might want to throw this match now." He whispered into Ranma's ear.

Ranma cocked her head at him. "Huh, why?"

"That cyborg's probably got his arm's limiter off, that's why. He'll rip your arm off!"

"Limiter?"

Michael rolled his eyes at Ranma's naïveté. "Robots are stronger than most species out there, and can be enhanced further through further engineering. So cyborgs outside the military have to have their limiters set by the government of the world they're on." If those limiters are removed, the individual faces revoking of his citizen's license, and expulsion from the system. Of course those laws, like most, depended on the government's willingness to care about enforcing them. Here it probably wasn't enforced, which made the bar owner's use of his arm sharp practice rather than illegal. After all, he didn't need to warn his opponent as he had by removing his arm's synth-skin.

Ranma shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Always wanted to see what I'd do against Terminator." Michael furrowed his brow, not getting the reference but Ranma ignored him waving the man off as she moved towards the table. Ranma had seen the original Terminator movies when they came out, having snuck into the movie theater while on the training trip with his old man, shirking a few hours of training for once because he'd heard so much about them. They had scared him when he was a kid, the unstoppable robotic menace destroying humanity and all that. But as he grew older, he'd desired to see what he could do against them.

As Ranma sat down the people around him the crowd continued to trade bets, many of them moving purposefully towards Michael and Duncan. He figured though the two of them could handle the betting themselves, and ignored them to stare at his opponent as he sat down, setting his robotic arm on the table.

Ranma gripped the cyborg's hand, and both of them looked over at the droid stuck into the bar. "Contestants are you ready? Then begin!" The match started, with the cyborg immediately going on the offensive trying to push Ranma's arm down.

Ranma grunted a little as the cyborg's arm actually made her strain a little but not that much. She held her hand steady shaking a little in place as the cyborg owner of the bar exerted his full strength. After a moment though the man realized that Ranma's arm wasn't moving. "What the hell are you?!"

"I told, I martial artist." said Ranma, and now beginning to go on the offense. For a moment the cyborg's arm was stuck at halfway down, then Ranma slammed it down, causing a loud screech of metal to come from the man's elbow. _Terminator can eat that!_ Ranma crowed internally.

While Ranma stood up and waved at the crowd, which was cheering him or groaning in agony depending on which way they bet, the cyborg frowned angrily at his arm, which was shorting out at the elbow. "Dammit." The man looked back at Ranma then sighed, motioning Ranma to follow him towards the far end of the room.

They passed through the crowd, with Ranma receiving many pats on the shoulders for her show. One person however tried to pat her on the rear as she went past. That man went flailing by a backhand smacking own arm away with such force he lost his balance and went sprawling to the ground.

People around him began to laugh at the man's misfortune and Ranma moved on, with Michael and Duncan quickly pushing their own way through the crowd. Their pockets were bulging with the local currency, but that was a paltry sum in comparison to the amount the house would have to pay out to them given the odds Michael had gotten on Ranma before she joined the contest.

The man stepped around one of the other bars, a small half-circle set at the far wall from the doorway into the bar. Reaching down below its top for a moment the cyborg flicked on a scanner. Ranma stepped onto a stool right in front of him, cocking her head. "So, now I get my money?"

The man waved her off for a moment staring down at a small screen set discreetly below the top of the bar. _Dammit she's reading as human!_ If Ranma had in fact been an android with a covering of synth-skin, the man would have been able to get out of paying since such couldn't be used in physical contests, but she was reading as fully human. Muscle mass and strength were off the scale, but there was nothing unusual about that.

He sighed, flicking the screen of before looking up at Ranma, Michael and Duncan. He wondered idly whose idea this was, it certainly wasn't the redheads. Her wide disingenuous eyes just didn't seem the type to think this scheme up. "Look Ranma, I don't have enough money to pay the entire amount you're due. I can pay in small installments, or you can take what I have now, and become a part-time owner in the bar for a bit until the rest is paid off."

"I not care so much about the money." Ranma said with a shrug. "I want to buy one of your droids. The astromech, Tune."

The bartender frowned. Calculating in his head he realized that would actually let him a little ahead, though he wasn't about to say that aloud. "An almost brand-new droid like that, that'll take more than what you're owed."

"If it was new it would, but it isn't, that droid is secondhand at best already. You've made modifications and the previous owner probably made modifications, which knocks down the price." Michael said speaking up now. "Ranma's owed 70% of the take, that droid should cover it, especially since it was repurposed to a task it was never designed for."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders again. "Just want the droid, and a meal too maybe. I'm hungry." _Not that the local food looks all that appetizing, but meh, I've eaten worse on the road. Though looking into the different types of food available in this universe is up there with finding different martial arts styles to learn._

"All right," the bartender said with a sigh, realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere here. "He's been trouble anyway, take him and good riddance. As for you two, wait there I'll bring out your money."

While Michael and Duncan sat at the bar, Ranma moved through the crowd looking for Tune. He ignored the sound of mutters around him from those portions of the crowd that were unhappy about how the betting had gone. More than one of them was trying to work up the courage to try and take it out on the short human female, but after her show of strength that wasn't an easy task.

It took Ranma a while to find Tune, who was serving a male alien with octopus like tentacles growing out of his head. _So many weird ass aliens around, still, bet humans look just as weird ta some of them._ He approached the droid from behind, reaching down to pat it on the head underneath the tray stuck there before reaching further down to pull off the small cylinder that was stuck into its side. Immediately the droid's lights lit up to full power, and its dome-shaped head turned quickly, it's visual recorder turning to look up at her.

Ranma grinned, holding up a thumb to its sensor. "Told you I'd get you out of here. So what you think, want to come with me and see the stars again? Or stay to wait tables?"

The droid beeped at Ranma quizzically, warbling a noise that sounded like a question.

"Oh yeah, you don't know yet." Ranma said with a laugh. "I'll show you later, but I'm the same person who talked to ya before." The droid warbled derogatorily and Ranma smirked. "Yeah I know I'm different, but I just bought ya, and you can get out of here, get explanations later, yeah?"

That seemed to do it for the droid who warbled again this time in clear agreement and quickly made to follow Ranma. Behind the droid the alien with the tentacle head stood up, frowning angrily as the droid moved away from his table. "Hey comeback, those are my drinks!"

Ranma turned to him smiling and grabbing the tray off its holder over the droid's head, holding it out to them. "Sorry, he not work here no more."

The alien took a moment to look Ranma over, smirking a little. "Well as an apology, why don't you come over and have a drink with me instead? Are you with anyone right now?"

Ranma frowned angrily, realizing she was being hit on but before she could respond in an appropriate manner, such as kicking the man in the balls, a female voice from behind her spoke out. "She is not, but you are. Or were, you bastard!"

Smirking, Ranma turned to stare at a girl his own age, and surprisingly size too. She had creamy sort of mocha-colored skin, a very good looking athletic sort of body, and was an alien. It was kind of obvious what with her having no hair and several horns sticking out of her head which made it look like she was wearing some kind of crown. She was still very pretty though, not as pretty as Twila had been, but still a cut above most of the girls elsewhere in the crowd.

The man obviously thought so as well because he backed up rapidly. "Sorry babe, I, that is, I thought you had stood me up! I've been here for like 45 minutes!"

"You've been waiting for about five." Said the girl flatly. She then turned to the redhead. "Now as for you…"

Ranma backed away quickly holding up her hands while Tune made some noises that sounded as if the droid was amused by the goings-on. "I not lead him on or anything, I just here to get droid I win on bet. I not interested in guys."

"Oh." The girl said blankly, staring into Ranma's very honest looking blue eyes, before shrugging her shoulders. "Whatever powers your engines I suppose?"

A voice from behind Ranma spoke up. "Hic, you can 'ardly blame 'im, I mean, look at t'ese t'ings!" One of the people that had bet against Ranma had found enough liquid courage to start something, but instead of trying to take it out on her physically the man had decided to get his money's worth another way. Before Ranma could turn she felt two hands grabbing at her chest from behind.

Swiftly Ranma turned around, her elbow coming around at speed to slam into the man's head, sending him rocketing sideways with enough force to take six other people to the floor from the crowd around them. "Hands off!"

While the alien girl nodded in approval and moved over to further remonstrate her boyfriend, some of the people that Ranma's molester had taken out with his fall stood up glaring angrily at her and pulling out weapons. "What the fuck bitch! Isn't it enough that you cost us money, now you have to knock us around too!""

"No matter how strong she is she can't stop a stun bolt. I say we get our money's worth another way!" One of them said, raising a blaster. Even as a booming voice came from the speakers shouting about how violence was not allowed here and a few bouncers moved through the crowd purposefully the man pulled the trigger.

Ranma leapt upwards as soon as she saw the man's finger twitch, and the blue corona or stun energy passed directly below her, unfortunately knocking out several in the crowd. Their friends turned, raising their own blasters and firing back, and suddenly there was a massive bar fight going on, blue corona's flying everywhere and knives off as well.

Ranma dropped down onto one of her attacker's heads, bearing him to earth. At the same time, her arms flashed out to both sides smacking into and lifting up two others, throwing them aside.

Behind her, Tune raced forward, knocking several people over in his haste to follow. But Tune's treads were not really made for any kind of close combat, nor was the droid large enough to have much mass behind its charge. The droid lost its actuator arm when tried to clear its way and was quickly knocked

Having heard it's warbling cry Ranma leaped backwards. Lifting the droid up easily in one arm Ranma jumped back over several dozen heads, landing lightly on a bar to scan the crowd while tucking the droid underneath one arm. The droid was now warbling incessantly, sounding irritated and worried, but Ranma ignored him scanning the crowd for Michael and Duncan.

Both of them had already been knocked to the floor, one of them was unconscious and the other was holding his head groggily. "Maybe they got hit by a stray stun bolt or something." Ranma mused as she landed next to him. Picking them up one after another she talked them on her shoulders then made for the door. She'd had enough fun for one night, and after all she had to protect her investment.

Ranma raced through the port and a few moments later they reached the _Kaisenki_. The droid, which had been tooting incessantly to be let down now stopped, its eye on the ship. It tootled a question, and Ranma laughed.

"I not with the Republic if that what you asking, I'm just a friend at the moment. Eventually I want my own ship, why I thought getting you a good idea."

The droid twirled its head around whistling an affirmative. A few moments later Ranma had dumped Duncan and Michael unceremoniously in one corner of the machine room, noting absently that their pockets were no longer bulging with money. They seemed to have a goodly amount still, but a lot of it had been removed before Ranma could get to them. "Oh well, not my fault."

She set Tune down as well, frowning as she looked through the electrical appliances in the tool shed. She held one up that she had seen the mechanic of the ship use once on a droid, holding it out to Tune. "This let me talk better with you?"

The droid whistled an assent, and a small hatch on its side opened showing port. Ranma and nodded, and plug the end of the thing into it. Almost immediately the scrolling of messages appeared. "Are you really human? No human is as strong as you have shown yourself to be! Are you a Jedi? Normal humans cannot jump as well as you did in the bar. What happened to the human that I talked to the first time? It's obvious you are not him, he was male, you are female, are you siblings?"

"Heh, I answer all questions, but first, you know about the, the Force?" Ranma stumbled over using that term for what he did, but he had to fit his abilities and of course the magic of his curse into the local dialect he supposed.

The droid answered in the alternative, and Ranma placed the small scanner on its head for a moment, while he recited what Dooku had made 25 do to stop the droid's brain from exploding. "Prepare folder in memory for Force powers, unexplainable."

With that Ranma moved over to small drink dispenser, warming up some water and dumping it over her head. He became a she, and the droid whooped, burbled and shook in place for a moment before calming down thanks to Ranma's warning. As the droid's flashing started to slow down Ranma smirked at him. "I told you I was one to talk to you."

About an hour later, Ranma was carefully going over the droid, removing the tray holder and money box as well as giving it a thorough cleaning. While Ranma had no idea about electronics back in his own dimension, and had even less here, he could do this kind of low-scale maintenance easy enough.

At the same time he and the droid kept up a conversation via the screen readout that was hooked up to Tune's head. "That's what I hope to do yeah. Making money won't be hard so long as I can find underground fights or something like that, so money might not be an issue. Hopefully teaching myself how to fly starships won't be too hard. But before that, I'd really feel better if you had some self-defense."

/Agreed, I will look up ship types to see if I can find a match for your needs, a small freighter or large independent spacefighter type might be best. After that, finding a training program for you will be easy enough. As for myself, I would rather like some defenses as well. I will check local merchandise and see what I can find, though I will not find much on Malastare. Gran frown on droids having weapons, as do many species. These days it is also becoming a political as well as safety issue. One of the core worlds underworlds might be the best bet for that kind of thing, unless you allow me to, the human phrase is 'think outside the box'/. The droid replied.

"Heh, go ahead Tune, I'd be interested in what you come up with." Ranma looked up as the door to the maintenance area opened and Dooku looked inside.

The older man looked from Ranma to the, to his mind, garishly colored droid, to the two crewmen groggily moaning in the corner going through what looked like a stunner induced hangover. "I don't want to know, do I?"

"Probably not." Ranma replied, as Tune played a sound that sounded remarkably like a Bronx cheer.

 **OOOOOOO**

This place wasn't so much hidden as simply unknown. From the exterior of the building it looked like any other portion of the senatorial sector of the giant city that sprawled across the entire planet of Coruscant. Anyone who saw it from the outside would simply see a portion of the Banking Clan's suites, and would see the windows that such men demanded to stare out across the cityscape.

The interior was very different. The windows, which were supposed to look down onto a highway far below, were in fact blacked out. Another portion of the room was dominated by its real windows, which allowed the people within to stare out and across at the Jedi Temple with no one seeing them in turn. This was not a view most Senators or their functionaries would've found agreeable, especially in this day and age, where the Jedi were often seen as nuisances, outsiders or meddlers.

But the owners of this particular suite very much preferred it this way. After all, keeping their eyes on their enemies was a necessity. Especially now, when events had been set in motion to trap some of them.

Two men stood there, the two men known as Sidious and Maul. As before the apprentice was barely able to contain his anger, his all-consuming fury a volcano constantly threatening to erupt. After only a few brief moments of staring at the Temple he asked, "what will the Jedi do now, master?"

"Do? What else can they do, but my bidding?" Sidious moved away, moving towards a chair that made no bones about being a throne. Though far simpler than most such, it seemed to somehow convey a sense of dark power that the other possible throne hidden far below the surface level of Coruscant had. "There will be much discussion of course but for all their talk there is only one conclusion at which they can arrive at: they must confront the Yinchorri. The loss of two of their own and the threat the Yinchorri pose will force them to do so."

Sidious sat down in the chair, turning to address Maul as his hands rested on the armrests. "From this will result one of two things, either of which will benefit our plans. Either the very stubborn and warlike Yinchorri, whose inconvenient resistance to mind control could present a problem in the future will be brought low or…" And here he smiled, and never was there a smile more sinister. "Jedi will die."

"Master, send me, I…"

"No the time is not yet come to reveal our presence. Get me the Devaronian. I want to make certain he is prepared."

"Yes master." Bowing his head lightly, the Zabrak moved away from the throne.

A moment later a small hologram appeared on a portable hologram device. As soon as the image of the bowing Devaronian appeared, the human male spoke again. "The Jedi will be coming soon. Are you certain that you're ready for them?"

"The Yinchorri are hot for blood they are prepared you bet." The Devaronian said his voice almost jovial. Though whether or not that was an act or his accent in Basic was not clear. "But what of Vilmarh's fee? Vilmarh is to be trusting you, but you are not trusting Vilmarh to even see your face? What is with that?"

"It is better that you don't know my identity." Sidious said coldly. "It is better still that you don't fail me. Do I make myself clear?"

The alien demon could not keep a small shudder from showing and he bowed even more deeply. Even so, his voice came across again as jovial. "Yeah, yeah, clear as ice crystals. Vilmarh was meaning no offense. Don't you worry boss, Jedi will be dead quick-quick."

"Very well, we will speak again afterward."

"Please master!" Said that the Zabrak as soon as the transmission cut off. "Let me go to Yinchorr, I…"

"Patience, my apprentice. Distasteful as it may be we must let intermediaries like Vilmarh be our hands for now. Our time will come, but it is not yet."

With that Sidious leaned back for a moment, thinking. The Jedi were almost certain to ask for Senate aid in blockading the Yinchorri, which would cost Chancellor Valorum much of his political clout to achieve. That would be the first step to his own eventual rise, as Plagueis had planned. Yet for some reason, his mind kept going back to the ripples surrounding Dooku. A few of them showed glimpses of others interceding before the Chancellor could waste his political capital to send in the Republic Fleet.

That would mean that the Chancellor would retain much of his influence which would push back his own ascension to that seat. Yet try as he might, he could not see a point where that future, once set in motion completely, could be derailed. _So, how best to turn it to my advantage? Best to wait and see what races in fact take part in such a move, if it occurs at all. And possibly set in motion events on Malastare to keep Dooku's attention closer to home? No, I'd have to use outsiders or risk revealing my contacts in the Gran government. Dooku is too smart for me to risk that, though I could simply contact him myself if he does not contact me to aid in whatever he has planned… hmm…_

 _On the other hand, the Yinchorri could be useful to us in the future. They are strong, determined, and their ability to ignore Jedi mind tricks and manipulation is admirable in a slave race. They could be enhanced further. And using bands of them elsewhere, even after someone else intervenes, could be used to show both the Chancellor's ineptitude. After all, if he had acted quickly, the Yinchorri could've been contained much more easily. And it would also distance the races involved from those who continue to face Yinchorri pirate raids._

After a moment he spoke again. "I have a task for you apprentice, contact the Teeth of the Krayt. I have a task for those slavers."

 **OOOOOOO**

Looking up from going through some more history videos on different Jedi lightsaber weapons, Ranma cocked his head looking at Dooku who had just walked into the sitting area. "You look…" he frowned, thinking of the word he wanted in Basic. Despite all his progress, it still wasn't an automatic thing with him. "worried, irritated?"

Dooku smiled briefly, but it didn't stay on his face for long. He had just gotten off the Hypercom with Master Yoda, asking about the news broadcasts which had been dispersed all over the galaxy. "If you can read that in my face, it's obvious I need to practice my control more. Still, I would like to talk, if that is alright?"

Ranma stood up resolutely, moving over and grabbing the training lightsabers from where they hung nearby. "No. We fight, you vent then we talk." He shook his head. "You Jedi, you not have much control over emotions. It all pile up inside, stupid, but if you vent it much easier to deal with."

"You need to work on keeping control of your voice when you are excited." Dooku sent a faint smile. "But I do need to get control of my emotions." Since meeting Ranma he had learned enough about what Ranma called the corrupting effect of anger to no longer be interested in the Dark Side, and he had no wish to fall into it accidentally now.

Ranma shook his head. "Control yes, not forcing away. Forcing away all it does is come back." Ranma grimaced. "I learned that hard way."

"There's a story there that you haven't shared yet." Dooku murmured.

Ranma looked at him his eyes narrowed. "Not one I want to share, not with Jedi. You lot too against emotions already, don't want to share that one."

Dooku's eyebrows rose, but he didn't question it simply taking his position across from Ranma and bringing up the training saber into a guard position.

Hours later, Dooku sagged against the bulkhead for a moment breathing deeply. Ranma had actually taken it easily on him now, knowing that Dooku couldn't use any of his Force tricks on the interior of the training area and had stayed mostly on the defense for the entire fight. It wasn't Ranma's normal method, but it had allowed Dooku to gain control of himself, and to, in Ranma's words, vent.

"Thank you." he said sighing deeply as he found himself once more centered. He reached out for the Force, feeling it flow into him in a steady, uninterrupted and calm stream.

Ranma nodded in response. "You still want to talk?"

"I am afraid I have to." Dooku sighed. He gestured Ranma to punch the button that would raise the sitting area up once more, noticing with something far too close to envy for his state of mind that Ranma wasn't even sweating after their exercise. _Of course I wasn't using any of my Force abilities, but still that is a little humbling. And it shows he has become more used to my abilities than I am to his._

Ranma look up to from him from where he sat as Dooku sat down across from him, striking before Dooku could speak. "We've talked before, but we haven't talked about why you're so welcoming to me. Think that is mixed up with all of your questions about ki techniques, but I need to know why."

"That wasn't what I wanted to talk about, but I suppose it's a good starting point." Dooku sighed again. "Have you come to an opinion about the Jedi Order?"

"Beyond my opinion about you not teaching control rather abstaining from emotions you mean?" Rama asked dryly, having concentrated to get that sentence out properly. "I admit that the Sith, they sound like, well like one of my old acquaintances but with actual skill behind the anger and a lot of nasty techniques besides. And I even understand why you guys think that abstaining might be a good idea, but it's a very stupid, short-sighted solution."

And it wasn't even worth thinking about in Ranma's opinion. He had already decided he would never share what his father had done to him with the Jedi or with anyone else in this galaxy. He didn't know if the Youthful Mind or Imperial Favor technique would work on other races, but he wasn't willing to find out.

"I am slowly coming to agree with you about that, your arguments about it are valid at least for humans on a psychological level, though why it had never occurred to us to look up the long term effects of enforced apathy and emotional dissonance is beyond me. I am uncertain if they would be valid for other races, I haven't studied the psychology of every other race that has representatives among the Jedi of course. Abstaining from emotions might be easier for them. But that is not what I meant. I meant about the Jedi Order as a whole."

Ranma paused pulling in his ponytail. "I am not a political person or an… analyst." He had to search for that word for a moment looking at Dooku when he said it and smiling when the older man nodded indicating he had remembered the right word.

"I understand that Ranma, but you mentioned several points that caught my attention in our earlier discussions, your point about the Hypercom, where you wondered if a bug could be placed in the base program to let others overhear any messages sent, it was well-founded. What did you say at the time, the outsider sees most of the game? That is what I want from you."

Ranma frowned. "What are you asking exactly?"

Dooku frowned as well looking down at his hands. _What am I asking exactly?_ When he spoke it was low, almost a whisper, and he didn't look away from his hands. "I have questioned the role of the Jedi Order in the galaxy for several years, our direction within the Republic. For too long the Republic has been in stasis, and corruption has set in. The Jedi Order is slowly becoming a part of that corruption, if we are not already a part of it. I have seen the corruption in the Senate. I have seen the corruption of the guilds, the clans, the corporations, the factions. I have seen the growing anger in some systems, even entire sectors, against the Senate and against the Jedi, who they see as the face of the Republic."

"Worst of all, I have felt the stagnation within the Order, that we are becoming as hidebound and separate from the general populace as many accuse us of. I have asked the Force often for some sign to tell me if there was a solution to that problem, if I should keep following the Order or, or do something else with my life."

Dooku did not want to come out and admit that he had been possibly two or three more weeks away from deciding to search out the Jedi's natural enemies the Sith. He had believed that their presence would either make the Jedi order grow again, or Force the Republic as a whole to grow, much like competition did on the economic level. Now however, he did not believe that any longer, or rather he hoped that Ranma represented something that could kick-start that growth without the death and destruction the Sith might cause if they returned.

"The last time I searched the Force for an answer I felt your presence. That was why I found you and the miners. I believe that your being here in this galaxy serves some kind of higher purpose, and I want to know what you think I should do." Dooku laughed ruefully. "Talking to you has already convinced me that one of my choices going forward would never have worked out, and you've opened up several avenues of research into the Force and the Living Force inside of us all in particular that I never even contemplated. But those do not answer my big questions."

Ranma stayed silent for a moment staring at the older man. _Okay, I did not expect that! The idea I'm here to serve some Force-given higher purpose gives me the heebie-jeebies. Still, I sure as hell am not gonna do anything I wouldn't do otherwise, and it makes me even more leery of teaching anyone else my ki techniques. But, but if all I'm here for, if all Dooku wants from me is my thoughts on the system, that at least I can do with a clear conscience._

When he spoke he reiterated what he had said before, each sentence coming out carefully constructed. "I am not a political analyst, nor am I a Jedi. I barely have enough understanding of the galaxy to understand what you're talking about when you say the Senate or the Republic. But I will say what I think if that is what you want."

Dooku nodded. "That is indeed what I want."

"Okay. One, the bigger a government is the bigger a bureaucracy is the more corrupt it will become. That something lots of empires and countries learn back home." Ranma started without further preamble, thinking of China, Rome, the Mongol Empire, even the Persian Empire. "The Republic is huge, too big, too old, corruption is simply part of it now. It's made worse by the fact that the central government doesn't actually have much power that isn't tied into that corruption. It relies on the Jedi for its strength. It makes you the face of its laws and its wars, and when things go bad or even when they go good for those in power, it is you who take the blame."

Dooku nodded having come to that conclusion himself since this mission began and he had talked to some of the locals as he had said to the Jedi Council several days ago. He sighed, closing his eyes. _So we truly have become part of the problem._

"However, that not your place." Dooku's eyes shot open and he stared at Ranma who laughed cynically. "You're not an elected official, you not a part of the Senate, trying to reform it from within, that not your place. You as individual need to think only of the Jedi's part of the system. Need to…"

Ranma paused gathering his thoughts before going on, his words once more controlled. "You need to start to act separately from the Senate. Start to get to know the common people, live among them, not separate yourselves. Something separate, something foreign like that, it, will simply allow distrust, even hate, to fester."

"But that goes back to the Senate." Dooku protested. "It is too often the Senate that tells the Jedi where to go. If we can but reform the Senate, or…"

"But it is the Jedi who listen to those orders." Ranma cut him off quickly. "They can keep telling you, but you can stop listening. You all need to take a stance of your own, figure out individually or as a group a view of what is right and wrong. Take a stance of your own or you're just following someone else's view and they control you like that." He frowned angrily. "I am not getting this across well, my emotions get in the way of my converting my words to Basic." He said enunciating the words clearly. "But I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. It is not your place to reform the whole thing, you may be a Jedi master, but you're not a God. You can maybe help reform of the Order itself though."

Dooku sigh. "Only if it is wishful to **be** reformed."

"Then you do what you can as an individual, you make a stand for yourself as what is right and wrong. I never said it was easy, I just said it needed to be done. If you lot think that the Force is supposed to guide you, you listen to it, you go where this Force Wants you, no longer accept simple jobs from the Senate, just, just do what is right, not what is easy!"

Ranma rubbed one hand through his hair knowing that he wasn't getting the ideas across that he wanted to, and inwardly really wondering how anyone could think that that chi could have a will like that… although Ranma was starting to feel something in the air of this dimension.

Dooku frowned. "So where would you begin?"

"Training in emotional control, and getting rid of this no attachments, no passion crap, makes you into fucking robots." Ranma said bluntly.

"You really have a problem with that don't you?"

"People with no attachments to people or places are outsiders, outsiders are never trusted, not really. Worse, if you have no real stake in anything but the Order then you are not a part of the Republic, merely set to the side. People need to see you as force for good, not force for same-old, same-old." Ranma replied, using a phrase that at least got the meaning of 'stasis' across.

For a moment the two of them were silent contemplating what had been said. "I am not certain I can agree with that." Dooku said at last. "I might've come into the order late, but I'm not… is that really the source of the Order's apathy? Because we don't care enough, we don't have a large enough, large enough stake in the Republic?"

It was a disturbing thought on many levels. Such a simple concept, yet the ramifications were so huge. "Reforming the Jedi could take centuries." He said aloud not really addressing Ranma at the moment, but simply speaking his thoughts. "We seem to have slipped into this apathetic stagnation over thousands of years. It could take that long to bring us out of it."

"Remember, I said it not be easy, it just needs be done." Ranma said with a shrug.

Dooku laughed quietly. "I suppose so." He looked at the youth. "That of course means you would not be willing to join the order even if I could try somehow to get you in?"

Ranma laughed wildly. "Hell no. I'm willing to work with Jedi, but I want to explore the galaxy, want to do it on my own terms. I have my Code, I not bow to yours."

 _And despite me turning down that Twi'lek girl, I really would like a girlfriend eventually. Don't know about the whole marriage thing, my Nerima experience sort of killed my interest in that. But a stable relationship in the long term would be nice, and sure as hell can't happen if I agree to that whole 'no attachment' thing._

Dooku nodded then looked up as the captain Michael came in. "Yes, Captain?"

"Sorry to interrupt master Dooku, but some news just came in over the Hypercom. The alien Yinchorri have attacked a planet, we're so close we're probably one of the first systems to pick it up. I thought you'd want to know."

A moment later Ranma and Dooku both stood in the command deck, watching the news. It showed the Yinchorri attacking several peaceful planets, the attacks covered by news crews on the ground and defenders themselves trying to get messages out to the Republic as a whole before the videos went blank. The fact the newscaster then went on to some bland news from some other planet with as much interest and energy as the previous one, a Chandra-fan, had covered the news about the Yinchorri was both jarring and damning in Dooku's mind.

Dooku looked up over at Ranma watching his hands clench and unclench. "Calm yourself Ranma, remember our conversations on anger."

Ranma whirled to him, one finger raised in Dooku's face. "That is part of the problem with you Jedi! There are different types anger!" Ranma paused gathering himself. "There are different types of anger, different types of love and different types of **people** too! You try to make one size, abstaining from all of emotions, fit all! **Stupid**! Righteous anger is in not dark or evil! Anger at person if he has done evil is no evil! Hate is curse, hate and anger sometimes together, but not always. I feel **righteous** anger when I see that, there nothing wrong with that! If you feel nothing when you see that, you sick in head, not living, but already dead!"

Dooku looked down at the finger in his face and then up at Ranma one eyebrow raised until Ranma moved it away. Then he nodded. "I suppose I can understand your point, but I am uncertain that most Jedi would, or even if they did could keep themselves from not falling to the Dark Side."

"I'm not most Force users, I'm not a Force user at all, least not the way you people think about it." Ranma growled. "So…" he said looking over at the picture still playing "what are you going to do about this?"

"What am I going to do about it?" Dooku asked. "I still have my mission here. The Jedi Council will probably send in a small group to try and deal with this, though what that will entail I don't know."

"Not what I was asking. I was asking what you **as a person,** was going to do. These Jedi the council send, they your friends they your allies, what are you as a person as an individual going to do? 'For evil to triumph good men must do nothing', that a saying from my world. Who cares if the Jedi Council sends others! You are here, you are a good fighter you go do what you can as a person!"

"We **are** about two hours away from the Yinchorri system my Lord, but it's not on a hyperspace lane. That's probably why it wasn't discovered centuries ago, but it's actually pretty close." Michael said his tone neutral. He served the diplomatic corps, and the Jedi in particular, if Dooku said to go he'd go but he wasn't about to give his own opinion unless he was asked for it, whatever that opinion might be.

Dooku turned back to Ranma staring into his blue eyes, seeing the challenge in them. The words Ranma had spoken reverberated in his mind, and he suddenly had a Force vision, of Jedi he knew cut down, dying, not so much overmatched then brought down by sheer numbers. With that vision came certainty. I _can stop this, and I will._ Yes, this was why he had thought the Force had led him to Ranma, this, the ability to change things even in a small way for now, showed that he was on the right path.

"Captain, how long would it take to rig this ship for battle?" He asked, turning back to Michael.

Michael shrugged, looking slightly shifty. "We took on some small turbolasers from the Alderaan Rangers when we met with them sir. It would take us about 45 minutes or so to set them up, the ships has control and energy runs we can change to suit weapons. But we'd have to do it here on the ground we couldn't do it while we were moving."

He turned to Ranma shrugged his shoulders as Ranma's looked as if he was about to volunteer. "It's not just about lifting heavy objects or anything, and it'd be exterior work for the most part kid, sorry but I'm not going to put my people in harm's way like that. "

"That's fine captain," Dooku said before Ranma could replied though he looked more understanding then he had a moment ago. "That will allow me to get in touch with some friends. You said yourself Ranma, for evil to succeed good people must do nothing. If that is the case, then perhaps I can get some other good people to realize that this problem with Yinchorri is one they need to step up and deal with now rather than later, and possibly more."

Ranma cocked his head not understanding and Dooku waved him away, not wanting to share more than that for now since he wasn't certain this part of the aspect would work. "I'll be in my quarters Captain. Do what you can to prepare the ship for combat."

 **OOOOOOO**

A few moments later Dooku sat down in front of the Hypercom system, not calling the Jedi Council but a friend he had made on the Senate. "Senator Palpatine, do you have time to talk for a few moments?"

"I have been better my friend," said Senator Palpatine of Naboo, a man that Dooku had been introduced to by the head of the Banking Clan.

He knew Palpatine as a man whose thoughts on the senate dovetailed with Dooku's. Though looking back on it, Dooku was now certain the man who introduced them had his own reasons for his low opinion on that score.

"There is a bit of a kerfuffle in the Senate at the moment as you no doubt aware." Palpatine suddenly smiled, slightly wider than his normal politician's expression. "Especially considering that you caused some of it. Senator Ainlee Teem was very well-connected here in the Senate, the proofs of the allegation of slavery against him was damning to much of those connections, and when he was recalled, sacked and imprisoned, that acted much like a concussion missile in the Senate. The reverberations of it are still echoing here, not helped by all of the other issues covering at the same time of course."

"Unfortunately my friend I did not call you to talk about my own exploits, but rather one of those other issues, the Yinchorri. Can you tell me if the Senate is at all close to coming to an agreement on what to do about them?" Dooku asked.

"Between the two of us, I'm afraid that the Chancellor's position isn't strong on that issue." Palpatine scowled. "Many of my fellow senators cannot see the threat Yinchorri aggression would mean in the long term. They have too small a population, they are too technologically dependent on others to be considered a major threat, and of course, there is the problem of what to do even if we interdict them, all reasons that have been trotted out time and time again since this crisis began. The Chancellor is gaining ground, but it is slow going."

"Indeed? Then I will call him next, I have an idea on that score of my own, and one that might serve better in the long term than sending in a Republic Intervention Fleet." Dooku mused.

"You're being rather mysterious my friend." Palpatine asked, smiling conspiratorially and leaning toward the pickup slightly. "Care to let me in on it?"

"All I will say I am going to put my weight behind an issue that has been brokered about in the Senate for several months now, at least on a limited basis. You may wish to wait until this bit of excitement is over before deciding whether you want to be part of it."

"I see…" Palpatine frowned then shrugged a small smile still on his face. "Very well then I look forward to hear about how you happened upon the kidnapped miners by the way. Hopefully the next time you are on Coruscant we will have time to sit down and you can excite me with a tail of Jedi-daring do."

Dooku laughed. "We shall see my friend. Until then." With that the two men ended the communication, with Dooku immediately redirecting his call to the Chancellor's office, using a Jedi Code to bypass the man's secretary and send an ID to Valorum so he knew who was calling.

A moment later the Chancellor appeared looking harried. "Master Dooku, I am always happy to hear from a Jedi master of your eminence, but I have already informed the Jedi Council of that I am doing all I can to try to…"

"Councilor, I have no wish to add to your work, in fact I am calling to tell you to stop trying to put together a quorum on the Yinchorri issue. I am going to try to put together my own bit of alliance for that issue. However, later on, you may be called upon to back an addendum to a certain law passed about a year ago now…"

It took Dooku about an hour to talk Valorum around, but in the end the Chancellor agreed that Dooku's idea sounded viable, if he could put it together. The cost down the line might be big in terms of the old demilitarization plan that the Chancellor's office had followed for centuries, but that had already begun cracking, as Dooku had pointed out rather pointedly. And when told who Dooku was willing to bring in on this, Valorum acceded to his request quickly.

After that, Dooku set up a conference call to Khedive Candobar Inglet of the Sluis Van Congregate, and Governor Shrook'an of Dac. Inglet was the head of a family that owned a large majority of the Sluis Van shipyards, which in turn controlled 80% of the Sluis Sector's economy, which gave him directorship for the sector. The Sluisi owned and operated a large defense fleet entirely separate of the ships they sold the small Republic navy, something they had been able to get away with since the Sluis Sector was on the Outer Rim.

While Dooku had only ever met Inglet personally he knew Shrook'an was the head of the Mon Calamari and Quarren party that were the most leery of completely joining the Republic, and thereby being tied entirely to its laws. Specifically, the laws which would force them to open their planet to foreign companies which might wreck their economy and the laws which would force them to turn over the defense of their planet to the Republic, adding their defense fleet to that of the Republic. That was one idea the Mon Calamari and Quarren, who often butted heads on practically everything, agreed on: they did not want their home system only guarded by the small republic navy and the goodwill of others.

Before either being could speak, Dooku began his pitch. "Gentlemen. I have recently been reminded of a saying I first heard as a youngling: that for evil to win, good people must do nothing. To that end, I am leaving Malastare, where you no doubt you both know I have been… rather busy, to aid my fellow Jedi in dealing with the Yinchorri's militaristic expansion. For governments of course, it isn't that simple. You need to have something to show for every action you take, and there is one law which you both wish to see changed, correct, or rather enlarged?"

Both beings glanced at one another. The Mon Calamari and the Sluisi might be in the same business as it were, but they didn't really have anything to do with one another economically. While both sectors were on the Outer Rim, they were nowhere near one another in terms of their places in space. Nonetheless, their economies were generally similar, and one issue in particular they had brought up in the Senate sprang to mind immediately, as Dooku had hoped. "You speak of the Arming Rights allowed to the Trade Federation's merchant ships."

"Indeed. While I still feel that particular issue was badly handled, I think that we can all say that it is not just the Trade Federation's shipping that has run into issues from pirates." He waited for both his listeners to laugh as their species allowed, and then went on. "Both of your senators have pressed for the right to arm those of your own merchant ships that travel beyond your sectors, or for the right to provide security ships to such, correct? I believe that, in return for your aid in dealing with the Yinchorri crisis I can see the senate extend that law to include your own ships."

"Not enough," Shrook'an said. "I understand the threat the Yinchorri pose in the long term if left unchecked, but the Senate will not agree to it for various reasons, both self-serving as well as good and decent ones as they see it. The pacifistic segment in particular will not like it."

"They will, if your warships, not only your defense fleets, but the armed merchant ships once you arm them, can be called upon to aid the Jedi in our roles as peacekeepers. Even the Alderaanian government would like that idea. I had thought about calling upon Senator Bel Iblis of Corellia, and I will extend the arming rights to include ships of the Corellian government's own merchant ships, but they are too far to send aid against the Yinchorri. I believe, with Jedi backing, the Chancellor's aid, Corellia and even Alderaan and other planets which follow pacifism would back the idea."

The Sluis Sector was right next door to the sector holding Yinchorr. They could get a fleet there within a bare few hours via hyperspace. The Mon Calamari could use the Overic Griplink to get to the Perlemian Trade Route, then come the rest of the way more slowly.

It took several more hours to convince both leaders of that of course, Dooku had been right: they couldn't commit their forces without getting something out of it, no matter how good the cause. But eventually the two of them agreed, with reservations, to send their fleets in. The upside was too good, and Dooku's numbers when it came to the Senate matched up too, which had been the holding point.

At the end of the discussion Dooku sent off two copies of the agreement, as well as the addendum they would be pressing into the Arming Rights law that had so favored the Trade Federation. All three men smiled at one another, knowing they had just done something good, not just for their own people or even in terms of standing against the Yinchorri, but possibly going forward into the future. "Gentlemen, thank you. I look forward to meeting your fleets in the Shili system five hours from now."

Both beings nodded, and Dooku sat up, closing his eyes for a moment and sending his senses out into the Force. The sensation came back immediately that this action of his was what he was meant to do and he smiled, touching his lightsaber lightly before marching out of the room.

 **OOOOOOO**

Sidious frowned, leaning away from the pickup. Thwarted by the chaos still rippling in both the present and the future around Dooku, Sidious had been unable to get any idea of what the Jedi Master was planning.

 _Yet even so, I was able to discern that it is not Dooku himself, but something connected to him, to his current work and his ousting of Ainlee that is the source of those ripples. I need to see what my agents on Malastare have come up with, I need to have an idea of what Dooku found, or perhaps who he found, to steer him away from searching for the Sith and to change him so much._

Several moments later while Sidious was still concentrating on the ripples Dooku's actions were causing he felt several of them solidify. He frowned, first in consternation, then after a moment with a sneer.

 _Interesting, and rather brilliant in a way. But, oh but…heheheh… there are several ways this can be manipulated to the Grand Plan's advantage, oh yes… heheheh, Dooku might not come to the Dark Side, but still, this, this can indeed be turned to my advantage. I think I can 'get behind' the resumption of that debate, oh yes. It might seem a good idea now, but later on…_

Deep in the dark of his senatorial suite, Sidious began to laugh quietly, before shaking his head and getting back to work.

 **OOOOOOO**

A bare day after deciding to aid his Jedi brethren Dooku's ship met up with the two fleets of the Sluisi and Mon Calamari. The two fleets combined numbered around forty-five warships, mostly heavy cruiser and frigate classes with a few dedicated carriers for space fighters. Ranma stared avidly at the screen in the observation sector of the bridge, watching as the ships flew past. At the same time Dooku was on the Holocom with the two admirals. "This is not going to be a standup fleet action, not unless we need to. Essentially what we are going to be doing is simply keep the attention of the Yinchorri fleet on us, while my Jedi brethren do their part."

He tapped the screen, and an image appeared, appearing simultaneously on the hologram projectors in the two admiral's command centers. One of them was a Mon Calamari, whose skin was pocked along one side. His name was Arikakon Baraka, a middle-aged, thoughtful and well thought of commander.

His counterpart, Tuvou Sitoris had served the Sluis Sector Navy as one of its admirals for many years, commanding dozens of anti-pirate actions. But neither of them had commanded a mixed unit before, nor a fleet on the scale that had been gathered here.

Dooku hadn't either of course, but he was well read and figured that between them their makeshift triumvirate would be able to figure out the correct tactics. "What I propose is for us to come in out of hyperspace at speed, cutting across the system like so." He said gesturing into his own hologram, which was faithfully copied by the hologram projectors on the other two ships.

"First will be the Sluisi, because your ships are faster, thus harder to hit. But you'll come out in such a way that you won't actually be attacking anything, nor will you be in any danger of becoming bogged down. Instead your task will be to skirt around the outer system for a few hours pulling as many of the Yinchorri ships after you as possible."

"Those ships in turn will be jumped by my fleet yes?" Questioned the Mon Calamari.

"Indeed. I have studied their psychology, and they are unused to thinking of themselves as anything but the alpha predators. The challenge of you fleet will bring the Yinchorri out to attack us, pulling them out of position and unable to affect what is going on around the planet."

"And our own tactics after battle is joined?"

"I will not be in any position to give advice or commands gentlemen, since I will be taking my own ship deeper into the system. I believe once in the system I will be able to sense where my fellow Jedi are, and thus where to go. Once my ship leaves the fleet, it will be up to the two of you to decide on your tactics."

The two admirals looked at one another than Arikakon smiled, his eyes swiveling for a moment. "You have seniority my friend, but if I may add some advice, my ships can take much more of a pounding than you might think. And whatever Master Dooku says, we should possibly think about destroying their mobile forces."

Sitoris closed his eyes his upper body moving sinuously from side to side in the hologram for a moment. Ranma watched his lips quirking at how much the motion made him look like a snake waiting to strike. _Pretty damn apt right now._

After a moment Sitoris nodded. "Yes, that is true. We will need to also think about destroying the orbitals, if we are to make certain the Yinchorri do not attempt further military conquests. To that end, I believe there is a maneuver that could be used against creatures as aggressive as the Yinchorri…"

About an hour passed while Ranma sat silent, simply listening to Dooku and the two admirals bandying ideas around until they had an idea of the tactics they would use. The conversation wound down after a time, with all three of them happy with their strategy for the coming campaign. As they were about to sign off, Arikakon looked at Master Dooku. "Do your Jedi allies know we are coming?"

"I have been unable to contact them. I'm afraid that they are either in communications blackout prior to their arrival, or have already arrived." Dooku sighed faintly. "We will have to simply trust in the Force."

 **OOOOOOO**

The Sluisi fleet flashed out of hyperspace going to full normal drive quickly, racing forward. Made up of mostly corvettes and frigates they had a major speed advantage over the Yinchorri ships stationed around the main hyperspace outlier for the system. The Yinchorri ships, around twenty capital class ships, were larger, heavily armed and armored, but not very fast. The Sluisi dodged through and around the defenders heading deeper into the system before making a wide turn back outwards, pulling the defenders in behind them, the Yinchorri giving chase.

They disdained the one ship that wasn't moving with the others, instead making straight for the inner system. There would be a lot more glory to be attained in facing a fleet rather than a single fleeing vessel.

Soon the two fleets were well out of position to interdict the single cruiser. Dooku watched for a moment on the tactical display as about thirty minutes ticked by with more and more of the Yinchorri ships moving out to try and engage the Sluisi from deeper in system. But the Sluisi under Sitoris were as sneaky and tenacious as they could be. Their course were constantly changing slicing in and out of the inner regions of the system back out to the known hyperspace jump points. This action kept the Yinchorri's attention fully focused on them while Dooku's cruiser kept on moving deeper into the system, no longer facing any defenders themselves.

A few moments longer passed, and Dooku, his senses extended out into the Force around him, nodded at last. "Make for Yinchorr captain, the homeworld of the Yinchorri. I sense at least eleven of my brethren there, several of which I know personally and one I know very well indeed." _Interesting that Qui-Gon would have been chosen for a mission like this…_

Michael nodded, and the ship changed course slightly. A few moments later the other jaw of the assault struck.

The Mon Calamari ships came out of hyperspace on the coordinates sent by Admiral Sitoris. Built mostly of heavy and light cruisers, the second assault group came out of hyperspace practically on top of the Yinchorri ships trying to close with the Sluisi. The two fleets immediately began to exchange fire, but the Yinchorri were mostly out position to defend one another, and were shocky from the sudden assault from a new direction. Their fighters were also all out of position to defend the capital ships, a bad thing when the Mon Calamari ships had full fighter crews on their own ships. Four Yinchorri capital ships blew up quickly, their shields overwhelmed by turbolasers and photon torpedoes, their hulls unable to withstand the pounding. Two others drifted all systems dead, all weapons gone. And then the Sluisi turned, launching their own fighters and turning back to attack the pursuers who now found themselves trapped and out of position.

Dooku nodded, having watched all this in the tactical display. "Well done, the Yinchorri fleet will suffer tremendous losses, and are caught between two fires, unable to concentrate on either. That will keep our own force's losses down"

Ranma nodded too. "Nice tactics. I don't know much about fleets but even I can tell the lizards are in a bad way."

"About twenty minutes away from Yinchorr, Master Dooku. Do we have a specific target in mind?" Michael asked.

Closing his eyes Dooku once more sent out his senses, trying to get a read on what was going on in the planet that was quickly becoming larger in the viewscreen. The Yinchorri of course were almost blank in the force, which was a given since they were immune to Jedi mind tricks. _Evolution can be odd like that,_ he mused smiling faintly as he remembered Yoda telling him about an odd animal he had run into once that actually pushed the force away from it.

However Dooku could sense the Yinchorri when there were large numbers of them in one place, and he felt all the Jedi very near one of those concentrations. "Head to the mountains along the westernmost continent, for now, and captain, I suggest you start powering up the weapons systems and make certain the shields are at full power." _Help is on the way my former padawan,_ Dooku thought to himself, not sending the thought out for concern that he would distract Qui-Gon at an inopportune moment.

Behind him, Ranma turned and left the cockpit, cracking his knuckles as he closed his eyes, centering himself. While Dooku had been trying to put together his alliance to aid his fellow Jedi, Ranma had tried to exercise and sleep to get his mind off things. But every time he did, his mind would go back to those live newsfeeds from the Yinchorri attacking other planets.

Ranma had seen a lot of odd and weird stuff in his time, but true evil or war? The former he had rarely seen, and the second he had never seen. He had never even killed before taking on the slavers on their ship. Yes he'd come close several times, a few would-be molesters in China, and of course his battle against Saffron and Herb though the second wasn't nearly as close as the first.

Part of him was anxious about this, yet another side didn't care, or didn't care about the size of the conflict. Large or small, Ranma was confident in his skill, and more importantly the Code didn't change. If you are prepared to take a life, you're prepared to lose one. The strong should protect the weak, not prey upon them. These Yinchorri had done that, they had killed, slain, stolen from, and made war upon innocent civilizations, those who could not fight back!

A crime that Ranma could liken only to things he had seen once or twice on news the few times he was interested in watching it back in his old dimension. At the time, those things had seemed so far away and so unimportant, which Ranma put down to the Youthful Mind technique his father had used on him. He'd simply been unable to comprehend that there could be a connection between what he saw on the TV and Ranma himself.

 _If I had known then that kind of thing was real, would I have done anything about it? No, wrong question. It's never what you could've done; it's what you're going to do now. Remember these are the same bastards who attacked those other planets, remember that this isn't a spar, this isn't a game, this is real, they've got to be stopped, and I can help do it._

Centered, his emotions under control Ranma unlocked his ki, what Dooku called the Living Force, from his habitual control, breathing deeply as it began to overcharge his body and sense. He cracked his knuckles, his blue eyes shining with ki-light for a moment. "Time to party."

 **OOOOOOO**

The team of Jedi that had been sent to find the command center for the Yinchorri had run into issues almost from the get-go. They had been attacked the moment they came out of hyperspace for one thing, nearly losing one of their cruisers to the fire which had come at them from several dozen capital ships. Those ships had then launched fighters which made a bad situation worse.

Master Windu and his ship had been forced to hyperspace through a planet, something most intelligent spacers would never have even attempted. Yet under the masterful hands of Jedi Master Saesee Tiin they made it through, even heading down to the surface of the planet Yinchorr, that race's original homeworld, unseen. They had hidden their ship in the mountains, before moving off to try and find the Yinchorri command center, which would house the Council of Elders that ruled the Yinchorri.

Master Gallia fared even better, having tricked one of their pursuers into destroying two others before getting away cleanly. Despite Jedi master Plo Koon at the controls however the third cruiser fared poorly. It was only a bit of trickery thought up by Padawan K'kruhk that allowed them to survive. They had lost all their escape pods, but were able to land in the cruiser itself.

None of their separate missions had gone as smoothly as hoped of course, but neither had they found their objective, the command center where the rulers of the Yinchorri could be found. After numerous adventures apart however, they had all come together once more on Yinchorr, more because Mace and his group had run into more trouble than they could handle than because they had narrowed down their search. The Yinchorri had found their ship, destroying it before starting a search which inevitably found Mace and his fellows.

None of them had died thus far Mace was pleased to feel, watching as more of his fellow Jedi arrived opening up an assault on the Yinchorri attempting to encircle Mace and his group. Yet that reinforcement seemed to be in danger of becoming overwhelmed itself.

"Master Gallia and the others have diverted the attack from us." He said as he raced up a stone column sticking out the side of a mountain over the small pass where the battle was taking place. "But they'll need rescuing themselves if we don't act. Master Tiin, stop that tank, Qui-Gon, Obi-wan, follow me! We'll link up with the others."

With that he Force Jumped downward, slicing through two Yinchorri with his lightsaber at once, before blocking and diverting the laser blasts from a few others into some of their fellows. The congested nature of the terrain played to the strengths of the Jedi somewhat rather than that of the Yinchorri save for their numbers.

As Master Tiin was dealing with the tank, Windu was about to greet his friend Master Koth when both of them stopped suddenly, staring up into the sky, sensing the arrival of another Jedi over the tumult of the battle. In the air above them another _Consular_ class ship appeared, this one fitted with weaponry which began to lay down covering fire. Windu and Qui-Gon looked at one another, and Qui-Gon frowned. "Master Dooku?"

"And someone else…" Master Windu said thoughtfully, absentmindedly blocking a blaster bolt with his lightsaber, sending it back towards his attacker. "Someone whose presence in the Force is unlike any I have ever felt before."

 **OOOOOOO**

High above the battlefield Dooku looked at his young friend, frowning slightly. Ranma's presence now and his grim visage was something that Dooku had not seen yet on him, and frankly it transformed the young man into a warrior. If Kiima or the other Phoenix people had seen it however, they would have recognized the face of the man they had begun to call the Godslayer.

Yet despite the youth's change in demeanor, despite the fact his emotions were subdued now, Dooku trusted Ranma to do his best to aid Dooku's fellow Jedi. There was something about Ranma, the sheer scintillating nature of his presence in the Force, his connection to the Living Force that told Dooku he was more than up to this battle. "Are you ready?"

In response Ranma smiled at him thinly, punched the open code for the hatchway and leaped out without a word. In mid-air Ranma turned, shouting, "Ask the Yinchorri if they're ready for me!"

Below, the padawan K'kruhk had been separated from his master by several yards. He swung his lightsaber around, killing one of his attackers but then his lightsaber suddenly gave out upon hitting a cortosis shield. The Yinchorri wearing it laughed, raising its spear for a finishing blow. "Die Jedi!"

K'kruhk's master, the human Lilit Twoseas turned, her eyes widening as she threw herself forward placing her slight body between the killing blow and her padawan. "K'kruhk, look ou…!"

That was as far as she got before a cerulean sphere of pure Force energy the likes of which none of the Jedi there had ever seen, giving off a feeling of confidence and fierce joy somehow, slammed into the Yinchorri about to spear K'kruhk. It hit like a turbolaser round blowing the Yinchorri's head off as if it had just been hit by a turbolaser blast.

Ranma landed next to the Jedi who had been in a bit of trouble, rolling and leaping up quickly, his legs flashing out like two pistons to slam into two more Yinchorri hurling them back, their chests broken as he grabbed a spear that had been thrust into the ground by the padawans foot using it as a springboard.

He spared a brief nod to the alien Jedi that he had just saved. "Watch your back, yeah?" With that he was gone leaping away deeper into the battle.

"What?" Mace Windu muttered from nearby, shaking his head in astonishment not in keeping with his normal self-control. "What was that!?"

"I don't know, I've never heard of anything like it, but that, that did not feel like the Dark Side." Said master Koth, frowning thoughtfully as the two moved back to back. Their lightsabers moved as one, their movements choreographed through the Force as if they were one being, one mind for a moment. Like this they were unassailable, lightsabers flashing bouncing blaster bolts back to their owners, deflecting spears, cutting Yinchorri apart, covering one another perfectly. "But again it is no Force power I have ever seen or felt before. That makes it suspicious."

For her part, Lilit Twoseas had known that she had been about to die. Unable to bring her lightsaber to bear to defend herself or him she had interposed her body between him and the spear. But now, now suddenly that future was gone. It was changed by the human whose strength in the Force was reverberating through her senses. _He's a fountain of the Living Force! I've never felt the like! Where did he come from!? I. he saved my life, he saved my life…_

Ranma ignored the Jedi's odd looks in his direction simply nodding when he randomly caught them looking at him through the battle. He continued to move through the battlefield, tossing the Yinchorri about like they were weightless, killing more than a few with punches or kicks but mainly concentrating on drawing their attention away from the beleaguered Jedi.

He stopped next to one Jedi master that looked like a demon from Christian mythology, bald, with two horns thrusting forward down from the side of his head. _Yeesh, wonder if I'm gonna find an alien race that looks like something from Japanese mythology, like onis or devil horses._

Master Tiin did not look away from his task, slicing apart a tank at the back of the Yinchorri column which was trying to range on the Jedi further down the gorge. Seeing this, Ranma smirked leaping up onto a tank's front, grabbing its barrel and with a grunt of effort ripping the entire turret off the tank, using it as a giant halberd for a moment slamming it down into a few Yinchorri making pack they of them.

 _Live by the sword, die by the sword you bastards!_ He thought grimly. He grimaced as he took a few shots in the back from another Yinchorri, but the blasters didn't do much damage thanks to his endurance technique, and he turned, hurling the turret at his attackers, killing a few more.

"Not bad," Tiin muttered, moving to support Ranma. He was not one to look a sudden gift horse in the mouth like this, and besides, he liked the youth's style, nor was he getting any sense of anger or hate from the youth. _Brute force and power, that's the way!_

"I believe it is time to fall back," Mace said as he and Koth joined up with two of the other masters, frowning slightly at Two Seas who was smiling wider than he had ever seen her, moving everywhere and never standing still as the Ataru form demanded while K'kruhk followed far more slowly using the Soresu form to guard her back. "Are you alright Master Lilit?"

"I am excellent master Windu," she replied, her voice joyful. "I am alive! I am alive when I thought my destiny was to die a few moments ago! Whatever that youth is, he saved my life and that of my padawan!"

K'kruhk nodded his head looking a little shamefaced. "I failed to keep in mind Master Giett's lesson masters; my lightsaber failed me against a cortosis shield. A Yinchorri had me dead to rights and my own master had just interposed herself between me and the killing blow when that youth's attack hit him, saving her."

"Begin to fall back," Master Windu ordered once again, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the youth.

 _That youth arrived here with Dooku, so it stands to reason that he and his strange Force abilities are the secret that Dooku wished to talk about in person with Grandmaster Yoda. Oddly secretive of him, but understandable given his concerns about the Hypercom. Yet now that I see him, I am uncertain what to make of him myself. He is not a Jedi and wields the Force, or at least the Living Force, in a way that I have never seen. It's obviously aiding his strength and speed, which admittedly is far beyond anything even a Force Warrior could do, but his other skills are beyond bizarre._

But all that was what any of the other masters could sense, Mace sensed more than that. Mace Windu was blessed, or perhaps cursed, with the Force ability called shatterpoint. This allowed him to sometimes see the weakness in a thing or person where it could be broken if pressure was applied through the Force. Most of the time when Windu saw it the shatterpoint was in a person's style of combat.

The young man dancing here and there through the attacking Yinchorri in an unarmed Aerial style that oddly reminded Windu of videos of Yoda in his younger years did not have that kind of shatterpoint. There was no weakness in his style. Instead he was part of something larger, something that was bigger than himself, bigger than Mace or any of them, too big for Mace to perceive on the fly. But the shatterpoint was there.

Shaking his head, Mace Put those thoughts aside for now. "Head back towards Master Gallia's ship, let's not let this sudden windfall go to waste."

 **OOOOOOO**

After dropping Ranma off, Dooku had directed Michael to fly the ship deeper into the gorge towards the _Consular_ -class cruiser that had landed there. After all, the Yinchorri hadn't just been coming down the gorge. Hundreds of them had attacked from the mountains as well.

Once there, Dooku dropped from the side of the _Kaiseki_ while it rained down covering fire. That covering fire wasn't very accurate, none of the crewmen were trained gunners, but there was a lot of it.

Dooku smiled slightly as he descended, remembering a conversation he and Ranma had shared about why Ranma really preferred the Aerial style. _He does have a point, feeling the wind like this is indeed amazing._ As he fell Dooku continued to smile for a moment while he allowed his perceptions to expand through the Force, allowing his joy at the experience to color his emotions.

He frowned however seeing a Jedi below him, a green-scaled Anx whose name he did not know be cut off and surrounded while Master Tsui Choi tried desperately to get to his side. Reaching through the force Dooku grabbed the youth hurling him up towards his ship and away, using the youth's own weight as a counterbalance to hasten Dooku's descent.

As the youth ascended he let go of his lightsaber, which Dooku Force-grabbed and used in midair to block some of the bolts trying to track him from below. A second later Dooku landed his own lightsaber activating as he raced forward.

Giving himself to the Force entirely, the Jedi Master Dooku smiled grimly, his lightsaber flashing faster than the Yinchorri could track. With every strike it left a blazing trail, cutting here there and everywhere. He noted which Yinchorri had cortosis armor, avoiding those shields with ease, cutting them into pieces with an artistry and speed that would have astonished anyone but another Jedi. Indeed, it was well beyond even what Dooku could have done before training with Ranma these past few weeks.

Steeling himself for a moment Dooku let his lightsaber fall waving his hand,. In a massive swirl of Force power, hundreds of Yinchorri were hurled away from him and the other embattled Masters. Above him _Kaiseki_ began to hammer the now disorganized Yinchorri with concentrated laser fire. This broke the Yinchorri's assault and they retreated for now retreating into the mountain crevasses or away down the gorge towards the main battle.

"Master Dooku," said Master Adi Gallia nodding her head wearily at him, gasping in exhaustion. "Your timing is impeccable but I must ask…"

"The Gran Protectorate is nearby, and I was one of the first to hear the news of the Yinchorri's militaristic expansion. I assumed that the Council would send someone Adi Gallia, and I decided to poke my nose in."

"Master Dooku," Master Choi came up, bowing his head formally. "I thank you for the life of my padawan. If not for you, he would be dead."

"No thanks are necessary, we are all Jedi here, and to defend others is our duty." Dooku said, waving his hand towards their ship. "I suggest you all get aboard, I can feel Master Windu and the others coming along. And none of you are in any condition to continue this battle."

Adi Gallia made to protest, but even as she did so her body sagged wearily. The battle had been going on for about 45 minutes of constant combat, and before that they had fought throughout the evening on their own missions, and none of them had gotten much rest since this expedition began. Even with her Force assisted endurance the constant combat was beginning to take a toll. "Thank you master, I think that's an excellent idea."

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere in the battle, Tiin and Ranma had finished destroying the last tanks, falling back quickly to the others while Ranma continued to toss or smash aside the Yinchorri between them as if they weighed nothing. But then Ranma grimaced as he took a few shots from behind. Turning quickly Ranma brought out his ki shield that he had made up on the spot during his first battle with Dooku, blocking the crew served weapon that had just opened up on him as the demon-looking Jedi master began to block some of the blaster bolts with his lightsaber.

Ranma did the same with his hands, smacking them aside and frowning as he noted that his shield had dropped slightly after the first few scattered bolts. _Note to self, blasters come in all shapes and sizes, and some of them can be dangerous, can wear down my shield and probably get through my endurance training. Interesting, and I really don't want to know what most ship-based weapons would do. Ouch... And, come ta think of it, any sort of continual beam weapon would be bad too. If a lightsaber can wear down my ki shield as quickly as Dooku's can, that kind of weapon would do the same._

The youth's show of strength was incredible to the Tiin, who prided himself on his own physical strength. "Tell me," he said somewhat jokingly, "do you have a rancor in your ancestry somewhere?"

"Don't know what that is." Ranma said cheerfully, slamming his foot hard into one Yinchorri, pulping the Yinchorri's shoulder and hurling him back into several others as he grabbed a sword-spear thing that was aimed at his head. "'Scuse me!"

Flipping himself upwards, Ranma kicked out, catching that Yinchorri in the head and using that kick to throw himself in an entirely different direction landing among other Yinchorri who were trying to set up something that looked like a crew served blaster of some kind to attack the flank of the Jedi who were falling backwards through the gorge.

A few kicks and punches late the three Yinchorri that had tried to set it up were broken and unconscious. Ranma hefted the SAW himself, putting it to his shoulder and blasting away on what he thought of as full auto at the Yinchorri still trying to attack the Jedi Masters.

The Yinchorri, now without any tanks and having taking too many casualties to sustain the assault, finally began to pull back.

"They'll be back." Said Mace as Tiin and Ranma moved to join them. "I've never seen a species before that was so set on violence!"

Ranma scoffed, spitting to one side. "Have you looked in a mirror lately? Humans can be just as violent sometimes."

Windu frowned but nodded since that was occasionally true. "Who are you young man?"

"Ranma, I'm a friend of Dooku's but for now can we get going? This is fun and all, but I don't think it much fun for you lot."

"Violence should never be fun young man." Said Qui-Gon, while his padawan Obi-Wan stiffened at the disrespectful tone the younger man was using to the masters. "Even in the pursuit of justice."

Ranma shrugged. "If you don't like a good fight, why are you here?" He asked bluntly. "You're all Guardians at least right, that's the Class that deals with combat missions and such?"

Actually they weren't, though Windu should have insisted that only Guardians be sent on this mission, possibly with one or two Sentinels along to bring their particular skills to bear. But they weren't, indeed most of them aside from the padawans were Consulars save for Tiin and Giiett, a Guardian and Sentinel respectively. This of course was a problem throughout the order, since the numbers of Guardians and Sentinels had been dropping for decades. Still, Mace was chagrined to realize that he should've realized even at a Master's level specialties like that, the difference mattered.

High above them there was loud whistling sound, and Ranma stared upwards frowning before bringing his hands up and thrusting them forward. A bright cerulean sphere of pure force power shot from his hands up into the air. Seconds later it intercepted a mortar round that was coming down towards them, causing it to explode prematurely.

The Jedi had all looked up as well at the noise, and while none of them had reacted as fast as Ranma, many of them raised their hands, thrusting away the shrapnel from the explosion with the Force. "Mace is right." Said Plo Koon. "We have outstayed our welcome my friends, and the Yinchorri seem the type to demand repayment for their hospitality.."

"Was that a joke, that sounded like a joke, but it was actually somewhat funny!" Said another one of the Jedi, who Ranma was interested to note used two lightsabers. "Will wonders never cease!"

"Joke on the run please." Ranma said, but he smiled at as he said it.

Windu moved next to the youngster, looking at him thoughtfully, studying him intently with both his eyes and Force sense. "When this is over young man, I think we are going to have a long talk."

Ranma shrugged. "Dooku said something like that too, but we'll do it in person not over Hypercom."

 _So this is indeed the secret that master Yoda felt Dooku was keeping. It's interesting, as much as he has seemed to enjoy this battle, I haven't felt a single flicker of anger or fury or hate from him. If anything it's the exact opposite, he radiates the Light side of the Living Force so strongly it's like he's a beacon! His emotions are so powerful, it's worrying yet at the same time, it doesn't seem to affect him. Very odd._ Even while he thought this however, Mace was already racing back down the gorge with his fellow Jedi.

Back at the downed ship Michael and his crew were still laying down some covering fire into the size of the gorge where many of the Yinchorri had gone to ground, trying to sleep at the Jedi and the ship. Its shields were flickering badly by this point, but its guns were still firing down into the slopes around the gorge, killing several Yinchorri while the Jedi retreated into the ship.

Dooku was the only one remaining outside by this point, with master Gallia guarding the entrance to the ship. He nodded cordially to the Masters and Ranma as they came up. "Master Windu" he said addressing the only one among them who he felt was truly his equal in rank and skill. "I suggest you get a move on."

With that he raised his hand, lifting a giant boulder from the ground. He held it as a shield in midair to block several blaster rounds from one side of the gorge before hurling it in that direction causing some of the snipers to scatter.

"Jedi never run," said Master Giiett, "Unless we really, really have to."

Ranma laughed, reaching down to grab up a few of the blasters and exchanging fire with the snipers smashing several of them back with pinpoint shots to shoulders, arms or weapons. "A sense of humor from a Jedi, didn't think that was possible given your oaths about emotions."

"We try not to advertise it young man, and unfortunately it is alas a rare trait among us. Master Dooku," said the long-haired man, bowing from the waist with both of his hands together, a faint but warm smile on his face as he turned to face the regal looking Jedi Master. "It has been some time."

"It has indeed, I am happy to see you well Qui-Gon." Dooku smiled, nodding at the man then looking over at the youngster who stood beside him, his padawan braid prominent alongside one side of his face. "And who is this?"

"This is my padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, master. I believe he will be ready for the trials in another few years." Qui-Gon favored his padawan with a smile, while Obi-Wan bowed his head deeply to one of the most famed duelists in the Jedi Order, flushing slightly at his master's praise.

"Excellent, though you brought a padawan on a mission like this?" Dooku asked cocking one wintry eyebrow, causing Qui-Gon to twitch in response. Dooku had always looked like that right before imparting some painfully obvious lesson.

Dooku however turned to address Mace. "Three padawans I note. Now, this is not a mark against you three or your teachers but I would have thought after recent events, most particularly the Mandalore Debacle and the mission which cost my own most recent padawan her life, that taking padawans into missions which held the certainty of high levels of violence would have been… contra-indicated. Or are we so cavalier with our own lives we do not flinch in sending those young and less prepared than we into battle?"

His voice was mild, but his eyes were flashing dangerously, something more than one of the masters there noticed. Still many winced at the reminder of what happened to Dooku's padawan a bare two months ago.

"Haste was of the essence, so I took only those among the Jedi who volunteered which I thought could handle the mission." Mace said shaking his head, taking it upon himself as leader of this expedition to answer his fellow Blade-masters not-quite accusation. "In hindsight, that was an error, though my choice for pilots at least was well-founded. Still, it is one I will make certain does not occur in the future."

"That's nice and all," Ranma said. "But could we get on the ship now? Not want to compound that error, yeah?"

"You are impertinent, young man." said Obi-wan, shaking his head admonishingly. "You should not speak to Jedi Masters so."

"I speak as I find." Ranma said smirking at the young man, who he thought was somewhere in his twenties or so, though he spoke either like an old man or a lawyer, Ranma wasn't certain which. "Respect is earned, not given freely."

"Ouch." Giiett shook his head. "Remind me never to let this young man near any of the Senate. That would be very, very bad."

"Definitely." Ranma said with a laugh, before he grunted as a blaster bolt got through into his shoulder making him wince a little but that was all, causing many of the master's eyes to widen in surprise. "Think politicians a waste of space back home, here it's even worse."

A few moments later the last of the Jedi were aboard their ship, and the ship lifted off, putting its own shields between its savior and the attackers down below.

"Captain Michael, follow us up out of the atmosphere, try to keep us between you and the ground, your shields seem to be failing badly." said Master Tiin, while Plo Koon slid into the co-pilot's chair.

"Aye-aye master." Said Michael over the comm. "Everyone aboard?"

"Everyone is aboard," said Lilit via the intercom. Even now she had a small, wondering smile on her face from her rescue from certain death. "Thanks to your arrival and that of Master Dooku, everyone is aboard."

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time the two Consular-class frigates were making for space, on Coruscant Sidious was snarling, his lips a rictus of rage. His ability to read the future was perhaps the area where his ability in analyzing the Force was better than his teacher's. He had known, **known** that Jedi would die on this mission. He had felt it, seen it in the eddies of the Force, but now that was gone, and with it the ripples Dooku was causing were spreading.

 _No… not Dooku._ In that brief moment, when the future changed abruptly to include the lives of the Jedi who should have died, there had been a brief moment. A very brief moment before the ripples had begun again where Sidious had been able to use his senses almost without anything obscuring his sight. In that moment he had seen that it wasn't Dooku who was the center of the, the **maelstrom** of chaos that was spreading from around his actions.

Instead it was someone else, a young human man, who literally blazed in the Living Force do his senses. _It is him, him the one who causes such change, such disorder. I need to know more, much more about him, about who he is, where he came from, everything! He has already affected the Grand Plan tremendously, luring Dooku away from where he could have become my apprentice, and thus my public face. While I will be able to turn his actions to my advantage, Dooku's loss still hurts badly. If this young man cannot be turned to our advantage in such a way as to make up for that, he must be disposed of quickly!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Back in the seating area, Ranma was staring around at all the alien Jedi masters, trying and failing to place them in his limited knowledge of the species to be found in this dimension. _Their prisoner's a Devaronian like a few of the spacers I saw on Malastare, and that one is a Zabrak, like that chick at the bar with the boyfriend who hit on me. But other than that... damn this really forces ya to realize how many species there are in this universe! Cannot… wait… to… explore it! So many styles, so much time!_

 _On the other hand, why the heck is it so damp in here? I gotta wonder how that's gonna impact the computers and other stuff? I guess I should be glad whatever it is didn't impact this ship's ability ta fly._

Yet even among the humans there were differences. There was the odd headdress the darker-skinned woman wore, which made her look rather silly in his opinion. Then there was the younger human male who seemed to have a problem with Ranma judging by his glances in Ranma's direction. The other two humans, the black man and the older looking man with long hair, reminded Ranma of the first time Dooku and he met, calm and serene, radiating a certain tried strength, though in his opinion not as much as Dooku did.

Yet that was not the most important thing he noticed looking at them all. The blonde-haired woman Ranma had saved initially was actually shorter than his female form! _Holy shit, I thought it was just because she was standing next to the big guy, but she really is that short! I won't be the shortest girl in the room anymore, awesome!_

As he looked around Ranma was almost ignored in turn as Master Choi explained that he had come upon their prisoner trying to send out a message. That message had subsequently been traced to a small hidden planetoid deeper into the star system well out of the life bearing zone of the system.

"We think he was on Yitheeth to provide some technical assistance to the Yinchorri, but there might be something more going on. He has not talked yet, but he will. He is a mercenary, and such will always sell their employers out to save their skins given the alternatives."

Mace nodded, and was about to turn his attention back to the youth with the strange Force powers when Koon spoke up from where he was manning the sensors up in the cockpit. "My friends, I think you should all come and see this."

From where he Dooku smiled faintly, knowing they had just left the atmosphere. A second later the central hologram in the sitting area lit up, showing a tactical screen of the system.

When the Jedi had jumped into the system, there had been around forty-four enemy signals showing capital ships and fighter platforms, with seven defensive installations scattered around the three planets, two, two, three respectively. Now those installations were gone. And the remaining mobile units of the Yinchorri were in full retreat towards the area of space where Choi had already estimated the signal was going towards. They also only numbered fifteen red blips of various sizes.

Pursuing them were two fleets of green icons. Many of those blips were harrying the Yinchorri back towards their previously hitting command center. Others were above the planet's, slowly pulling away from them to join their fellows. Above Yinchorr, the four ships apparently assigned to that planet were even now moving out of their orbit towards the Jedi's cruisers.

"Those ships are reading as _Battle Tide_ and _Proud Explorer_ of the Dac Defense Fleet, and _Quickstrike_ and _Pointed Argument_ of the Sluis Sector Defense Fleet. In fact all of the friendly ships are reading as Sluisi or Mon Calamari ships." Plo Koon reported from where he was seated next to Obi-Wan.

"What exactly is going on here Master Dooku?" asked master Tiin looking at the other man. "This is not the Republic fleet; these are portions of the defense fleets of those two sectors."

"I was reminded recently that we Jedi alone cannot shoulder the burden of defending the peace of the Republic. The various species that make it up need to do the same, and I was able to convince the Governor of Dac and the Khedive of the Congregate to aid us here." Dooku replied, smiling faintly.

Adi Gallia frowned. "What did you promise them?" She was a Consular, and was very aware of the factions in the Senate, so she understood these two races were not normally allied. They were alike in many ways, but their systems were not in direct trade or competition so their interests rarely dovetailed, save on a very few issues.

"My personal backing along with the Chancellor's in the Senate to give their trade fleets the same rights that the Trade Federation recently won a few months ago: the ability to arm their merchant ships against pirate attacks. Before anyone objects I'll note that neither of them has evidenced any desire to build up the massive droid army that the Federation has since begun building, nor are they known for, or indeed have any need to be, expansionistic. They simply wish to defend their own ships as they go about their business."

"Interesting…" said Windu, now looking at Ranma, who was talking quietly to K'kruhk. Unlike Gallia, who now looked aghast, he didn't particularly care about the politics of the matter. The Padawan was bowing his head slightly to the shorter human, possibly thanking him for saving his master's life. "But not what I was asking about, at least not the entirety."

Ranma turned, nodding his head at the larger alien, glad he'd agreed to answer Ranma's questions about his species later. He stared at the bald black man who strangely enough reminded him of some American actor. _Can't remember his name but definitely some kind of likeness there. Parallel evolution or something?_ "You talking about me?"

"I am indeed young man." said Mace, nodding his head, while nearby Obi-wan frowned again at Ranma's tone. "You said your name is Ranma, but I have heard nothing about where you came from, or where you learned that strange technique you used, or how you somehow took the Force Warrior training well beyond what should be physically possible. I've never heard the like that before, and your combat skills and physical strength are astonishing."

"Ranma's tale is one that I would wish to tell to master Yoda and the Council in person and only once, when we are certain it cannot be overheard." Dooku said firmly. "For now, he is an ally of ours, correct Ranma?"

"You Jedi are a force for good, your Code is in one I can respect. Too narrow minded, stupid and arrogant for me, but at least you try to do good." Ranma nodded.

"What's stupid about the oaths?" said Adi Gallia, trying hard not to be offended by the almost dismissive tone Ranma used, while Mater Koth and Obi-wan did the same. The Oath of the Jedi was one of the main pillars of the Order. To have it so easily dismissed was like dismissing the entire Order.

"Any more discussion on this will not be occurring in the presence of a prisoner, no matter the fact his ears are covered." Said Master Giiett firmly. He was a Sentinel, one of the Jedi who were trained far more than the norm in espionage tactics and making do without the Force, and knew precisely why Dooku wanted to keep Ranma's abilities secret. "Indeed, let us leave this discussion for now and concentrate on the main issue. Or do you really think that we should simply be standing around here and letting others do our work for us?"

"Not your work, though that's a nice sentiment, its everyone's work." Ranma replied with a smile. "Told it to Dooku, tell it to you. For evil to win, good people must do nothing. Those ships out there, they doing something."

"A remarkably simplistic yet imminently suitable way to look at the universe." Said Plo Koon, nodding his head towards Ranma. "For my part young man, I will thank you and Master Dooku both for your intervention on our behalf. You saved many lives today, at least three of our own and I noticed you also saved many of the Yinchorri as well."

There were some raised eyebrows at that as Ranma looked a little sheepish pulling at his pigtail. Plo Koon looked around, his body language showing his amusement to those who knew him. "None of you noticed? Young Ranma might've been throwing the Yinchorri around like they were small children, but I think he only killed about one out of every five he struck. With our insistence on using lightsabers we would've been forced to kill far more."

The reactions to that bit of news were mixed but Ranma tried to wave it off. "If you injure someone, you tie up him and at least two others to take care of him."

"Possibly if the Yinchorri were a normal military that would be true." Giiett stared at him thoughtfully then over at Dooku who was simply smiling benignly as he moved over to a refresher station to pick up a bottle of tea. "But not the Yinchorri. They care nothing for losses so long as they win. Why did you not kill them? It was in your power to do so."

"That's a trick question." Ranma said narrowing his eyes at the short, somewhat overweight-seeming man.

"I am sorry I have been remiss." Dooku said smiling blandly. "Ranma, be known to Mace Windu, Swordmaster of the Jedi Order. These are Masters Choi, Master Giiett and Adi Gallia of the council, and Master Koon who is not part of the council. Master Tiin is up in the cockpit, the rather short…haired… woman is Lilit Twoseas whose padawan you have already met. Master Choi, his padawan whose name I am sorry I don't know, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his young Padawan Obi-Wan round out this gathering."

Ranma nodded at them all, smirking a little as Lillit huffed at the allusion to her size but Mace continued to stare at him commandingly. "I would like an answer to Master Giiett's question please."

Ranma rolled his eyes, not intimidated by the older man. "Killing is never a good thing, never something to be embraced without reservation. If you can get by without killing, should do that instead. I am a martial artist. My Code is that the strong, that martial artists, should defend the weak. If we face an enemy, if that enemy is prepared take lives, he is prepared to lose his own. But even that should not be embraced if there is an alternative. In a fight like that, taking them out of the action was just as easy as killing them. It cost me nothing, but let me retain my honor."

"Are you sure you're not a Jedi?" said master Giiett, smiling over at K'kruhk and the other padawans, who were looking very thoughtful now, thoughtful and guilty along with Lilit and Gallia, neither of whom had been on combat missions for some time. It was all too easy to forget that taking life should never be easy, even to Jedi. "That was a remarkably Jedi-like moment there."

Ranma smiled at him, but shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not a eunuch, and I want to own things. At least my own ship eventually, maybe some other stuff."

More than one of his listeners frowned or chuckled at what he said. Obi Wan and Mace in particular looked affronted by the 'eunuch' comment, while Qui-Gon looked strangely wistful, and Gallia and Lilit looked nonplussed. Koon and Choi smiled however, knowing the allure of owning your own ship was a powerful one. K'kruhk and his fellow non-human padawan both looked confused, not understanding the reference.

Ranma went on, his voice becoming grimmer. "And I refuse to be tied into serving a corrupt government."

Koth, Gallia and Choi all looked like they were going to take umbrage for that, but Tiin came in from the cockpit just then. "My fellow masters, there is a call coming in over the Hypercom from the Temple. I've routed it back to the hologram desk here."

Ranma moved out of the way of the pickup, and Mace and Dooku looked at one another before nodding. Yes, the strange Force powers the youth showed was something they needed to keep secret for now. His ethics seemed to be in line with that of the Jedi, at least so far. But he was also too anti-authoritarian for Mace's taste and maybe even the rest of the Council would be unwilling to look the other way around him.

His embracing his emotions and the desire to form attachments were also worrisome, as well as his general attitude toward the Jedi. But Mace was willing to withhold judgment for now, until this current crisis ended. _Or until I discern what the youth represents a shatterpoint for._

A second after Plo Koon entered, the council room back on Coruscant popped into view. Yoda and the other master relayed what had occurred, causing many of the masters to close their eyes in sorrow at the loss of life, and for Ranma, unseen by the pickup to start to punch the wall of the sitting room so hard he left a dent. After that master Yaddle came on, informing them of the discovery of a fourth planet, a small one that was so near the sun it was almost invisible to most scanners unless you knew it was there to look for in the first place. Inside of which would be the perfect place to put a hidden command center

A moment later the call cut off, and more than one master was rubbing their foreheads irritably. "If we had waited before heading in, we could've found where it was simply by going through the records?" Giiett said, shaking his head. "This should teach us all, my fellow masters, to look before jumping into something. We could be mourning deaths among our brethren now rather than feeling simply foolish if not for Master Dooku and young Ranma's aid."

"Hindsight is 20-20." Ranma said, rallying them once more and nodding his head at the hologram, which had reverted to showing the system again. "We have two fleets ready to finish this, what are you going to do now?"

Dooku looked over at Mace and nodded his head. "This was your mission before I poked my nose in, would you like to address to the admirals?"

 **OOOOOOO**

While Mace talked to the two admirals and the prisoner was taken to the maintenance room, Ranma quickly became bored. He sighed, stood up from the circular sofa, moving to an area right behind it before going into a kata. He closed his eyes, smiling slightly as he moved into a Saotome-Ryu special kata which was built for speed and body control. He ducked, weaved, punched kicked, each move going faster until he was a blur even to a Jedi's enhanced senses.

Yet there was an amazing level of control in the kata, almost a beauty in it to those watching. Slowly the conversation among the masters sitting around faded as they turned to look at Ranma. But with his eyes closed Ranma didn't even notice.

Dooku smirked a little, looking up from a game of holochess he had begun with his former apprentice to watch as the padawans and other masters stopped speaking to one another about the adventures they'd run into in this system to stare at Ranma.

Adi frowned faintly, looking over at Master Koon. "Are my senses deceiving me, or is he slipping into some kind of meditation trance?"

"The answer is of a sort yes, Master Gallia." Dooku supplied, leaning back. "I suppose you could say so, but he is not, as we would do, sending out his senses into the Force. Rather Ranma concentrates inward, and brings out his inner energy, what we call the Living Force."

"He's… he's sending out little flashes of the Living Force into the Unifying Force. I've never heard the like." Qui-Gon murmured, now looking at Ranma with far more interest. _Could he be the Chosen One?_

Qui-Gon was one of many Jedi who had felt the Unifying Force of the universe slowly turning away from the Light for several years now, and he felt that this tendency would be turned around only by finding the Chosen one, a Jedi who would be able to restore balance to the Force. Although, Qui-Gon thought Ranma was rather old for such and certainly was no Jedi. _But he's so alive with the Living Force, how was he not found when he was younger?_

"Young Ranma is a man of many mysteries, many of which he and I have not even discussed yet." Dooku replied.

"He's a rather opinionated young man, I know that much." Gallia said, trying to keep her voice even, and failing. Ranma's denigration of the Jedi Order's code and his disrespectful way of addressing the Jedi rankled despite his aid in the battle and her own self-control.

"Perhaps, but does that mean he is wrong?" Dooku smiled, watching as the other masters turned to him in shock. "I am simply saying that perhaps it is time we Jedi rethink things. The universe is changing, and we must change in some fashion to meet it."

"Master Dooku, that sounds almost disloyal! The Order has survived for thousands of years because of the Oath!" Master Choi said, shaking his lizard-like head.

"And those Oaths, the aloof nature they demand of us, mean we are out of touch with the rest of the universe. We are seen as outsiders, as meddlers, regardless of what we do. If we were more open, more connected to the common man perhaps we would have more support from them rather than scorn and distrust." Dooku countered, noticing that Plo Koon and Giiett were not taking part of the debate but watching Ranma. Perhaps this wasn't the moment to start his assault on the status quo, but Gallia had given him an opening.

"We do not need to be part of the universal community or populace to do our duty." Replied Master Koth, shaking his head. "Indeed, our duty to the Republic is best served by not having attachments."

"Is it? Because as far as I can tell we have an attachment to the Senate." Dooku replied calmly, his voice a scalpel taken to Koth's response. "It is the Senate and the Council who decide where we go. And far too often we Jedi have simply decided in favor of the Senate without looking at all the facts or worse. I can remember several dozen times off the top of my head just from this past year and a half where Jedi Knights and Masters were sent to aid diplomatic talks only to back the Senate in what turned out to be an unjust or unlawful decision."

"And before you say that we could perform our duties better if we spent more time on practicing law, let me remind you that **all** Jedi already have to master at least a rudimentary understanding of the Republic laws, regardless of their specific School. Because we are doing the Senate's dirty work for it, we are becoming seen as their hatchet men."

"We are the stewards of the Republic, we are not outside its laws and can best aid in keeping order by making certain others keep its laws, however distasteful that action may be at times to others. Our Oaths have allowed us to keep the peace for a thousand years, have allowed us to survive and to keep the dark side in check not only within the Order but within the universe." Gallia replied firmly. "Attachment to the universe can lead to love, greed or jealousy and a lust for power, which inevitably leads to the Dark Side."

"You make it sound so simple, so automatic." Dooku said wonderingly. "As if the moment we become attached to someone we are destined to become angry or frightened if that something or someone is injured in some fashion, and if by the barest blip of anger we are doomed to fall to the Dark Side. And yet we are attached to one another, are we not? The Order has never stopped Jedi from making friends within the order, and those are not seen as dangerous."

"There is a difference between friendship and love. Love is far less controllable than friendship. There are limits to how far someone will go for friendship, not so with love." said Koth. He frowned, glancing over at the other two masters who were not taking part of the discussion.

Instead both of them were watching Ranma still, their faces thoughtful. _Why are they not taking part? They are part of the Council as master Gallia and I are. Shouldn't they be working with us against this assault on the Jedi code?_

In actuality, the two masters were not taking part because they chose not to. Both of them had their own questions about the Jedi and their Oaths, though they came at it from different directions.

Master Koon felt that the Jedi should be more independent of the Senate, and should concentrate more on doing good deeds for those who needed their aid, like in the Outer Rim. He also was concerned about the fact that the Order sequestered and forbid knowledge, and had done so too quickly at times in the past, with those decisions not rescinded later on.

Giiett came at it from the other direction. He had served with those Jedi Knights and Masters whose task it was to bring in new youngling's to the Temple at times, and had seen the faces of the parents as their children were taken away. Sometimes they were proud, happy to have a Jedi in the family, or simply happy that someone else understood how to address their children's strange powers.

But other times, other times it did not go as smoothly. It sometimes took all of a Jedi Master's diplomacy to talk parents into letting their child go without violence. Worse, there were rumors that violence had been occasionally used, and that did nothing for the Order's reputation. Surely therefore, if parents and children wanted to remain in contact, those attachments were positive ones, and should be encouraged?

He was also a student of human psychology, and knew that for humans and similar species the Oath forced a mindset on them that came too close to being untenable, and frankly damaging for his state of mind. It was why he went out of his way to foster a sense of humor, to show his emotions at times and insist others do the same including his own former padawans.

Across from Dooku Obi-Wan leaned close to whisper into his master's ear. "Master, why are you not taking part of this debate?"

"Why are you not my young padawan?"

"I am a padawan." said Obi-Wan, bowing his head slightly. "It would be disrespectful of me to join a debate in which masters are taking part."

"You need to get over that humility of yours." Qui-Gon replied sternly. "At times it serves a Jedi well but at others humility can be its own kind of arrogance." He watched Obi-Wan's eyes widen, and he shook his head. "We'll speak more of that later, some time in the Temple will do us both good I think. As to why I am not taking part in the debate, it is because I am uncertain were my own opinion would fall."

That admission caused all three of the padawans to look at him in surprise, while master Choi cocked his head thoughtfully.

"I will hear no more of this." said Koth, bringing everyone's attention back to the debate. "Master Dooku, you are very close to a dangerous line."

"Since when is debate and questioning a bad thing?" Dooku asked smoothly, though his eyes flashed dangerously at the other master's almost dismissive tone. "The moment you decide to shut down all discussion, you have already lost the debate. The Jedi way is one of thoughtful debate, not a mental dictatorship!"

"Your order is built on sophistry." said Ranma suddenly, coming out of his semi-meditation and stopping his exercise. He ran his hands through his hair for a moment as he looked around at the Jedi Masters.

"Explain that young man." said Koth, turning to him sharply.

"I have looked at your history, what Dooku could share with me, what I could see on the Holonet." Ranma said slowly, making certain that each word came out correctly. Speaking in Basic was still not automatic for him, but he was getting there. "There is a pattern there. Every time your opponents, the Sith, come back, you grow to match them in some fashion, then restrict yourselves, cutting off bits and pieces of knowledge. You say fear, anger, hate is the way to the Dark Side, but your entire order reacts fearfully in times like that."

"There were good reasons for every moment you describe." Said Koth shaking his head and smiling slightly at what he saw as ignorance or perhaps Master Dooku trying to put his own slant on things. "Nor are the Sith alone the sole enemy we Jedi have faced. Far too often the threat has come from within our own ranks, brothers fallen into darkness, led astray by false teachings. At other times it was the public perception of things that forced us to change, such as after the Last Sith War. With the Sith banished for all time, we had to give up military and political strength into the hands of the Senate, which whatever Dooku has told you is a duly elected body that is trusted to lead the Republic."

"But we are not weaker for that. And at others, it was a threat rising from within the order, such as Revan or other Jedi falling into the Dark Side due to the lenient nature of the oath at the time. The Ruusan Reformation changed both those things, cutting us off from attachments to wealth and power, and to families which would inevitably lead to divided loyalties and favoritism."

"So instead of thinking of ways to teach better self-control, you started to teach abstinence instead. Hate to tell you, but humans, we cannot simply shut off our emotions. There's a word for people who don't have emotions like that, who can't see other people's opinions might matter, who are not empathic or understanding that emotions are important, it's called sociopath. Generally speaking it's not a good thing."

To one side Giiett raised a hand to cover his slight smile, as he heard Ranma use some of the arguments he had already brought to Master Yoda's attention several times. Admittedly, he was more respectful and had never actually openly challenged the Oaths of the order, but Yoda at least was aware of his concerns there. Dismissive of those concerns yes, but aware of them.

"The Jedi Order is made of far more species than just humanity, or even those who are mentally and emotionally similar to humanity. We have to think of what is good for all, the greater good is more important than trying to make all sentients happy."

Ranma shook his head. "One size cannot fit all. Worse, because you think it can, you're not growing! What can't grow stagnates! I am living proof that there is more to ki, the Living Force as you call it, then you think." Ranma held up a hand, and it glowed with blue gold fire for a moment, the Living Force given form in a way that none of the Masters there had ever seen or even heard of before Ranma showed up on the battlefield today.

"This is nothing compared to some of the tricks I can do. Where I come from, there are masters who understand and know that there is no stopping point when you are learning about ki. But you Jedi have stopped learning! You've been around for thousands upon thousands of years, far longer than humanity on my world has ever existed, but we know how to do things that you would find impossible."

Ranma sighed angrily, shaking his head. "Worse, you Jedi are too caught up in Light and Dark rather than right and wrong. Dooku is right about that, too often you think you know what is right, when you really don't, when you cannot understand the consequences of your own actions. And you willingly turn a blind eye to evil at the same time. Why, if you are an order devoted to order and law, is there still a slave trade? You Jedi do good, but you could do so much more!"

Koth stared at the boy shaking his head. "You speak in ignorance." He said kindly. "When we return to the Temple, I am certain that Master Yoda will be able to talk you around to the real answer. The Order is always right, that is why we have survived as long we have, and our knowledge is far deeper than the parlor tricks you have exhibited so far. Just because we cannot use all our powers in combat as you can, do not think us weak or uninformed."

Dooku winced at that, shaking his head at Koth's own ignorance. But he hadn't seen Ranma in action from up close like Tiin or Koon had, and that colored his interaction with him.

"If by real answer, you mean indoctrinated, he's welcome to try." Ranma growled angrily. "I've already been indoctrinated once by my father, and that didn't take for long! Problem with indoctrination is, once you're out in the real world it always starts to fail!"

"Master Koth is correct about one thing at least, the time for this debate has not yet come. I think Ranma that you need to cool off for now." said Dooku, sensing Mace was nearly finished with his discussion with the admirals, and deciding to end things here for now." He smirked, and with the Force turned on one of the little training balls in a nearby alcove, which Tune and the Verpine had redesigned. Instead of a small burst of low powered blaster fire it was equipped with water gun.

Ranma turned quickly, but not quickly enough to dodge the glass of water, which caught him/her right in the face. She growled, wiping at her wet face as the Jedi, both masters and padawans, gaped in astonishment. They had felt the surge of joyful humor as the change occurred through the Force and had wondered about it, until they saw the change in Ranma's body.

"How?" said Qui-Gon, speaking for them all. " **How** did that just happen!? Actually, **what** just happened?"

"Magic." Ranma said, shaking her head again. "Though Dooku says that it's something to do with the Force, don't know about that really. I don't use the Unifying Force or whatever you call chi. And Dooku," she growled looking over at the man as she pulled off her shirt for a moment wringing it out. "You know that I can't change my shirt! The washers got no power remember?"

Ranma's sheets and clothing had been in the wash (again…) when the news about the Yinchorri had come in. After that, the ship's washer and dryer had been disconnected from the ship's energy grid as one of the many alterations the crew had made to save enough energy so they could power the weapons systems.

She glared angrily at the male masters all of whom were gaping at her, in particular Obi-Wan who was blushing brightly. Holding her hand over her chest she pointed at them angrily. "Close your eyes or lose them!"

"But," said Qui-Gon, said shaking his head again. "How in the…" Then he was forced to hold up a hand quickly using the Force to block several small toothpicks that had been aimed at his eyes, wondering idly where they had come from in the first place. Giiett, who had turned away, reached out a hand as well, redirecting two more that had been going for Obi-Wan's eyes.

They instead smacked into his forehead with punishing force and he howled in pain for a moment. "OWW! Why!?"

"That was a perfectly appropriate response for being ogled." Said Lilit, and Gallia nodded in agreement. "Though simply saying 'magic' doesn't really explain how …er…" she floundered to a halt.

"That another problem with your Order." Ranma grumbled, before repeating herself more slowly as she pulled her shirt back on, still growling angrily at Dooku, who was ignoring her, smiling faintly at the responses the curse had gotten.

She turned away, starting up a small hot water dispenser in the corner. "You Jedi have no ability to roll with the punches. I told you, it's magic. I was cursed a few years ago. I was knocked into a pool of drowned girl, came out like this. I was born a guy, no my mind doesn't change, yes it is a massive irritant! And yes…" she said staring at Lilith and Gallia master. "It is a full body change."

Both of them seemed to get it at once, exchanging a glance of wide-eyed surprise. "Does that mean you get a… monthly visit?" asked Lilit.

"Yes, though it's only when my time in this form accumulates rather than every normal month. I could also be raped in this form. Something, something which I've had some nightmares about."

Ranma was looking for understanding there since he'd had those nightmares several times since undoing the damage Genma had done to his mind and body. He had hoped to talk to a woman about them, assuming that they would understand such fears better than any man. But he didn't get any sympathy or understanding. Both female Masters blanched, frowning and looking away, but that was all.

"Fear leads to the Dark Side." said master Koth, who had never even heard the word rape before, insulated within the Order as he had been his entire life, something that made the more worldly masters shaking their heads. "You should face your fears."

Ranma snarled, her hands clenching and unclenching. She was about to go for the Zabrak but the beeping of the heater told her the water had finished heating and she turned back counting to 10 for a moment. She poured the hot water over her head, changing back to a male and grimacing a little. "We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, you insensitive fuck."

The master stiffened at her response, and more than one of the other Masters also frowned, though the two female Masters did not. Nor did the long-haired one, who was busy remonstrating with his padawan at the moment for his inappropriate staring.

While Obi-wan had been desensitized somewhat to the female form during certain missions with his master, that didn't mean he was entirely dead to the attraction of such. And the redhead was a very attractive example of a female form.

"I apologize in advance." Lilit said, moving over to Ranma and taking a cup of water that Choi had been drinking from. "But I'm not certain I believe what I just saw."

Ranma sighed then nodded. "Get it out of your system now." He said in a sort of singsong voice, plopping herself down next to the extremely short blonde woman.

With a smile on her face Gallia moved behind Ranma towards the water heater, heating up some more water while the blonde haired master poured cold water over Ranma, staring at him as the change began, all of her senses open to the Force at the same time.

 _The Force is laughing!_ She thought to herself. _It's the only explanation for the feeling I'm getting, a sort of snickering. The Force has a sense of humor, that is the most utterly bizarre yet profound statement I have ever heard of._

She was not the only one coming to the conclusion though more than one master was frowning at it. They saw it as a very strange and unusual distortion of the Force rather than something to be amused by.

The two female Masters continued to change Ranma back and forth, and Ranma sighed as he remembered the first time Ukyo had seen his curse in action. He smiled faintly at the memory shaking his head at how easy, yet how limited his life had been then.

Obi-wan looked away blushing brightly for a moment, shaking his head slightly while Qui-Gon smirked at him. "Obi-Wan you and I have been on missions where we've gone into dens of iniquity, were the most amazing bodies were on display. Why exactly is this young redhead affecting you so?"

"I don't know master…" He said slightly, still looking away and rubbing at of his forehead where the toothpicks had impacted. He did not want to lose an eyeball, as he probably would have if not for master Giiett's intervention. "I think it's because she isn't trying to display herself, it's just an accidental thing? Does that even make sense?"

"Somewhat I suppose…" Said the older man, frowning heavily. "It's not exactly an area that I've ever delved into of course."

Dooku smiled, seeing that his attempt to derail the serious conversation had gone appropriately. He turned back to his chest game, motioning with his hand to his former student who nodded, and turned back as well. Around the conversations continued on, with the two female Masters simply stared again at Ranma's change.

Around twelve minutes later Mace came in from the cockpit. "The fleets are ready to move in." He said, looking around, an eyebrow rising in surprise at how wet Ranma seemed to be. "Did I miss something?"

"Oh yes." said Gallia, getting to her feet. "But I'm afraid I'm not even going to try to explain it. You really do have to see it for yourself."

Mace's other eyebrow rose to join the first, but he shrugged. "The fleet is ready to move in, but we have our own part to play. I suggest we all prepare ourselves."

About fifteen minutes later the fleets regrouped directly outside the defensive cordon of the hidden asteroid base, taking the time to both regroup and get a reading on the defenses. The Jedi also had hoped that the Council of Elders would sue for peace now that they had lost control of their planet's orbitals. That did not happen, and so Admiral Sitoris led the combined Sluisi/Mon Calamari fleet in.

They drove forward in a wedge, with the Mon Cal ships in front. Since they had better shielding and armor, they took the defensive fire on their shields while opening up a hole in the defense. With that done, and with some of their frigates and cruisers trailing atmosphere they fell back to either side, letting the Sluisi into the breach. The Sluisi spread behind the orbital stations taking out several more while the starfighters of both fleets zoomed on engaging the few remaining Yinchorri capital ships with their own hoarded concussion missiles and proton torpedoes.

Behind the fighters the _Kaiseki_ surged into hyperspace. While the two fleets continued to hammer their opposing numbers, the Jedi with Tiin at the controls did a micro jump, jumping forwards towards the base, deep into its defensive envelope.

Yet even so, the defenders were quick to respond to the ship suddenly appearing in their firing arcs. Turbolasers blasted out, and more than one missile lanced out, only to be spoofed away from the ship by its electronic defenses, handled by Tune and Master Choi.

"Shields failing!" Tiin growled, looking over at Plo Koon who was trying to divert energy from the top shields to the bottom ones, and then from there to the front, trying to stay ahead of where the heaviest fire hit them. "Find us a target quickly, or we won't be able to find one at all!"

"I found one," said Choi. "It's an entrance to an inner hangar bay! Large enough for this ship and several dozen more! Left and down, then forward!"

As the fleets of the combined fleet broke through the defensive cordon around the planetoid the Jedi's ship flew into the hangar. "Nice of them to leave the door unlocked, if not unguarded!" Tiin shouted, moving the craft this way and that dodging laser fire from below and above from weapons emplaced on the ceiling of the massive hangar.

"Man, I have got to learn how to do this." Ranma grumbled from the entrance to the cockpit, having come up to watch the action, though this had more to feeling somewhat helpless in the space battle than anything else. "Being a passenger isn't for me."

Dooku didn't reply, having remained behind in the sitting area with most of the others. The pilots however smiled slightly while searching the ground beneath them for someplace to put down.

"We'll be an easy target if we hover out here. I can only see one alternative. Master Windu?" Asked Tiin, smiling thinly.

"Take it!"

Ranma grinned, grabbing the frame of the bulkhead. "Incoming!"

Moving forward at speed the ship slammed into what looked like an observation deck at the far back of the massive hangar bay. Its front armor crumbling, it burst through the glass and the rock around it.

Ranma shook his head from the impact a little having smashed his head. Turning he raced away, moving quickly through the ship towards the hatch. There he found a few of the masters and K'kruhk trying to open it. "The machine's still working, but there's some rubble in the way, we'll have to cut our way out somewhere else."

By the time they got back to the sitting area, Master Windu and Dooku had already done so out of the top of the ship. For a brief second they stood there surveying the area before leaping out and attacking the guards who'd rushed to try and defend their Masters.

Ranma was the first of the others out of the ship, bounding over the two Masters grabbing a small metal pipe that was sticking out from one of the damaged walls. He pushed himself back down, slamming into a crowd of guards that had just barreled out of a tunnel.

Several of them flew backwards from the impact, and he grabbed two of them, slamming their heads together and slinging them aside before selecting taking another with such force that he was propelled back down the tunnel with no way out of the pen.

"Stop! Stop don't kill us, we surrender!" Said a voice from behind him.

Ranma turned incredulously. "What? But, huh?" _These guys are the leaders of these assholes right, so, wouldn't that make them the strongest? What the hell, man, talk about anti-climactic!_

Mace shook his head, motioning Ranma to join them as he stared at the leaders of the Yinchorri, who were huddling together at the beck of the observation area. "What was it that master Ranisicis said about the philosophy of might makes right?"

"That it is often recanted upon meeting a more powerful adversary." Master Gallia replied, smiling thinly.

"Master Dooku," said Windu, turning away. "If you could please get on the communications device and tell Admirals Sitoris and Arikkakon that the battle seems to be over. As for you," he said turning back to the leaders of the Yinchorri. "You will be sending out a broadcast to your people to surrender, then we will be talking about the Devaronians, and what they gave you, and how they required it..."

 **End chapter**

* * *

So, yeah this chapter was meant to show the timeline, start the ball rolling in the changes to come, get Ranma a droid for his own use (everyone needs an astromech, and trust me, Tune isn't going to be defenseless by a long shot) though he might get another droid later on, we'll see. The crewmen are OC's obviously, and won't be used again in this story.

To my mind, Palpatine is at his most dangerous right now, when he can't act openly, and when he can move without anyone really knowing it's him. I think he became power-hungry once he actually declared himself emperor. But right now he is the worst sort of enemy for the Jedi and Ranma. He'll be able to roll with the punches and make events go his way regardless.

I… I honestly am not pleased with the Jedi discussions in this chapter. I found myself unable to really debate from the Council's position about the Oaths, my own opinion colored my thinking too much, and unfortunately, while my reviewers all had some good ideas, they didn't quite fit the scenes as they came out.

Let me state right now, Ranma will not be reforming the order or anything like that. He will show them they don't know anything, kick them in the ass a few times, and generally rub their noses into the fact that the Force is far bigger than they think. It will be up to the order to change itself after that.

Next chapter Ranma meets the rest of the Jedi council, gets freaked out by Coruscant, argues with Yoda and meets Shaak Ti! Hopefully when I put it out you'll all like what I do with her. Frankly looking forward to it myself. Will not be posting another chapter of this story however until WW is done, the next chapter of which should be out in a few days. I will try to get out an ATP chapter by the Superbowl.

Oh, and if anyone knows any good M! character centric Dragon Age fics, which aren't wedded to canon for preference, I'd like to read them. I am frankly disturbed by how few good fics exists in this fandom.


	3. Chapter 3

I saw a review from a fan who felt that I was just making excuses in the last chapter when I wrote out a few of the reasons why I chose this story over the HP/SW story. I will reiterate now that those reasons were only a few of the reasons behind my decision to go with this story, and indeed was not the primary one, the primary one was that I wanted to go with the majority vote, which was for Horse for the Force.

I know that HP has more fans, but very few actually PM'd me with **reasons** why that story was more interest than this one. To be sure, there were people who did, and who made their points clearly and intelligently. I would like to thank Starboomer, Lokarryn, Just Your Average Dropbear, Valdiusmacto, and Druc1fer for doing just that. All of them won points for _Magic_ , but not enough to make up the difference between them when tallied against those who had reasons for _Horse_ and the results of the simple poll.

Thanks go to Ultimaflare0 for his work in betaing this chapter, found several missing words, other small, irritating mistakes that took away from the chapter.

And now for the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Little Green Imps and Overcompensating Towers**

Yoda smiled internally as climbed to his feet looking at the youngling who Yoda had allowed to push him off the small bar where he, like the others of the class scattered around the room had been training in the game of push-and-pull. It was a game where two students balanced on polls laid out on the ground and pulled or pushed at one another. Students learned both balance body control and it was one of many exercises designed to teach the students how to predict the ebb and flow of battle via the Force. This was why the activity would stop every 10 minutes while the teacher walked them through meditation designed to teach younglings to open their mind to the Force.

As Grand Master of the Order Yoda of course was not a normal teacher in any sense of the word. But he routinely took part in the beginner's courses, getting a feel for the younglings, sometimes helping with a particularly recalcitrant young one, or helping others build their confidence as he had just now. He had taken part in practically every class for the past two days however because he had wanted to make certain that the younglings were getting back into a normal routine after the attack on the Temple several nights past. Young ones could bounce back from quite a bit, but it was always good to get them back into a routine after such a tragedy.

He nodded to the teacher of this class a human male named Master Kusai. Kusai nodded back before quickly reforming the class around him in a semi-circle to go through the next round of meditation. Yoda waited a few more moments, making certain the students were fully involved in the meditation, before turning and quietly leaving the classroom.

Making his slow way through the environs of the temple Yoda let his mind wander back to the events of the evening before: the Yinchorri attack on the temple and the reverberation in the Force that had followed closely on its heels. That echo in the Force had not been connected to the attack, but to something that had occurred elsewhere, and it had felt wonderful to the aged Master, despite how light a touch it had been in his mind.

 _Depressing it is to contemplate only felt the like before have I. Sad it is to think moments of joy, happiness, so few, so far between._ For that was what it was, a feeling of joy through the Force as something changed. Something that had been practically sat in the stone of the future, a certainty had changed abruptly. In this case, a light which should've been snuffed out by death now continued to burn, but not just one, several. And Yoda somehow knew that not only did it have something to do with Master Windu's mission, but also his former apprentice and his new secret.

 _Only twice before have I felt the like in my life, changed an event long set in motion._ The future was not always immutable, changing. There was no such thing as a destiny for everyone, but there were certain events that when you tried to peel back the skein of the future you learned were unchangeable for various reasons, momentum of prior events, size of the event in question, the reasons were numerous. But occasionally even those events could be changed, and this was what had happened, setting a small but noticeable, at least to Yoda, reverberation through the Force.

Yoda frowned as he continued to walk through the Temple, nodding at the Knights and Masters as he passed them by, rolling his eyes and harrumphing loudly as learners or Knights made to bow to him. Respect of course was one thing, veneration was another. Too often youngsters these days saw him as some kind of infallible oracle, the repository of all knowledge of Jedi life rather than simply the most learned among many. _Old am I, too old, yet in these Dark times, my burden share with another I cannot. Dark times we are in, Darker they may yet become._

That was true, far truer than most of Yoda's fellow Jedi could sense. Indeed, until that reverberation of **Light** through the force, even Yoda had been unaware of it. Now he was, but even with nearly a thousand years of skill behind him, Yoda could only discern the what, not the why: The Dark Side of the Force was rising, a miasma occluding everything it touched. And it was powerful, so **powerful!**

Worse was Yoda couldn't discern any reason behind it. It was as if the Force itself was slowly changing from Light to Dark, as if it was simply the sign of a natural cycle of some kind. But the Yinchorri attack on the temple was a clue that something else might be going on.

He stopped walking suddenly, turning around and making for the temple's gardens. Not the ones where the temple grew its own food, but the gardens designed for meditation. There were several dozen varieites of such, ranging from carefully cultivated beauty spots to rock gardens while others were designed to look like wild forests or the plains of various planets. Right now, Yoda had a wish to meditate in an area like that, the better to allow the Living Force of the plants to calm him.

Surprisingly the garden he had chosen was already in use. Yoda stopped his walk, smiling faintly as he looked at the Togrutan female sitting there. _Young knight Shaak Ti, expected this I should have. Here all the time she is, these days like the temple entire she does not._ Shaking his head Yoda made for a patch of grass a few feet in front of the Togrutan, knowing what she was meditating on and wondering if she would benefit from some advice.

Shaak Ti had risen to knighthood at a younger age than most, but she was well deserving of it. Yoda had been one of those who had actually pushed for her to take the test early feeling she was ready, and in the months since Shaak Ti had proven that assumption correct. She was humble, not a false humility but true humbleness, with a level of empathy that was among the greatest in the temple at present. She was also thoughtful, insightful, well learned, an excellent duelist for her age and experience, as well as being a halfway decent pilot.

She had proven all these points on over a dozen missions alone and with her previous master in the past few months. Two times Shaak Ti had aided diplomatic missions to come to a successful conclusion, and five times she had brought in wanted criminals, alive and with no one else having been injured or killed in her pursuit of them, while at other times she had protected senators from assassination attempts. All in all Shaak Ti was one of the best well-rounded knights currently here in the Temple, but that very nature was undoubtedly what Shaak Ti was currently meditating on.

After several moments of silently meditating, the ancient Grand Master of the order spoke his voice soft and somehow blending into the peace of the garden rather than shattering it. "Troubled are you, worried about which order calls to you. Not reached a conclusion yet have you."

Shaak Ti had of course felt his arrival and had not come out of her meditation, knowing Yoda was somewhat disdainful of over-zealous shows of respect, and cutting off her meditation would have fallen under that heading. Now she opened her eyes, and shook her head, trying to match his tone. "I have not Master Yoda. I thought at first that the Consular Order was the obvious choice. But… I feel the universe is changing, and, if it does not sound too prideful, I feel we may need more Guardians among our ranks in the future."

"Alone in this thought you are not, prideful your comment was not." Yoda said heavily, opening his eyes to look at her. "Violent outbreaks, more there have been in the past six months than 60 years prior. The order in its current form, not ready for this upswing we are."

Shaak Ti nodded, having heard that before but she sensed something in the ancient Master that she had not before. Regret perhaps, or could that even be worry? Before she could probe deeper Yoda stood up, with some difficulty given his advanced age even for his people, and leaning on his cane began to make his way out of the garden. "Time you have, time to think. Make decision you will, but base it not on desires or thoughts of what need the Order has, but what you are. Decision, shape your life from now on it will. Make the right one you must."

For a moment Shaak Ti wanted to reach out, to ask the ancient Grand Master what burden had brought him down here to mediate. But knowing how junior she was to him she refrained for a brief second. Then the ancient Master was gone, slipping away as quietly as he had come. Shaking her head Shaak Ti sighed before closing her eyes and slipping into meditation again.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma leaned against a wall as he watched Mace and the others questioning the leader of the Yinchorri closely. There was something going on that he hadn't been told about the Devaronian prisoner which the Jedi hadn't shared with him which bothered the Jedi. But they weren't apparently getting any leads from their questioning judging by the frowns on their faces.

Eventually Mace and the Zabrak, the one Ranma simply could not think of as anything more than a jackass given his 'face your fears' crack about Ranma's fear of being raped in his female form, came away moving over to talk to Dooku, who had been talking to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "Our prisoner was a mercenary," Mace said bluntly as he walked up to them. "He apparently made a fortune selling weapons to the Yinchorri at first before they could build their own, then even more aiding them in planning out some of their attacks in some fashion. Why he came to them is still unknown but the why of it seems clear."

Dooku frowned. "I do not believe money alone could be behind this. We know about the attack on the Temple, which could point to this entire conflict, not just the Devaronian's involvement, being something more than it first appears. There is no advantage for the Yinchorri to attack the Temple as they did, none that I can see at any rate. Could this have been an attempt to bleed the Jedi Order? Cost us a few of our members for some reason?"

"We don't have enough evidence to support that, nor could any group be manipulating things like this behind the scene without us knowing about it. No if this conflict was the start of something bigger it was possibly some kind of power grab in the Senate perhaps or something similar to the Stark Hyperspace War, nothing that was directly set against us. We must focus our efforts on figuring out who would gain from Yinchorri expansion, that is the key here." Master Gallia said, frowning.

"The attack on the Temple was most likely a feint," said Koth, agreeing with Gallia. "Or perhaps a target of opportunity. I have no doubt that when we get back to Coruscant we will find that there were other attacks that night."

"The moment you think you know everything is the moment you prove you know nothing," said Ranma smirking as he interrupted the conversation. All of the Jedi turned to look at him in surprise at that comment and he shrugged. "Sun Tzu said that I think, but whatever. You're too certain you know enough to dismiss Dooku's concerns. The more you convince yourself of how infallible you are, the worse you're making it for yourselves."

"My friend's words are harsh but true I think. I cannot describe it better, but I think this and others such flare ups point to something larger, something unseen. It is not a mere power grab, but something aimed at us." Dooku said frowning thoughtfully.

The others frowned as well, but before they could argue back Ranma interrupted again. "You lot keep debating. I'm going to go scavenge."

"Scavenge, whatever for?" said Obi-Wan, frowning censoriously. He had not gotten over his initial bad impression yet, and the idea of someone scavenging the battlefield seemed to only add to it.

"Heh, you'll see eventually." Ranma said, waving the slightly older but still young man off. _Damn, guy can't be more than 25 or so, but he acts like he's thirty something. I mean he's nice and all, at least from what little I've seen, but the dude needs to lighten the bleep up._

"And there goes an even larger mystery," said Master Koth shaking his head and frowning at Ranma's retreating back. "Where did you find him Dooku? His attitude is worrisome, and though I haven't felt anything Dark from him, his insolence and his emotions tell me he could all too easily slip into it."

"As I've said before, that is a conversation I will have with Master Yoda and the rest of the Council all at once." Dooku said serenely, though his eyes flashed at the other Master's tone. "And I will remind you once again, just because he is different does not mean he is dark. Or have we Jedi become so insular that we must see everything different as an enemy?"

"None of that," said Master Giiett, shaking his head with a faint smile. "Master Dooku is right, as is Master Koth. He does espouse views which would put him at odds with the Jedi Order, or at least the majority of it. But we as an Order do not jump to conclusions based simply on differences of opinion." He laughed suddenly. "We would be very poor diplomats if we did."

Somewhat chastened Master Koth nodded his head slightly while Dooku did the same. Giiett went on. "As for our young ally, I will see why you place so much faith in him for myself Master Dooku."

"And how are you going to do that?" Dooku asked calmly, one wintry eyebrow raised.

"He is a combative young man, and I think that area is the best place for such a discussion." With that Giiett waved his hand at them all, and walked off in the same direction Ranma had gone.

It took him some time to find the youth, Ranma having covered quite a bit of distance, and when Master Giiett did find him he stopped abruptly. Ranma was standing in an area that looked like an industrial holding area, with several machines scattered around them and hundreds of heavy crates stacked everywhere.

In one hand he was holding up one of the Yinchorri in an easy grip on his belt buckle as the Yinchorri frantically pointed at one of the crates. Ranma reached forward and touched it, then looked up at the warrior who nodded his head frantically. In reply Ranma tossed him aside casually before reaching over to rip open the crate. Reaching in his arms came out with a piece of metallic ore around four times as thick as his arm and just as long.

Shaking his head at the youth's interrogation Giiett made to step forward only to stop and stare as the giant piece of ore suddenly disappeared, seemingly up the youth's sleeve. _Good grief, I'm beginning to understand why Dooku thinks young Ranma is such a find, above and beyond his skills in combat._

He paused a second then moved forward anyway, smiling as the youth turned to him. "The other Masters are a bit busy, they tend to handle the diplomacy and strategy side of things, while I handled the technical. As such I find myself at a bit of a loose end of the moment. I was wondering if you would be up to a spar."

Ranma smirked. "Always, man."

The two of them made their way back towards the observation deck where their ship had first crashed. There they found several of the other Masters. Now that the questioning of the prisoners was over, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had joined the others, while Dooku, Gallia, Windu and Koth began to talk to the admirals of the occupation fleets.

The apprentices all looked up, as did Lilit and Giiett smiled affably at them, before pulling off his Jedi robe and setting it aside, pulling out his two lightsabers, both of which were of the short bladed variety called shoto. He activated them on the low setting saying that aloud and then getting into a ready stance taken from Jar'kai, a lightsaber form based entirely around twin swords, of which he was the acknowledged master within the Order. "Whenever you're ready?"

No sooner had he said that then Ranma was on him, hands and feet flashing out. For a moment Giiett frowned, parrying with his blades, watching as Ranma conjured up some kind of Force-based shield around his limbs batting his lightsabers aside. "Interesting technique, though I have to ask, why didn't you use it in the battle on the planet against the Yinchorri?"

"Had to come up with something, those lightsabers of yours can overcome even my body's durability, which is why I didn't use it in the battle. Regular blasters can't overcome my durability, but I'd've lost limbs to Dooku if I haven't figured this trick out."

"And how long did that take you?" asked Giiett, calmly making conversation even as his shotos and Ranma's hands flared back and forth. _Good grief this lad is fast, still, he seems more at home in the air given how he stayed airborne for so long during the battle. If I can keep him on the ground I might be able to give him a bit of a fight despite the differences in our strength and speed thanks to my battle precognition._

Giiett knew himself too well to have any illusions as to who would win a real battle between the two of them, but at the moment in a spar he might have a chance of winning this. _Especially since the youth isn't moving faster than I can match, however difficult it might be. Interesting, and a good training tool, but I wonder if it is ingrained from his own training to not overwhelm his opponents, or an actual decision on his part?_

"About 5 seconds or so, tryin' to recreate it later under non-combat conditions was much harder." Ranma replied dryly. "I'm much better at improvising in battle than I am at figuring out how I do it later on."

"Interesting, it shows a certain flexibility of mind that must serve you well. But how much actual combat have you seen?"

"Depends on what you mean by combat. Lots and lots of one-on-one sparrin' and fights and that kind of thing, a lot of group combat, but..." Ranma frowned shaking his head and moving back in the face of a sudden offense from Giiett, lifting up his leg slightly to allow one of his lightsabers to pass before snap kicking out catching the short and almost rotund Jedi Master in the chest slightly, even though the Jedi had already moved to dodge the blow coming around high with his other shoto slashing towards Ranma's face.

Ranma dodged in turn, muttering. "But if you mean real life or death combat, only a few times before Dooku and I arrived here."

Giiett paused at that, staring into Ranma's face for any sign of deception. There was none, as Giiett somehow knew there wouldn't. While Ranma could be guileful in combat, the youth wore his emotions on his sleeve in a way that Giiett had never seen in any other Jedi beyond the youngest younglings. "Then I am doubly sorry. Sorry you had to face that, and sorry for I doubt your mind will ever be the same again. Taking life like that, it marks you."

"I know." Ranma said quietly, before smirking and launching into a new attack that nearly caught Giiett by surprise. "But my Code always had a position there for fighting like that, fer, for taking life. I'll deal with it."

"Your Code, your code of honor I suppose? Tell me more about that, and who trained you? Not to inflate your ego too much, but your hand-to-hand skills are incredible."

"They should be I sacrificed a lot of other stuff in my life to get as good as I am. My old man, my father trained me for the most part, mostly on a training trip. We also stopped at various dojos, I suppose you'd call them different schools where specific styles were taught. We…"

From there the conversation continued as the two warriors moved back and forth across the open area and even out over the overlooking hanger for a time when Ranma tricked them into the air. For a time Giiett was hard pressed, his Force telekinesis against Ranma's mid-air ability, before he brought them both back down to the ground of the observation deck.

Giiett asked about Ranma's family and about how many styles he knew, becoming astonished at the total before Ranma explained that all of that went to simply adding new techniques or specific moves into a single style which he called Anything Goes. That was a particularly interesting name, filled with very odd connotations in Giiett mind.

But for the most part Giiett asked about other things, family as has been mentioned, friends, loved ones, the society Ranma was a part of, what his home planet was like, and other things. Anything and everything he could ask to get a better feel for the young man's personality. Giiett came away with an appreciation for the youth's father as a trainer, yet also a sharp desire to stab him at least once somewhere not immediately fatal for some of the training techniques he apparently used.

It was obvious Genma had never been satisfied with human limitations and because of that he pushed Ranma well beyond the norm. What should have broken Ranma however had only made him stronger, stronger than any human should have been in terms of speed and power. But in Giiett's mind, the training itself was a perfect example of the end not justifying the means.

Giiett was not the only Jedi Master thinking about Ranma, studying him as the spar continued. Plo Koon and Tiin were both watching, their thoughts going along very different lines. Plo's were following an old line, wondering if the youth's skills were hidden among the forbidden knowledge kept sequestered in the Jedi library, or if they were actually entirely new, an astonishing thought given how long Jedi had been using the Force. He was also smiling behind his mask, seeing that his initial impression had been correct.

His fellow council member Tiin was wondering something far more specific: whether or not he could learn to control his body's Living Force as the youth obviously did. The implications to a person's combat ability was obvious to a Guardian like him.

Qui-Gon was watching the spar thoughtfully, his eyes narrowed despite not being able to overhear their conversation. _Such a strange youth so wild and uncontrolled, this one could never be a Jedi. In fact I doubt he would have become a Jedi even if we had found him when he was young enough to be taken in. Yet his odd connection to the Force, the amount of the Living Force within him he is so massive! But does that mean that he is the Chosen One, or a simple anomaly?_

After a moment he shook his head, feeling or so he thought the rightness of his decision through the Force. _No, he is not the chosen one, the one who would restore balance to the Force. That person, male or female, is still out there regardless of Ranma's sudden appearance. And I will be the one to find him! Still, since that is the case, for what reason was Ranma brought here by the Force?_

For just a moment Qui-Gon felt what might have been an answer, a stranger mix of a light going off in a dark room and a faint, distant laugh. Then it was gone, and he was left with his own thoughts none the wiser.

 **OOOOOOO**

While this was going on Mace and the others were conferencing via com with the two admirals, hammering out the details of the occupation force. This hadn't been done previously as no one had any way of knowing what was going on in the Yinchorri system before they arrived, how large a force would be needed and many other contributing factors such as the industrial capacity that would need to be dismantled and other things of that nature.

It was decided that Sluisi would leave a semi-permanent occupation garrison based off of the asteroid fortress that had previously hidden the Yinchorri's rulers. It wouldn't be a heavy one, but it would be large enough to make certain that the Yinchorri did not go back to their warlike, expansionistic ways, as well as defending the system from exterior incursion.

This second consideration was a bigger one than Dooku or the Jedi had thought it would be. Always mercantile minded, the Sluisi and the Mon Calamari fleets had both sent several corvettes out into the systems large asteroid belt to survey it. They had found several deposits of high-end metals there, as well as trace elements that were needed in spaceship drives, which were rare enough to be worth emplacing a permanent mining industry into the system.

The Sluisi, being the closer of the two powers could more easily emplace such an industry and guard it. But Admiral Sitoris was forced to concede that they would share the profits of the endeavor for twelve local years with the Mon Calamari due to their part in the occupation. The Mon Calamari would in turn try to rehabilitate the Yinchorri, something they had attempted, with some success with the Quarren after their war with them centuries ago.

There would of course be no occupation of the planets themselves, which would've been impossible given the size of the Yinchorri population. However the Yinchorri were still under the control of their intelligentsia caste even when that caste had been captured. As long as the aliens kept out of sight, the population on the planets would remain under control. So the Mon Calamari would use this caste system against them. They would take the children of the intelligentsia caste and teach them different ways of learning and living, as they had the Quarren.

Writing up a formal agreement with the two admirals' lawyers took the Jedi masters several hours, but after that they rounded up the rest of the Jedi and Ranma on the _Consular_ class ship they hadn't used to crash land in the asteroid base, that one not being space-worthy anymore. They did however leave behind Master Choi and his padawan to help the two admirals for a time in keeping order and to deal with any inter-fleet issues that arose. Master Windu shared a final farewell with his fellow master, and then the ship jumped to hyperspace, leaving behind the two fleets and a system in turmoil.

The use of hyperspace lanes allowed for far faster travel than was possible in normal hyperspace, hence why control of them was so important in terms of commerce and defense. With the aid of the Perliman Trade route the trip from the Yinchorri system to Coruscant only took six days, with two of those days taken getting to the Trade Route in the first place.

During this trip Ranma's time was taken up with training with the padawans and getting to know them, working on his skill in standard. By the time they reached Coruscant his ability to speak it like a native had grown exponentially, he only had problems leaving the first words off of sentences occasionally, and a few issues with vocabulary. He still sounded like a Corellian though.

He also spent time learning the basics of piloting from Masters Tiin and Koon. Both pilots felt this was a good way to repay the young man's aid, and they had both come to like him in their own ways. While he had no technical experience to call upon, Ranma's instincts for midair combat served him well in the tests they set up for him, though it would take some time before he was anywhere near actually piloting a ship on his own.

For the most part, Koth, Gallia, and Windu left Ranma alone, letting him to the other masters and padawans, who had befriended him though in very different manners. Windu found himself among these not because of anything Ranma had done or said but because, for the first time since becoming a master, Mace had embarrassed himself badly thanks to the youth:

Not having seen the curse before, Windu had been astonished when Ranma had changed into his female form in front of him due to the water squirting practice sphere nailing him after he had thought it had been turned off. While the other masters seemed to take it in stride, Mace, astonished beyond anytime he could remember, strode up to the redhead, and poked her in one of her breasts. "Those cannot be… what in the name of the Force, where, how…"

At that point his musings, each word having been accompanied by a poke to a breast, was interrupted. Ranma laid him out with a single punch to the jaw, sending the Jedi Blade Master into blissful unconsciousness. After he woke up Ranma explained his curse and that he did not like being poked or prodded, and Windu, embarrassed for the first time ever, apologized profusely but found himself unable to come to terms with the sheer oddness of the transformation, or the accompanying feeling in the Force.

Beyond that however, only two instances stood out to the others as examples of Ranma's inherent otherness in comparison to Jedi:

"I understand from Giiett some of the training you have gone through, yet I still don't understand how you're strong enough to rip apart tanks with your bare hands as you did." Master Tiin asked, sitting across from Ranma as Koth took his turn in the cockpit. "How did that come about? Obviously it's a Force trick, the Force Warriors learned many ways to enhance their physical bodies, many of which all Jedi routinely learn today. But, I've never read of anything in the holocrons that said they could do so to the extent you showed. Wouldn't the Force in your muscles rip them apart before you could use them to such an extent?"

"I was trained to go beyond the human norm. Trained to be stronger, faster from a young age. What you think of as normal limit, can be broken through with enough training. As to how it works, I've got some theories, but not any certainties. I will say though that it ain't a 'Force trick'. I don't use my ki," Ranma stopped watching as Tiin tried to not scowl and laughed in reply.

"You lot can see 'the Force' the way ya want to, and in some ways I can see your point given what I've felt a time or two in the Chi of this universe. But I'll still call my internal energy the name I was taught to use it. Now, are you going to keep sneering at my terminate, or are you going to listen."

"That's terminology, I think, and I'll listen. It's not my place to try and correct your impression of the Force, I'll leave that to older and more patient heads than mine." That Ranma would need such was something Tiin assumed, whatever his little tricks and oddities the Jedi Order of course would know better than this young man, or at least would know how such things worked here in their own dimension, wherever Ranma had come from.

Ranma didn't hear that in Tiin's tone however, since the demonic-looking alien's tone was always even, gravely and deep, with little inflection. So he simply nodded and went back to the original topic. "I don't use my ki to heighten my strength all the time, I have to will my ki to backup either my strength or my speed beyond the norm. My base strength is simply way beyond anything you lot can do."

"I don't believe you." Tiin said bluntly. "Jedi are routinely stronger and faster than normal people of similar build, but we could not do what you did, not even the old Force Warrior Sect could have done that. No, you might not be aware of it, but the Living Force within you must be automatically adding to your natural strength somehow."

"Perhaps an example is in order," Dooku said smiling faintly as he looked up from yet another game of holochess with Qui-Gon while his opponent did the same. "Would you like to show us an example Ranma? A few of us can watch and see if we can sense any movement in your reserves of Living Force that could back up your strength." For his part Dooku knew Ranma was telling the truth, and had his own idea on how the young man was so strong.

"Aboard ship there's nothing big enough to matter!" Ranma laughed then he smirked, placing his forearm on the table between him and Tiin, flexing his hand. "Unless you all want to try your luck at once?"

"All of us?" Asked K'kruhk from nearby, shaking his head. "I think your letting your ego do your talking for you Ranma. You might have been able to rip apart those tanks using the Force, but surely you don't really think…"

"Not think, I know. I don't use the Force to enhance my strength normally, I'm just that strong. Try me."

Not able to turn down the challenge Tiin reached forward and began to grapple with Ranma's arm, trying to push it down to the table with no success. At a nod from his master K'kruhk moved over and began to aid Tiin, with no success. Obi-Wan joined in then, as did Qui-Gon, Koth and Giiett.

Mace, Gallia, and Dooku remained watching but they didn't detect even a hint of movement in Ranma's massive reservoir of Living Force power. After a few moments of grunting and straining from their fellows they looked at one another, and Gallia asked, "I don't see any change, do you?"

Dooku shook his head with a smile, while the others replied similarly. "No, not at all. The Living Force inside him might still be aiding him, but if it is, it's something as normal as breathing to him by this point, and I can't tell one way or another." Mace replied aloud.

After a moment Ranma laughed, and before the straining Jedi could set themselves, threw his hand to the right, throwing them all to the floor and pinning Tiin's hands between his own and the table. He stood up, moving to help the others to their feet. "Believe me now?"

The other example of Ranma's weirdness came about when they were almost ready to drop out of hyperspace into the Coruscant system Ranma's showing off his speed and teaching the two padawans some dodging skills when they couldn't concentrate enough to use the Force to protect themselves in various way.

This segued into a debate on which style was better, lightsaber and Force powers or simply dodging which Ranma interrupted by showing his Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken technique. This astonished all the watchers save Dooku, and there were many interested murmurs from Mace and Koth who could immediately see the utility of such a technique in lightsaber combat.

But then Obi-Wan, both in an attempt to prove that Force telekinesis was better and to make a joke having been the butt of many from Ranma, moved behind Ranma toward a small water decanter, which he promptly splashed toward Ranma before he could react.

"You're so fast, yet you can't dodge water?" Obi-wan laughed, shaking his head with a smile until he felt two toothpicks slam into his forehead with enough power to actually flip him head over heels, yet oddly not enough to penetrate his skin. "Oww, why?! Master Gallia and Master Twoseas have both done that kind of thing, why do you only attack me!?"

Ranma smirked, kneeling down next to the young man, reaching forward and grabbing Obi-Wan's head, turning his face to look at Ranma. "Do ya want me ta kiss it and make it all better?"

"Gah, um uh…." Obi-Wan stammered, completely floored, yet blushing, his self-control gone under this new and very strange assault. He never even saw the fist coming which smashed into his stomach, knocking all the air out of his lungs.

"That's why, pervert," Ranma muttered, turning away "Just remember whatever I look like I'm a guy underneath it, and I was born a guy. Keep that in mind when yer next blinded by my bits."

"The answer to your original question is simple padawan." said Master Twoseas, patting the downed apprentice on his shoulder. "The two of us are women, we were doing it in the interest of science and, it must be admitted, personal interest. You are male and did it for a joke. And whenever Ranma's been in his female form you've stared at his chest before getting control of yourself."

Obi-wan blushed looking away, still trying to get his breath back. He had hoped that no one had noticed his lack of control there, but should have known better and in fact now that it was pointed out by both Ranma and Master Twoseas felt somewhat embarrassed about his lack of control. And disgusted, there was that in there too given Ranma's reminder of his underlying gender.

But still, Obi-Wan could easily remember several missions where he had seen far more scantily dressed women, and they hadn't affected him this way. _It's simply that first time I saw her, him, her gah, Ranma in his female form, it was, not overtly sexual but still alluring in some fashion. I must get control of this strange new interest._

Centering himself, Obi-Wan stood and bowed towards the diminutive Twoseas. "You are right master, I, I let my desire to make a joke and, um, my own base interests push me into an action that is beneath a Jedi. I will meditate on this."

"I am not the one you should apologize to padawan." Lilit said with a faint smile. "Although I will admit that the curse and the feeling of it in the Force is something I'm nowhere near used to either."

"Excuse me, experience? Weird word choice for something you're watching." Ranma said, looking over at Lillit, then at Dooku.

Adi Gallia looked at him curiously then over at Dooku. "You didn't tell him?"

"Tell me what?"

Dooku smiled at him blandly. "Oh nothing important, just the feel of your change through our Force-based perceptions."

"Why do I think I'm not going to like this? What exactly does my curse feel like?"

"Like the universe is laughing at the greatest joke it's ever heard." said Lilit, smirking up at the taller (by a full 2 inches) and younger woman. Gallia glanced at her questioningly but Lillit ignored the other master's gaze, it wasn't like she was irritable because the redhead was taller than her, Jedi were above such things. _Oh, who am I kidding, look at her face, hah, that will teach you to make fun of others!_

A few hours after that incident the ship came out of hyperspace, and after talking to Coruscant's Space Control they were allowed into its airspace and down toward the temple. Ranma had moved up with Dooku to join the two pilots in the cockpit, and as the planet came into view, he stared through the forward canopy at the planet in shock and growing horror. "Blessed Amaterasu, it really is all just one giant city! That's so, so **wrong**! You guys go on and on about balance, about the two sides of the Force, where's the balance here?"

"The balance between Light and Dark is always in flux and I think you are confusing that kind of balance with the balance between nature and industry." said Master Koth shaking his head, "Still, there at least I will agree that too much of one thing is never a good idea."

Master Gallia nodded. "You have no idea how much money it takes to bring in enough food for the masses of people who live on Coruscant. It only grows about .029% of its own food, and can only store enough food for the most part for a few days. It doesn't really produce much of anything, and most of what it does produce it uses itself. Corsucant's only real export is government."

"I'm **really** disturbed now." Ranma said shaking his head.

Ranma had never really liked cities anyway, being very much a country boy at heart. Oh sure he liked to have access to cities, but actually living in them no. Nerima had been sort of a gray area there, a suburb that wasn't actually named that and which had rather old fashioned architecture and lots of wide open places. But Ranma much preferred to be out and about moving over the land. This place bothered him, deeply. Worse, was yet to come however.

The closer they got to landing the more Ranma's initial impression was shown to be accurate. Miles upon miles of concrete and steel buildings piled upon buildings. As the ship circled in to land there were places where Ranma could look down until the light of the sun disappeared and still see only more buildings in the darkness below. _I'm all for depths and heights, but this is ridiculous!_

Soon enough they landed on the temple's private landing pad. Outside the ship's ramp waited several of the Council's members including Yoda. He had convinced the Chancellor to let them debrief with their fellow Jedi before letting them speak to the senate and public. That would occur later that day; such things could not be postponed for long without accusations of interference growing. But they had to speak alone first.

Trying hard to ignore what his sixth sense was telling him Ranma followed the others out. No matter how much he tried to clamp down on it though his sixth sense, that danger/environment sense which Genma had trained into him he couldn't do it.

 _So many people, so many thousands and millions of people without so much as a single tree in sight!_ Ranma didn't think it in the terms of Light and Dark sides. He thought in terms of ki and chi, about nature versus man and he couldn't see how this planet had any chi worth mentioning. It was so out of balance it was disturbing as all hell to him.

Yoda looked up at Master Windu and Master Dooku smiling slightly. "Speak we must."

"Yes," said both of them as one, bowing formally. Yoda nodded, and turned to the redhead who had followed the others out and was now looking around her as if waiting for an enemy to jump out at her. "This young redhead, your secret she is, hrhrm?"

For a moment, just a moment looking at the redhead the Living Force of the young human burned like a pillar in his senses, blasting away the encroaching Veil of the Dark. _**Interesting.**_

Hearing someone talk about her broke Ranma out of his paralysis temporarily, and he turned around only to stare in shock. "What's up with the Imp? Man I want to check to see if there's any wires! I know aliens can come in all shapes and sizes but come on!"

But his looks and size weren't the only problem Ranma had with Yoda. After all, he had met two garden gnomes before in the persons of Cologne and Happosai. It was the second comparison which made Ranma automatically wary of the green-skinned imp. And despite the amount of growth Ranma had gone through since coming here, he still had an issue with speaking before thinking.

While the other Masters, even a few who had arrived with Dooku and generally come to like Ranma responded with frowns at his disrespect Yoda merely chuckled. He had dealt with people outside the Order who had responded to him in similar manners many times, and such names mattered not at all to him. "Spirited young one you are, amused I am. Yoda I am, Jedi Grand Master."

Needless to say hearing the imp call himself grand master did nothing for the comparison Ranma's brain had begun to make. "Great, so does mean you're also pervert? Only your size and that title's making me have flashbacks, and I gotta say Baldy and Obi ain't exactly givin' me a…OWWW!"

The 'OWW' was caused by Yoda smacking his walking stick into Ranma's shin, having covered the distance between them in a bare blink of the eye. "Spirited, hrhrm, only excuse disrespect so far it can." Yoda replied, before looking over at Obi-Wan and Mace. The younger man winced and bowed his head in apology while Mace rubbed his jaw, remembering how Ranma had laid him out with decidedly mixed feelings.

"Why you!" Ranma growled, and ignoring Qui-Gon and Master Koth's attempt to stop her, Ranma swung at Yoda, only to watch the little green bastard dodge to one side with far more alacrity than his wrinkled form would suggest. Narrowing her eyes Ranma got more serious, moving in to a full on assault on Yoda.

Yoda responded with seeming ease using his diminutive size and Force precognition to dodge her punches and kicks. But whatever it looked like it was **not** easy, Yoda in fact was astonished at how hard it was, the redhead's punches coming in at him faster with every passing second.

The other masters made to grab their lightsabers and defend the Grand Master save Dooku, who was watching this with an amused smile on his face. Before anyone had even finished grabbing their lightsabers however, Yoda's voice lashed out like a whip. "Think you I need defenders? Grand Master I have been for many decades, protection I need not."

With that he raced forward, leaping up and dodging a kick from Ranma to smack her upside the head with his staff. His ancient eyes widened in shock when instead of trying to dodge Ranma reared back slightly and then drove his head forward, shattering his staff.

Yoda blinked, staring at the end of his broken staff. "On the other hand, most helpful a new staff would be."

In midair Yoda tried to dodge again only for Ranma, who was shaking her head groggily at the same time, to nearly grab him by his robes and toss him, her attempt just a bit too slow thanks to her disorientation. In response Yoda arrested his momentum, almost clinging to Ranma's hand then leaping up over his head. To Yoda's surprise, Ranma was able to turn around before Yoda finished his leap, and Yoda was forced to block a snap kick that sent him backward, but he had used the Force to pull himself backwards enough to avoid any injury.

The ancient Grand master blinked at the amount of Force he'd had to use for it and landed well out of Ranma's range, staring at the redhead thoughtfully. "Hrhrm, interesting this has been, but end games must. More serious things, we must talk about."

Ranma continued to glare at him for a moment before subsiding. "Just tell me ya ain't a pervert and I'll call it quits for now." Then she smiled widely. "Though a full on spar with ya might be interesting green guy."

"Pervert?" Yoda asked chuckling. "Word nothing means to my race, reproduce through intercourse we do not, personal choice gender is, made when young. Disturbed and rather appalled are we by humans and others such infatuation with oddities like that."

To one side Yaddle nodded in agreement, though she did not turn her eyes away from the pillar of Living Force that was encapsulated by the young redhead, having never seen or dreamed of anything like it. _Check the Holocron archives I must, fascinating this is!_

Ranma translated this in her head then added it to Yoda's position as well as the responses he/she had gotten from the majority of the Jedi. Despite his teasing, Ranma knew Mace hadn't seen her as a girl, only responding in shock to his change while Obi-Wan was young and frankly his self-control was incredible whatever Ranma had insinuated a time or two. _Hmm… okay so maybe there are more reasons than just following stupid ass oaths that the Jedi have slowly begun to become sociopaths. Not good, but it might be easier to turn them around anyway._

Out loud he said, "Okay, yeah I guess that goes with the whole warrior monk theme, but pushin' that kind of thing aside ain't exactly healthy for humans and I guess a lot of other races to do ya know."

Yoda looked over at Micah Giiett, who smiled in a way as if to imply butter would not melt in his mouth. "Heard this before from others we have, not the time for such a discussion again this is."

Looking back at Ranma Yoda frowned slightly. Now that their brief spat was over, the young woman was looking around tensely, her hands clenching and unclenching. "Nervous you need not be. Within our walls enemy you will not find."

 _Right I'll believe that when I see it,_ Ranma thought to himself, wondering what the council would determine about him. He didn't really think Dooku and the others who had met him already would be a party to any attempt to get rid of him as some kind of anomaly. But what he had seen and read about the Jedi Order as a whole did not make him very happy about trying to predict how they, as a group, would react to someone like him, or even the idea that maybe they didn't know anything about 'the Force'.

Still, that had nothing to do with his nervousness now, "It isn't like that, it's this planet. I mean, there are so many people here, and I've never really been a fan of cities and there's no plant life or anything. It's bothering me."

Yoda nodded, relaxing slightly in turn. He was tempted to reach out through the Force and try a calming trick on the young man, but decided that doing so without his permission might not be welcomed, certainly it wouldn't be to another Jedi. "Many people, problems have with Coruscant, overwhelming it can be. Within the temple you will find, easier to ignore it is."

"Temple, riiiggght." Ranma said smirking slightly now, shaking his head as he stared up, and up, and up some more at the mass of the Jedi Temple. _Sheltered monk types, and they've got a central temple that huge? Someone is overcompensating._ "Well lead the way then Imp."

Yoda moved to smack the haft of his shoto, which he had not used in their recent altercation, on Ranma's leg causing her to jump backwards. "Yoda I am, respect you will." The diminutive master said, chuckling. It had been many decades since he'd dealt with a young being like this, but some things were just like riding a hover capsule, and just as amusing. "Respect one way or respect another."

Scowling, Ranma glared at the little dwarf. "All right, Yoda, lead the way."

Yoda waved his hand, and the newcomers and the members of the council who had come out with Yoda began to move towards the temple's entrance, shaking their heads and glaring at Ranma for his treatment of Yoda. Yoda however moved over to Dooku, murmuring. "Found you have a fascinating young secret my old padawan. Interesting attitude, even more interesting impact on the Force, the young woman has."

"Man." Dooku replied blandly. "I realize this might sound odd right now, but Ranma insists he is a man, whatever he looks like at any given moment. Or even acts like at times." Dooku had honestly hoped for more fireworks between his new acquaintance and his former master, but Yoda had responded to Ranma's attitude far better than Dooku would have believed. _Maybe his curse will give me the reaction I want?_

"Man? Like the rest of me, old my eyes may be but blind I am not, nor senile." Yoda said staring at Dooku as if he thought his old apprentice was trying to make a joke. Which he was, or rather trying to set up a little play for his own amusement.

"Trust us Master Yoda," said Master Gallia from nearby, shaking her head. "You won't believe it if you don't see it for yourself. It's one of many things we have to talk about."

 **OOOOOOO**

From his hidden throne room Sidious watched Mace and the other Jedi who had dealt with the Yinchorri Uprising arrive, alone at present. Maul was too disruptive an influence and besides, Sidious knew he would be called upon to join the delegation of senators thanking the Jedi for their recent actions. Thus Maul's time was better spent training in their main base than here.

 _Odd, that young woman radiates in the Living Force, and her presence is the same as the chaotic vortex that has plagued my attempts to read the future around Dooku of late._ Worse, that effect was spreading, not far just yet, but it was worrisome. _Yet all of my perception up to this point said that individual was male._

 _Though there was that strange report from one of my agents, some young woman who out arm-wrestled not only a Wookie but a fully enhanced cyborg?_ Sidious had initially taken that report with a grain of salt, and indeed had made plans to liquidate that agent if it turned out that he had been lying or making things up. Sidious demanded loyalty and competence in his followers, even those second-hand agents he employed. But now he realized there might indeed be some truth to those rumors.

 _Hmm… until I get to the bottom of this, I will assume the redhead is some kind of disguise and that he is a he underneath._ That Ranma could be a woman impersonating a man did not occur to Sidious, since besides being a fascist, he was also a misogynist. _Or perhaps he is a shape-changer, like the bounty hunter_ _Wesell_ _ **.**_ _They are rare, but not unknown._

Sidious had not felt the laughing ripple in the Force that signified Ranma's recent change from male to female, and indeed **could not** discern it. He was a true sociopath. He could not feel happiness, he could not feel joy, he could not feel love. All Sidious felt was hate and a lust for power, a great vaunted ambition which drowned out everything else. Any other emotion was simply like a mask he could put on as easy as his clothes.

 _Still for all of that, I was able to influence his mind somewhat. Not much, I had to be subtle about it given the Jedi around him, but that was not very difficult. Heh, even Yoda, that senile old fool, only has the vaguest idea of how much their senses have begun to be blinded by the Veil of the Dark. Truly it is Plagueis' crowning achievement, whatever he thinks of his little experiments._

 _Still, the Living Force in the youth's body also acted as a defense, I could barely find any way into his mind. But I was able to instill a bit of dislike, even loathing for Coruscant. That will make him edgy, and that may make him more controllable down the line._

Actually Sidious had initially attempted to read the youth's mind, only to be thwarted by his mental defenses, something he was not happy about. The feeling of unease he had instilled in Ranma was the best he could do, and it was very much below what he had wanted to do.

 _Still, his sheer presence is very different, and the Jedi do not react to that which is different very well these days. I wonder…_ Leaning back in his throne Sidious thought hard about how the Jedi would react to such a strange individual who radiated such power. After some time spent on the problem, going through his mental list of the masters on the council and others who were important in terms of policy, Sidious decided they would react in one of four ways. And the Council in particular Yoda and Windu would be the deciding factor.

 _One, they might come up with a way to keep the youth locked away in the Temple. Unlikely, the Order is not that reactionary, not yet. But if they attempt it I might be able to later aid his escape and thus put the youth in my debt._

 _Two, they could decide he's too dangerous to live and simply kill him._ Sidious knew at least a few of the more hidebound Jedi Masters might see that as a solution, but only two of them were on the Council itself. Still, if it proved necessary a quiet word in one or two receptive ears could set all such reactionaries against the youth. And then there were other Jedi who had exploitable weaknesses which could be directed at the youth just in case.

 _Best to wait on that for now though. He is chaotic and unpredictable, yet useful especially if this recent agreement between Dooku and his two catspaws can be made to serve our purposes as I believe it can. If it can, the next round of escalating violence will come far quicker, and the war beyond that even faster. I have to admit that in some ways it would be even more satisfying to use such a cause to rise to power, even more so than the original plan. But as to the youth himself, he could be a good distraction from our own activities, and more besides._

Shaking those thoughts off Sidious turned his mind back to what the Jedi could possibly do.

 _Three, and by far the least likely, they will find some way to induct the youth into the Order. That would fly in the face of all of their rules and traditions, and because the youth himself would have to be willing to do so. Given his rather amusing interaction with Yoda, and his age, I would estimate that is even less likely than the Council quietly making him disappear._

 _Fourth and most likely, they will find some way to tie him to the Order. Overt or covert surveillance, overt or covert fiscal ties, ties of friendship perhaps, worthless though they are. Would they be ruthless enough to use a honey trap on him? Given his youth and the fact he is a male that would possibly be the best idea, though I don't think any of them would be willing to do so at least not purposefully. Hmmm, though I might wish to think about something along those lines myself. Setting it up would be difficult to mesh with my need to keep the hint of Sith involvement hidden, but it might be possible…_

Shaking his head Sidious set aside the problem of the young man and his odd impact on the Force for now, glancing up at the clock and only now realizing more than two hours had passed. He had to be at the reception within another hour and he needed to get ready. He sent out a few orders to some of his secondhand agents to watch the Jedi Temple for anything unusual going on. Then he contacted a few slicers he knew.

He wanted to know more about the agreement between the Jedi and the two admirals Sitoris and Baraka in terms of the Yinchorri system, and the agreement Dooku had reached with their governments. Sidious wanted to know the wording of the initial agreement, as well as anything about the actual military presence that would remain in the Yinchorri system. All of that would be fuel for his own plans later on.

 _Information is power that at least the Jedi know all too well, but they ignore the caveat: that too much 'knowledge' can blind you to your own ignorance about what is really important, and that knowledge itself isn't worth anything unless you know how to use it._

Ten minutes later he walked out of his quarters in his senatorial dress, nodding slightly at the two men waiting for him dressed as the Senators guards. They weren't of course, they were his men who he had molded since their birth to serve him in all things, practically mindless pawns, but still good enough at their job.

Then he moved forward moving down the corridor toward several other senators greeting the crowd with a smile of genuine delight. "Gentlemen, are we all readyto welcome back our conquering heroes?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Leaving Ranma outside the council room for the moment in a plush, comfortable chair and watched by Obi-Wan and K'kruhk, Yoda and the other councilmen entered before ushering Dooku, Lilit, Qui-Gon and Koth inside. Once all of the Council had sat in their chairs or cushions in the circle around the room and Dooku and the other witnesses who weren't part of the Council had taken their own chairs Yoda began. "Before we discuss the young chaotic fulcrum get the political and military discussion out of the way now we should, limited time we have at present."

"The what?" said one of the Masters looking at him in shock while others murmured, many in horror at the connotation of that name. Chaos of course was never a good thing. Yaddle however was humming thoughtfully, and Ranicisiswas also nodding from side to side in the manner of his people.

"A label it is for one whose actions, cause great ripples they will. Several there have been in Jedi history, many named in the Holocrons, the label not known save to most learned." Yoda looked around, and feeling somewhat mischievous decided to drop a minor thermal detonator into the council. "Most famous perhaps, Revan would be."

For a moment there was shocked silence at his using that particular name, a dark spot on the Jedi Order's history, their brightest light who had become one of their most implacable enemies. "In that case we should stop him now," said Master Tiin, though he did not sound as sure of himself as he would normally. He liked the youth and his aggressive, independent nature.

"Agreed," said Piell much more firmly than his fellow. "A threat of such magnitude needs to be contained immediately!" Several others agreed, indeed all the masters who hadn't gone on the mission against the Yinchorri did.

"Threat I did not say he was." Yoda said, his voice still serene but something in it causing the other Masters' mouths to shut abruptly. "Chaotic he is, chaotic his effect on the Force. Chaos dangerous at times true, but change good or bad can be. Both most likely."

"Thus far it has proven good." said Lilit, touching her stomach gingerly where she had thought she would be stabbed before Ranma intervened.

"You are not the only one." said Masters Giiett quietly, causing all eyes turned to him where he sat among the rest of the council. "I knew I would die on this mission, though not when. My clairvoyance has never been that good. But I knew I would die, the future beyond this mission was simply blank for me. Until young Ranma and Master Dooku arrived." He went on into the silence, nodding to the tall saturnine Jedi Master who nodded back gravely, while Plo reached out a tendril of the Force to give his friend a squeeze on one shoulder. "Now my future is wide open, though as I said I cannot see all of it."

"Set this aside for now we will," said Yoda seriously, staring at them all. "Talk now we must of politics and impressions I will have from you of this latest conflict."

"Agreed." said Master Gallia. "We have to talk about the political ramifications of what Dooku has promised to get the Sluisi and Mon Calamari's backing. Surely something cheaper would've been better."

"Which is cheaper: Jedi lives or political capital?" Dooku asked coldly. "In terms of lives this mission could have cost us at least three dead if Ranma and I did not intervene. As for the combined fleets, they lost twenty dead spread out over their ships, mostly fighter pilots, and without them we would have faced far greater opposition. They have upheld their end of the agreement, now it is time for us to uphold ours."

"While I am pleased with your personal aid Master Dooku this is not as easy as you seem to think." Master Gallia said firmly. "I work with the Senate closely as you all know, I know the factions there. And when we try to extend the Arming Rights Lawswe will run into severe opposition. In particular…"

That discussion went on for some time, with many of the other masters speaking up against the agreement Dooku had forged for various reasons. One that many believed was that this would be seen as an escalation in tensions, and a slap in the face of the Senate as a whole, implying the Republic navy was unable to protect the merchant ships of its constituent species.

Koth felt it would lead to an arms race as different sectors felt threatened by ships from other sectors moving through their space armed. Master Yaddle felt the Trade Federation would respond with its normal strong arm tactics, resulting in outright war between the Trade Federation and the armed ships of the groups who were also included in the new amendment.

This conversation ended more than an hour later when Dooku laid down the law. "I understand your arguments masters, moreover I respect your expertize in this area. I fully understand that this will be difficult, but understand this. I gave my **personal word** I would see to it that the Sluisi and Mon Calamari would be able to guard their own ships outside their sectors. If the Jedi Council decides not to aid me in this endeavor, I will go it alone! I gave my word, and that is the end of it as far as I am concerned."

"Enough." said Oppo Ranicisis **,** who had been silent up to this point, halting any response Gallia, Koth or the others could have made. "I personally agree with Master Dooku, you all know I've never been happy with the idea of the Trade Federation being the only merchant power to be allowed to arm its vessels. I should not have to point out why we all should be unhappy about that."

That was putting it mildly, and more than one Jedi Master frowned at the reminder that they had lost one of their own to Trade Federation duplicity, with no one being punished for it. Master Koon in particular shook his head at the mention of Tyvokka, his own master, who had sat on this council before being killed by attack droids guarding Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation, who he had just defended in a gunfight against Iaco Stark.

"I also agree. Dooku is correct, without their aid we might still have lost many of our brothers during this mission." Mace said firmly, speaking up at least having sat out the political discussion. But he felt firmly on this issue, and rather guilty at the same time, since it had been his leadership that could have led to those deaths.

With Mace's backing the discussion ended with the council now agreeing to back Dooku's plan, and Oppo turned to the tall Blade Master. "As for you Master Dooku, I recall a conversation I had with you as a padawan about misplaced arrogance. Your word of honor is important, but do not fall into the trap of putting it and your own personal beliefs ahead of the Jedi Order as a whole."

His old rheumy eyes held Dooku's for a time until the Blade Master nodded his head contritely. The older master nodded in return, and then went on briskly. "We must think more on the ramifications of this conflict in particular the direct attack against us."

That conversation too went on for some time, as one after another of the Jedi Masters who had gone to the Yinchorri system first described the mission then put forth ideas as to why the Yinchorri had attacked the Temple, what they had thought to gain from it, and indeed who else could gain anything from it. But they reached no conclusions. It could be anything from a political agenda to a personal vendetta, and there were far too many suspects and far too little clues to point them in any direction.

Because of the lack of information, this discussion went on for only a few minutes before it was decided that several Sentinels would be tasked the job of hunting down the Devaronian on the other end of the communication their prisoner had been having when Master Choi had interrupted him. This task would be given to Master Tholme and his former padawan, knight Quinlan Vos.

They were two of the best the Jedi had in terms of understanding and being able to navigate the criminal element, and Quinlan was in the temple presently recovering from injuries taken in a recent mission he had undertaken with his own padawan. That padawan had also been sent on a solo mission since his injury, which left him free for a moment to take on this new task with his former master.

"And now finally we come to what Master Yoda called the chaotic fulcrum, Ranma, is that his name?" asked Master Piell. "What have you found out about him Dooku?"

Dooku looked at the other Master coldly for a moment, until the other Master added "Master Dooku" rather grudgingly. He was one of those who believed that being on the council accorded him slightly above equal status though he would never come out and say it. Worse he had disliked Dooku since Dooku had started to speak out against what he called the 'stasis' of the Jedi Order.

Putting his irritation aside with the ease of long practice Dooku described how he had met Ranma. He described what he had seen of Ranma's abilities, something many of the masters on the Yinchorri mission could corroborate and did so. But when Dooku got to what he knew of Ranma's origins he was greeted with what in any other group would have been called shock.

"That's insane!" scoffed Mace, shaking his head, not having heard that tale before this. "The lad is obviously depraved."

"Yet he can change forms, a Force phenomenon well outside anything the Jedi Order has ever seen before." said Master Koon, shrugging his shoulders, smiling inside his mask as Mace twitched slightly remembering his response to said, while the other masters tried and failed to hide their own skepticism, unwilling to call their fellow masters liars, but unable to truly believe in such a thing either.

Micah chimed in quickly. "That's true, and we have seen no evidence to **eliminate** the idea that Ranma comes from another dimension. We might think of it as bizarre, but we must also admit it **could** be true. It is a wide, vast galaxy after all."

"How powerful is he?" said one of the other Masters frowning thoughtfully, not having tested the youth's Force power with his own earlier and now regretting that fact. "Have you tested his Midi-Chlorian level?"

"No I have not, I don't think it would be worth it frankly." Dooku replied honestly. "The device would either break, unable to handle how powerful he is or simply not work at all. It's one of the other, I doubt there would be any middle ground there."

The Midi-Chlorian scale was not, as many outsiders or even younglings thought, how someone could determine how strong a Jedi was, that would be rather foolish. Jedi in and of themselves were rarely powerful in the manner Ranma was. Rather, Jedi acted as conduits for the Force, like stones in a stream changing the nature of the stream around them just slightly. The level they could do so varied wildly, but the base level for that could be discerned through a scale the ancient Jed'ai had come up with long before the Jedi Order came into being.

"How dangerous is he in terms of combat?" asked Piell leaning forward intently. "How dangerous could he be if he goes rogue?"

"In the strictest sense he's already rogue. He's… not… part… of… the… Order," Dooku said coolly, enunciating each word carefully. "Yes he uses the Force, but I've never seen him use anything I could point to as coming from the Dark Side. As Master Koth stated he feels anger and other emotions, but they do not affect his abilities, and indeed even there he forced me to acknowledge a valuable piece of insight that I had not thought of previously." Indeed, despite all the abilities he hoped to learn from Ranma, Dooku felt that it would be in the realm of other areas, in ways of thinking and his attitude that made Ranma a real find.

"You're dodging the question, how dangerous is he in terms of combat?"

Dooku and Giiett exchanged a glance, and Micah shrugged his shoulders gesturing at Dooku to reply. "I doubt I could take Ranma on if he went all out," Dooku said bluntly shaking his head. "He was merely playing with Master Yoda earlier, trust me, I've seen some of his Force enhanced skills, and they are beyond what any master could handle unless they knew of them before hand, and even then keeping up with some of them is incredibly difficult, his base strength and speed are beyond anything you can imagine."

It galled Dooku a little to realize that, but he was willing to call a sarlaac a sarlaac as it were. "Luckily Ranma doesn't seem to go all out often, he seems to use the minimum amount of skill needed to defeat his opponent rather than use everything he can. I think it's a holdover from his own training, but it makes Ranma even more dangerous simply because you're never certain if you've seen all his tricks."

"Ranma can be dangerous yes but not to us unless we make ourselves his enemy." Said Giiett firmly. "And I for one would argue against anything I think could do that." From there Giiett and the others shared what they had seen of Ranma's combat abilities in the battle against the Yinchorri in further detail, causing many of the other masters to frown or shake their heads, unable to believe yet unwilling to disbelieve their fellow council members.

"He is opinionated and closed to the Unifying Force." Master Koth said, shaking his head. "I'll admit his skills are incredible, but his attitude is disruptive and arrogant. I do not think trying to emulate his abilities would be worth the effect he would have among our ranks, no matter how we try to ease them in. And worse, he bluntly told you Master Dooku that he wouldn't teach anyone he personally didn't think was honorable. We would have to follow his decisions on that, and who is to say we would approve of his choices?"

"And you master Giiett cannot be trusted on this, nor can you master Koon. Your thoughts on emotions and teaching control rather than abstaining from them and the Order's relationship with the Senate are well known." Added Piell.

Several of the other masters nodded at that, causing both masters to stiffen, but Koth spoke again. "His emotions, his lack of control, his apparent desire to form attachments, all of this point to an individual who is dangerously unstable, without any of the training we Jedi must go through to not fall to the Dark Side. I will admit that his emotions don't **seem** to impact the Living Force inside of him, but what if that changes? What might happen if his anger gets out of control and effects the Force within him, what then?"

He waited a moment to let that sink in, and saw Gallia nodding faintly, understanding how dangerous Ranma could be if he fell to the allure of the Dark Side. "It is my opinion that Ranma must be contained, kept away from the majority of the Order, and indeed the universe until he learns the proper way to control the Force within him."

Throughout all this discussion Yoda had sat silent since his initial pronunciation of Ranma as the chaotic fulcrum. Dooku was now watching him whenever he wasn't speaking to one of the others that very silence drawing attention to the ancient Grand Master. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him, and Dooku reached out with his own senses, sending tendrils of Force sense towards his former master.

He quickly realized that Yoda was delving into the Force, the skein of the future and the present, feeling out the Force around him and out beyond. He was doing it deeper and more powerfully than anyone else could even dream of doing, calling on his centuries of experience to try and understand the mystery that was Ranma, trying to pierce the Veil of the Dark that was slowly growing in strength, for all that few masters were willing to face that fact head on.

Yet even so Dooku felt that Yoda did not find what he was searching for before he came back to his own merely mortal senses. Indeed, Yoda had found nothing conclusive, the Veil of the Dark Side was too deep for him to see anything clearly. But whatever else Ranma certainly wasn't of the Dark, which was enough for now. Everything else he could answer later, because other portions of the future **had** come through clearly in type if not in specifics.

So when he did come out of his trance, Yoda's words were crisp and clear. "Plans we must make for the Order, above and beyond deciding about what to do with young Ranma. Start a discussion on this now we will."

"Could he be a plant?" said one of the Masters, unwilling to change the subject just yet. "Someone to get close to us, yet not be part of the Order itself?"

Giiett barked a laugh at the very idea. "Ranma wears his emotions on his sleeve, he could never be a spy like that, trust me, there's no disassembly in him outside of combat. What were these plans you wished us to consider Master Yoda?"

"Not consider" said Yoda firmly. "Do this we will."

All of the council members even Windu started at that, staring at him in shock. Yoda rarely invoked his status as Grand Master, indeed he routinely allowed discussions to be dominated by Mace or one of the others, feeling that consensus was vastly more important than him simply laying down the law.

But now he was doing just that, and he spoke swiftly. "Too many conflicts there have been, coincidence it might be, sign of corruption it might be. Regardless, admit it we must and plan for further occurrences, seen many such in the future I have, if not enough to know where they would come from."

At that every Master stiffened, nodding their heads in agreement. If Yoda had seen that, as little as it was, they had to act on it. The ability to see the future had faded in the past several years to nearly nothing, so seeing anything like that was a sign that could not be ignored.

Yoda went on. "Too many there are Knights and Masters both who have neglected their martial training. Stop this will for all orders, refreshers there will be for those already in the temple. Slowly recalled others will be to be re-taught in turn."

"Dangerous missions, set aside they will be save for Sentinels and Guardians, assigned to them no Consulars beyond those who have proven ability with the lightsaber will be. Teams of three or four on those missions there will be if arranged it can be. Single only Jedi will be sent on diplomatic missions, and then only rarely. Push for more upcoming padawans to join the Sentinels and Guardians we will amongst upcoming padawans."

"That's easy to say but very hard to do." said Mace frowning and wondering the specifics of Yoda had sensed as he meditated. "There are scant numbers of us as there are for the number of missions the Senate sends our way, and you know that many Jedi's missions are issues we simply stumble across as the Force guides us. How are we going to be able to divvy out missions like that?"

Master Plo Koon nodded, his voice coming through his mask clearly. "I agree with the necessity of bringing the Sentinels and Guardians back to equal pairing with the Consulars master Yoda. Indeed, I would take it a step further and say we might benefit from reactivating the Jedi Shadows."

There were some raised eyebrows at that, but after a moment's thought many of the councilors realized it might indeed be a good idea. Plo went on. "But it will not be easy. Our training has changed over the decades, with many teachers subtly influencing the younglings towards the Consular order. Look at the makeup of this very council as an example, only two Guardians and a single Sentinel, and it is even worse on the other four councils."

"Impossible it might be, but strength in numbers there are, trust the Jedi in turn we will to deal with any such surprises." Yoda replied to Mace, before turning to Plo Koon. "Idea on the Shadows, merit it has, will need to think on who to put in charge of them we will. And hard it might be, to reverse the trend of a millennia, but necessary."

Yoda took a deep breath staring around at the Masters, all of whom looked a little confused and, though they would never admit it, worried. "Darker times are coming, dark times already here there are. Must be ready, whatever happens." _Visions unclear they are, on all but that. The Dark Side is rising._

"That's all very well and good, and I even agree that it is necessary, given how many of our brothers and sisters have died on missions in the past three years." Dooku stiffened, irritated at the reminder of the Mandalore Debacle, but Piell went on not noticing how his words had been taken. "But what are we to do about the chaotic fulcrum?"

"Question Ranma I will. About his dreams, his hopes, what he wants in turn. After all, agreement only for Dooku it was." Yoda looked at them all, his eyes hard and filled with a power he rarely let out these days. "But understand this you will. Judges we are not. Executioners, blindly lashing out against that which is different, we will **never** be so long as I am Grand Master. If a threat he proves himself, dealt with he will be. But not before. **"**

At that point the discussion was interrupted by an outside source.

 **OOOOOOO**

Outside the council chamber Ranma had waited for about five minutes before shaking her head, jumping to her feet. "I'm gonna go and look around a bit, see if I can find some food or something interesting." _Something to take my mind off this planet's effect on my mind, being inside like this does make it a little easier to deal with, but not_ _ **that**_ _much easier._

K'kruhk smiled slightly, his small fangs gleaming in the light of the waiting area. "I believe I know the source of your nerves my friend. Given everything else the council needs to talk about I think they won't miss you for a while, so why don't you avail yourself of some of the natural meditation rooms? Many of them have trees and other plants as part of their designs."

To one side Obi-Wan nodded, though his thoughts weren't nearly as charitable as his fellow padawan's. No, Obi-Wan was afraid what a nervous, bored Ranma would take it in his mind to do if they tried to keep him here. _Yes, best to get him-heh-her away from us right now. Being remonstrated by the council for allowing such is a much softer option than dealing with it myself, as non-Jedi a thought that might be._

After following some precise directions Ranma found himself moving through the overcompensating temple descending several levels in relative quiet. There were some people around, but never many in the actual corridors as he passed. Those she did pass looked at her strangely, her odd garb marking him out as a non-Jedi.

 _What is with those robes of theirs anyway? Is it just some kind of monk thing, disdaining all material wealth and all that rot? I've seen the clothing that Dooku and the others wear underneath them, good quality and probably more durable than the robes, so again, what's with that, that non-fashion statement? Is it one of those one size fits all things, like not allowing their members to grow attached to other people, or just a way to set them apart from normal people?_

Yet despite Ranma obviously not being a Jedi not even a single one of them tried to stop her, which was amusing. _These guys are a little too trusting, though I guess I did spot a few of them on watch outside the temple, so there's that._

With no one looking at her suspiciously Ranma felt safe enough to stop occasionally to stand in doorways and watch some of the lessons going on, smiling at some and frowning thoughtfully at others trying to discern their purpose given what he knew about Jedi training. Some of it was nonsensical, breaking up one-on-one training sessions for rounds of meditation was one, andone where they sat and stared at pebbles of various sizes was another.

Until she remembered something Dooku had told him once: that all Jedi were trained to reach out to the Force. _Of_ _ **course**_ _, it comes back to how we see ki and chi! Hell, I think he said they get their powers from being able to become 'conduits' for the Force. But my ki is internal, I only needed ta start meditating after I'd built up enough ki to be able to use it consciously._

Ranma shuddered a little, that idea adding to the anxiety she was feeling and hastening her steps. He (she at present) was still coming to terms with the idea that the belief in the Jedi's Unifying Force might have some reality to it, rather than be the silly quasi-religious teaching he had thought it might be at first. He'd known there some kind of energy out there, crackling and filling the ether with its potential from the very beginning. But even knowing that and coming to feel it might have, have some kind of presence to it, was a far cry from believing it was directing anyone's actions, or that such a thing was a good idea.

She certainly wasn't looking forward to trying to open his/herself up to the Force as Dooku put it. Ranma had felt his emotions affecting the chi around him before when he was trying to regain control of his emotions after first arriving in this universe. That had been scary, and Ranma wasn't willing to experiment with it further, at least not unless she desperately needed to.

 _Especially given what I'm feeling now, no way should this planet's balance, at least my idea of balance, being out of whack be making me so damn nervous! That's gotta be coming at me from the Force somehow, need to get a handle on it._ That this was some kind of mental attack which had gotten past his/her defenses did not occur to Ranma.

Still following K'kruhk's directions Ranma eventually found a garden which seemed to take up a goodly portion of the next level of the temple. She moved into it, smiling faintly as she felt the rays of the sun through the glass at the end of the room, and kicked off her shoes, luxuriating in the feel of the grass underneath her feet, already feeling somewhat calmer. _This place is great, gotta find out if it's based off an actual planet or someone's idea of one. But that's not important right now, right now I need to center myself and get over whatever the hell is affecting me._

With that thought Ranma sat down in front of a large tree, one that looked like a cross between a baobab tree and a redwood. Closing her eyes, she began to meditate, sending her thoughts inward, cleansing her spirit in a way. As he did, the irrational anxiety he had felt left him and he sighed faintly, not opening his eyes. _Ahh, much better._

With the swift success of that bit of mental judo Ranma felt emboldened enough to experiment slightly, if very carefully. Reaching out with his senses, he touched the chi, or the Living Force, of the tree in front of him.

It was like touching a string of electrical current among thousands. What Dooku called the Unifying Force roared and crackled around the Living Force of the tree, the same power but a different color to his sense, though Ranma knew that was his mind trying to make sense of input it wasn't really designed for. Nonetheless Ranma smiled slightly at the feel of it, shaking his head as he thought about how Gallia and the others had described the way the splash of his curse felt to them

 _So, you think my curse is funny huh? Well I suppose I'm used to it by now, and I bet you don't have much to laugh at most of the time anyway. The Jedi sound a little too emotionally stunted as a group to be funny, and don't get me started on the Sith, angst and rage filled berserkers the lot of them._ As he thought that Ranma felt something at the edge of his senses, like faint laughter on the wind, but he couldn't be sure.

Feeling strangely drained yet upbeat from the experience Ranma cut her connection to the Force off for now. Chuckling she stood up and began to move into one of his martial arts techniques, closing his eyes as he did so. She had no idea how long she moved through her katas one after another before someone clapping interrupted her semi-trance, causing her to turn coming out of her last kata quickly and opening her eyes.

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak Ti disliked Coruscant at the best of times, and while as a Torgrutan she was naturally a social individual, she also sometimes tired of being around other people at all, even her fellow Jedi. At those times she would retreat to either her room to meditate or the gardens. There Shaak Ti would talk with her master or her friends and practice her lightsaber forms. Or simply sit with her eyes closed, the atmosphere controller of the room set with the wind on high, allowing it to blow over her skin as it would on her home planet, giving her a sense of serenity that she often would have trouble achieving without more effort.

Today Shaak Ti had come here determined to meditate on her recent decision to buck her master's suggestion of the Consular Order and her entrance into the Guardian Order. For her master and the other masters to keep on harping that she could wait was one thing, but she was getting a little anxious here on Coruscant. Helping around the temple with the younglings was fine, and she enjoyed teaching for the most part. But it wasn't her real calling. Shaak Ti wanted to be out and about protecting people, not stuck here like this.

Coming upon her favorite spot in the gardens Shaak Ti was surprised and at first dismayed to find it occupied, and further by someone she had never seen before. The redheaded human female looked about 19 or so if she had to guess, certainly more than a few years younger than Shaak Ti herself. _I wonder who she is, I haven't seen her around the temple. Is she a youngling from one of the training ships here to find a master, or is she a padawan who has returned with her master from a long term mission?_

But what really took Shaak Ti aback were the martial arts moves the young woman was performing. It was a unarmed style which was odd enough, but it was also definitely not the style that Jedi learned prior to being allowed to build their own lightsabers, and very few Jedi kept up their hand-to-hand skills afterward.

That had always struck Shaak Ti as rather silly. Despite being a Consular her own master had made certain that Shaak Ti would never be solely dependent on her lightsaber, emphasizing her Force abilities, footwork and even a little hand to hand skills. But she couldn't say she was a master at it.

After a few moments she shook her head. _Not like this young lady._ The mastery of it was obvious, the speed and skill on display was like watching master Windu or Yoda with their lightsabers, something she had only seen a few times. Masters at that level had gone beyond the forms, mixing them into a synergistic whole which only vaguely recognized the original, personalized to their own styles, their own abilities.

Indeed, for something that was practice for combat the exercises the young woman was doing were rather beautiful to watch. Shaak Ti didn't know for how long she simply stood there watching, then she shook herself, and as one of the choreographed moves came to an end she began to clap slowly.

This startled the other woman, who turned to her quickly. "Ah, my apologizes for interrupting you. I am Shaak Ti, greetings. I'm sorry for interrupting, but that was magnificent. Where were you trained like that? And what's your name?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma looked at the alien woman who had spoken, given what she was wearing it was pretty damn obvious she was a woman and an alien, and Ranma felt her face slowly flushing as she took in the entire image before her. First of all, Shaak Ti had no visible hair, instead she had these large horn things covering her head almost like a hat sticking upwards slightly, which merged into larger growths hanging down from the side of her face downwards, like a Twi'lek's lekkus, and possibly behind her head too. She had some kind of thin wireframe headdress that hung between and around the growths on her head to rest on her forehead which featured what looked like teeth and a small central stone.

At first Ranma thought the horns were solid, but looking at the ends of the portion hanging down they moved slightly as Ranma watched. They didn't look as mobile as lekku, but those ends were obviously not bone or something similar. Whatever they were they framed a face marked by what Ranma first took to be some kind of odd tattoo covering her eyes, which were slightly sunken into her face, and the forehead area directly above them, with what looked like white paint. But then Ranma realized that wasn't a tattoo at all, simply the natural coloring of the woman's body.

And further, that the face that marking was on was as pretty as Twila's had been, only slightly younger perhaps, and far less… worldly, if that was the right word? There was a sort of innocence there that Twila hadn't had. Black colored eyes looked at Ranma from inside those white markings over a mouth with purple lips, though it was again obvious this was her natural coloration rather than lipstick. Her skin was a deep, vibrant red, though there were marks on one of her lower thighs and right below her elbow that resembled those on her face, only slightly lighter in color for some reason.

Ranma could see those clearly because she was wearing what Ranma could only describe as a bra and a very short skirt with a slit on both outer thighs. These were plain brown, the underwear equivalent of a Jedi's normal robes perhaps, but that didn't take anything away from their sparsity. They also framed a magnificently sculpted body. The alien woman's chest looked firm and perky and rather larger than Ranma would have expected given how extremely fit she was, with a tight toned stomach as well as powerfully muscled arms like that of a swordswoman, as should be expected from a Jedi.

The whole package caused Ranma to blush heavily, shaking her head and looking away quickly. "Why are you dressed like that?! I know you Jedi are supposed to be all non-feeling robots and all, but that's going too far!"

Shaak Ti cocked her head and quizzically. "While I have met Jedi who think like that, I can assure you I am not one of them. But why should this bother you, we're both women after all. I would have covered myself up if you were male of course, even among us Jedi such a thing is common courtesy, but we're not. And I came here to feel the wind on my face and body I see no reason to cover up."

Her black eyes widened slightly. "Oh, do you come from a planet where this type of clothing is taboo? If so I apologize, though you should probably get used to such modes of dress now. But you still haven't introduced herself, or told me where you were trained. And 'you Jedi', that is an interesting phrase. If you are no Jedi, then what are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I'm a guy!" Ranma protested, still looking away. She gestured down to her own body. "This body is just a, a Force curse. Underneath it, in my mind I'm still a guy, so please cover up!"

"You must've had a sheltered upbringing." Shaak Ti said shaking her head. Ranma gaped at her, and was about to shout something about the kettle calling the pot black.

Shaak Ti went on. "I hate to tell you this, but you are not a man, human males don't have breasts like these." Shaak Ti said reaching forward and poking the redhead's chest, not noticing that her finger had almost flicked Ranma's pebble hard nipple, Ranma's female body reacting to the rush of attraction she felt after seeing Shaak Ti's body. "Now could you answer my questions?"

Ranma shook her head and stared back at the woman shrugging his/her shoulders internally as she allowed her eyes to rake down the other woman's body again. _Well if she's not bothered by me looking, I might as well look for all it's worth!_ Ranma shivered suddenly, knowing that thought was going to come back and haunt her/him in the future, but right now Ranma just hoped that Shaak Ti wouldn't notice her body's reaction. _Thank god I'm not in my male body though!_

Yet after a moment's silence Ranma was able to get over the sheer visual impact of the other woman and answered her questions. "Er, the name's Ranma. I've been trained in a lot of places, since I was around four or so, and I'm not a Jedi. Master Dooku found me, and he and I basically have an agreement going on at the moment, he lets me study the Jedi some and in return I let him study some of my, I guess you would call them Force techniques after we come to an understanding."

At the name of Dooku, Shaak Ti blinked in surprise. Then she shrugged. "Well if Master Dooku vouches for you that explains why you were allowed into the temple, and I guess you're not being a Jedi tells me why I've never seen you before."

Ranma cocked her head. "You're not going to jump down my throat about the Jedi knowing everything, or my techniques being too unusual or anything?"

"I haven't seen your techniques yet, only your strange exercise meditation. Nor am I such an unreasoning reactionary as that, though again I have met some masters and more knights who would fall under that category." Shaak Ti replied calmly.

"Good to know." Ranma said dryly. "But can I ask some questions now? I've never seen an alien like you." Ranma frowned. "Gah, I really don't like how that sounds, calling you an alien sounds almost racist or egotistical. I mean with the sheer number of aliens out there, ain't we all aliens to one another?"

Shaak Ti laughed shaking her head, causing her whatever-they-were to sway slightly where they hung down her chest. The sound was enchanting to Ranma and she gulped, but didn't look away. "It does, you could've said a being of your species perhaps, though many of the alternatives to simply saying 'alien' are rather wordy. Do not worry, humans are not the only ones that use such all-encompassing terms, and in terms of ego they're not even in the top five."

"The Gran of Malastare and I read about a species called the Hutts?"

"Yes those two are up there but there are also the Falleen who think because their pheromones allow them to dominate the minds of other species and a few others who believe because of one physical attribute or other that their race is superior to all others." Shaak Ti sighed. "Such thoughts are all too common."

She brightened then, moving over to sit with her back against a tree motioning the young woman to sit beside her. "As to my race, we are called the Togruta. We come from Shili, a place of high mountains, massive grasslands, forests and rolling valleys. This garden was designed as a mix of those three places."

She paused, one finger tapping her lips in an effort to hide a smile as she saw the young redhead's face contort as if she was trying to fight to keep a question from popping out. "You're thinking of asking one of two questions. One, what are the white markings on my face and body, or two what are my horns?"

"Am I that apparent?" Ranma asked, then frowned "err, **trans** parent?"

"Common is not your first language?" Ranma nodded and Shaak Ti nodded in turn. "The second one was correct. How long have you been learning? But no, you weren't transparent at least in terms of my being able to read your facial expressions that accurately. Or you're mind, if you think Jedi can do that, we can read surface thoughts at best, and I've never been very comfortable with reading even those save in combat situations." _Or when I'm haggling or at a diplomatic function, but that is technically combat by another name._

"Those questions are just the most common ones other races have for those of mine." She smiled, reaching up a finger to gently trace down the banded blue and white tentacle that hung from the side of her face down to its tip, which twitched ever so slightly. "These are montrals and lekku. The horns are called montrals, and the tentacles lekku. The montrals give my race a form of echolocation in a limited area. As for my markings, they are natural, like freckles or spots would be on a human."

As Ranma nodded in understanding Shaak Ti smiled, all thoughts of her initial reasons for coming into the gardens having left her mind at the sight of this new mystery. "Now that I have answered your questions, would you mind going back to some of mine and answering them in greater detail? Your training, and these Force techniques that Master Dooku is interested in, are there any you could share with me?"

Ranma frowned thoughtfully, pushing the thought of getting all sweaty with Shaak Ti out of her mind with difficulty. "I could, but I don't know if you're Council has decided whether or not it wants me to yet. I'd like to start with a single student my own age or close like you before trying to teach the oldsters, but just don't know if I'd get you in trouble if I tried to start that now."

This didn't even mention how leery Ranma was of giving any Jedi access to his/her abilities. While Shaak Ti's first impression had been good, Ranma wasn't about to make a decision like that quickly. Especially not when he knew he might be making it with, as one of his books on relationships called it, his 'lower head'.

"Why would you want a younger student instead of an older one? Master Dooku is one of the best lightsaber duelists in the order, surely he is well up to any challenge your training could involve."

"It's not just physical training, it's mental too, and the older a person gets, the more set in their ways he is. That's just fact, at least for humans, not certain if it carries over to other species."

She frowned thoughtfully. "I've met many older Masters and even people outside of the Order who are set in their ways, yet I've met just as many younger people who are the same way, and older Masters or Knights that are extremely flexible mentally. But that's just my opinion. Could you teach me some of that hand-to-hand combat you were using?"

"That I can do to a certain extent." Ranma said with a nod before smirking. "But what's in it for me?"

Shaak Ti frowned thoughtfully, wondering what piece of knowledge she could trade. "What exactly are you interested in?"

Ranma's libido supplied several options, the cleanest of which was a kiss, but she blushed and pushed all those thoughts aside, grateful that Shaak Ti didn't seem to read her body language very well, or she would've noticed that Ranma was still having trouble looking at her directly. _Maybe her race doesn't look at one another's faces when they talk, some kind of social thing?_

Instead Ranma was staring at the woman's forehead, trying desperately not to let her eyes wander down past her neck. And she was having a very difficult time of it. _But damn is she naive, just because I'm a woman she's not going to cover up despite my not being a Jedi? I know from Dooku and the others the Jedi are sort of cloistered, celibate and all that, but that's a little much!_

 _Back on task Ranma, think of what you want in return._ "How about for now I teach you for 20 minutes and then we spar for 20, I'd still like more experience against lightsabers. That'd make it a straight up trade of training."

"Have you sparred with Master Dooku?" Shaak Ti asked, tapping the silver cylinder that hung from her belt. "And won't you get burned from the lightsaber? Even at its lowest setting it will sting badly."

Ranma chuckled, and held up a hand and forearm that was suddenly covered in the Force! Shaak Ti gaped, open mouthed and Ranma's chuckle turned into a laugh. "I think I'll manage."

Shaak Ti gaped for another few seconds then laughed, the sound once again sending a shiver down Ranma's spine. And, Ranma noticed despite him/herself, that it also caused **parts** of Shaak Ti to twitch slightly. Not jiggle like Ranma knew her own chest sometimes did when she laughed though. It was obvious that despite her chest size Shaak Ti's chest were quite firm. _Must be because she's an alien, weird but oddly intriguing no, stop that Ranma!_

Shaak Ti cocked her head, wondering why Ranma had blushed and looked away her hand over her nose for a moment. _Was she going to sneeze?_ "I can see why Master Dooku is so interested in learning from you. Alright, let's start now."

"Are you going to exercise like that?" Ranma said her voice rather higher than it had been and still looking away, one hand over her nose.

"Yes, I routinely do so, though if you prefer I suppose I can wear my robe. Of course I do that as well when I exercise, but as I said I came down here to feel the wind on my body."

"Why not at least wear clothing like I do?" Ranma asked, getting herself under control and turning back to stare into Shaak Ti's amber eyes. Even so Ranma noticed the face those eyes were set in, how good-looking it was once again. _Dammit! Need something else to concentrate on, I didn't act like this when around Lilith or Gallia. On the other hand both of them were old enough to be my mom, and Gallia didn't like me much. Ugh, might have to apologize for teasing Obi-wan damn it._

"I sometimes do of course." Shaak Ti laughed again. "You should see my young friend Aayla. She routinely wears even less than this." Shaak Ti then frowned, shaking her head.

 _I wish I could find out what mission Aayla was sent on, she's so young, only 16, and I don't think she's ready to be sent on a solo mission, but all any of the masters will say was she was 'uniquely suited' for the mission in question, and given how Quinlan Vos is in the hospital thanks to that accident on their last mission I suppose it makes sense, still I'm worried about her._

"Um, well if you're comfortable like that, just remember I warned ya that I'm really a guy whatever I might look like." _Okay Ranma you can do this, it's just a self-control exercise think of it that way, don't react! Thank Amaterasu I'm in my female form!_

"Yes, so you said, now, can we begin?" Shaak Ti replied, rolling her eyes, but as a courtesy pulling on her robe from where she had lain it on the ground nearby. _Hopefully Mistress Gathera or one of the other mental healers will be able to break her of that delusion, or is she trying to make a joke at my expense?_

"Okay, what hand-to-hand do you already know?" Ranma asked, moving to stand opposite the Togrutan female, much more comfortable now. "And I ain't interested in your Force abilities, just your hand to hand ones."

The exercises continued for about 5 minutes before Ranma had a feeling for the other woman's skills, which were practically nonexistent. She knew how to throw a punch and kick, had very, **very** good balance and body control, yet telegraphed her moves way too much, and didn't seem to understand how to move or shift from one attack to another.

"Stop," Ranma said, and Shaak Ti immediately stopped mid-swing, moving back and placing her hands together bowing slightly which Ranma returned, happy that mark of respect seemed to cross species or even the dimensions in her case. Ranma cocked her head thoughtfully staring at Shaak Ti. "What style of lightsaber do you use?"

"Why?"

"I'm trying to figure out what style hand-to-hand to teach you."

"You know multiple styles?"

"Hundreds, but the differences between some of them are slight **.** Other styles are designed to be used in specific situations or locations." Ranma said with a shrug. "But sometimes it isn't, sometimes it's pretty big and has just as much to do with how you view combat as how you go about actually fighting."

"That sounds remarkably like our own Lightsaber forms". Shaak Ti said enthusiastically, smiling. This was possibly the most fascinating conversation she'd had in weeks, and the upshot of getting to know this young redhead seemed obvious to her. "I use Ataru mainly. It's an aggressive style and a very mobile one as well, designed to face one opponent at a time. I'm also beginning to incorporate Makashi into my combat as well, though ."

"Interesting," Ranma said with a nod. "So something like judo or some other aggressive style..." Ranma frowned thoughtfully thinking. "What I'd like is to teach you some kind of form that you could incorporate seamlessly into your lightsaber form. Hmm… maybe Pencak Silat, that's devoted to being able to fight on odd surfaces, perfect balance and using the entire body as a weapon."

"Many Masters incorporate Force techniques into their lightsaber combat. I do a bit of that myself, though I am not experienced enough to match Masters such as Dooku or Yoda in that area. I've never heard of any that incorporate more than an odd kick or two into their styles though. " Shaak Ti replied.

For the next few moments Ranma walked Shaak Ti through several different Katas, getting her used to moving through the forms then going straight into different types of strikes from Silat and Judo, allowing Shaak Ti to try and practice them on her. She hadn't made much headway, but Ranma had been right when she noticed the Jedi Knight had extremely good body control and balance. The Katas of Pencak Silat, particularly the Javanese variant, one of many Ranma knew, were perfect for her. It would take a lot of time, but the woman had all the physical tools to master it.

After twenty minutes though, Ranma stood back, smiling. "Now it's time for your part of this little deal, yes? Do you think you could find a staff for me?"

Shaak Ti stopped, letting her leg fall from a pendang, or kick from Pencak Silat, pulling her body upright from where it had been bent to one side away from where he kick had been aimed. "Yes, I can do that, though I would like to come back to these exercises, they are very interesting and I can see why you would incorporate them into your meditation."

That caused Ranma to smile and nod, though it also made him wonder. Wonder what the Jedi Council would decide about him, wonder about what he wanted to be to the Jedi, and if he really would share some of his ki techniques.

A few moments later Shaak Ti came back with a metal staff for Ranma. The two of them stood up cross from one another, and Shaak Ti activated her lightsaber, a bright green blade. She powered itdown to its lowest setting, and nodded at Ranma. A second later she was forced to step back as Ranma came in quickly, thrusting hard before spinning away into a low slash with the end of her staff, before coming up and around house move that nearly caught Shaak Ti in the side.

 _Fast!_ It was only her Force precognition that had allowed her to guess what Ranma was doing, but already in under a minute of combat the difference between their speed was apparent.

Shaak Ti parried, parried, blocked, dodged, jumped up using a Force push off the ground. In midair she tried to wrench the staff out of Ranma's hand with a Force Pull only to fail, faced a kick which she dodged, bringing her sword around in a swift arc only to have it blocked by the end of Ranma's staff.

Then suddenly the other send of the staff was pointing in Shaak Ti's face. "Dead," she said calmly.

"I don't think your staff is quite that long Ranma." Shaak Ti said smiling faintly, but Ranma simply shook her head trying to ignore what could have been an innuendo but which obviously wasn't coming from the rather innocent Jedi Knight. But she didn't pull away the staff, simply keeping it facing her head.

For a moment Shaak Ti didn't get it, then her eyes widened as she looked at the end of the staff. "Some kind of spear supposedly?"

"Something like that. Even with just a vibro knife stuck on the other hand it could become a deadly weapon after all."

"Makes sense." Shaak Ti said with a nod frowning internally at her performance. _I'm too used to fighting blasters or other knights with lightsabers. I need to work on fighting more unusual weapons apparently._

With that in mind Shaak Ti grimly moved back to where she had been standing, tossing off her Jedi robe causing Ranma to blush hotly and look away. She shook her head with a laugh. "I don't understand how my body can bother you, we're both women after all."

"That's obvious, and what part about I'm a guy don't you understand?!" Ranma said with a shake of her head.

"Everything," Shaak Ti replied with a laugh. "Still, that was but the first round, and it's obvious I have a lot to learn here, so shall we get back to it."

Ranma looked back at her, her blush gone now a faint smile on her face. "A little eager?"

"When you face the reality of life or death on every mission, you would be interested in any skills you can add to your repertoire as well."

"Point taken." Ranma said, sobering slightly. She moved over taking up a set stance that had one end of the staff above her head facing backwards and the other end facing down towards the ground in a diagonal. Her hands were further apart than they had been a moment ago, and were loose where they held the staff, waiting to move along its length. "Ready?"

Shaak Ti charged, chuckling even as her lightsaber slashed forward in a lightning quick stroke. "What real enemy would actually let me have time to ready myself!?"

"Good to know you take your training seriously!" Ranma said, bringing up her staff to block her lightsaber blade quickly.

This time Shaak Ti did indeed take the spar much more seriously, using all of her tricks from all the lightsaber styles she knew as well as Force techniques of course. She moved her body reinforcing her speed and strength with the Force as quickly as she could which was quite limited in comparison to what Ranma was used to, but still respectable for a Jedi Knight of her experience. Even so she couldn't keep up with Ranma's speed, and after the first time her staff locked with Shaak Ti's and threw her back into the air she knew she couldn't handle her strength either.

This required Shaak Ti to open herself to the Force to a level she had never done before, not even in a real battle, her montrals giving her no advantage save a little more warning of Ranma's attacks than a human would have. With the aid of her mastery in Makashi she moved wildly, never stopping, always trying to look for a way to attack or disarm Ranma lashing out with Force Grabs, pushes, trips, anything and everything.

Even so, it was obvious that Ranma was handling her with kid gloves, something she wasn't used to from even most Masters. _Is this what it would be like to face Masters Dooku, Windu or those of their caliber? I have so far to go!_

Whereas many people would have been put off by that, chagrined, or even somewhat ashamed Shaak Ti was a Jedi, and an ambitious one. She took it as a challenge, and simply smiled, her purple lips quirking into a smirk as she tried to match Ranma blow for blow.

Occasionally Ranma would call out little instructions, telling her how to improve her footwork or to watch for repeated stylistic changes in her attack, but for the most part they simply sparred, with Ranma forcing Shaak Ti to up her game to match her. The time limit they'd decided on for their sparring went past with neither of them noticing and the simply kept going.

It ended when Ranma was able to knock Shaak Ti's lightsaber out of her hand, and before she could pull it back to her with the Force tripped the Togrutan to the ground. Not giving up Shaak Ti changed the angle of her Force Pull. Her lightsaber came flashing back towards Ranma's head, but she ducked, kneeling over her and thrusting down before she could roll away.

Not even looking up Ranma reached out, her hand suddenly glowing with Force and grabbing her lightsaber out of the air just as it was about to impact with the back of her head. Ranma's other hand still held her staff thrusting it down towards Shaak Ti's chest.

"I win," She said simply, before dropping the lightsaber, the Force shield around her hand disappearing. "That last little trick with your lightsaber though, that was pretty impressive."

"I couldn't keep up with your speed with my Force perception or my echolocation." Shaak Ti said, gasping, her chest heaving with her exertion, not even noticing that Ranma looked down at said heaving chest blushing hotly before focusing on her eyes with all his willpower. "My Force perception was telling me you could go with one of five choices for that last attack, and the one with the least probability was you're trying to trip me like that. It was a desperation move."

"Interesting," Ranma mused. "When I've sparred with Dooku he says he sees all the possibilities, then looks for that one moment where he can stop the most of them."

"Master Dooku is a blade master, I'm just a knight," Shaak Ti said with a shrug. "I might eventually be able to grow my perception of the Force to that level, but I'm nowhere near that yet."

"Don't sell yourself short." Ranma said with a laugh, standing up and reaching down with her free hand to pull Shaak Ti to her feet. "Your endurance is pretty darn good, and your learning curve too."

"Jedi have meditation techniques which heighten our ability to learn dramatically, well beyond the normal levels for our various species. It isn't anything impressive, not like that Force shield of yours. I'm beginning to see why Master Dooku is so interested in you." Shaak Ti said shaking her head.

She wiped her brow, coming away with a sweat streaked hand, which she knew matched the rest of her body and shook her head. "I think I'm done for today. Let's hit the showers."

Ranma protested shaking her head. "I'm not that sweaty, and besides, I told you I'm a guy!"

Shaak Ti frowned, clipping her lightsaber to her belt and reaching down to grab her robe in one hand while grabbing Ranma's wrist. "That joke was funny at first, but it's getting old now." Shaak Ti at first thought that Ranma really did believe she was a man, but Ranma was so mentally solid otherwise she had come to think it was some kind of joke on her or that the redhead was simply body conscious.

And the best way to deal with something like that was to face it head on. Or at least Shaak Ti thought so, since it would have worked that way for a Togrutan. Not so much for a human, and the idea Ranma might have been telling the truth about his curse didn't occur to her. "Come now, you have nothing to be ashamed about believe me. I know several human senators or wives of said that would commit murder to have your curves and that waistline."

Momentarily derailed from her protests Ranma cocked her head, allowing Shaak Ti to pull her along. "I thought Jedi were all about abstaining the flesh, disdaining the body and not caring about looks and all that."

"We do, but we still have ears. I've done several guard details on various female senators or senatorial families." She frowned. "All of whom for one reason or another were very antagonistic towards me when we were alone. Though I will say the wives were worse than the senators."

"Jealous of your looks?" Ranma quipped.

"Yes," Shaak Ti replied simply. "For one reason or another, I'm never been certain why people are so conscious about it."

Ranma looked at her, staring agog. _How could anyone be that naïve!? I don't think even_ _ **I**_ _was that naïve in Nerima!_

Before Ranma knew it Shaak Ti had dragged them into what was obviously a changing area with several shower stalls, moving over quickly to one of them. She pulled off her breast band then let her shorts drop. Reaching out for a nozzle she pulled it off its stand before turning the water on, letting the water cascade over her head for a moment, sighing faintly as the hot water hit her bruised skin.

She did all this so quickly that Ranma had barely turned to rush out of the room by the time she was finished undressing. And when she did, Ranma's desire to run fled on its own, leaving the rest of his/her psyche to combat his/her hormones to the death. She simply stood there, staring.

Like Ranma had expected Shaak Ti's skin color was red everywhere save for some random white marks here and there. What looked like claw marks on one thigh, was the largest such, but there were others, which Ranma wondered was normal for her species rather than personal coloration given where they were.

One of them was her white nipples and areolae. They were both chalk white and the areolae were the size of a 500 yen coin around somewhat larger nipples than Ranma's female form. The other was her pussy lips, which were also chalk white from top to bottom. Nowhere on her body was a single hair to be seen, her pubic area looked as smooth looking as the rest of her. Ranma thought that made sense considering she didn't have any hair up on her head.

This coloration however made her breasts and lower area stand out even more than they would have otherwise and the overall appearance of Shaak Ti right now, as the water cascaded down her body, was easily the most erotic thing that Ranma had ever seen. Ranma couldn't stop him/herself at this point, and he just stared at first her nipples and then downwards Ranma. As she did she was hit by the erroneous thought, _well her lover sure as hell wouldn't have any trouble finding her, what did that book call them, erogenous zones? in the dark!_

As Ranma continued to stare and was trying to fight the urge either to reach out and touch or salivate, Ranma wasn't certain at that point, her/his brain was basically on overload from overstimulation, Shaak Ti turned, one almond eye opening under the cascade of the water. Her purple lips quirked into a smile, and she reached out grabbing Ranma quickly. "You're not going to get clean just standing there, you know." With that she pulled the shorter girl into the cascade of water coming from the showerhead.

While the water was hot, this maneuver and the touch of the water on her skin had about as much effect on Ranma's psyche as being dipped into liquid nitrogen. _Oh shit! She's going to kill me!_ Ranma thought, as she/he felt the change begin.

Shaak Ti had closed her eyes as he stepped backwards into the rushing water pulling Ranma with her, but she opened them after a moment, staring at Ranma with a faint smile which dropped from her face her almond eyes widening in shock in their white marks as she watched the change occur. One moment the redhead was there, standing a few inches shorter than her, the next there was a young man with black hair standing there, looking her directly in the eye.

She felt it in the Force as well, a laughing sort of chuckling wave cascading over her she couldn't explain it better than that. But right now her physical senses were much more important than her Jedi senses. "What, what just…"

"I told you!" Ranma said, waving his hands in the air and moving back slightly, averting his eyes now, his hormones having died quickly under his fear. "In my defense, I told you several dozen times that I was a guy! I even described my curse! You thought it was a joke!"

"I did," Shaak Ti said with a nod, still staring at him, then slowly down to her own body, before moving backwards, covering her body with her hands as a feeling of embarrassment and something like fear rising within her. "I did. And later I might in fact apologize, but for now I'm sorry!" With that word what little self-control Shaak Ti had as a Jedi fled, her female side taking over and she screamed lashing out quickly with the Force.

For his part Ranma didn't even try to fight it, he knew that Shaak Ti would have a Female Freak Out Moment™, and was perfectly willing to take his lumps. Her using the Force and the power of her strike took him by surprise, however. It smashed Ranma back into and through the outer wall of the shower area which itself was on the outside of the temple, hurling Ranma out into the open air around the Temple.

"Well shit," he said calmly before he began to plummet downwards. He left behind a shaking, embarrassed and rather shocked Shaak Ti as she stared through the whole Ranma had made then down at her body before quickly turning around rushing towards the pile of her clothing.

 **OOOOOOO**

Up in the Council chamber all of the Masters sat up abruptly as they stared at one another. "That felt like Jedi Knight Shaak Ti," said Master Plo Koon. "I wonder what embarrassed her so to break through her self-control and make her lash out like that."

"I said when she was promoted that she was too young, this little outburst should prove it." Said Piell.

"I think we owe it to her not to jump to conclusions like that." said Gallia softly but seriously. Several of the others nodded. While as a padawan Shaak Ti had completed several dozen difficult diplomatic missions, and even more combat related missions with her master, master Saibot, and had only added to that series of successes in the months since. Her levelheaded nature, gentleness, and, it had to be said, good humor had won her many friends and acquaintances even among her seniors.

"I think that Ranma will be behind it somehow," Dooku said smiling faintly. "Or have none of you realized that he left almost as soon as we entered the Council chamber?"

Some of the Masters jolted, extending their senses only to realize with chagrin that Dooku was telling the truth. "Hmmf, disrespectful of him to run off like that, only more reason to be wary and keep him at arm's length, whatever you all might think he can teach us," said Master Poof.

Yoda however chuckled. "Rambunctious he is, disrespectful too, but not the first such. Come, far more easily than our current weighty thoughts solve this minor mystery we can."

As one the Council stood. With Yoda in the lead they exited the council chamber, heading down towards where the disturbance had occurred only to stop as they came to the women's shower.

"I begin to figure out what happened here." Dooku said with a laugh, a full belly laugh that earned him several bemused and wary looks from his fellow masters save those who had been and seen Ranma's transformation for themselves. Mace in particular was frowning as he kneaded his eyes.

"Makes sense, if Shaak Ti dragged her in there for any reason only to find out a second later that she is a he, well I certainly wouldn't react favorably to a surprise like that," Lilit said laughing quietly.

A few seconds later Shaak Ti herself came out, dressed in her robe and shaking out wet non-lekku. She stopped at the sight of the council in front of her, then pointed a finger back into the shower area. "M-masters, I, I apologize for my outburst, but, but that, what was that!?"

"That was a young man with a very odd…let's call it a Force related disease." Dooku said thoughtfully. "He says it's a magical one, but I think that is simply his worlds way of explaining it away. At the very least it is a sign of something unusual not certain what. Can we ask what happened young knight?" Master Dooku had not met Shaak Ti before this, though he had gathered she was a bit of a favorite for several council members.

Once Shaak Ti had stuttered out what had occurred Yoda joined Dooku in laughing, though his were little chuckle wheezes in contrast to Dooku's loud guffaws. He hadn't truly believed the curse was real before this, but Yoda could no longer ignore all the witnesses' statements about it. Fascinating feeling it was, if too short and drowned out by young Shaak Ti's panicky assault.

Shaak Ti stared at them appalled. "Masters, I do not see anything funny about this! I, I might have killed him, he's no Jedi, surely…"

"Do not worry yourself about it Knight Ti." Plo Koon said, answering the younger Jedi's concerns. "Dooku and Yoda are not being callous, believe me. Despite not being a Jedi Ranma is at home in the air, trust me, he'll be able to look after himself."

As Shaak Ti calmed down she noticed that not everyone seemed to see the humor in the situation. Shaking his head, Koth spoke up for them. "This is a sign of what I was saying. He is too chaotic and brings out the emotions of others too easily. He is a threat to the Jedi way. As for you young Ti, I think you need to work on your self-control more."

"And as I have said repeatedly." Dooku said turning on the Zabrak male, his eyes flashing, while all four of the female masters present allowed scowls to appear on their faces at his lack of empathy. "Ranma has never wanted to be a Jedi, only allied with us. And as an ally not a Jedi, our rules certainly would not bind him."

"He uses the Force, he must be a Jedi, or a threat to us. In the public's eye only Jedi can be trusted with the secrets of the Force, a fact that has served us well in the past." Said one of the other masters

"In circles we are going, Master Yoda still was speaking when felt this disturbance we did." said Yaddle, shaking her head while Shaak Ti moved forward with Gallia into the shower area. The two of them raised their hands, slowly pulling the pieces of the wall together with the Force as much as possible, closing the hole Ranma's body had left for now. A repair droid would have to be brought in to fix the wall permanently.

"Decision in ignorance cannot be made." Yoda said, his chuckles slowly abating. "Knowledge Dooku seeks, knowledge hunger blinding him to possible repercussions. Own concerns and thoughts Koon and Giiett see in this young man. Concern and worry speaking through Masters Piell and Koth. All have spoken, thoughts have been heard."

All five masters nodded, even Dooku subsiding at Yoda's tone, understanding the Grandmaster had indeed heard all their points of view and would take them into account. Mace and the other council members also nodded, though one or two were still looking dubious about Ranma.

Yoda went on. "Spoken we have for a long time, meetings, greetings with the Senate you have now."

The masters who had been sent on the Yinchorri mission all quickly checked the time, realizing Yoda was right, they'd talked for a solid three hours already. The Chancellor was no doubt expecting them to arrive shortly for the little fete he had prepared to welcome back them back after successfully stopping the Yinchorri.

"Dooku too should go, to being laying groundwork for the addition to the Arming Rights Law."Dooku managed to suppress a wince with difficulty, but nodded, and Yoda went on, returning to the subject of Ranma. "Search for him I will, make my own assessment of Ranma I will."

The other Masters looked at Yoda in surprise, but one after another nodded their heads. Yoda's ability to see to the heart of the matter was well known, as was his ability to read people.

That the Council would abide by Yoda's recommendation didn't have to be stated aloud. Only two of them had the standing to even argue with him, masters Windu and Yaddle. And neither would, having been strictly neutral up to this point on the issue of Ranma and his future in relation to the Order. Mace was still guilt-ridden about the deaths that Ranma and Dooku's intervention had stopped, while Yaddle found him a fascinating subject for further research among the holocrons she so enjoyed.

The diminutive Grandmaster nodded at them all then turned to poke Shaak Ti in the leg with a cane which another knight had delivered to him during the debate on the political ramifications of Dooku's agreement with the Sluisi and Mon Calamari. "Knight Shaak Ti help me in this to apologize for her overreaction she will. Told you male he was, should have listened rather than assumed you knew better."

That thought sent a reverberating clangor through Yoda's mind, the Force trying to tell him something and he looked away from them all as he sent his sense out into the Force, trying to figure out what it was trying to tell him. After a few minutes he nodded imperceptivity. _Open I must be to being proven wrong, assumptions we have made, discard them we must._ His lips quirked imperceptibly. _Only wish do I, knew which assumptions were wrong. Will think on this further later._

Shaak Ti frowned, then remembered all of the clues that Ranma had given of it is true gender, as well as the fact he kept on saying it nodded. "Yes master, I'd already realized that I was overreacting, it's just I could not stop my body reacting first."

"The mind rule the body it should, not the body the mind." Yoda said shaking his head. "Still, physical reactions surprise can be brought out. Now, come. Chaotic fulcrum we must find."

The knight followed the grand master through the corridors of the temple silently for a few minutes, then asked, "Master Yoda, what do you mean when you say chaotic fulcrum?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma continued to fall through the air of Coruscant leaving the upper levels where the Temple resided well behind, his hands spread out to either side, his eyes closed as he felt the rush of the wind all around him, luxuriating in it. Dooku had been correct, Ranma was as at home in the air as anyone else could've been on the ground, a master of midair combat, moving through the air as easily as a fish through water. He bounced off several suspended traffic lights, hopped off a honking airbus, and kept going, rolling over one air car to fling himself up off the back of it, flying down through the traffic towards what looked like a large kilometer wide stone roadway of some kind.

Looking at it he did some mental calculations in his head, thoughts moving as fast as lightning. _Can't get over there unless one of those air cars swerved in this collection, nothing to push off, though I guess I could use a Moko Takabashi to push myself along. No, best keep that as a reserve, I've only used it once so far, and I doubt any of the Jedi were in a position to wonder how I did it, they certainly didn't question me about it yet, and I'd like to keep it that way._ Faced with no alternative Ranma kept falling for a time, as more and more of the sunlight was occluded by the giant, monstrously huge complexes all around him.

Ranma noticed there was more traffic down here, a **lot** more, and it included several starships, small ones admittedly, moving up and out as he watched. There were also more pedestrian dominated cross-paths all around, and eventually Ranma was able to smack himself off of one car, startling a young couple of some kind and fling himself toward one, grabbing onto the side and flipping himself upwards onto the side of the road.

Only to have to immediately kick back out into it the air to dodge an oncoming truck skimming along the path's concrete, its horn blaring angrily at him. "Fucking Hong Kong driver! **"**

With that Ranma continued his fall, though this one lasted far less time, and he bounced off a few cars before digging into one cars roof with his fingers and then peering over the side. "Don't suppose you'd mind dropping me off somewhere would you?"

The driver, a rather disreputable looking fellow of a species Ranma hadn't seen before shrieked, and hit the brakes trying to throw Ranma off but it didn't work thanks to Ranma's having dug his fingers into the metal of the roof. "Nevermind then!" he shouted, and leapt off to the side, grabbing the underside of a passing car and hanging on as it continued on its way.

He hung there for several moments until they passed what looked like a small landing pad, where he dropped down onto it, quickly moving to enter the building as he noticed several partitions along the edge of the pad opening up. Two androids of some kind stood there, their heads cocked to one side as he passed them by. "Sorry, wrong ride," he said blithely as he passed them, and quickly entering the building before either android could figure out what to do about him.

This building was some kind of living area, the corridor Ranma entered line with interior garages, then a wide staircase leading up and down. Ranma headed down, figuring what he wanted would be further down as he pulled out a communicator he had scavenged along with the cortosis metal in his ki space. "Tune? Can you hear me?"

From the other end of the com his droid replied quickly, it's sounds indicating an affirmative. "I seriously need to figure out how to understand you better." Ranma muttered shaking his head. "Don't suppose you could tell me where I am now?"

The low irritable sound that Tune replied with was definitely not an affirmative, and Ranma shrugged. "Nevermind, figured that'd be impossible. Remind me to go shopping with you later to get one of those wrist pads that translate your noises into speech. In person I can figure out what you're talking about, but over this communicator, no chance."

Tune replied in the affirmative, sounding almost enthusiastic about the idea causing Ranma to smile. "Anyway, if any of the Masters ask you where I am, they might not they don't seem to think critically like that, just tell them I've gone to look for some fun."

That caused Tune's tones to become discordant, irritable and worried. Despite not having been with Ranma for long, Tune had a very good idea about what his new owner thought was 'fun'. Ranma however merely laughed and told him not to worry before closing the connection.

A few minutes later Ranma exited the building, which was indeed an apartment complex of some kind, middle-to-low for what was called Senatorial City, which made it pretty ritzy in comparison to the rest of the planet, but not nearly as much as the best housing, which was always near the surface. On Coruscant that was the rule, the closer you were to the top of the planet (the word 'surface' really had no meaning on Coruscant in this context) the more important and rich you were.

Ranma of course didn't know anything about that, he thought what he was seeing was pretty opulent all on its own. The sheer size of the apartments, the fact they had interior parking areas, the cleanliness of the interior of the building all pointed to this being a decent high-rise, and would have anywhere else but Coruscant.

The area was remarkably clean outside despite being so far down into the bowels of Coruscant he couldn't see the sun any longer. _Okay, maybe I didn't fall far enough? And why the hell am I not feeling anxious anymore? Weird. Still, I ain't about to complain._

He continued to walk through the streets for a time, noting that down here the only aircars seemed to be heading upwards or side to side far away from the walkways, where the traffic was minor but near constant. There were a few traffic lights hovering in the air here and there directing those aircars, reminding Ranma of a sci-fi movie he'd once seen, something about a runaway air-taxi being chased by cop cars? He couldn't remember the movie it was, but that chase scene had amused him a lot.

Ranma continued walking, heading downwards whenever he could noticing with each passing level that the ground began to get grimier the denizens around him seedier looking. _Good, now if I were a gang how long would it take me ta jump on a lost tourist or rube?_

About an hour later Ranma was finally jumped by a gang of toughs, having smacked into one of their shoulders as he passed. Having surrounded Ranma before the impact the others tried to grab Ranma and pull him into an alleyway nearby, only to fail miserably as Ranma simply lifted two of them up into the air slamming them together while kicking out, catching one of them in the chest throwing him several dozen yards away down the dimly lit corridor.

The fourth, the one who had been behind Ranma tried to run, but he turned quickly, reaching out to grab him by the scruff of his neck pulling him back. "Now I could hurt you like I did your friends, but I instead I'm gonna give ya the opportunity to answer some questions first. Sound good?"

The alien was a smelly little creature from a species Ranma hadn't seen before, with wrinkly skin and wide eyes in a face that looked deformed almost. He squealed and stuttered, trying desperately to get away, but found Ranma's grip on the back of his neck was like a clamp. Ranma held him there, and eventually the being got himself under control. He answered, "W-what do ya want ya scriver! Y, you're not with the Bloods are you, this is Dawn Dagger turf, ya don't know who yer messin' with!"

 _Eesh, Bloods, and Dawn Dagger's? Gangs, they remove your imagination when you join. And that accent, yeah, I'm seriously gonna try to get rid of any hint of my old one, Corellian is fine, country bumpkin Corellian not so much._

"No I'm not with you the Dawn Dagger's or the Bloods, and honestly I wouldn't be proud of that name if I were you. I'm not here to muscle in on your turf or whatever. No, I'm wondering where I should go to find some games of chance, dice, cards or something like that. In particular where I could find some rigged gambling games."

The little alien looked up at him in surprise. "Rigged, ya mean ziggered? Why'd'ya want ta know where der ziggered games're? Most'd want ta comp where the better games are. Heh, fer that'n yer 'bout 30 levels b'low where yas should be."

"Rigged," Rama replied firmly then he smirked. "The more rigged the better. And if it's also a place where they have some underground fights that's even better." _After all, if I'm going to rip someone off better make it the right sort._

After a moment his captive turned his head from staring up at Ranma's face to stare at its three fellows, who were all lying were Ranma had put them, then back up at Ranma and began to smile. "I's knows just da place. Though it's a bit of a stutter, and we'll pass through some lands, ya comp?"

"Not at all, but you just lead the way man, and maybe I'll let ya bet on me when it comes time, you comp?" Ranma said, with a faint smile.

With his new 'friend' leading him Ranma made his way through what amounted to the middle of Coruscant's currently living sectors, those areas of the planet which were used and lived in by sentient people, the sections in other words which had power for lights and everything else. His guide told Ranma that below that zone were areas no one sane went, deep caverns of ancient buildings crushed below the weight of those built atop them, burying them and the ones below as if they were layers of the planet's crust.

They were attacked four more times on their route, three times by other gangs and one time by what Ranma thought was a druggy looking for some money for his next hit. His guide said something about the man being a 'srived out spicer' and Ranma didn't inquire further. Every time Ranma dealt with them quickly.

After dealing with the attacks, Ranma would go through their pockets, stealing anything of value, credit chips and weapons, then tied them up using their own clothing, before leaving them hanging by the nearest lights bare-assed naked. At one point this meant hurling them over to a traffic control light, but Ranma felt that was simply a little humiliation added to the pile.

Eventually they came out from the smaller walkways into a wider area or at least wider than most areas this far down, and without any air traffic in it either. The lights in this area were better than most of the ones in the area which Ranma had just made his way through, but they were overshadowed by the blazing neon sign over a large gateway, some name or other in common Ranma guessed. He still couldn't read the local language. Speaking one took him a far shorter amount of time than learning how to read and write it.

"Zat's Fireball. It sells itself as da best gambling in 50 sectors, but it's a kriffin' hole in da ferro-crete compared ta the stuff sunward. It's also run by Fuego the Knife, so ya'd better believe the games're ziggered." The rat-like alien muttered.

He looked at Ranma, shaking his head, having lost some of his courage since it had been quite a while since the last time they'd been attacked. "Yer maxed out, but he's got well, rumors say Fuego's got some animals in dere that could tear yas apart. If yas play it straight as ya can, let the house keep its creds and only skin other marks, you'll get out alive though. Fuego knows not to make too many meatbags disappear, even down here, what with the big J right sunward. At least I hope so…" At the end he trailed off a little, looking even more worried.

Ranma shrugged. "We'll see."

 **OOOOOOO**

It took about two hours for Shaak Ti and Yoda to find out where Ranma had finally landed, the depth of which astonished Shaak Ti. _Amazing, he not only survived that fall, but he controlled it for that long. A Jedi could've done the same of course, but even so, that is extremely impressive._ From there they made their way down through the building, and out into the city trailing after Ranma, with Yoda now using his Force sense to home in on him, allowing them to close the distance somewhat.

Not forty minutes after that they found Ranma's second victims. They still hung where Ranma had left them, causing Shaak Ti to frown and Yoda astonishingly to chuckle. "That is not an image I needed." Shaak Ti said shaking her head and looking away pointedly from the three naked aliens _. Yuck._

Yoda however merely moved up to one and slapped his face until he woke up. Staring into the ancient face of Yoda he stilled then collapsed to the side and Yoda smiled. "Simmering on his mind's surface thoughts of young Ranma were, shock, pain, and humiliation he felt. Unable to fight back he was, one moment all is well the next as you see. Interesting."

They kept on moving, finding Rama's other victims, as well as the reasons for their conditions. Throughout this trek Yoda stayed silent aside from a chuckle here and there. Finally Shaak Ti's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Master Yoda might I ask what you find so funny about this? I realize these sentients were breaking the law and further started the fights, but even so, surely leaving them like this, is beyond the pale."

Yoda smiled, stopping for a moment to look up at the far taller Jedi Knight. "Well you did to keep your curiosity inside for so long, a sign of control it is, good. To the gangs fates, better this than kill them yes? All too easily Ranma could have done that. Instead worst they feel, humiliation is. Humiliation as teacher, hrrhm, a valuable tool. Learn from this, they might."

He turned away, chuckling as he made his way down the street. "Interesting youngster, this one. A mystery, a challenge, a conundrum. The Force around him, around its master like a young animal romping. Facing an unknown like this, makes me feel young I do."

Shaak Ti stood there for a moment, looking after Yoda then shook her head with a smile, following him quickly.

Eventually they came to the same den of iniquity that Ranma had. Pulling their heads further into their hoods, the two of them entered, blending in easily through their clothing and the use of subtle Force tricks to hide their presence and in Yoda's case appearance. "Low profile we will keep," Yoda ordered. "Wish to watch Ranma in action I do."

"You could simply challenge into a spar master, from what I could discern he'd be open to such."

"Not his skill I am questioning, know well that do I." Yoda replied with a faint chuckle remembering their brief set-to outside the temple, as well as what Dooku and the others had shared of what they had seen. "His sense of honor, of right and wrong, that is unknown to me, his so-called Code must see for myself I do."

Shaak Ti frowned, thinking about what Ranma had said of his Code, and setting it against what he had done to the would-be muggers, before nodding. "I see."

Yoda was an old man, and had been an old man for centuries. He knew that the Jedi Orders path was not everyone's, and that there were other paths to honor out there, other **types** of honor that were just as viable for those who held to them as the Jedi Code was for them.

It was the fact that Ranma was clearly a master of the Living Force that threw him and the other older, more worldly Masters. That and the fact that he denigrated the order and their oaths and challenged their perception of the Force was a dangerous combination.

 _Challenge he is, yet threat by word or dead he is not._ Yoda reminded himself with some difficulty. _Chaotic fulcrum he is, evil that does not make him. Change itself evil is not._ Yoda shivered for a moment staring blankly forward as they entered the gambling den, the Force once again trying to tell him something. _Change in some ways the Order must, to face the changing times, realized this already I have, but, but more needed will be. Need to think on this I must._

Shaking that thought off for now, Yoda followed Shaak Ti deeper into the gambling den.

 **OOOOOOO**

With his ability to calculate angles and hand-eye control, Ranma found somewhat easy to make a killing at dice, darts or anything involving him tossing anything, like this universe's version of craps. Even with the tables built so that there were places where the dice wouldn't bounce true Ranma was able to control them to a certain extent, and kept on winning. Not enough to look like he cheated to anyone watching, but enough to be noticeable.

This caused a problem for several of the other patrons of course. The first issue came about when he won against several other betters which included an elderly looking alien who looked rather like a daddy long legs with lank gray hair covering its body and long eyestalks that came up to Ranma's shoulders. The being began to chitter to itself, pulling in its limbs and eyestalks before rocking back and forth in place, setting up a keening wail. Ranma looked at the dealer, an alien with horns like Master Tiin, cocking his head to one side. "What's wrong with him?"

"I ain't 'xactly fluent, but I think he just lost the stake he's been using. Something about the deed to some shop or other a few sectors over."

Ranma frowned. "How long's he been using that as a stake?"

"Months!" The dealer replied promptly. "He's come close a time or two to losing it before then pulling even. He's pretty decent with the dice, but not as good as you. He should've known to stop playing a few hands ago, the dumbass longhair."

Staring down at the alien who he assumed was now quietly weeping to itself Ranma asked, "Do I have enough cash to cover his stake? I don't want his shop, not unless it sells starships."

The dealer guffawed loudly at that while the spider alien seemed to perk up, lifting one of its eyestalks to stare at Ranma. Ranma smirked a little. "Actually what kind of shop is it?"

The being touched a pouch on its abdomen, pulling out a small personal computer. Pushing a button on it the name "Zrrrxxx's: for all your robotic needs flashed," before moving into what looked like a brochure depicting pictures of products which varied widely both in scope and condition.

Ranma spotted a few of the weapons Tune had mentioned he could be fitted with, and smiled, coming up with a plan. "I'm gonna take back half of your stake, the other half you'll keep, until I get over and look at what you've got. If you're shop doesn't have anything I want, I might find another local who will by my half of it. Until then though your playin' days are over, okay?"

The alien, presumably Zrrrxxx, seemed to consider it, but having no real option other than becoming both homeless and jobless eventually bobbed its head in agreement. Then it followed Ranma over to the cash register and filled out all the paperwork (very little down here, but enough to transfer ownership), before leaving quietly while Ranma headed over to the darts game.

He quickly built up the amount of money he had previously using darts andcraps. But several games later four of the other guests at the table to turn to him, raising their blasters. "You damn cheat!"

Ranma's reached out quickly, though not as quickly as he could have, pushing the barrels of the two closest gamblers towards one another rather than him. Their blasters went off taking one another out while Ranma ducked, rolling under the table as the other two shot at his former position. _Careful, can't seem too dangerous or else I'll put off the mark, just enough to be interesting, not enough to be a threat._

With that in mind he kicked out, catching one of his remaining attackers on the knee before he could pull away from the table. That man went down with a scream while Ranma rolled the other way, grabbing and pulling his fourth attacker down to the floor. There Ranma smashed his head against the floor twice knocking him out. With that done Ranma jumped to his feet and rounding the table, fists cocked to finish off the attacker he'd crippled a second ago.

A blue stun bolt zipped from one side, knocking the man out before he could get to him however. "What's all this then?" Said a loud voice.

Turning Ranma saw a rather corpulent looking alien, humanoid but with smallish horns, and long lank hair of what looked like a permanently gray color. Behind him were two cheap ass looking droids, their rifles raised, and five seedy looking aliens of various species. The leader glared at Ranma, then around at the others as the dealer quickly filled him in.

"You lot." The being ordered, pointing at the downed gamblers. "You're banned!"

Three of the living guards moved forward, grabbing the downed gamblers and dragging them towards the door. With that done the corpulent alien turned to Ranma, staring at him thoughtfully. "I'm Fuego the Knife human, and I run this hall. I won't have any rough stuff here, that kriff is bad for business."

He stared at Ranma, then towards the gamblers being dragged away, and then at the huge pile of gambling chips that Ranma was gathering up. A smirk appeared on his face, and his voice changed to what he probably thought was comradely conspiratorial, though to Ranma he sounded about as trustworthy as his old man on his worst days. "You're pretty good with your fists for a human, and you're obviously a good gambler. Tell me, do you have the stones to combine the two?"

"Depends on what you have in mind," Ranma said with a shrug. "And what the stakes are?"

Looking at the chips Ranma was gathering up, Fuego calculated quickly. "You've got around 13,000 credits so far, that'll do as a stake. As to what it is, well, this establishment has more… esoteric facilities for the discerning gambler. I trust I don't have to be more specific." At Ranma's nod, he went on. "And if you win, well, how about I guarantee you double that stake each time?"

"Yeah sure, sign me up."

"That's what I like to see! But just so as we're clear here, it's your life on the line human." The alien said warningly. "I don't want to see you whining out there if the fights go against you, that kind of kriff is bad for business."

"Meh, ya only live twice, might as well live it big." Ranma said with a shrug smirking inside as the man fell for one of the best tricks Genma had ever taught him outside of the martial arts. Several times he and his old man had entered underground fights to win some cash, always tricking the people running the matches that one or the other was normal right up until the matches started. Since most of the people they had tricked and fought were criminals, Ranma had never felt even the slightest bit of guilt tricking them or beating them up.

After the yakuza cottoned on to them that went by the wayside, but for a while it had been an easy way of making money, and it was good to know it would work in this universe too. _Besides, I want at least a million credits, enough to buy a ship and customize it, this little bit ain't gonna do it._

The alien smiled widely, then waved his hand grandly towards the back of the gambling den. "Then follow me human, and lets find out how tough you really are."

Behind the two of them hidden among the crowd of gamblers Shaak Ti frowned. "Do you think Ranma's getting in over his head master Yoda?"

"Hrrm, no. Tricked, the proprietor has been, easily could Ranma have taken his attackers out." Yoda said thoughtfully. "Reason he must have for playing down his skills. Interested in what happens next I am, follow we will."

At the back of the gambling den was a small, heavy metal door guarded by two more cheap guard droids in small sconces behind heavy metal shields. Yoda took a moment to stare at them, frowning thoughtfully as he recognized them as coming from the Trade Federation. _Bad sign it is, that such as they show up here. Inform Master Ranicisis of this I will, have him lead an investigation._

Behind that door was a hallway which split into three. Fuego gestured Ranma down one side of the hall with one of his guards while he and the others went straight, entering another door which was as heavily armed as the first. From the third direction came shouts and the sound of cheering, and, slightly more distant, a low, pain filled moan. Yoda gestured, and he and Shaak Ti made their way in that direction.

After a bit of a walk they came out into a many-tiered balcony. It was full of people of various species and, judging from their clothing, means, ranging from one individual Yoda recognized as an aid to a Senator from the Corporate Sector overlooking a small circular arena filled with sand to someone who looked even seedier than the normal denizens of this sector. The balcony was situated around a large pit with a sandy floor, which could be accessed by two small doors and a third, far larger gate. A mesh cage further separated the watchers from the arena below.

As they made their way through the crowd, Shaak Ti saw a sentient, a powerfully built individual of a race she hadn't seen before, standing and drinking in the adulation from the crowd while his opponent, a Trandoshan was being carted out of the Arena by two Gammoreans.

Shaak Ti shook her head in disgust. "I would never have thoughts to find something like this on Coruscant. It looks like something that would be more at home in Nar Shadda, not the heart of the Republic."

"Deep underneath the sunward levels of Coruscant we are, laws there are here but not those of the government. Laws of survival, laws of crime, rarely do even Jedi come this far, hrhrhm." Yoda replied.

"But surely the government needs to know about this kind of place. A crack police squad could clean up this sector in a few days with our assistance."

"Know undoubtedly some senators and the zone governor does, a cut they no doubt get." Yoda said, his tone becoming weary. "More money and time it would take to get rid of crime then look the other way, and lives too. Bigger and greater things the government has its head mind on, even just the government of Coruscant not the Senate."

"That's remarkably cynical of you master Yoda." Said Shaak Ti reproachfully.

"Hrmrhm, cynical I am old I am. Comes with the territory cynicism does." Yoda chuckled dryly. "Besides, think you it would be easy? Rarely give it up those in power do. Fight back the criminals would, the citizens down here too. In the first place reasons there might be for their living down here. Lives needlessly lost there would be. Stay under the radar they do, commit no large scale crimes, left alone they will be, even by us."

 _However, the droids and senator's aide, made a note of those I have. Could lead to bigger things they could. Already proving interesting this investigation of young Ranma has, if in a different way._

"That is rather sad." Shaak Ti said with a sigh.

"Jedi cannot be everywhere, solve every problem we cannot, merely mortal we are." Yoda said with an answering sigh. "Now quiet. Watch Ranma you should, do the same I will be."

Shaak Ti subsided, and Yoda leaned back in the chair he had commandeered from a gambler right in front of the fence separating the watchers from the arena. But he wasn't watching the contestants as Ranma was introduced and began to fight other gladiators. His eyes were actually closed as he concentrated on his other senses, reaching out with the Force _. Handle on Ranma's sense of ethics I have now, now must try again to discern of his impact on the order and the future I must._

That was what Yoda had been trying, and failing to do in the council chamber as his fellow councilors debated. He had been trying to see the actual effect of Ranma's presence, only to fail. It was simpler here near Ranma to see his effect on the Force, whereas before even separated by a mere few floors the Veil of the Dark had obscured it. Yet even here, Yoda's vision of the future was almost entirely blocked.

But a Force Vision came through, not a clear one, some kind of metaphor, but its clarity was such Yoda could not question it's providence, whatever it meant. Yoda saw little lights, thousands of them scattered as if they were the very stars gleaming in a calm nighttime sky.

But the vision changed quickly, the sky becoming violent as the Dark Side rose, trying to snuff them out. One after another they faded, leaving nothing but a few bare embers behind to smolder over time before they became a weak fire, throwing back the Dark Side and growing strong once more. Yoda tried, he tried desperately to get more of a sense of what the Dark meant, what was behind it, but could not gain even a hint, as if the Force itself could not show him, as if the Veil of the Dark Side was too powerful to overcome.

He began to despair then, but the vision changed abruptly going back to the beginning image of the little lights. But as the Dark Side rose up again, it and the little lights were all swept up into a maelstrom, Light and Dark mixing chaotically. Some of the lights went out. Some of them grew brighter. Others burned brighter still, but flared out like candles, only to be replaced by more.

The Dark Side, violence, anger, hate, fear, **WAR** pressed in, growing strong itself, but the Light matched it, fighting back as it could. And then, the vision ended, and Yoda found himself once more in his body, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps as his old heart pounded in his chest.

`Yoda opened his eyes to see Ranma helping his previous opponent out of the ring to cheers and sneers from the crowd. His chivalry was highly unusual down here, but a few of the onlookers appreciated his sense of fair play, while others roared for blood like so many mad animals. To his side Shaak Ti was looking around, shaking her head sadly. One of the most well-travelled young knights, Shaak Ti had dealt with the seedier side of the universe many times. But this place, situated right below the Senatorial sector was shaking her somewhat.

Yet Yoda knew she would be able to deal with it and whatever trial was to come here, he had more important things to think about than her or Ranma's fights. Judging from the strength of the youth had shown previously, any representative of any sentient race would find itself overmatched. So instead of speaking to his young companion or watching Ranma, Yoda focused his thoughts on the vision.

 _The vision I have seen, a warning it is, but of what. Change the maelstrom does whatever it touches, represents Ranma it must. Yet embrace these changes the Jedi should? The vision, shows it does the future certain, or just one path?_

Yet even as his staid mind tried to convince Yoda that what he saw was simply one possible future, he knew it wasn't. That first vision had shown him the future, as set in stone as the deaths which Ranma and Dooku's intervention had diverted a bare week ago. The deaths of those little lights, somehow Yoda knew they signified the Jedi themselves.

And even though he still could not discern where the threat was coming from, or even if there was one threat and not simply thousands of small conflicts feeding the Dark Side with the inevitable emotions they fostered, he knew the Jedi would be the ones to pay the price to try and combat it. _And fail we would, if we do not change. Yet can we even do so?_

That was an even more difficult question. _Set in our ways are we, both the order and I._ _Change difficult will be yet… if change we do not, ride the maelstrom we cannot, vision makes that plain. Yet change for change's sake, Ranma's thoughts on the order,_ _ **dangerous**_ _they are. Strike at the very root of what the order is, what has kept us on our members from turning into the Dark Side. Showed the vision did, if embrace change we do, fracture the Order could._

A sigh escaped Yoda and he unnoticed by any he slumped in his chair, feeling every year of his nearly thousand year old life. _Would that this had come after my time, a reward of quiet solitude in my old age have I not earned?_ After a moment however Yoda straightened up, his purpose clear if not the means to go about achieving it. _Face this change I must, no one else shoulder this burden can._

 _Ranma never a Jedi will be but an ally he can become. Learn from him we can, yet keep some of his thoughts feelings away. Too much change too quickly, a schism could cause. Must think on this further, but an alliance with Ranma, that must be certain._

Yoda had no way of knowing how much time had elapsed while he wrestled whit his thoughts, but Ranma come and gone several times, each time winning against not only other aliens, but then various wild beasts, including some that Shaak Ti had never seen before save in animal taxonomy texts. The most interesting fight had been against a wampa.

The speed of the alpha predator of Hoth seemed to have taken Ranma by surprise, but Ranma had at last beaten it, though he had taken several painful slashes from the maddened beast's claws first. And it had been the first time Ranma had put his opponent down permanently, ending the beasts crazed existence by breaking its neck.

Shaak Ti frowned throughout it all, wondering why Ranma wasn't fighting to his best, she knew first hand he was faster than he was displaying here. It was only after she turned her senses to overhearing the bettors that it became clear: he was keeping the betting close and furious, the better to make more money. He couldn't simply overwhelm his opponents, the odds would shift to favor him then, and he wouldn't make as much. Yet even so, the odds of his winning slowly began to even out, then go in his favor.

After a few more fights Shaak Ti stopped watching the action entirely. Instead she watched the crowd and Fuego the Knife. He was ensconced in a small box separated by a wall from the rest of the audience directly above the massive gate which had been used to let out the various beasts Ranma had faced so far. After each fight now he seemed to frown more heavily, then smile before moving onto the next. She reached out with the Force trying to discern his intentions towards Ranma, only to frown as she couldn't discern them through the mental noise of the surrounding crowd.

"Master Yoda, the crowd is getting restless, many of them have lost quite a lot of money, and so has Fuego." She murmured. "They never expected a human to do so well. I'm afraid the house might be planning something precipitous."

Yoda frowned, reaching out towards Fuego's mind through the Force, his senses making their way across the crowd with the ease of long practice. After a moment he sighed pulling his senses back. "Angry he is, heavily on the last monster he did gamble, will face a loss now if cannot recoup it quickly. But the crowd now betting on Ranma they are, will continue to lose money the house will, cannot cover them all. A plan he has to recoup his losses however."

Suddenly Yoda smiled. "Money do you have on you?"

Blinking in shock Shaak Ti shook her head. "No master, I didn't leave the Temple with any." The Jedi were given a stipend from the main coffers of the order. Those coffers were filled by the Senate's funding, as well as the money they made from the farming communities the Order ran scattered across the Republic, which were worked by Jedi too old for active service and those younglings who had, for one reason or another, never made it to padawan.

"Pity. Could have bet on Ranma. Should be interesting the next fight."

Shaak Ti was about to question the ancient grandmaster further when Fuego stood up, waving his hands grandly at the crowd then down at Ranma who after his last contest was still standing in the center of the arena. At his feet lay a Nek, unconscious from a precise blow behind one ear.

"Congratulations! Amazing, stupendous! Who would have thought a human could survive against a Nek in hand to hand, let alone defeat it! But there is more to come ladies and gentlemen! Let it never be said that Fuego's doesn't deliver excitement! I have one more animal Ranma can face, one more **mystery** animal! Place your bets now, they will be two to one in favor of the mystery beast! Who will take that final plunge! Who will be brave enough to back the magnificent Ranma against the mystery monster?"

For a moment the crowd roiled, muttering to itself. It was unheard of after all to not know who you were betting on, how could you calculate odds if you didn't know half of the equation? But then Ranma held up a hand. "I'll put all of my own money on me!" He said with a laugh.

That seemed to break the rest of the crowd out of its monetary stasis. Dozens of beings who had won thus far rushed towards the bookkeepers, while others, who really had lost too much already searched their person for credits or anything else they could use as collateral.

Watching all this Fuego smiled grimly. Down here, strength was power, fear was power, and money was power. You could only truly command respect at his level if you had all three. The day hadn't gone as Fuego had hoped of course, and he'd lost quite a bit of money. But he could make up that loss, and instill even more fear in the locals if his next little pet won, and showing that little pet would prove his strength beyond all doubt.

He waited five more minutes than as his bookkeepers nodded one after another to him he held up his hands. "That's enough ladies and gentlemen, the betting is over!" He nodded over to a guard standing above the gate that the monsters had all used to enter the ring before this.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the one corner we have our new and unforeseen champion of the evening Ranma Saotome!"

There were cheers from the crowd, most of them now betting on Ranma, despite not knowing who he was about to face. The odds were just too good, as was Ranma's track record up to this point. All of them had been caught up in a frenzy of greed, not realizing that Fuego must have some kind of plan. Watching them Yoda and Shaak Ti could only shake their heads at the power greed had over individuals.

"And opposing him, from the depths of space! At home in practically any environment, and top predator in most! Brought here personally by myself and several of my men, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the **rancor**!"

The massive gates boomed open on the last word, and the rancor emerged, roaring angrily. Up to this point those gates had seemed overlarge, dwarfing both beasts and gladiators alike. But they were barely enough to allow the creature, the rancor, to enter the arena. It stood at least two stories tall and was almost too wide to fit through the door, with massive bulging muscles showing everywhere under gray skin that looked almost like scales but not quite. Its eyes glared out at the world from under a monstrous brow set into a sunken face, on a head that stood even with stooping shoulders which would have put any American football player to shame.

There was loud screams of shock from the crowd and more than one person cursed, throwing down his betting chit in fury. Yet there was more fear too, because as Fuego had expected, a lot of the crowd were wondering where and how he had gotten his hands on a rancor, one of the most dangerous animals in known space. Any Rancor was dangerous, and owning one like this no matter how you came by it spoke of power and influence in one form or another.

Still others, like the senatorial aide Yoda had first spotted, didn't care about how Fuego had acquired the thing. They only wanted to see some blood. Ranma had been careful not to kill his opponents save the wampa, and while he hadn't been gentle he hadn't done enough to feed their bloodlust.

Yoda felt this and frowned, making a note of the individuals who were cheering and at times screaming for blood. They all would need further investigation regardless of their station.

Next to Yoda, Shaak Ti scowled, stroking her lekku worriedly. "I think Ranma just met his match master, should we intercede?" While it came out as a question, her tone made it clear that she felt they should. Indeed she was showing slightly more worry than a Jedi rightly should have given how they were supposed to control their emotions or how she had only known Ranma for a bare few hours.

However Yoda simply shook his head. "No, intervene we will, but not yet. Underestimating Ranma you still are."

For his part Ranma simply stood and stared at the monster as it tramped its way onto the arena's sand. Once fully out onto the floor of the arena it stopped, roaring at the crowd which for it was at near eye level through the cage. "RGGAAHHHH!" It raised its massive fists lashing out at the cage above the wall surrounding the arena.

There were several fearful screams from the audience, but they needn't have worried. The cage was both electrified and reinforced. The beast's punch bent the metal, but caused it to be electrocuted with enough current to send it backwards, bellowing in pain as the smell of burning skin monetarily filled the air.

Then another jolt went through it from the collar it wore. "EEEEEEERRRGEAAAH!" The thing shrieked and clawed at its neck, it's eyes going even redder than they had been as it did so, falling back from its assault on the cage to jeers and shouts from the audience.

At that point the rancor spotted Ranma at last. Thinking him an easier target it snarled, charging towards him over the short space separating them, its arms reaching out to grab and rend. Still Ranma stood his ground calmly, knowing now was the time to show his real ability. _He's bigger than even Pantyhose Taro, but you know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall._

Ranma raced forward as well, dodging to one side as the thing brought around a hand that was almost as large as he was tall, wincing as the smell of the thing hit him. Clapping one hand over his nose Ranma leaped up over another attempt to grab him, landing on the rancor's arm. "Damn man! When the hell did you last have a bath!?"

This drew a round of laughter from the watchers, even Shaak Ti surprised herself by laughing aloud, stifling it quickly. But there were many who didn't laugh, instead staring in shock at the speed Ranma had moved with, a level of speed he had not shown yet. Still, everyone there were still certain he'd lose. After all, it would only take just one punch or slap to end the human's life, however good he was at dodging.

The rancor lunged forward with its upper body, its mouth open to bite Ranma but he pushed off the limb quickly. Landing Ranma dodged to one side in midair, watching as the beast's fist plowed into the ground, kicking up a ton of dust before it smashed into the wall of the arena. The wall itself wasn't energized like the cage above it, and the impact shattered the ferocrete there in an area about fifteen feet to a side.

Even so it was nothing that Ranma hadn't seen before. The thing was fast for its size but not fast enough, and while strong, that hardly mattered. Not against a martial artist of Ranma's level, who could bring almost as much strength to bear on a much smaller target.

Ranma rolled again, forward this time, and as a thing tried to kick him, grabbed its foot, helping it along its trajectory with a heave. The rancor stumbled falling forward, then bellowed in pain as a kick from Ranma caught the beast on the side of the knee.

While the rancor of course would be unable to describe what had happened, to Yoda it looked as if Ranma's fist had hit with all the impact of an air-car concentrated into his merely human fist. While if the impact had been spread out like from another rancor or an aircar the beast might not have taken much punishment Ranma's strength easily overcame the rancor's durability in the area his fist hit, blowing the knee out, shattering the kneecap and sending the pieces of it out through the other side in a welter of blood and gore.

"GUAUGHHAHAU!" The beast howled falling on its side. The watching audience shouted and bellowed questions at one another, wondering what had happened as Fuego gaped, standing up from his chair and staring in astonishment.

Below them the rancor was still game, pushing itself somewhat upright with one arm, lashing out with its other hand. But Ranma leaned backwards quickly, allowing the blow to pass him then thrusting out his fist into the rancor's wrist.

Again there was a scream of agony and the sound of ruptured bones. Ranma leaped away, watching to see what the thing with you. "Come on retreat beastie, I don't want to have to kill you."

Frankly Ranma felt sorry for the thing. Just like with the other animals he'd fought before this he didn't know what rancors were like in the wild, but he didn't like killing animals like this for other people's amusement. He'd do it in a heartbeat if it was to feed his stomach, but to do so to sate other people's bloodlust, hell no.

Unfortunately the rancor wasn't willing to give up. It roared again its hand flopping uselessly as it tried to spin around, bringing his other arm around in a slash at its tormentor. Ranma shook his head with a sigh and ducking inside its reach, slammed an open palm into the rancor's chest right above where the heart would have been in a human, his fist momentarily disappearing to normal human and alien senses while a sound like a machine gun sounded through the arena.

Just like his previous blows the area his fist damaged seemed small. But the bones right underneath his blow shattered before flying backwards into the deep cavern of its body, puncturing its heart. "The least I can do is give you a quick end."

As the beast crashed backwards onto the sands of the arena the audience fell silent for a moment staring in shock as if they couldn't believe their eyes. Then they cheered, hooting and hollering, shouting and stampeding towards the bookkeepers.

The bookkeepers panicked, pulling away from their stations and trying to desperately signaled the guards nearby, armorplas sliding down automatically to defend their small booths. The Gammoreans and other guards responded, raising their weapons against the crowd, many of whom pulled out their own weapons in reply. Quickly blaster fire began to crisscross the underground stadium, with people screaming, running and firing all at once while the Gammoreans bellowed and waded into the crowd swiftly.

Fuego was no help. He had turned to a communicator stuck on his arm, and was shouting into it, glaring down at Ranma angrily. "Open them! Open all the cages, and activate all the combat droids! I don't care how good he is, there's no way he's tough enough to survive blaster fire! He has to die! No one can challenge me like this and live! As for the betters, ki…"

Fuego paused, staring. The first of the wild animals had come out of their cages save for those too injured to move still, and made their way towards the arena where previous training told them a meal might be waiting. But before they could reach the arena they paused, calming down, many of them falling asleep where they were while others turned back to enter their cages. "What the…?"

For his part Ranma too had been surprised, first at all the animals being released at once, understanding Fuego was trying to get out of paying him and realizing he'd need to deal with the animals before going after their keepers, then at how the animals had simply stopped. Frowning he extended his senses slightly into the Force, like a swimmer dipping his toe in unwilling to take the final plunge. Yet even that was enough, and he turned, staring upwards into the gallery.

There Shaak Ti and Yoda both stood, with Shaak Ti moving rapidly towards the guards. Seeing her activate her lightsaber they all turned their blasters on her. Some in the audience did the same thing while others stopped running, laying down where they were in an effort to get out of the crossfire and trusting the Jedi to handle it. Still others began to run away.

Shaak Ti jumped, spun and ducked, her lightsaber flashing, using her montrals to great effect along with her Force Perception to pay attention to everything that was going on around her. Each time a blaster would head toward Shaak Ti or one of the people who had laid on the ground her lightsaber was there with Force-driven speed and precognition, blocking the bolts and sending them back directly using the Soresu, the form designed to be used against blasters. Several guards died from blasts from their own weapons, and still more guards and bettors crumpled to the ground wounded.

For his part Yoda first concentrated on the minds of the animals below. Once they were suitably calmed he turned, sending out a strong Force mind impulse towards the senatorial aide he had been watching, causing the man, who had been trying to force his way through the crowd toward the now closed exit, to collapse into unconsciousness.

With that done, Yoda joined Shaak Ti in assaulting the guards and those among the audience still fighting trying to make his way towards Fuego. But he turned, stumbling as he felt a surge in the pillar of Living Force in Ranma.

Back in the arena Ranma had moved to the dead rancor, and closing his eyes for a moment gathered his ki, pouring it into his muscles. With that aid, Ranma grunted, lifting the rancor, who must have weighed at least seven tons or so of muscle and bone. His eyes flared for a moment, but he lifted the thing up over his head, and turning, throwing it up against the electric cage right in front of where Fuego was.

Fuego had turned his attention away from Ranma to the Jedi, and was now scrambling at a small emergency exit behind his throne. But the door hadn't been used in so long it was rusted badly, and that slowed him down somewhat. He stared over his shoulder fearfully at the Jedi, only to stare.

To stare at the form of the dead rancor's body slamming into the cage, shorting it out in an instant as the smell of cooked meat permeated the arena. The nearby bettors and guards screamed too, backing away hurriedly.

After getting over his momentary shock Fuego desperately turned from staring at the rancor's face from a bare yard away to try and wrench the door open again. But he suddenly felt himself lifted off the ground and slammed back into the wall behind him.

Ranma had leaped up after his projectile and now stood on the back of the rancor's head. "Let's not try to welch on a bet with the guy who can bench-press a rancor, mmkay!?" He shouted at the top of his lungs over the ongoing battle, before using his free hand to throw a piece of the cage towards the nearest armorplas protected bookkeeper with enough force to shatter said armorplas.

The man squealed and ducked under his chair. After seeing this the battle shuddered to a halt as the guards saw their boss captured, and the bettors realized that they didn't want to get on Ranma's bad side.

Watching this Shaak Ti shook her head laughing aloud at Ranma's sense of humor. "I believe your priorities are rather skewed Ranma!"

Yoda nodded, but glared at the bookkeeper who no longer had any defense between him and the crowd. "Gather young Ranma's winnings you should. The rest of the money, frozen for now it will be." He looked around at the crowd, many of whom, now that the adrenaline was wearing off realized who this particular Jedi was, and paled even further. "Get their money, these good beings should, so long as prove they can that their stakes were legally gained."

Quickly the bookkeeper gathered up the credits Ranma was owed. Ranma entered his booth, making the man turn around for a moment before kneeling down and doing something with the money, which none of the sullen crowd of gangsters and bettors could see. Ranma didn't want to advertise all his tricks, and one such trick was his ki space. Let them wonder how he was carrying it, rather than having even the slightest actual clue.

While Yoda opened a communicator and called in some police down to this level, Ranma exited the booth before leaping over the heads of the crowd toward Shaak Ti. Landing in front of her he smirked. "How long have you been following me?"

"For several hours now," Shaak Ti said honestly looking over at Yoda who smiled and waved at her indicating she should be the one to talk while Yoda turned, watching the crowd carefully as he continued to speak into his communicator.

With that Shaak Ti turned back, her purple lips twitching between a smirk and a scowl. "Your method of dealing with would-be muggers was interesting, and may scar my mind for years to come."

"Sorry ta hear that, they weren't exactly a pretty bunch were they?" Ranma said with a laugh. "As an apology though, for that and for… well…" Ranma blushed looking away, his treacherous mind all too happy to remind him of what Shaak Ti looked like under that robe. "And for what happened in your temple, do, um do you want to head out for some food?"

His stomach rumbled, louder than the rancor had been, causing several dozen of the crowd to turn from trying to work out who was owed what with the bookkeepers and Yoda to stare at him. But Ranma ignored them looking at Shaak Ti, feeling strangely vulnerable. While this in no way counted as a date, this was in fact the first time Ranma had asked a girl out without any ulterior motives other than spending time with her, and it left him feeling very nervous.

"You don't owe me an apology for what happened in the Temple Ranma." said Shaak Ti, frowning faintly and trying to keep her face from blushing at the memory. "If anything I overreacted. You told me about your curse several times, it was my fault that I didn't believe you."

"So consider it a peace offering then?" Ranma pressed, shrugging his shoulders as he tried to calm his nerves. _Man, talking to girls is harder than fighting that rancor thing._ "And I have no idea where to go for food around here. Something tells me no place on this level will have anything I'll want to eat, and I'm in the mood for steak myself."

Shaak Ti was about to say no again saying that he had no need of a peace offering, but stopped when Ranma said the word 'steak'. Her race were carnivores for preference, having become omnivores relatively recently in their evolutionary history, and a bloody steak was something that she could rarely have. At the temple all the Jedi were fed a balanced, yet simple diet, which did not include steaks or other delicacies. And while on missions Shaak TI had to watch how she spent her money. The only times she had good steaks were on protection details for Senators, and she hadn't been on many of those. "Well I am rather hungry…"

She looked over at master Yoda who chuckled, waving one hand at her. "Go on. Young will have fun, while the old man will handle this hrhrhm?"

Watching the two young people go Yoda smiled. While Ranma was a good individual, he was simply too chaotic. He caused change whether he was trying to or not. No, he couldn't be let out without a minder, but that didn't need to be hardship duty either for him or said minder. _A volunteer I have just found I think._

At that point the crowd around the bookkeepers began to become surly, and dozens of them reached for the weapons they had dropped earlier. At the same time Fuego reached behind him quickly, pulling out an emergency communicator and slamming his hand down on the button. At this touch aperture along one wall opened revealing several attack droids like the ones who had been left out in the main gambling area to keep order.

But before they could activate, all of the androids crumpled backwards against the walls, their heads shattering under the impact of an unseen force. The next instant Fuego found himself in midair again, only held there by the Force this time instead of Ranma. He was swiftly joined by every weapons in the place pulled out of their owners hands or taken from the ground to hover in the air. Fuego and every other person still conscious turned to stare at the diminutive grandmaster of the Jedi Order.

"Apologies I must give," Yoda said, his voice soft yet carrying to every individual there. "Watching young Ranma, feel old I do. Must show off I feel. Best I feel if quiet you will all be."

 **OOOOOOO**

 _The agent who followed Ranma down after his rather strange_ _exit from the temple_ _will have to be given some kind of raise. That kind of independent action should be rewarded, so long as it keeps getting results like this._ Sidious thought, leaning back and closing the communication to the agent as that agent turned away from watching Yoda.

Yoda's show of power, while interesting was nothing Sidious hadn't seen before. He had long known that despite being old Yoda was still the most powerful Jedi alive. No, what interested him had been what came before.

 _I will have to get a Force sensitive close to Ranma. Close enough to study him and what he does. He must be using the Force to heighten his strength in some fashion, and if I can find out how, the Sith can figure out how to match it. And that last scene, where did the money go? He wasn't carrying it when he spoke to that alien female. Interesting, very interesting._

 _But not Maul, he's too much of a blunt instrument for a task like this. No, I will need to think about this further. Perhaps my idea of a honey trap could be merged with this, a way to bring Ranma himself to our side? But do I really have anyone I could trust with such a task yet?_

Shaking his head from that train of thought Sidious made certain he had a copy of the events down in the gambling den on his system, then sent a brief code out to his agent, ordering him to destroy his recorder and go to ground for a time. He would be sent instructions on how to reconnect with Sidious' middle man, in this case a semi-legit information broker who worked both sides of the law, later on.

Right now, Sidious had some plans for the Senate he needed to prep. The Jedi and their allies would find it very hard to get their way on the arming agreement they wanted, and not in precisely the way they might be expecting either. He had already lain the ground work for that task, but it would take time to come to fruition.

 **OOOOOOO**

It took Shaak Ti and Ranma several hours to make their way sunward from the gambling den, by which time both of them were starving, or starving even more in Ranma's case. Shaak Ti hid it well thanks to her training, but Ranma's stomach was growling like a wild beast by the time they found the restaurant Shaak Ti was directing them towards. It was an upscale restaurant, but not so upscale that it demanded a certain level of clothing, and the two of them were quickly ushered in, the robe and the lightsaber informing the workers here that at least one of their guests was a Jedi, meaning important.

Throughout their walk the two of them had talked, with Shaak Ti apologizing for her reaction to Ranma's curse being reversed, and Ranma explaining his curse in further detail. He even told her about the others who were cursed, and some of the adventures he'd gone on with them. Some of the styles of combat he mentioned were utterly bizarre to Shaak Ti, but they also had been hilarious, causing her to laugh more often than she had since she had become a Knight.

The two of them sat down and quickly ordered a steak each along with a salad and a light fizzy drink Shaak Ti recommended to go with it. As the waiter walked off, Shaak Ti asked, "So was there a purpose behind your using a staff against me during our spar? Or was that simply your way of checking my own training against an unusual weapon? I will admit it certainly had that effect."

"Master Dooku and I have talked about various lightsaber types." Ranma said with a shrug. "The only one that I liked the sound of was the light-glaive."

Shaak Ti actually had to pause for a moment searching her memory for the term. "That is an extremely ancient lightsaber weapon. I can't recall off the top of my head any Jedi using it for several thousand years. And using a lightsaber is dangerous, you could…" Her voice trailed off at the look Ranma was giving her and she shook her head ruefully. "Nevermind."

"I know the weapon design's old fashioned but lightsaber-based weapons were way more varied than they are today." Ranma said with a shake of his head. "It's kind of sad, given how many old-style lightsaber weapons there are, that all of you use the same type generally speaking. But I want a light-glaive because it gives me a choice."

Shaak Ti cocked her head to one side, her lekku falling loosely to one side of her chest as she stroked them gently, and then nodded slowly. "Yes, given how you tried to let the rancor, those other animals and the other gladiators live I can see that. Too many Jedi don't realize it, but lightsabers allow us to kill all too easily. We know we will have to kill in pursuit of what we are doing at any given moment, but killing too easily can also lead to callousness towards our fellow sentients. Too many see it as simply another task, but I feel we must live with that choice each time we take a life."

 _Hence why I went out of my way during our little set-to down below to not kill the guards firing on me, yet I could not save them all. Saying it was them or me, or that I don't have enough skill to face those numbers and take them all prisoner is a mere excuse. It does not absolve me of ending their lives. I will have to meditate to come to terms with that tonight._

Ranma nodded, looking at her respectfully. "That's exactly how I feel. Even in a full-scale battle, I'd go out of my way to not kill. I know that if the battle was serious I'd have no choice, but until that comes, I won't kill unless I have to." He shook his head then changed the subject quickly. "You said once that your race, the Togruta? That you come from Shili.. Have you ever been there? Is that why you set the wind so high in that garden we met in?"

"Yes," Shaak Ti said with a smile of memory. "I went there with my master at one point to solve an issue between the planetary government and one of the banking clans, and to take the right of adulthood. It was a fantastic experience, and yet strange at the same time."

"Can never go home again sort of thing?" Ranma guessed.

"Exactly. You must understand, we Togruta are very much a communal race, community, family, clan those are the center of our lives. As a Jedi, I was of course honored. I was one of them yet not part of the community, even my family, welcomed but yet not part of them. Because I had joined a smaller yet more varied group, the Jedi. My home is no longer on the planet, but among the stars."

Ranma smiled sipping at his drink, finding it like a mix of guava juice and sparkling fruit punch. "I thought I had a home once, but I was only sort of borrowing it for a time." He briefly explained about the Tendo dojo and how he had come to stay there as well as the problems that he had brought with him and those which had already been there. "I don't think I ever really belonged there, not really, I was just, just fooling myself."

For a moment the two of them were silent, then Shaak Ti asked, "So are you, happy I think, or pleased that the Force event you were part of set you here? Or if you had it all to do over, would you not use that Force artifact as you did? Shaak Ti refused to use the term magic, that was simply too bizarre.

Ranma smirked at her, but didn't rise to the invitation to dare her to figure out a way to explain how he'd arrive here in the first place via 'the Force' as she knew it. "Yeah I have to say I am. Exploring the galaxy is going to be fun as all get out! Especially once I have my own ship."

"Is that why you wanted all that money? I had thought as much, but how much exactly did you take away? And where did it all go?"

"That'd be telling, though maybe I'll show you how eventually," Ranma laughed. As for how much I don't know yet, haven't counted it out, at least over three-hundred thousand I think."

"Let's start at the other end then, what kind of ship do you want? And is exploring the galaxy your only goal?"

"Well, what are your goals?" Ranma asked her.

Shaak Ti blinked, and then smiled. It had been a long time since anyone but her own master had asked her that question. "I wish to become a Jedi Master of course, but more than that I wish to sit on the council."

She leaned forward staring into Ranma's eyes intently. "This isn't just a personal ambition, it's a means to an end. I want to convince the Jedi to go to war against the slave trade."

Ranma looked at her in shock and she smiled grimly. "My people are peaceful for the most part, and we are prized as slaves almost as the Twi'lek are, more so in fact since we are a rarer 'commodity'. Several times in the past forty years have our colonies or even our home planet been raided by slavers."

She sighed faintly. "I know we're not supposed to form attachments, but I still see myself as a Togrutan. Further, I have a young friend, a padawan by the name of Aayla. She is a Twi'lek, and both of us feel that the Jedi should be doing more to stop the slave trade, and not just in Republic space."

"Heh, now that's an idea I can get behind." Ranma then went on to explain how he and Dooku had first met, how he had helped a ship full of slave escape their would-be owners. "gotta say as much as I think there's a lot of stuff in this universe that is just cool, the fact there are slaves, and that it's allowed even if under the table by the government, is just flat-out wrong."

While Shaak Ti nodded firm agreement, Ranma smirked. "Hell, once I buy a ship, I might just go on a one man crusade to do somethin' about it. Heh, sounds like a fun way of checkin' out all the skills I hope ta add ta my own set."

"You'd make yourself an enemy for every slaver, crime lord and corrupt slave owner out there, to say nothing about their gangs." Shaak Ti replied, shaking her head. "They'd set the Bounty Hunter's guild on you in a blink, and you'd never have a moment's peace."

"So?" Ranma said, smirking. "Let'em come, it'd be interesting ta face so many people with different combat skills."

Shaak Ti rolled her eyes at this, but was smiling as she did.

The rest of the meal passed quickly, with the two of them going over a list of different ship types, classifications, speeds and other design specifications. Ranma admitted to not being able to pilot just yet, but he had Tune and the Astromech droid could do most of the piloting by itself, save in combat. That was good enough for now, but it also limited the size of the ship. Astromech droids like that would need further mechanical or human aid in driving anything above a small freighter.

Shaak Ti pressed some key is on the machine they were currently using this came through different pictures, and pointed one, a YT freighter. "This style of ship might be the best, or at least this size of ship, for your needs right now. It's a little smaller than a _Consular_ class ship, if you need more of a reference."

"All right is it just me or is that ship just damn ugly?" Ranma asked pointing at the picture of the short stumpy and rather ungainly looking freighter.

Shaak Ti laughed. "It might look horrible, but is actually a favorite out in the Outer Rim since it is so easy to repair, swap in parts and otherwise customize or keep running. It's a question of whether or not you want something that can be repaired easily which won't have very good starting specs, or something that has high states, but will need custom parts and thereby will be very hard to repair."

"I'd rather have something that won't get damaged in the first place" Ranma replied, smirking little. "I've got a… trick… I want to see if I can get to work. If I can, the outer armor of the ship is going to be a lot tougher than you might think, but even so I was looking at some of these." Ranma took control of the machine, heading up to one of the designs he had seen in action in the Yinchorri system.

"A Mon Calamari cruiser? Their ships are routinely tougher and far more durable than most would believe, something about the way they design their shields I think." Shaak Ti mused, shaking her head. "I'm not an expert of course. But do you want something that large?"

"No, something way smaller. I'm not interested in transporting cargo after all. Durability though, that's important."

From there the conversation segued into whether or not Ranma would live on the ship and whether or not he expected to have to fight inside the ship, which Ranma rather ruefully admitted he did. "I'm not exactly the most diplomatic sort, and I don't think I even know how to back down from a fight anyway. Eventually something is going to happen while I'm still in space."

Shaak Ti smiled, her purple lips quirking upwards. "I can well believe it. Still, if that's the case we might want to look at weapons specifications."

Eventually they narrowed down the choices to two different Mon Calamari ships, a starfighter type and a small freighter/luxury linger type, both of which were listed at prices that made Shaak Ti wince. But Ranma simply laughed, shaking his head. "Trust me, I think I've got more than enough to pay for it from an our little outing down town."

"Again, I think I believe you." Shaak Ti said with a chuckle. At that point the waiter came by with their check, and Ranma paid for their meal. The two of them quietly left the restaurant, heading back to the temple.

Halfway there they were met by a human Jedi knight. Seeing him Shaak Ti fought down a faint smile, and nodded at him formally. "Knight Rosen, were you looking for me?"

The man held up a hand in formal greeting, shaking his head. "Not specifically for you Knight Shaak Ti, but your companion. Master Yoda returned several hours ago, and has been in conclave with the rest of the Council ever since. He sent me to find you, which I did as soon as possible. If you would follow me, the Jedi Council demands your presence."

Shaak Ti shook her head resignedly the other knight's attitude, but beside her Ranma smirked, causing Shaak Ti to send him a warning glare which he ignored. _Good grief what a stuffed shirt._ "Well, lead on man let's see what that group of oldies want with me." Rosen winced and seemed about to say something but a shake of the head from Shaak Ti caused him to subside. He nodded, and gestured for them both to follow him, moving off in stiff silence, stifling any further conversation with his mere presence.

They made it back to the temple in about another five minutes' walk. They found its halls silent now, since it was a few hours past sundown. Ranma ignored the looks he was getting from the guards, grateful to note that the Jedi at least had some understanding of security since there were several more guards out now than there had been during the day.

The three of them stayed together for a time as they ascended the temple, but eventually Shaak Ti paused. "This floor is where my assigned room is so I think I will leave you here Ranma. It was nice meeting you, and interesting as well."

Ranma smirked at her, reaching forward to shake her hand. "Nice meeting you, too." Shaak Ti smiled in reply, turning away without another word, but Ranma stayed put watching her go before quickly turning to follow Rosen who had already moved off.

A few more moments walking brought Rosen and Ranma to the Council, where Rosen bowed him inside. "Masters, I have brought Mr. Saotome."

"Mr. Saotome?" Ranma asked looking after him as he exited the room at a wave from one of the seated masters. "Really?"

Yoda grumbled shaking his head, and Yaddle chuckled. "Overly given to titles and appearances is young knight Rosen, hoped some extra work and close contact would remove that affectation from him we did. Early yet it is."

"Good luck with that one." Ranma said with a laugh. "Maybe a few good pranks could get knock that chip off his shoulder instead. I can give you some ideas in that direction?"

"We are Jedi, we do not do pranks," said one of the Masters repressively. "Ranma Saotome, you are here to answer some questions, and we expect your full compliance."

Ranma smirked, the same smirk that drove his rivals in same back in Nerima. "Really," he said moving forward to stand in the center of the room. "And how exactly are you going to enforce that compliance? Remember, I'm not one of your little followers. Hell, I'm not even from around here and last time I looked, even joining up with the Jedi was supposed to be choice, wasn't it? Or do you not give your youngsters that choice?"

"How dare you!" Piell barked.

"Enough." Dooku she said, standing up quickly and moving between Piell and Ranma. "We are not here to compare the size of our egos. Ranma is right, he is not a Jedi and therefore need not show any deference to this council. Nor, Ranma is this a place to show how, how **you** you can be, please at least try to be less confrontational."

While Ranma nodded somewhat abashed at how he had responded, while Yoda nodded. "Out of line you are master Piell, neither a prisoner nor a supplicant is Ranma, nor an enemy."

"That last remains to be seen." Said another master, an alien with a long neck and small head that Ranma hadn't seen before. "He certainly is no Jedi, but just look at how even talking about his abilities have divided us. He might not be an enemy, but if not what is he?""

"To decide this, why he was called for." Yoda answered serenely.

"He also doesn't like to be talked about as if **he** ain't here." Ranma said cracking his knuckles. "Getting a little irritated here people, get to the point."

The masters frowned, but seeing that there had been no flicker in the pillar of Living Force inside the young man they subsided, some of them in shock at how there hadn't been. Whatever the youth was, there really didn't seem to be any kind of close connection between his emotions and the Force. Moreover, the Living Force inside him didn't seem to let those emotions connect to the Unifying Force outside his body, which made him intrinsically unique.

"Spoken have we, with Masters Windu, Dooku and others you have interacted with. Their testimonies we have." Yoda said nodding over to Mace and the others, who nodded back, while master Giiett smiled towards Ranma as his friend Plo nodded his head.

At this Ranma calmed down noticeably as Giiett knew he would. Knowing he wasn't entirely ringed by people who would rather judge him then get to know him worked wonders on Ranma's defensiveness, as it would anyone.

"Heard also we have about Master Dooku's discussions with you, your opinions, your thoughts, your origins, and your proven abilities." Yoda put a slight emphasis on the word proven, showing Ranma he knew that there were still more tricks he hadn't shown yet. "Have heard about your agreement with Master Dooku. Now from your own mouth wish to learn what you wish to do. Not with your powers, but yourself in its entirety. What do you wish to be to the Jedi?"

Ranma turned from looking at the Masters one after another to stare at Yoda then at the strange snake alien who sat next to him then at Mace. Despite the council sitting in a circle Ranma could sense it was these three that were the center of the room.

He sighed, looking at first one then the other scratching at his ponytail. "You're speaking in generalities, I notice you Jedi like to do that, it's a particularly human trait. Humans always seem to want to speak about generalities, when they really should be speaking about people instead.

"That's sort of the point really. I've now met several Jedi, and I liked some of them, as individuals. I still have a major problem with your Order, it's Oaths, and how you go about trying to do good in the galaxy while having your hands tied by the senate." Gallia and several other Jedi frowned at that, but Ranma went on. "What do I want to be to the Jedi Order as a whole? I don't want to be your enemy, but I'm not going to be your slave either."

Before he could go on one of the Masters broke in sharply. "The Jedi do not have slaves!"

"No you just allow the practice." Ranma answered with a faint sneer waving that master to silence not even looking away from the three central figures. "Now let's get down to specifics. Let's get one thing straight, we all have things the other person wants. Dooku here are didn't exactly do a good job at hiding his interest in my skills."

"In my defense, I wasn't trying to hide it. I felt that such duplicity would have been gotten us off on the wrong foot." Dooku said with a faint smile

"Too damn right!" Ranma said with a laugh nodding his head at Dooku. "Play straight with me and I'll always play straight with you. You can set that in stone."

"As I said, I don't think there is a lying bone in his body." Giiett murmured.

"Played card games or other games of chance you did not," Yoda said, speaking up before any of the other Masters could. "Reasoning?"

"That's kind of off tangent, but the reason is, well I can bluff in battle, but outside it? No chance." Ranma laughed remembering how he and Ukyo had faced off against the gambling king, and how he'd been forced to cover his face with bandages to keep from giving anything away.

"And that laugh means there is a tale there." Dooku murmured.

"I just can't control my face that's all." Ranma laughed. "So I had to cover it up this one time I…"

"We are getting off topic". Said Ranicisis, smiling faintly. He now understood what Yoda had been talking about in their earlier meeting. _Irreverent this youngster might be, but being around him, it makes you feel younger somehow, he somehow draws you in and makes you respond on his level. A very odd sort of charisma, but it's definitely there._

"While I'm certain your stories are fascinating, we should get on with this conversation. Dooku as you said informed you what we would want from you. Have you made a decision there, and what would you want in return? Are you willing to teach at all?"

Ranma frowned faintly. "Whether or not I'm willing to teach, that will be on a case-by-case basis. Like I said, I think that the Jedi Order, as a whole and as individuals **try** to do good, but as I've made no bones about hidin' I've got issues with how you lot run the Order, your oath, how emotions are treated, how you don't really have ties to the lives of those you protect, just the, the scaffold of the Republic rather than its actual people."

More than one of the masters joined Gallia in frowning at this, despite having heard this before from Dooku and the others involved in the Yinchorri campaign. Gallia, Piell, Koth, and the long-necked Jedi looked particularly wary. Ranma's thoughts on those points attacked the every root of what they felt had allowed the Order to become the bastion of good they felt it was.

"Furthermore, my skills are dangerous." All of the Masters had to nod at that. Yoda's description of Ranma's fighting in the arena, and the others during the battles against the Yinchorri had made that obvious to all of them. "I'm not going to teach anyone if I don't think that they'll be able to handle it honorably, and I don't mean handle the extra responsibility. I mean be human about it, I know that sounds racist, but there's no other way of putting it."

The Masters all looked around at one another. A little over half of them still looked concerned, but it was obvious that Yoda and the more senior members were in accord here. And really after Yoda had shared his vision with them their decisions was a foregone conclusion, so one after another they all nodded.

Seeing this Yoda spoke up once more. "Aide you will have to start your journey, connection we will maintain for now, first student we will send with you. to look at your concerns we cannot promise, but will agree to listen to concerns of Master Giiett about the mental impact of our Oaths at present. Old Jedi Oath, there is, far more open than current one, much closer to what you seem to think is the ideal. Revived, it might be. But for now, short term goal, you have?"

"I want to head to Dac, to purchase a ship there." Ranma replied promptly, then laughed. "I've got enough money for it now."

There were some murmurings about that, and Yoda chuckled. "Coincidence this is. Sending two knights to Dac we were going to soon. Reports we have of trouble there involving former Alderaan Rangers."

Ranma's eyes narrowed, but one of the other Masters picked up the tale before he could speak. "The Alderaan Rangers are made up of younglings, mostly younglings anyway, who do not meet the… call it the power requirements to be trained as full Jedi. They retain their connection to the order though are not bound by its laws, and often aid Jedi in our missions."

Plo Koon took up the tale from there. "Two Mon Calamari rangers retired several years ago to marry, and their child and they have not responded to contact in over two months. We fear foul play, especially since both have been proponents of Dac fully joining the Republic, which is not a popular view on Dac, though Master Dooku's political maneuvering might change that."

"Switch out Knight Teshvar with Knight Shaak Ti we will." Yoda said. "Good impression she has already made on Ranma, diplomatic and investigative skills she has, whereas Knight Fisto, a Guardian he is through and through. Work well together they will on this assignment, and Knight Ti, first student of Ranma will be."

"I… can go along with that I think. She's ain't as unemotional as I'd feared was the norm among you Jedi, and she seems solid mentally, at least so far. But you know I'm gonna force her ta look hard at that oath of yours, see what she thinks about it before making any final decision." Ranma said thoughtfully, pulling at his pigtail as he thought before looking over at Dooku, ignoring the affronted looks his blunt speaking engendered. "Are you alright with that?"

"Watching your techniques in action have given me enough to think about for now Ranma. I've come close to figuring out your speed technique, and I have ideas about your strength as well. That is enough for now, though I hope you will extend your training to include me in the future." Dooku said with equanimity, hoping the Jedi and Ranma would continue to get along in the future.

Right now, they had made more progress than he had dared hope thanks to Yoda's unexpected backing. Now he was willing to get Ranma away from the council for a time, let them deal with the changes Yoda had proposed and the reality of Ranma's existence first before pushing harder for the Order to start changing its belief system.

Ranma nodded. "In that case, when do we leave, and who's Knight Fisto?"

* * *

 **End Chapter**

Again, this chapter was a little longer than I expected, but I wanted the irritating Council crap out of the way, and I felt Ranma needed a bit of an adventure on Coruscant. Frankly, I'm uncertain they came off as I hoped. As individuals the Jedi are good people, it's just that as a group they have become too big picture to really act as they should. Going forward I'd like to have a beta with knowledge of the SW world, and who is willing to call me out on any OOC moments. If you think you're up to it, send me a PM please!

Ranma will have a bit of an adventure on Dac, spend some time there with Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto, build up his knowledge base more, piloting skills, and get a ship, then I hope to send him directly into a Phantom Menace. Hehe…

Poll has been updated for this next month, ATP will be updated next month, but check my page for more info on that story if you want.


	4. Chapter 4

Star Wars/Ranma Crossover

I don't own Star Wars - Kylo Ren…most emo villain ever (and is it just me, or is that name from one of the villains in the Star Wars Droids cartoon?), and not enough Kasumi.

Oh, a brief warning for this first section - Yoda speak is horrible.

This has now been betaed by ultimaflare0. Apologies, I completely forgot about changing this chapter out with the betaed version.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 Old Memories, New Ways of Thinking**

As Knight Rosen showed Ranma to his room for the evening, Yoda and Yaddle walked slowly through the temple towards the Jedi library, waiting until they were alone in the corridors before speaking. It was Yaddle who spoke up first; among their species it was always the younger that began any discussion. The older you were the less you spoke but the more weight your words carried.

"Checked the holocrons I have, searched through it with Jocasta. Sphere of Light Force power Master Twoseas reported, hints there are, but no clue how to create such. Projection of pure Light-based Force, a technique like that if it ever existed, lost it has been." Yaddle shook her head. "Ranma's version, astonishing it is different than any equivalent, possibly longer ranged."

Yoda grumbled deep in his throat, tapping his stick on the ground as they walked. "Equivalent?"

"Sith Lightning, Ionize, Electric Judgement, Force Wave, Dark Side powers there are too, but none explained in the holocrons of course. Looked at them I have, mastered more than a few Light bases ones as you know." Yaddle was a master of Ionize, a droid disabling technique that held a superficial resemblance to Force Lightning, a skill designed to disable droids, and several other ancient skills. "Ranma's technique In terms of destructive power is better. Target multiple enemies it cannot as far as we know, yet could even be better depending on its cost to the user."

Finding out about old techniques and attempting to recreate them was one of Yaddle's favorite pastimes. Hence why she had volunteered to go through holocrons in search of anything like Ranma's skills.

"Report did I on the odd trick Ranma used on the money. Thoughts you have?" Yoda asked.

"Reports or stories of such there are not." Yaddle's voice was excited, as excited as she ever let it become anyway. "Fascinating concept that is, strange it is, no idea how it could be accomplished. Would have to study it in depth, discover how Ranma did it first. At first thought did I think that you were speaking of a limited but powerful Force Stealth, but fool you it would not."

Yaddle's older companion harrumphed, nodding his head. "Examined my memories I did, saw a hint of whatever it was I did, but not enough."

The two continued to walk for a time before Yaddle spoke up once more. "Physical abilities, they at least can be re-created master Dooku thinks. After the celebratory party with the Senate, sparred he did with Master Windu this evening. Much better than they were a few weeks ago already are master Dooku's physical abilities."

"Knew this I did, Ranma's physical abilities the least of my concerns they are. Ranma's way of thinking, troubling it is, emotional he is, willful he is. Ability to use the Living Force within his body, without his emotions affecting it, surprising, unprecedented that is." Yoda mused, fighting himself.

"Indeed studied that must be." Yaddle said, excitedly now

Yoda snorted at his younger companion's enthusiasm. _600 years old she is, still possessed of knowledge fever Yaddle is._ Yet Yoda was concerned about something else that Ranma had said, somewhat anyway. "True, but cautious we must be, on two fronts. One, ideas of Ranma, dangerous they might be if left to spread without control. Going back to the Old Oath, Old Oath much closer to what Ranma seems to think wise, repudiating some of the Russaan Reformation hopefully, but slowly, very slowly, hope that will be enough. Must talk to Masters Koon and Giiett who have questioned these things, truth there might be in their concerns, know this now I do."

Having the future if the Order did not begin to grow so coldly laid out before him had been humbling to Yoda, though he was still struggling to figure out how to change it. He knew the Force had told him that now that he'd arrived here Ranma's teachings would be necessary to fight the tide, but even so, going against nearly a thousand years of his ingrained thought process was very tough. Especially since the oath as it was worked perfectly for him and many other species like him. And yet..

His companion said nothing, having remained steadfastly neutral in those discussions, it was far outside her own realm of experience or interest. And if Master Giiett had been correct all along that for humans and others like them that kind of training forced an unhealthy mentality, then it was a good idea to change it. It was that simple to her. "And the second?"

"Learning, Ranma must from us. Or lose interest in the Order he will while he still need to be learning from him."

Turning to glance at the Grand Master of the Order Yaddle frowned. "Need?"

"Need." Yoda replied, his face and stance firming as if he was trying to throw off his concerns by sheer force of will. "Changing things Ranma arrival has already done. Told you I did the Dark Side is rising, clear source there does not seem to be, but learn and grow our adversaries will in some fashion, unforeseen changes there will be. Learning from Ranma as well can we, only way to match them it is."

Yaddle nodded her head slowly, not giving voice to the thought that she had come to believe much like Dooku had, that the Senate had become too corrupt of late. Bureaucracies became corrupt over time, it was the way of things. But the factionalism and the open corruption was a very bad sign, a sign that the Republic was beginning to be too big to administer itself fairly. However when she spoke, she voiced something else entirely. "Changes he might have made already, but Ranma source of Light he is?"

"Yes, chaotic source he is, but of the Light for certain." Yoda said simply. "Yet interesting it will be, if he begins to learn Jedi techniques, how much like us he will become, or vice versa. But for that, keep his attention on us we need until alliance, secure it is."

"Then choose a master we must, one able to both grab that attention and teach him in the old way the way of the Jedi of old times." Yaddle replied.

Yoda nodded, and halted perforce stopping Yaddle as well. "Look through the library you will, pick one master you will, speak only to me with your decision. Aid you will have after this, a new project you will be set. Old techniques must be revived, Master Nu and yours this task will be, yet slow and secretive for now. Change we must, but controlled it must be, else we push to far."

Yaddle nodded her head, and Yoda turned away moving towards his quarters.

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak Ti was surprised to be summoned to the high Council early the next morning, but she was even more surprised when Master Windu and Master Ranicisis told her about her newest assignment. "I am simply to stay with and learn from Ranma? I understand the interest Masters, I've seen some of what he can do, but surely simply letting him stay here and teach others here would be a better idea."

"Not to Ranma." Dooku said shaking his head from where he was standing by the council's windows. "Ranma wants to travel the universe almost as much as he wants to learn from our own techniques. And frankly the boy has a classic case of wanderlust, trying to keep him in one place would be an exercise in futility."

Shaak Ti nodded slowly, remembering how Ranma had transformed her little outburst into an opportunity to go gambling and rake in enough money to buy a starship. "He's certainly an odd mix of adaptable and focused isn't he?"

"Essentially you're going to be learning from him as a sort of trial. We want to know if his Force techniques can be used by Jedi, and frankly the young man needs a minder." Mace said while Dooku simply nodded.

Since his arrival in this universe, Ranma had stopped a slaver attack which resulted in a major governmental shakeup, took part in a war, and toppled a minor gangster, all in less than a month without even looking for trouble. And judging by the stories he'd shared, that was simply par for the course. Dooku liked the youth, and was thankful the Force had sent Ranma to him, for many reasons. But the idea of letting Ranma out into an unsuspecting universe was enough to give him the shivers. Or laugh aloud, it was a tossup really.

"Frankly, I think he is more of a Chaos magnet than a locus as master Yoda calls him," the tall sword master said aloud. "He **will** find trouble no matter where he goes or what he does. Perhaps if a Jedi is always by his side, you will at least be able to keep the collateral damage to a minimum."

That caused Shaak Ti to wince slightly, having heard some of the same stories that Dooku had over dinner last night and the walk before it. "I'll try my best," she said, somewhat lamely even she had to admit.

"Do or do not there is no try." Ranicisis said, smiling faintly. He too had felt the odd charisma Ranma seemed to have, and was interested to see what the effect of the locus would be on the galaxy. But as old as he was, he wished to observe said effect from a safe distance. "And look on the bright side young Shaak Ti, you'll be learning something new in every sense of the word. Moreover, that will not be your only mission. Wherever Ranma goes, you will be assigned missions in the same solar system just like this time around. You see we have learned that there is a problem on Dac involving…"

 **OOOOOOO**

With the promise of a ship and the offer of training in the Jedi's techniques, Ranma was lead off to a room for the night. Looking around it the next morning he cracked his neck explosively, massaging his lower back. "Damn Chi-mad monks, would it kill them to have comfortable beds?" Ranma could sleep practically anywhere, but when he had a bedroom, he sort of expected to have a comfy bed to go with it. _I miss my futon from the Tendo place… funny thing to think of right now, but meh. Time to feed the beast._ With that Ranma exited his room, heading down to where he'd seen what looked like a cafeteria the day before.

The food the Jedi served in the cafeteria was simple fair, but there was no end of it, which served Ranma just fine, despite the lack of meat. The bread was amazing, some of the best he'd ever tasted, with a hint of something like rosemary or something, but not quite, with a kick to it like a pepper. The soup was thick but rather bland in comparison, yet Ranma ate as much in one sitting as most Jedi would in a day.

The sight of Ranma eating was not one to be missed, and more than one group of younglings or knights stopped their own repast to stare as food disappeared from his tray. Ranma's previous balancing act with that tray, stacked so haphazardly with food it should have collapsed hadn't evinced any reaction. These were Jedi and balance like that was something many of them could do, even if they felt it wasteful to do with food. But the speed Ranma showed in something so blasé as eating was astonishing.

As was the fact only the most observant could even make out Ranma's mouth opening and closing between bites. It was like watching a vacuum eat, accompanied by 'nom, nom' sounds.

"Do you eat like this all the time?" said a female voice, causing Ranma to look up at Shaak Ti, standing beside his chair. She smiled slightly at him, purple lips quirking. "I didn't believe you last night when you said that eating could be training. Now I do."

"Heh, my old man had a hell of a lot of weird training ideas, but some of 'em worked." Ranma put down his utensils, smirking as he wiped his mouth with a napkin, his tray now empty. Despite his speed, his manners had been impeccable throughout, much like during their dinner the evening before. "I take it you heard you were kind of assigned to me, to see if I'd take you on as a student? What do you think about that? If ya don't want it, I can talk them out of…"

"I'm fine with the idea Ranma, trust me." Shaak Ti interrupted him, rather amused at how Ranma went from confident to nervous there for some reason. She sat down, looking at him even as she brought up a piece of bread to her mouth, smiling at the taste hit her. Despite their incredibly different evolutionary history, human and Togrutan taste buds were very similar. "I am uncertain about what you are looking for in a full time student to learn your, what did you call them, ki techniques? But you will find me an eager student."

For some reason Ranma's treacherous mind supplied the image of Shaak Ti dressed in a sailor fuku, and he controlled his blush with difficulty. "Er, I'm glad you understand that but…" He paused, frowning and looking around, glad that there weren't any other Jedi sitting nearby. "I don't know how much you heard, but I don't exactly like the Jedi Code, or the mindset it imposes on you. I don't like this whole no relationships, no possessions, no emotions, only peace thing. It ain't healthy."

"I had gathered that yes. I have been trained as a Jedi however, and that Oath, the mindset you so derided, is an important part of what we are. It lets us keep our objectivity and lets us use the Force without fear of falling to the Dark Side. I am willing to hear your thoughts about it, but I will make my own judgement." Shaak Ti replied levelly. While a part of her was eager to learn Ranma's techniques, particularly that Force shield he'd used to stop her lightsaber in their spar, she wasn't going to blithely turn her back on everything she'd been taught as a Jedi.

"Good. In that case, once we leave we'll continue sparring, the more fit you are the more ki you have. But we'll also need to talk about that kind of thing, not really certain how to go about doing that if I'm honest. Philosophy's never been a big part of my life, and my debates with Dooku are about the only things I have to call upon about it."

Shaak Ti nodded then raised a hand, gesturing to someone behind Ranma. "The council told you that another knight would be going with us I believe? This is Knight Kit Fisto."

Ranma turned as another knight made his way over to them, shaking his head in renewed surprise. His first impression of this new alien was that Kit Fisto was like a green, very green, cross between a Twi'lek and an octopus. He had green glossy-seeming skin, wide eyes, and something like a dozen tentacles cascading like hair down from the back of his head, with two larger ones dropping down the front like lekku. He was tall, and wore the normal Jedi robe with a lightsaber belted to one side. He also had a small mouth for the size of his face, but it was quirked into a faint smile.

"You have got to be from a water world." Ranma said, shaking his head. "You look like an octopus monster."

"I have no idea what an octopus is but I feel like I've just been insulted." Kit mused, his smile widening slightly. "Still, you're right that my species evolved on a water world, Glee Anselm. You might say I'm uniquely suited to any job that might take me into the water like the one on Dac."

Kit paused, looking between the young human and Shaak Ti. He hadn't ever met her before save in passing, but had heard nothing but good things about her from others who had worked beside the Togrutan female. "I realize that you have some, interesting skills the council wishes to see passed on, but realize that I and Knight Ti will have a job to do when we get to Dac. Any training takes second place to that. I haven't been assigned to learn from you, but I also hope to take part in any physical exercises at the very least."

"Heard about that from the council, not a problem, I'll even help if ya need me to once we arrive." Ranma said with a shrug. "I ain't exactly new to dealing with kidnappers, and I'm a decent tracker, though I don't know how that'll work on a water world like Dac's supposed to be."

"We'll be able to handle the investigation part don't worry." Shaak replied then smirked. "On the other hand, you **would** take some beating in the realm of brute muscle. Just leave the thinking to us and you'll do just fine."

"Ouch." Ranma laughed, watching as Fisto smiled at Shaak's joke. _Maybe not all the orders bought blindly into that whole no emotions all is peace crap._

Kit Fisto broke in then. "I was told our ship will be ready to go late this afternoon, so we have time until then. Normally I would take the time to meditate before a mission, but I wondered if you would be up to a spar? I'd like to see what all the fuss is about to be honest."

About an hour later, Kit Fisto learned that he should always be careful what he asked for. Sparring against Ranma was a learning experience. Sparing against Shaak Ti as Ranma shouted out suggestions reminded Kit all too easily of his time as a youngling. Worst was Shaak Ti beat him rather easily. Kit wasn't egotistical about it, but he knew he was one of the better duelists among the knights. Being defeated by a recently elevated knight was rather humbling.

It was her Force Precognition, he decided, watching as Ranma and Shaak Ti sparred in a battle that could barely be called a spar, despite their faint smiles. _Her Force Precognition is beyond anything a newly minted knight should be capable of. Still, it's obvious that keeping up with Ranma's sheer speed and skill would push you to new heights even after a single spar. That, and her use of punches and that blow to my wrist…_

Kit rubbed his wrist, which still stung slightly from the strength of that punch. _I'll have to hasten my training my off hand, I might have kept the spar going after that with my skill in Force Pushes and Pulls, but once Shaak Ti had my lightsaber in her hand, the battle was as good as over._

Watching the two now Kit also made a note to himself to look into unarmed skills as well. The way Ranma seamlessly blended his staff skills with kicks and punches was something to see, a style of combat that was like, yet utterly unlike any of the lightsaber forms. Shaak Ti might have overcome Kit with her mastery of Ataru and her new skillset, but her personal style was still barely half-formed, while Ranma was clearly a master at his. If anything, it was his use of a staff that was new to him.

"Interesting." Said a voice, causing Kit to turn and bow politely to Master Sora Bulq, a respected duelist himself. He had helped Master Windu develop Vaapad, the seventh lightsaber form several years ago, and was currently here in the temple as a teacher for the more advanced learners. Many of whom had entered the training area behind him, along with knight Vos, for some reason. "Very interesting. However I have to ask if my class and I will be able to use this room now? We did have it scheduled for advanced dueling."

Ranma looked at Shaak Ti and shrugged. "Sorry about that, guess we got carried away." Shaak Ti apologized as well, bowing respectfully to the master before moving over to retrieve her robe, which she had gotten rid of during the duel as part of a feint.

It hadn't worked as well as she hoped, but had allowed her to 'chop off' Ranma's right arm, forcing him to act for the rest of the duel as if he had lost the limb. That she had paid for it by a blow that had nearly thrown her out of the sparring ring and bruised her chest was immaterial.

"Still, I do apologize. That was an excellent example of true combat rather than the rarefied dueling too many of our number are so enamored of." Sora Bulq replied, smiling at them both. He was a tallish alien with thick, gray skin, and something that looked like hair but might not, Ranma wasn't certain, pulled into a series of tight pigtails down the back of his head and neck. He was also clearly a veteran combatant to Ranma's eyes, the way he was measuring both Ranma and Shaak Ti, his body still, his eyes searching, told Ranma that.

"I would like to observe from the beginning the next time you spar with anyone young Ranma. Master Windu spoke of your skill in the battle against the Yinchorri when we ate together this morning, and I can see he was not exaggerating."

Ranma nodded, then followed Shaak Ti over to where Kit and another young man, whose age was somewhere between the two were talking. None present noticed how Master Bulq's eyes remained on Ranma's back for a moment before he turned to his students. "We will begin with stretches, and then move on immediately to group sparring. I expect you all to take into account what you have just seen, that your entire body is a weapon, that the Force is as much a weapon in a fight as your lightsaber, and one you need to learn to use offensively as much as you rely on it to guide your actions."

As the students responded, quickly moving forward, Ranma came within hearing range of the three knights. "So I've been cleared by the healers, but they still won't tell me where they sent Aayla!" The new knight, a human with black hair done into dreadlocks and a weird tattoo on his face, a bar of yellow running across his nose, was saying his face twisted in a rictus of anger.

Watching the man's face and how he clenched his fists Ranma frowned, but before he could say anything Master Bulq spoke up from behind him. "Knight Vos, please come over here. I wish you to take half of these students and show them the difference between Ataru's Leaping over the Waterfall and Makashi's Jumping for the Stars."

The new, as yet unintroduced knight nodded his head sharply and made his way over, his irritation fading as he did while Kit chuckled under his breath, turning to leave the room with the other two. "I see Master Bulq still has a tendency to use the more flowery terms for the various stances when he's making a point."

"I agree Quinlan needs more self-control, but his irritation is somewhat justified. Aayla is far too young to be sent out on a mission alone." Shaak Ti replied, her face twisted into a frown as she thought of her friend once more.

"I think I'd come down on Kit's side of this debate. That guy, Quinlan? He looked close to lashing out." _Wish I had activated my ki sense, I wonder what I'd have felt just then._ Ranma knew the Force seemed to have some kind of reverb effect when someone interacted with it without controlling his emotions, but didn't know enough about the effect to be happy.

"Really?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Yeah, you Jedi need to learn how to control your emotions, let 'em out in a controlled way. He didn't look like he was able to do that."

"I am afraid you would find many among the Masters to agree with you on that. My friend Quinlan has severe control issues coming from his life before he was found and brought to the Jedi. And his bond to his apprentice is too personal for many Masters to like." Shaak replied, sighing.

Ranma had heard about the apprentice bond from Dooku, that instant moment of recognition between a Jedi and a youngling. This was the first time however he had heard that such a thing could be seen as being too close. "That makes no sense, how can someone have a 'too close' an apprentice bond?" he asked, shaking his head.

"They feel as if the bond is coming dangerously close to being too possessive. And from such can rise other emotions." Kit replied, smiling slightly. "I'm not certain I agree with that, but I think they are going about trying to wean the two off each other the wrong way. Sending Aayla out on a mission alone makes sense, but it makes even me uneasy given how young she is."

"How young are we talking about here?" Ranma said stopping suddenly and turning to them, his blue eyes suddenly dark.

Shaak Ti laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to subtly calm Ranma down without resorting to a Force compulsion, knowing how Ranma would react to that. Then she began to push Ranma along moving them down the corridor rather than block traffic, which at this time of day was heavy in this part of the temple, dominated as it was by the training areas and the classrooms for younglings. "She is 18 and has been a padawan for two years now. Her combat skills are impressive for her age, and she has already determined that she will be a Guardian, which in one aspect puts her rather above me."

She laughed quietly, waving off Ranma's questioning look at that, before going on more seriously. "She was chosen for this mission because she was quote uniquely suited for it, end quote. I'm not certain what that means, but none of the Masters I've talked to were willing to inform me of what her mission entailed."

Ranma paused again, staring at her then at Fisto then back towards the training area they had just left. _I can think of one kind of mission a Twi'lek'd be uniquely suited for, but that's, that's stupid! No one would be that_ _ **stupid**_ _would they? Surely the Jedi now what happens to slaves, especially female ones!?_

He tried to picture Mace or Dooku or Yoda condoning such a mission, and then sighed faintly in relief, knowing they wouldn't be that stupid. The only one that might be was the Zabrak whose name Ranma couldn't care to remember, and he didn't have enough pull on the council, or at least Ranma didn't think so, to send anyone out on missions. _Thank God for that._ "All right, I can understand where he's coming from, but I still think he does need to work on his anger issues."

"Do not worry," said Fisto. "Master Bulq is well known for being able to train out any such Dark tendencies."

Ranma frowned at the wording, but had to nod not having enough knowledge about Bulq or Quinlan to make a comment. Kit stretched his hands above his head, cracking his neck and shoulders explosively sending his lekku to shake. "Well, I have to say it was very interesting sparring with you Ranma, and I think I understand now why the Masters are so intrigued by you. Still, I have other things that need to do today. I will meet you by the lending pad at around four o'clock this afternoon."

As Kit walked away Ranma cocked an eyebrow at Shaak Ti. "You supposed to keep an eye on me while we're here?"

"Pretty much yes," Shaak Ti said with a faint smile. "I'd prefer to meditate before a mission, especially one where we'll be on a ship for several days in hyperspace. But if you do not wish to do so, I am at your disposal."

"Well I've got one, maybe two errands I'd like to do before we go." Ranma said pulling at his pigtail for a moment. He explained what happened with the weird spider alien, then explained what he wanted to do, which made Shaak Ti frown and smile in turn. The idea of communicating with words with an astromech droid was an interesting one, but arming them was a bit strange. They tended to be more independent and abrasive than most service droids, and she said so.

"Good!" Ranma laughed. "Then Tune and I'll get along just fine!"

Shaak Ti rolled her eyes in exasperation, but nodded and followed Ranma as he made his way out of the Temple. She paused then, staring up into the sky away from the skyscrapers, the light glinting off the jewel of the small tiara that she wore between her montrals. Turning back she smiled, enjoying the faint breeze that was moving across the Senatorial Sector at present from the weather control satellites. "What was that other errand you said you might want to do?"

"Well that's a question, because I loved the bread this morning, but that kind of gruel or whatever it was, was really bland. You guys eat that all the time?"

"Sometimes on board ships its worse. The older masters say that it's simple the most efficient use of food, the smallest amount of ingredients to give you the maximum amount of protein and other dietary needs. We young ones think it's simply another way of teaching us to abstain all physical things, affectations or feelings of entitlement."

"Well I'm not a Jedi, I don't have to ignore my stomach, it'd revolt if I tried." Ranma laughed. "So another errand is stocking up on some supplies for this trip. I looked it up last night, and it'll take us at least two weeks to get to Dac from here."

"Yes, the Mon Calamari homeworld is rather off the beaten trail for much of the Republic, even with the use of hyperspace trade routes." Shaak Ti nodded then smiled, her teeth glinting in the light, showing that her species were indeed still more carnivore than omnivore. "I'm presuming that steak will be included in that?"

Ranma laughed. "Just let me go get Tune first."

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Ranma and Shaak Ti were heading down into the bowels of Coruscant the various Jedi Masters assigned to the Senate were working with Dooku conversing with various senators, getting a feel for the emotions in the Senate towards the Arming Rights revisions that they had promised to make into law. This was done in an informal setting rather than a formal one, as most of the business of the Senate was done these days. By the time anything got to point where it was finally brought up in the actual Senate Hall, the actual debate about it, whatever it was, was well over.

Despite his Guardian status Dooku was a past master at this kind of work a smooth diplomat with a natural charisma having been trained in the ways of the nobility of Sirenno before he was found to have Force talent. He moved from office to office, or small gathering to small gathering taking place in this or that council room, taking the temperature of the Senate just as easily as master Gallia or any of the others assigned to this work normally would've been able to.

He stopped at one room in particular, where his friend Sheev was holding forth with a number of other senators from the mid rim Territories. The senator of Naboo Sheev Palpatine looked up as he entered smiling and waving his hand grandly. "And here we have one of the heroes of the Yinchorri Uprising! Gentlemen, I'm certain you will all join with me in welcoming Jedi Master Dooku."

Several of them did so, while a few simply nodded their heads. "Thank you for your gracious welcome Senators," Dooku said, smiling politely, if distantly. With that he moved towards them, shaking hands here and there as the murmurs of conversation rose once again.

Many of these senators were from planets that the Trade Federation did business with. Of course given the reach the Trade Federation had that didn't say much, but these planets were from the Mid Rim or Outer Rim territories where the Trade Federation was strongest. Others were from the Techno Union, while one was a representative of the Banking Clan, though Dooku had not met this one before. He took some time speaking to them all, these movers and shakers behind the scene, feeling them out.

Afterwards, he moved over to his friend nodding his head politely. "And how are you doing my friend?"

"I am as well as I can be, but you did not come here to exchange pleasantries Master Dooku. I know well how much you secretly dislike political maneuverings." Sheev actually smiled slightly, waving his hand as the two moved slightly away from the others, not so far as to be conspicuous, but enough so that their conversation could not be overheard above the general hubbub. "You are here to sound me out on something to do with the Arming Rights? Is that what you promised the Sluisi and Mon Calamari?"

"I am not surprised that you have already heard about that Sheev, but I have to say I am not pleased by what I am sensing."

"No more should you. I do not know how, but the Trade Federation has apparently gotten wind of your idea, and has already begun to work against you. They fear their monopoly on trade in the Outer Rim will be broken if other trade conglomerates are able to move into that sector."

"The Mon Calamari and the Sluisi are scarcely trading guilds," Dooku replied mildly.

"Yes but that is how they are seen by other people who don't have regular contact with them. Arming their merchant ships or providing escorts outside their territory isn't seen as something that they desire to defend their interests, but to **expand** those interests. It's all about appearance. Every senator sees any law we pass through the, the tinted glasses of his or her personal thoughts and feelings. I could wish most of those thoughts and feelings matched up to the good of their constituents, but then I would be lying."

Dooku smiled, raising his glass of water towards the senator who smiled in turn. Then Sheev frowned, looking at his friend sideways before glancing out across the rest of the room. "Is there any truth to the rumor that you also wish to add the Corellians to these revisions in the Arming Rights?"

"Yes there is," Dooku replied. "There is a strategic reason for it of course, those three-star systems the named after them, and the Corellian and Sluisi sectors in particular are known to be home to several bandit and pirate groups."

"And the fact that the three of those races could provide a counterweight to the Trade Federation has nothing to do with it?" Sheev Palpatine replied tartly, shaking his head. "The Trade Federation is too powerful in the Senate my friend, its allies will have nothing to do with this idea. You will have one hell of a fight getting this through against their bought and paid for senators, and that's not even mentioning some of the other… odd… undertones I've noticed of late."

Waving Dooku's questioning look off Sheev shook his head. "I'm not going to share those thoughts until I have proof to back up my feelings. But there is one part of it I can tell you. I've spoken to several dozen species senators and putting aside those who come from pacifistic planets like my own who will refuse to back such a revision as a matter of course, some will possibly be willing to back up the idea of revising the arming rights to include the Mon-Calamari or the Sluisi. But none of them are willing to do so for the Corellians."

Dooku's eyebrows rose, and Palpatine went on. "The general idea is that they haven't proven themselves. They weren't involved in your recent activities after all, and there is a certain amount of resentment towards them for other issues, most notably the fact that despite being full members in the Republic unlike the Mon Calamari they have their own homegrown defense fleet and they like to throw their weight around far more often. I realize their sector is much more lawless than the Mon Cal sector, but it still bothers various senators."

"And of course there it the ongoing issues between the Corellians and the Techno Union and the Commerce Guild." Sheev rolled his eyes, looking tired. "That particular morass isn't going to go away anytime soon."

The Corellians didn't let the Commerce Guild open any business in their system, and put pressure on them anywhere else in their sector, not liking the way the Commerce Guild ran itself like a separate government rather than a corporation. And the Techno Union was angry at the Corellians not allowing any research to be done on Shatterpoint Station.

"Interesting," Dooku said thoughtfully. "Still, I'll have to talk this over with the rest of the Masters assigned to this project, and of course to the Chancellor. In fact, I think I'm due at the Chancellor's office in a few moments. It was good to talk to Sheev, your insights are always valuable to me, and I hope we'll have time to talk in the future."

"Of course my friend of course," Palpatine said nodding his head. Then he smirked. "And then you can tell me about these odd rumors about you having taken on a new padawan, a young redheaded human girl?"

"I really must find out how these rumors get about." Dooku said smiling blandly, sharing a laugh with his friend. If there was one thing that moved fast enough to make Hypercom communication seem slow, it was rumors in Coruscant, and Dooku was not surprised at all to find that Ranma's presence was already becoming known if in a very strange and limited fashion.

Dooku left then not noticing his friend staring after him for a moment before going back to his fellow delegates. For just a moment there was something in Palpatine's that, had anyone noticed, they would have said looked rather sinister.

Moments later Dooku met with the other Masters assigned to this duty and the Chancellor in his office discussing what they had learned. There Dooku found that his friend had been largely correct.

"Pushing to revise the Arming Rights law is going to be difficult and lengthy, even more so than I had feared." Gallia said, rubbing her forehead in thought. "I realize the council agreed to do so, but I this going to incur a **lot** of antipathy from several senators, not including those of the Trade Federation, who already feel disdain towards us. I'm not happy about how belligerent the pacifistic senators are about this. Nor the fact the Banking Clan and Techno Union are both set against it already, I see no reason for that stance, and that worries me."

Valorum had sat silent throughout sharing a few words here and there, but mainly letting the Jedi talk it out between them. Now he spoke up, shaking his head slightly. "There is also an odd feeling the Senate. **Racism** is becoming an issue, particularly between humans and other races. The rumors that you are pushing for the Corellians to be included in this new revision is helping in some quarters, particularly with **human** senators, but it's causing a backlash from other races senators, and of course the opposite is also true."

"Strange, I can understand why someone would believe that the Corellians haven't proven themselves and the Trade Federation's stance is logical, no matter how much I dislike them. But this racist issue, that is something new, and very troubling." Dooku, Gallia and Master Poof, the other High Council member assigned to this task, all shared a glance, knowing they would have to report this to the rest of the council at the earliest opportunity.

"Agreed." Finis Valorum was an adept politician who had seen the Senate through many different crises over his tenure as Chancellor. He sighed faintly. "I think the Banking Clan and Techno Union are both simply being belligerent to force concessions out of us or at best to cost us political capital, neither of them are seriously against the Arming Rights Law being revised, they don't have anything but small scale trade agreements with the TF."

"However," he sighed again. "The various unaligned senators who are from pacifist planets and the human senators who are feeling worried about two more 'alien' species being allowed to either arm their merchant ships or protect them with their own fleets outside their borders, those will need much more work. I think Master Dooku, that if you, a human Jedi Master from a planet as important as Sirenno takes the lead, we will be better served if a non-human Jedi was to do the same, no offense."

"I do not like it, but I agree." Dooku said with a nod after Poof and Gallia both nodded agreement. That this basically nailed his feet down here on Coruscant was not lost on him, and a slight feeling of frustration filled him as he imagined Ranma being able to roam solar systems at will.

 _If only all of us had such freedom. Perhaps eventually the Order will change to what I hope, going where the Force wills. But for now, I gave my word, and I will see this through before anything else. Damn it._

 **OOOOOOO**

It took Ranma and Shaak Ti around two hours to get down to the level where the spider alien's shop was located, then another 40 minutes to find the place. This time however Ranma wasn't attacked simply because Shaak Ti was both dressed as a Jedi and had the lightsaber of one. Even the most recalcitrant ganger knew not to mess with a Jedi.

The shop was a large one filling some kind of ancient looking hangar bay. It had several dozen gantries, walkways and chains crisscrossing here and there in the upper works of the warehouse, boxes and crates of robotic parts and other items stacked haphazardly here and there, creating a three-dimensional maze effect.

At the center of the warehouse was a small raised dais in a clear area. On top of that a wraparound desk was situated with several dozen heavy cables connected to it leading up into the dark of the warehouse ceiling for some reason.

Ranma realized why this was a second after he came within sight of the desk. The alien he had met the previous evening scuttled down one of those chains like the spider he so recognized, settling into position and squawking into a machine of some sort set on the desk. A moment later a silver and white droid came out from among the boxes and crates, nodding his head creakily towards the newcomers. "Greetings, I am protocoldroid DT, I will be translating for my master."

"That's fine," Ranma said with a nod. "Unless he was drunk when he was gamblin' yer boss should recognize me right?" The droid relayed this and the alien's eyestalks bobbed. Ranma figured that meant the alien remembered. "I'm here to look through your stock, see if I can find enough to offset my balance o' your shop. Specifically parts to customize astromech droids and better communicate with one."

The alien chittered something at him motioning Ranma down one section of the warehouse then back and to several others. "My master agrees that you are welcome to find enough merchandise to equal up to half the shop's monetary worth. Though he says that what you might wish to confine your perusal to those two sections, they are the only ones organized at present which would hold anything for astromech use." The droid actually sniffed, as if the idea of astromechs offended it.

"For a given value of organized." Shaak Ti murmured, staring around her in a rather sort of sick fascination. She wasn't exactly a over organized individual like many Jedi, she much preferred the random growth of life to the sort of enforced order that came from too much organization. But this was a little too much.

Ranma nodded, patting Tune on the head. "Why don't you go search down that way, while I'll just browse around?" Having no interest in anything this shop could sell Shaak Ti followed Tune down the first aisle the alien had indicated. Besides, the little droid would need her hands.

Tune moved steadily down the aisle, running its scanner over each box or label in turn, and moving on quickly, stopping occasionally to whistle at Shaak Ti to open one box or another, before moving on, very methodical in its search. Ranma on the other hand simply wondered, moving from one area to another, sometimes leaping up onto the boxes, before moving on quickly, never staying in one place simply observing and looking for anything that stood out to him.

He found several weapons designed for regular droids but Ranma figured that they deserved a second look. One in particular was something he grabbed eagerly, a heavy gun originally designed to be used on a skimmer. It was so heavy few sentients could lift it, but Ranma did so in one hand, sighting down the massive barrel. "Yes… I like this. Just in case I need a ranged weapon."

Coming back he showed it to DT and his master, who had brought up a screen with a number of some kind on it. _Right, gotta remember I need ta start learning how to read the local language. Well, at least I know that's a number of some kind._ When he showed the gun to the duo, the alien input something, and another line of numbers appeared while the first got a tiny bit smaller.

After that Ranma slipped the cannon into his ki space and went back to scavenging. He soon found what looked like small repulsors, though he had to call Tune to make sure of that. The droid, while understanding they would allow him a greater range of movement, blatted out a negative, but Ranma still decided to grab them.

Tune meanwhile had found a high-end communication device, which would translate his beeps and whistles into words on the small screen, as well as, astonishingly, an actual vo-corder designed to allow a astromech droid to speak through a ship's speakers. Once Tune was connected to a ship, he would be able to communicate with this device as easily as a human would be able to, though the process was going to be too much for anyone to do short of a machine shop. The astromech unit reflected however that considering his master's lack of experience as a pilot speaking could well be necessary, specifically the ability to shriek at him when he got something wrong.

At the other end of the shop, Ranma had entered a section of the store devoted to electronics and robotics that were either old, damaged, simply out of style, or all of the above. Some of it looked kind of interesting, a pair of arm-wings that made it look as if the droid had been meant to fly, and another that looked like a chassis off something large enough to give that white-furred beastie from last night pause.

Then there was a section devoted to droid heads set out on a series of tables, a rather macabre display if you were at all squeamish. Most of these heads simply looked old, not damaged but as if they had been used for decades before being sold eventually coming to rest here after who knows what adventures, bodiless and lifeless. Those that did have any real damage were missing eyes or pieces of the rest of the head.

But there was one that looked as if someone had really, **really** wanted to make damn sure it was dead. It was covered with blaster burns, dents and its eyes had been put out at some point, and it's head had been opened by some kind of slashing weapon right above one eye. "Damn, who the hell did you piss off?" Ranma muttered, reaching forward to lift the head up to peer at it closely, turning the head this way and that.

The design of the head, what could be seen under the damage, was one Ranma hadn't seen yet. About 2/3's of the head was supposedly round, with a divider, a kind of protrusion, running up from a grill mouth like the designer had designed it to look like both mouth and nose in one. The grill was shattered, the ridge/nose bent, the sides and bottom of the head battered out of shape. The wires however seemed to end as if the head had been simply removed rather than hacked off the droids body, an odd counterpoint to the violence the rest of the head showed.

Turning it this way and that, Ranma wondered what this droid had seen, how old it was, and, more importantly, what the hell it had seen or done to wear the scars of so much violence. Interest stirring within him, Ranma moved over to the spider alien and the translation droid, holding up the battered head. "Hey, can you tell me how old this thing is?"

The alien turned punching up something on his computer, then spoke in its language for a time. DT turned, staring at the head. "My master doesn't know, he says it came with the shop, and was old before the current computer network was installed, which the previous owner's predecessor installed early in his tenure. Very old, possibly very rare. It is from an unknown model, for certain a one off design."

"Huh," Ranma mused, then with a shrug put it on the table. It looked interesting, certainly a droid with a history.

A moment later Tune and Shaak Ti made their way back over to the store owner, and Shaak Ti stared at the head in surprise. "Ranma, I didn't think you'd be interested in junk. Why in the universe are you buying that?"

"Normally I'm not, but, I don't know, something about this thing interests me." Ranma shrugged. "Besides, I want to teach myself some engineering skills, and this might be an interesting piece to experiment on."

That caused Shaak Ti to frown thoughtfully as she stared at the head. If Ranma was a Jedi, he might have been describing being guided by the Force in such a manner, and she wondered... "Well, I suppose you can see if you can repair it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Once everything was rung up, the alien attempted to mark up his wares, but Tune wouldn't let him, having looked up the normal prices for most of their parts on the hyper-net. The astromech tootled angrily every time the number that came up was off, and DT was able to understand it as easily as it could it's master. The only exception was the droid's head, which Tune let go without comment.

When they finished, Ranma saw they had paid about 1/5 of his stake. Most of the parts were hard to come by but not very expensive, and this shop, the sheer space it represented on over-crowded Coruscant, was worth a surprising amount even down here.

He stared at the number left then shook his head. "Look, I don't have anything else I need to buy here right now. How about this, I'll keep the rest of my half of the stake in this shop for now. Next time I'm on Coruscant I'll look you up, see if I need anything more or have any other idea how ya can earn it back. I won't interfere with your running the shop, but don't go gamblin' it off again!"

The alien's eyestalks stared at him, then at the numbers on the screen, seeming to vibrate in place for a moment. The body language of chagrin and irritation, it seemed, were visible despite being different species. After a moment however the eye-stalks nodded, and DT stated rather superfluously, "My master agrees."

After that they stopped on the way back to the temple to pick up provisions for the trip, where Shaak Ti did talk Ranma into grabbing several steaks, frozen ones of course but they would be good all the same. This galaxy's ability to freeze things without losing any of the flavor was leaps and bounds ahead of anything Ranma had known about on Earth, it had to be given the distance the food had to travel.

They returned to the Jedi Temple with about an hour to spare. While Ranma made his way to the landing pad and Shaak Ti went off to have a shower. On ship, actual water showers were nearly nonexistent after all. There Ranma found out which ship was theirs and began to load up the _Consular_ class they had been assigned, with the provisions, sending the provisions already prepared back save for dietary supplements Kit Fisto needed. Each race after all did have slightly different dietary needs.

Later as Shaak Ti made their way towards the ship she saw Ranma standing outside it, speaking quietly to Dooku as several of the other Council members moved towards him. She paused, bowing formally towards them then took her place beside Ranma and Kit Fisto, who had just walked around the other side of the ship, talking to a member of the ground crew.

"Other half of our agreement, this will fulfill." Yoda said as he came up, Dooku and Ranma having stopped their conversation respectfully as he joined them. Or at least Dooku stopped respectfully. Ranma had simply stopped, smirking down at the little alien. He stared however at what the alien held up in his small hand. It was a device of some kind shaped like a cube about the size of a human hand. The edges were of black metal, the rest was blue tinted circuitry or something, Ranma wasn't certain what.

Several of the Jedi Masters stiffened, but the older Masters and Mace Windu did not. They simply looked on as Ranma held up the crystal, turning to Shaak Ti and Kit. "It's a holocron," Kit said, staring at it seriously then over at the Masters. "I presume Masters, that myself and knight Shaak Ti will also be able to learn from this holocron?"

"Yes, be open to learning you always should," Yaddle said, nodding her head slightly. "Learned many lessons, much history you will from the individual upon it. Learn almost as much you will from it, as from Ranma."

"I presume one of you'd know how to activate this thing?" Ranma said, smiling as he stared at it. For some reason the small device weighed a hell of a lot more than something that size should. Ranma could also almost physically feel the age of this thing.

"Oh yes, that won't be an issue." Shaak Ti said dryly, still staring at it. These days, holocrons were rarely taken outside the temple. This was a rare show of, not approval, but support for Ranma, and put into perspective once again how serious Yoda at the very least took the idea of aligning with him.

"In that case, I suggest you be on your way. The trip there takes long enough, that any further delay could prove disastrous forFormer Ranger Degral, his wife and child." Mace said in a tone designed to chivy them along.

Ranma nodded as did the other two, bowing formally before turning and boarding the ship. Ranma however turned to Dooku and simply held out his hand. The nobly-born Jedi Master smiled, and shook hands with the younger man wordlessly. What needed to be said had already been said, so after releasing Dooku's hand Ranma turned and walked up the ramp without another word.

As the ship took off, Master Poof could not contain himself any longer. "You gave him a holocron?! Master Yoda, I do not mean to sound as if I question your judgment, but surely that decision should have been made by the Council of First Knowledge. I know that Master Nu could never have signed off on that in so short a time." The Quermian Jedi master shivered, his small head and extremely long neck shaking as one. "I certainly have no wish to be present when she discovers one of her charges has been, been loaned out to a non-Jedi!"

Yoda turned to him, and then to the others, feeling all of his years once more. Yet his will to save the Order from that dark future was stronger than his desire for stability, and he rose to the challenge, remonstrating Poof and those who agreed with him in no uncertain terms. "Forget have you already what I stated of my vision? Future the Dark Side rising is, important to combat it Ranma is, learn from him we must! Keep his attention and alliance with us we need to."

"A small sign of that commitment this is," he said waving his hand airily towards the ship, which was now pushing off the landing pad.

Poof, Gallia, Piell and Koth all looked around at the other Masters, seeing ambivalence, slight concern, or agreement. Moreover the ones agreeing were the more senior Masters, along with Master Windu, who was technically the de-facto leader of the High Council on a day to day basis and the only one who could really question Yoda on it. There was a clear majority there backing this decision. Eventually all of them simply nodded their heads.

Gallia however could not stop herself from asking. "Yet master Yoda, whose holocron did you send with him? Which Jedi Master would be willing to work with someone so… obdurate and **different** and combative as Ranma has proven to be?"

Yoda merely chuckled, leaving the way back into the temple. "Someone, represent the past and possibly the way the Order should be, he does. Come, much work we have to do this day."

 **OOOOOOO**

That first day out from Coruscant Ranma spent his time on multiple small projects, the first of which was uploading songs into Tune from his CD player. This was difficult given the formatting issue, and that CDs hadn't been used in this galaxy for thousands of years, but Tune and he had planned for this since Ranma had shared a few songs from Earth with the little droid, and many of the parts he'd bought that day went to creating a device that could transfer the songs off the CD into digital.

After that Ranma installed some weapons on the astromech droid. One was a sound-based assault system that upgraded Tune's audio equipment, a directional megaphone which could allow the droid to emit a sound that could attack the auditory range of any sentient in the vicinity, causing effects ranging from unconsciousness to vertigo and simple pain.

The next was an upgraded welder to replace the one all astromech droids had to help them repair things. The new version could fire off a plasma arc for several yards without losing any of the heat. A small blaster was also added to the last free partition in the astromech's body, replacing an open storage slot on the side of its trashcan-like body.

The mini-repulsors however Ranma couldn't install just yet. They couldn't simply be slapped in place, instead Tune would need entire new control runs to use them,. That was well beyond Ranma's current skill in electronics, even when simply following directions, something the droid had known before Ranma bought them. Tune refused to even let him try until he could correctly repair the, as Tune put it 'ancient curiosity', the droid head Ranma had taken from the shop.

The wireless translator and communicator however worked remarkably well, once Tune had inputted its electronic signature into it. Ranma installed th **e** translator on a vambrace on his off arm, the small screen set into the interior of the arm. The device's range was still in question, it was rated for several kilometers, but they couldn't test that onboard the ship.

That first night, Ranma also activated the holocron for the first time, with Kit and Shaak Ti in attendance, Tune being more than capable of watching the bridge in hyperspace. Following Shaak Ti's direction, Ranma put the holocron on top of the table in the ship's multi-use area, then warily sent a brief tendril of ki into the device.

The holocron began to glow, lines of circuitry lighting up all along its sides in blue and white, then from the top a small aperture opened, and above the device appeared a hologram, though it was more misty and ephemeral than that which a normal communicator would have shown. Ranma wondered idly why that was, but that was a distant thought as he studied the man in the image.

He was human, late to middle-aged, with brown hair that had gone gray around the temples and in streaks. His face was tanned, weathered, marked by a scar along one chin and up his face, with faint smile or frown marks showing here and there. What could be seen of his body seemed to be in shape. There was an undeniable air of tough competence about him, much like Ranma had felt around Dooku at first meeting him.

When the man spoke, his voice was surprisingly young seeming for such a man. "Greetings Jedi! It has been many centuries since my so-called wisdom was deemed needed, yet your Grandmaster told me I'd be needed now. I am Jedi Master Kieran Halcyon, may I have the names of those who have called upon me?"

Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto both blinked in shock, recognizing the name from their lessons on the history of the order. _A master from before the Russaan Reformation!? I've never heard of any such being called upon by any but the Council of First Knowledge. What did master Yoda see that made him decide to release such a holocron to us?_ Shaak Ti thought, her thoughts tinged by worry and excitement.

Of course Ranma didn't know enough about the history of the order to realize how big an issue this was, so replied simply. "I'm Ranma, I'd bet the little green guy mentioned me?" As the image of the ancient Jedi nodded, his lips twitching at Ranma's tone, the marital artist went on. "And this is Jedi Knight Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto. The big green guy is Kit, he's on a mission the same place as I want to travel to, and the red-skinned lady is Shaak Ti. She's sort of an experiment, we're supposed to see if a Jedi can learn some of my ki techniques. Though I suppose you'd call them Living Force techniques."

"You have techniques that call upon the Living Force within you? Then I believe I understand why your Grandmaster chose me. My family was, possibly still is, known for our ability in using the energy of the Force. Our Telekinesis is rather abysmal, but our dueling skills and energy manipulation are second to none." Kieran mused, noticing how Ranma's eyes lit up at the mention of dueling skills. "Yet you seem to be ambivalent about a Jedi learning your techniques. Why is that?"

In his life Kieran was known to see to the heart of things even better than most other Jedi, and had also been known to be blunt to the point of rudeness when trying to address them. He watched Ranma and Shaak Ti exchanged a glance, wondering what young Ranma would say.

Holocrons were ancient technology which employed patterns of organic crystals and hologram technology to capture the appearance and thoughts of the holocron's original owner, and then project a three-dimensional hologram of that owner which acted as a guardian for the information stored on the holocron. The guardian, the original owner, would act as a guide as well, helping users to find information or relaying stories. Some holocrons had the memories of more than one Jedi imbued on them, and many were so advanced the guardians could sense the ability and level of a Jedi. They were not quite to the level of Force Ghosts, but they were next best thing.

Eventually Ranma sighed, realizing this was going to be a philosophical talk rather than a training session. Sitting down Ranma sighed and began to explain his problems with the Order. "To put it simply I'm not from around here, I was trained in a very different manner than the Jedi. A lot about the Jedi, about how they are trained more mentally and emotionally than physically do not make me happy. Worse in some ways is the way they are tied into the Senate, how they are used as its police force and My techniques, they are very dangerous, and I don't want to share them with the entire order."

The image of Kieran frowned. "Truly the Order has changed since my time. The Order was not a part of the Republic's government in my time, nor was the Republic Senate so powerful as your tone seems to indicate. It was simply a body designed to peacefully discuss issues between various sector governments. I do not feel as if I can judge that portion of your concerns young man, so perhaps we should move on? Tell me about the other issues you have with the Jedi."

"Damn philosophy, so much easier to just hit things." Ranma muttered, thinking how to start. He then decided to take the parts of the Oath and start there. "I was told the Jedi swear an oath when they become knights. 'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.'"

The hologram's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he didn't speak, letting Ranma go on. He did so slowly, clearly choosing his words carefully, far more carefully than he normally would. "Emotions, passion, chaos, all are part of being alive, trying to ignore them. To push emotions aside and not acknowledge them is not 'peace' it is the start of becoming a sociopath, someone removed from the ability to connect with other people, to truly care about them. I refuse to teach my ability to anyone like that, because without empathy comes callousness and a disdain for the lives of others."

Ranma looked over at Shaak Ti, smiling for a moment. "I didn't object to Shaak becoming my first possible student 'cause you understood not to take that concept to an extreme. In a single conversation you showed that you understood the weight of a life. But I've met other Jedi who are about as empathic and understanding as a spoon, insular to the point of stupidity!" He scowled angrily, remembering Koth and how little reaction he had gotten from the female Jedi Masters when he attempted to share one of his worst fears with them.

"The Jedi, in my opinion, don't have enough connection to the common people, to the lives of those they are supposed to protect and defend. They are not allowed, by the laws of the order, to form attachments, no family, few friends, no connection to their species save in rare, allowed circumstances!"

Ranma sighed, pulling at his pigtail. "You take kids, young babies or toddlers away from their families, cutting them off from their history, and train them to have no attachment to anything but the order. That, I've got experience with that kind of thing, my old man did the same, he tried to keep me from being influenced by anyone else's ideas of how the world works, and it messed me up in a lot of ways. But when I started to interact with the rest of the world that indoctrination began to fail."

He shook his head. "The part about knowledge also bothers me, because I know from talking to Dooku that a lot of knowledge has been locked away by the Jedi, deemed too dangerous. Even worse, the Jedi have stopped searching, stopped learning about the Force. The order's been around for thousands of years, but my skills are new to them, that's just wrong."

The image of Kieran's brows remained furrowed, but it said nothing for a time, then when he spoke addressed Shaak Ti. "Without open discussion there can be no decision. Knight Ti, as you were chosen to be his student, do you wish to rebut any of his points?"

For a moment Shaak Ti was silent, staring between the holocron image and Ranma, her hands gently moving down her montrals as Kit stood silent. He wasn't a philosopher, he left such deep thoughts to others, and indeed felt… uncomfortable with this whole conversation.

But Shaak Ti had long pondered the disparate Orders, and so was willing to take up the challenge. "I was one of those rare examples of a Jedi able to attempt to reconnect with his or her species, so I will say that in the main I agree with the idea that the Order should have more of a connection to the common people, when it is possible. But the common people are often superstitious, and fear that which they cannot understand. In some ways that could be impossible."

"The concept of no attachments, of no family specifically, is to make certain that a Jedi cannot become torn between two different yet powerful demands upon his loyalty. For a Jedi, passion is an easy path to more power in the Force, but it can become twisted, anger, jealousy, fear, passion can lead to all of these. Anger that you cannot be with a loved one as often as you wish, jealousy that other people can have their families around them while you cannot, fear that something could happen to them. We Jedi are not at least, supposed to be robotic, unfeeling monsters,but serenity is the only way to make certain we do not fall to the Dark side. You yourself Ranma have mentioned how using anger fueled Living Force can effect what you feel and do."

"I fully realize that chaos is a part of life. I have a… connection to nature, I know that chaos breeds growth and is a natural part of the cycle of life. However it is uncontrolled, uncontrolled things can lead to conflict. The universe has seen far too many examples of when Jedi become uncontrolled and the conflicts which rise from such. You are from the time of Exar Kun and his wars are you not Master Halcyon?"

Kieran nodded grimly, and Shaak Ti went on. "That leads me to my point about knowledge. Some knowledge is simply too dangerous for anyone to be trusted with, and it is better to lock such things away. Searching for knowledge outside what the Jedi know is a dangerous task, and again has led directly to the fall of many Jedi to the Dark Side."

"I can understand that, I even have felt the response in the Unifying Force to anger." Ranma replied. "But I can't believe that turning your back on emotions and learning new things is the answer!"

"Enough." Kieran's ghostly holocron memory declared. "The Jedi Order has truly changed from my time." Shaak Ti and Kit both looked at him, and Kieran went on calmly. "The Oath shows this in no uncertain terms. In my time it was, 'Emotion, yet peace, ignorance, yet knowledge, passion, yet serenity, chaos, yet harmony, death, yet the Force.' Your oath sounds more like that the Librarians of Ossus followed created by Odan-Urr."

The idea that an oath specifically designed for a species which had issues with the generally peace-seeking Jedi Order had become the norm was troubling to Kieran, or at least the part of him that remained, imprinted into his holocron. Odan-Urr had been a magnificent warrior, teacher and librarian before Exar Kun killed him, but his race, the Draethosi, were a warrior race that had problems with pacifistic philosophies. Abstaining from emotion and attachments could work for them, given their reptilian nature and the need to do so to keep their passion for aggression in control. Kieran had heard that the rest of the librarians had taken to following the same vow to show Odan-Urr respect after his death, yet that was a far cry from it becoming the norm of the Jedi Order as a whole.

"I will also say that in my time Jedi were allowed to marry and have families. Indeed, I myself was married. I'd bet there are more Jedi with families hidden away then you might think. And children found to have Force ability was encouraged to keep contact with their families, so long as those families were not abusive or bad influences."

"Emotions are meant to be expressed, they are what makes us living, breathing individuals rather than automatons. It is in **controlling** them, not in pushing them away never to be expressed, that we prove we are Jedi, that we have a right to defend other people to pass judgement when they are too close to a given conflict. Passion and serenity balanced, not one held aloft over the other as the sole goal."

The holocron image sighed. "I do not know what happened to change the Order after my death, but even in my time, experimenting with Force powers was very controlled and regulated, so I fully agree that sharing your skills should only be done slowly Ranma, and that the Jedi Order might be right to forbid much of its hidden knowledge. I urge you to be very careful in any kind of experimentation. A passion for knowledge can, as Shaak Ti said, all too easily get out of control."

From there Kieran told Ranma about the fall of Exar Kun, and of Ulic Kel Droma, who had fallen to the Dark side searching for ways to combat the Krath and their Dark Force powers. Hearing that from a man who had lived during that time had more of an impact to Ranma, and he realized anew there definitely was something behind this Unifying Force thing having an impact beyond the chi of his home universe. The how didn't matter really, so much as the fact it was real.

"Yet with that said, I believe that this new Order seems to hold serenity and a lack of attachments too highly. I think that however needs to be an individual choice. Any attempt to take that choice away from you sounds far too dictatorial to me to be happy with. The Jedi were never supposed to be a monolithic order. A set of codes, moral tenets yes, but nothing that intrusive or stultified."

Kieran's holocron image sighed faintly then smiled. "I will happily teach you what I know Ranma, and hope to see you teach Shaak Ti in turn. Shaak Ti, I will not dictate to you what you should think or feel, that is not the Jedi way. Make your own decision, simply make certain that it is one you can live with. Do you wish to start now?"

"I think that's enough for tonight." Ranma said, and Shaak Ti nodded, while Kit, happy to have been ignored during the debate merely bowed and made for the hallway leading down to their rooms quickly, having some thinking of his own to do. Kieran's image nodded and disappeared, leaving the two of them to look at one another for a time.

Shaak Ti sighed. "I think I will need to meditate on this Ranma, but I won't make a hasty judgement. I will see you tomorrow." Ranma nodded, watching the Togrutan Jedi walk away for a few moments before sighing and following. The two of them stopped outside their rooms for a moment, but neither spoke before entering and closing the doors. Both of them had a lot to think about.

The second day however went quite a bit differently. Deciding that there had been enough philosophical discussions for the week, Ranma decided to begin Shaak Ti's training. But realizing that the Jedi were learning the physical skills as fast as could be expected he decided to see if he could teach her something else. "We've talked about meditation and the difference between your kind and mine. So today I think we're going to see if you can learn to reach inward rather than outward. Once ya can do that, we'll go on and I'll teach you how to use ki to reinforce your body to a higher degree."

"That last I think I've already picked up somewhat, but some help in that area would be nice." Shaak Ti said alluding to her heightened ability to use the Force to reinforce her speed and strength. It wasn't up to a Master's level, at least not Guardian masters anyway, but her ability in that area was far better than it had been. She took up the lotus position across from Ranma, looking up at him with a faint smile. "How are we going to do this?"

"The first meditation I learned taught me how to clear my mind with the image of a fire. First calm your breathing, slow it down until each breath you take is aligned with your heartbeat." Ranma said, sitting down close to Shaak Ti, a long practice staff in one hand. "Then you picture a campfire or something similar, and each time you think of something different, feed that thought into the fire. Keep doing it until there is nothing in your mind but the flame, drawing you in, drawing you towards your center."

"The first concept is familiar." Shaak Ti replied, steepling her hands together as she closed her eyes, already beginning to slip into the meditation trance. "The fire imagery I might have issues with."

This was proven true a few seconds later, and she winced as a loud 'smack' sound resounded around the room. She came out of her trance, holding one hand up to her forehead, which Ranma had just smacked with some kind of wooden device, a primitive ruler perhaps? "Every time I feel you trying to reach **out** to the Force I'm going to smack you and force you out of your meditation." Ranma warned. "You're supposed be reaching inward, not outward."

Shaak Ti rubbed her forehead again, staring across at him in concentration. _This is going to be much harder than I thought._ An hour and several bruises later she shook her head. "Are you certain I even have enough Living Force in me to make this a viable idea?"

Ranma frowned then held up his hand in front of his eyes for a moment before lowering them. Shaak Ti nearly jerked backwards, in fact if she didn't have Jedi training she would have. Instead she simply stared, and bright blue eyes narrowed, glowing slightly with Living Force. "You have a little," Ranma murmured, studying Shaak Ti head to toe. "But it's so interconnected with the Unifying Force around us, I can barely tell where one ends and the other begins, not easily anyway."

He frowned, leaning backwards and closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them they were back to the normal light blue color, but he was still frowning. "I think, I think we've either stumbled upon the first hurdle, or maybe we just started in the wrong direction."

"Are you going to explain that?" Shaak Ti asked rather tartly, rubbing her latest welt.

Ranma nodded, and held up his hand. In it he suddenly was holding a Moko Takabasha, and Shaak Ti who had been watching through her Jedi senses, gasped as she literally saw a portion of Ranma's Living Force move in his body and out, as he cupped it in his hands. The sight was possibly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"I created this through use of my own ki, my own Living Forces you guys put it. Whatever ya call it, it's relatively easy to control the amount of energy you put into it once you are able to pull your ki up in the first place."

"But I think," Ranma paused, obviously thinking hard. While he was an expert at learning on the fly, trying to teach someone new to the idea of ki was beyond his experience, and he remembered Kieran's warning about experimentation from the night before. "I think if you tried to do the same thing you would almost have to start pulling at the Unifying Force around us, and I'm not certain what the outcome'd be."

"I've never used chi to power any of my ki techniques, and…" He laughed suddenly. "The evidence is pilin' up that the Unifying Force is a different kettle of fish anyway."

Shaak Ti frowned in thought, staring at the sphere of blue light for a moment. "I can understand that I suppose, but Jedi do have quite a bit of self-control Ranma." She chuckled. "I could've sworn that was one of the problems you have with the Order?"

"If that's the case, then why aren't the Jedi already able to do some of the things I can do? That was another issue remember?" Ranma smirked in reply.

That caused Shaak Ti to wince a little. "All right point made. In that case what should we do?"

"Build up your personal 'Living Force', until you're able to do at least one of my ki techniques then see if you can do it and then… experiment." He frowned. "I don't like that idea, but we'll see. _Worse, I think_ that out I'll _have to show her my ki space technique. Darn it, I wanted to keep that one a secret even from the Jedi for a while, that technique's a major power here. But it's easily the easiest one outside strengthening your body or enhancing your body's speed. And those Jedi can already do, if to a far more limited extent, and that's a mental thing._

The next few hours continued to be rather painful for Shaak Ti. True to his word Ranma continued to thwack her every time she tried to reach out to the Force, rather than reach into her own Living Force. And after that brief break, each successive smack became harder. It was most unpleasant, but Shaak Ti controlled herself easily, despite the irritation building up inside.

By the end of the day she had finally, **finally** begun to search her inward rather than outward. "Good!" Ranma exclaimed, after 20 minutes of watching Shaak Ti closely, watching to see what she was doing through his ki sight, not feeling her presence spreading out as he had felt every time she reached out for the Force. It was a very odd, but distinctive feeling to him, and the same sort of thing he had felt from Dooku that first time they met, only much less focused.

Dooku had pushed his will through the Force into that troubled woman's mind. When Jedi called on the Force itself, their will pressed out in every direction. "I think if you can keep that up you might be able to start calling upon only your Living Force rather than the Unifying Force."

Shaak Ti opened her eyes, shaking her head as if to clear it for a moment before smiling slightly. "That was a very strange experience. I don't know if I have ever been able to, to **feel myself** as I do now. Strange. I'm not even certain that was the correct way of describing it."

"Remember, beyond the mental the main difference between how I do things and how you Jedi do things boils down to this: You apparently all seek guidance from the Force. When I'm using my ki I'm the one in charge, I'm the one directing it. I'm not a cog in a large machine, I am the machine! Once you master it, you'll be able to call up your ki like the Force."

Ranma's smile faded, once again remembering Kieran's injunctions on being careful. "But be very, very careful with your emotions at this point. Remember, emotional control, don't try to push them away entirely, don't push them down, let them out and never use them to help you connect to your ki. That's my version of the Dark Side."

"I… have not yet decided what I feel about the idea of releasing such emotions rather than pushing them aside entirely." Shaak Ti said honestly, stroking her montrals for a moment. She had spent much of the night before meditating on that very issue, only to not come to a conclusion, the Force being silent on the subject, with no hint of her future if she chose to follow one point of view or the other. "But as to your training, I'll withhold judgment until we get to the point where we can see if I need to build up my Living Force to perform any of your techniques."

"Don't get your hopes up about not needing it, like I said I've no idea what'll happen if ya use Unifying Force to power my techniques." Ranma warned. "Still, I think that's enough meditation for one day."

Shaak Ti suddenly smiled, standing up in one quick smooth motion and suddenly her lightsaber was in her hand, the Force around her almost crackling to be used. "Excellent. I feel in the mood for a spar."

Something in her very pointy smile made Ranma gulp, but he didn't back down. Instead he stood up, grabbing up his staff.

The physical section of their training went quite a bit better than the meditation and, though Shaak Ti would have trouble admitting it, the philosophical discussion. Her Force-assisted learning techniques helped her tremendously, and as Ranma had noted the first time they had met she never make the same mistake twice.

Her hand-to-hand skills also came along at a prodigious rate, at least in terms of style and technique, not so much speed or strength. She didn't use as many kicks as she could and she had a tendency to remain stationary at times when shifting from using her lightsaber to using her unarmed hand.

Nonetheless Ranma would rate her total skill at somewhere below a black belt in normal parlance. That of course would make her small potatoes in the Nerima, but after only two days of training that was pretty damn good. Ranma still beat her handily of course, but that was to be expected.

Over the next few weeks as they traveled from Coruscant to Dac the physical portion of their training continued to go very well while the rest of their learning went in fits and starts for all concerned. Ranma simply couldn't learn many of the Jedi techniques, Force precognition and other skills based off of becoming a conduit for the Force were beyond him, and he was just as happy about it. He refused to use the Unifying Force in any way. But his ability to adapt more than evened out the playing field:

Shaak Ti bounced around the interior of the small main room of the Consular class, the area having transfigured itself to a training area as normal. Kit was much less mobile, but his defense tended to be better thanks to his preferred style of Makashi, and the two of them always attempted to catch Ranma between them at moments like this. Sometimes they even succeeded, most of the times thought one or the other was knocked out of the battle in one form or another.

Ranma ducked, dodged, using his practice staff against their practice sabers, thrusting and slashing with both ends. But it was his kicks and punches which were truly dangerous. No Jedi had ever trained against someone who was so fearless as to fight bare handed against a Jedi armed with a lightsaber, and the kicks in particular were hard to deal with. Even Force precognition could only tell them so much about someone so blindingly fast as Ranma.

Yet this time it seemed as If they had Ranma on the ropes, slowly forcing him into one of the room's corners. That was until Ranma's entire style suddenly changed from one moment to the next.

A series of kicks launched at Shaak Ti proved to be a feint, and when Kit took advantage of what seemed to be an opening Ranma's staff came up in an economical tap that sent his blow wide. Before kit could recover, Ranma had used the momentum of this counter to turn into Kit's range. The butt of the spear thrust back, crashing into his chest and sending Kit sprawling, out of the fight. As Kit nursed his chest Ranma turned to Shaak Ti, who likewise couldn't deal with the sudden change in style. Soon Shaak Ti also lost, Ranma smacking her lightly upside the head with the end of his staff.

"Wh, what was that?" Kit gasped, winded. "That move almost looked like something, something from Makashi!"

"It was." Shaak Ti said, frowning and moving away from Ranma, grabbing up a bottle of water. "Moreover, I feel as if I've seen that very counter before, except when I did, it was done by a lightsaber…"

Kit got it first. "That was a move Master Dooku came up with! You copied a move from his style of Makashi into your own? And then adjusted it for a staff?"

As a sword master, Dooku had often taught at the Jedi Temple, and had even added to Makashi, which he thought of as the best, and certainly most elegant lightsaber form. It was based around economy and precision, using the power and impetus of your opponent's blows to power your own, moving as little as possible in return for forcing your opponents into exhausting themselves. Completely unlike Ranma's normal style which somewhat resembled Ataru, but devastating against anyone not prepared for it.

"Yeah, he nearly beat me the first time we sparred weapon to weapon with that move. Heh, thanks to that and Master Kieran I'm getting a lot better at this whole glaive based combat thing." Both Jedi shook their heads, remembering that the staff Ranma always used was actually a substitute for the light glaive he wanted to build. That was going to be a scary proposition when he finished it.

"I think that will disabuse us of that last bit of ego we had as Jedi." Kit mused, wincing as he pushed himself to his feet. Ranma always hit you a bit more than you were really happy with. "Your own learning curve, even without the mental exercise we can call upon, is incredible. By the way, have you had the opportunity to show your curse form to Master Kieran? I'm interested what an ancient Jedi would think about it, and the Force's reaction to it."

Kit had seen the curse in action on the second day out, but had been warned about it when assigned to the Dac mission. He had gaped for a few moments, poured water over Ranma twice, and then, after a question and answer session decided to ignore it, unwilling to make a bore of himself about it.

"Nope, and I'm not going to." Ranma replied firmly, pointing the end of his practice staff at first one knight then the other. "I want ta stay male for as long as possible before we reach Dac. An entire planet of water, no chance I'm going to stay male for more than a few seconds, so I'm not even going to try to fight it. Besides, the holocron might short out like Tune nearly did when I showed him."

"Holocrons aren't computers, not really. I bet his response to it would surprise you." Kit said, then shrugged. "Still, I'll abide by your decision."

Training broke up soon after that, since they were coming up to where the second leg of their journey would end, coming out of one of the super-fast hyperspace links to turn toward Dac proper. Kit volunteered to do the piloting, more at home with the _Consular_ class than Shaak Ti, while Ranma and she sat and talked for a time. Shaak Ti was continually fascinated by the tales of Ranma's adventures back in his old dimension. Ranma in turn was interested in Shaak Ti's adventures.

He was also coming to be interested in Shaak Ti as an individual. Beyond her body, the mind and character inside that alien yet alluring face called out to him. Today, he asked something he'd been wondering about for a while. "You know, I've been meaning to ask, but what do your montrals feel like?"

"It depends on where you touch. The montrals themselves, my horns, feel like bone under a cover of skin." Shaak Ti touched her horns gently, then traced her fingers down to the lekku which hung down past her shoulders. "After a certain point however the bone gives way to muscle. Unlike the Twi'lek however, that's all it is, muscle. The Twi'lek can move their far more than we Togruta can, and have actually developed a sort of sign language based around their movements."

The end of the lekku she was stroking flicked a little, and she smiled as Ranma's eyes followed the movement. Many humans seemed to be fascinated by lekku for some reason, or disgusted. Ranma in contrast simply seemed interested. She was still startled however when he asked "Can I touch one?"

Shaak Ti blushed slightly, shaking her head. "Among my people and the Twi'lek touching another individual's lekku is a, a rather intimate act. Even though we Jedi cannot have relationships, some species taboos still carry over."

Ranma's hand fell back to his lap, and he pouted slightly, causing her to laugh aloud in a way very few of her acquaintances among the order had ever seen. Ranma tended to have that effect on her, breaking down her self-control in a way that a bare lunar cycle ago would have worried her. But with her ongoing training with him, their philosophical discussion and what Kieran had said of the order in his time, that didn't bother her nearly as much anymore.

Day after day Shaak Ti improved slightly, incrementally but still a verifiable improvement. Kit also joined in of course, and he too improved under Ranma's physical training, though he did not join in any of the meditation exercises designed to allow Shaak Ti to start working with her ki. And every night aboard ship saw all three of them eagerly listening to Kieran Halcyon. The ancient Jedi master truly was an accomplished duelist, and for the two Jedi his mental abilities were just as valuable.

And learning from Ranma was an exhilarating experience. He would wait until you could match his speed or strength, then up them again until you were floundering before repeating the process. Both Jedi Knights knew that their physical prowess were extending greatly, but knew that Ranma's own strength and skills were still well above their own.

Of course even the physical side of things wasn't without their hiccups. One such hiccup happened about halfway to Dac when Ranma decided that it was time Shaak Ti began to toughen her body up.

The Togrutan female stared at Ranma. "You want to what?"

"Well we don't have any trees or giant boulders here, and I figured you wouldn't really appreciate that kind of thing anyway. But that wasn't the first way I learned how to toughen my body up. My old man trained me on a lot smaller things before that." _Though he never realize how far you could take that kind of training, praise Amaterasu._ "So I figure if I eeee..." he trailed off staring at Shaak Ti, whose eyes had suddenly narrowed.

"No." She said simply. "Just no. I am more than willing to learn this, but only after you've come up with a sane way of teaching it to me."

"That's the thing," Ranma said sheepishly looking away and pulling at his pigtail. "I think I've said it before: set aside any idea of what is impossible. This is just another part of that. It might not make sense, in fact I know it doesn't, but it **works**. Your body really will toughen up."

Shaak Ti frowned. She was no stranger to pain of course, she'd been hurt dozens of times in her training, and on missions often too. But to deliberately simply sit there and let someone else literally beat upon your body with a makeshift hammer? That wasn't something she could really condone.

"How about we do this slowly for now…" she said slowly holding out a hand. "And I want to see proof that your toughness actually works on blasters too, I didn't see any examples of that myself just yet."

Ranma nodded and went and fetched a blaster coming back with Kit, the alien's eyebrows, what there were of them, raised in perplexed surprise. "Are you sure you want me to do this Ranma?"

Ranma rolled his eyes, pulling off his shirt, tossing it to one side. "Trust me, a blaster like that won't do anything to me." To one side Shaak Ti stared at his chest for a moment, nodding approval at the signs of training there, a faint but noticeable heat rising in her cheeks for some reason that she couldn't put words to.

"Bye Ranma, it's been fun, I suppose…" Kit said slowly, raising the blaster and firing quickly. The blast hit Ranma in the stomach, and did… absolutely nothing. It was like it had hit a thick sheet of armored steel. Ranma coughed a little, flicking his fingers over the area hit, and shrugged. "Stings a little, like a bee sting, but that's about it."

Shaak Ti frowned, reaching out with her Force senses. "Do it again Kit," she said softly. "I want to see if I can feel anything happening."

At Ranma' nod Kit raised the blaster again firing at Ranma's shoulder this time. The bolt hit, and again did absolutely nothing.

Shaak ti and Kit's mouths both fell open. "I didn't sense a single bit of his Living Force moving at all. It really is just physical toughness! All right Ranma, you've convinced me. I think I can deal with a pain now if the payoff is that large down the line." Shaak Ti could all too easily remember the names of several Jedi Knights in the past few years being gunned down by blaster fire, up to and including Master Tyvokka. _This right here could save lives! Especially if armed conflicts continue to spread as they have been._

Both knights decided they needed to concentrate on that, so cut down on their sparring for the rest of the trip, only an hour a day for the both her and Kit. Ranma of course was not happy about that, but with the time spent every evening with the holocron was well supplied with his own learning for now. But their progress in this area was far slower than in the rest of the training, since it was simply a matter of endurance, and they lacked the space and tools needed to really make it work.

The ancient Jedi Master even helped them eventually with the meditation, coming up with a different mental exercise that allowed Shaak Ti to finally get a handle on her own Living Force for more than a few minutes. Which led directly to yet another issue when Ranma decided she had enough Living Force of her own to try and create a small ki-pocket.

Shaak Ti once again was sitting in front of Ranma, her eyes, which had been closed in meditation trance, opening wide at his declaration. "Really? Already, is that normal, are you certain?"

"I know you've got enough energy to try it anyway. As for being normal, that I don't know. I haven't ever taught anyone before, and you already knew a lot of the base meditation skills, how to manipulate energy and all that. All I had to do was train ya to look inward rather than out, and build up your own 'Living Force'." Ranma ended, lifting up his fingers to make quote signs as he said the last two words.

The dimensionally displaced martial artist enjoyed twitting the two Jedi on the different nomenclature he used though after his own few experiments into reaching out to the Unifying Force, he knew that there was a truth to some of what the Jedi believed. Looking back on his experiment in the temple garden, Ranma had realized he'd felt some kind of pressure or presence when he touched the Unifying Force, not something alive per-se but something.

It felt like a wind maybe, pushing his consciousness where it wanted to? Ranma of course knew this was just his mind trying to conjure up a metaphor for what it was feeling, but it came close. Ranma didn't like that idea at all, regardless of what the Jedi seemed to think about the Force guiding their steps Ranma was unwilling to let himself believe that. He also wasn't willing to experiment further while in hyperspace like this but maybe when they reached Dac he would. Ranma wanted a lot of nature around him when he tried anything to do with the Unifying Force again.

Across from him, Shaak Ti looked down at the sleeve of her long Jedi robe, flapping it in the air for a moment in front of her face, staring at the loose area around her wrist. "I'm still having trouble believing that's even possible. I mean, I've seen you do it, but seeing was not enough to make me believe. The analytical side of me is looking for where the mirrors are."

Ranma had actually done more than just show Shaak Ti and Kit the fold-space technique. When he had decided that it would be the first one he would teach Shaak Ti, just to see if she could do it at all, he had pulled everything out of his ki space except for the heavy gun had bought on Coruscant, and then piled it all back in and invited the two Jedi one after another to stick their own hands in there.

All of their senses had insisted that it was nothing more than a pocket on his coveralls, a common suit of pants that uncounted spacers wore. But after thrusting her hand from the fingers up to her elbow into Ranma pants and not even seeing a bulge Shaak Ti was forced to believe. There truly was much more to the Force than the Jedi knew.

Yet just as much as Ranma's physical durability, Shaak Ti understood that the 'ki pocket' as Ranma insisted on calling it despite Kit and Shaak Ti trying to get him to change it, was something that could save lives in the future. And not just Jedi lives either but those who they were sworn to protect. So after staring at her Jedi robes sleep for a moment she sighed and nodded. "Very well, how do we do this?"

Ranma sat behind her, putting his arms around her waist, resting his hands on Shaak's as he pulled her back against his chest as they sat on the floor of the training area. "First, clear your mind and start to pull up your ki." Shaak Ti did so, fighting a blush. This wasn't the first time Ranma and she had been close like this, and the Togrutan part of her enjoyed the closeness, but the Jedi part of her was unused to it and leery of the emotions it caused.

"Picture a net, a net made of energy, of your ki, spreading out between your hands. Let the image fill your mind." Ranma went on, his voice falling into a sort of cadence, merging with Shak Ti's meditation, not breaking into it but changing it slightly.

After a few moments she nodded her head almost imperceptibly and Ranma went on. "Hold the image for a bit. Wait until you have the image firmly in your mind until it is nearly solid. Then attach the tethers of the net to just one hand." Shaak nodded once again, keeping the image in her mind with ease, such was her mental discipline. It was controlling her life energy which was causing her to sweat.

Behind Shaak, Ranma looked over her shoulder using his ki sight to watch as she slowly removed the strands connecting her ki net to one hand and transferred those strands to her other hand. He doubted that Shaak even realized that was happening, so deep in the trance was she Shaak might think it was all in her head, but it wasn't. It was happening in the real world, and Ranma could tell that Shaak Ti was ready for the next step.

"Alright, now here's the tricky part, you'll have to concentrate on several parts of this at once. With your free hand, start to slowly send your Living Force energy into the space. **Not** the energy of the net, but the space **inside** the net." Ranma knew this was a tricky part, and used the terms Shaak was more familiar with to as to make it a little easier to concentrate and kept his voice even and measured for the same reason. "Think of it as if the net was around a balloon, and your energy was pumping air into it. The net will expand as the balloon pushes it out."

Shaak Ti nodded very slightly sweat pouring down her face, almost as much as she would have had after several hours of sparring. This kind of mental exercise was not new to her, Jedi often had to concentrate on multiple things at once. But using the Force consciously in different ways at the same time was very different then using the same kind of power on multiple objects. Worse, the power was coming from her this time, she was not simply a conduit for it, and there was physical penalty for that.

After an unknown amount of time the 'balloon' began to push her formed energy net out. Yet it somehow didn't change the outer appearance of her sleeve at all. "Good job Shaak," Ranma said into Shaak Ti's ear very good. "That's the way, control the flow and let your construct expand slowly to match."

Shaak Ti barely afforded herself a nod as she continued, and there it was that she made her first mistake. She began to run out of energy, and instinctually reached for the Unifying Force all around them. From behind her Ranma noticed, the color of Shaak Ki shifting slightly, but decided to let the experiment continue. After all, this was one of the reasons why it was an experiment in the first place Ranma wanted to know what would happen if Shaak Ti used the Unifying Force to do a ki technique.

It happened in a bare instant, the flow of ki into the lattice became a flood. It came too fast and too quickly for either of them to respond, for Ranma to shout stop or for Shaak Ti to try to cut off the flow. Her ki construct within the sleeve, the net, expanded so much that it shattered. And the energy thus released exploded outwards.

With a shredding tearing sound and a blast of Force that sent Ranma tumbling away on his rear to slam backwards into the far wall Shaak Ti's Jedi robe exploded. Ranma looked up blearily from the wall as Kit's voice shouted through the ship's intercom, asking what had happened to see Shaak Ti collapse to one side, utterly out of it. Pushing himself to his feet Ranma raced over to her, grateful that the technique hadn't destroyed Shaak's underthings as well. "Well, that was going well I guess. Note to self, the Unifying Force tends to overpower things. Good to know."

Shaak Ti did not recover consciousness until late in the next ship-day, and even then was as weak as a babe, unable to do anything but feed herself, and with an appetite to match Ranma's. She apologized for the disaster, and agreed with Ranma to wait at least another month or more before trying again.

Even so, she was remarkably upbeat about the whole thing. "It wasn't your fault Ranma, it was mine, I couldn't fight my ingrained instincts as a Jedi for a moment there and I learned quite a bit from the experience. Accidents happen, and at least this wasn't as embarrassing as it could be."

The Togrutan Jedi was almost back to normal when the ship jumped out of hyperspace in the Dac system.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I had the entire adventure on Dac outlined, and more than half of it written on DNS, but I decided to get a lot of the ongoing 'getting to know you' stuff done here, figuring time on the ship would be a good place to do it. I do not want this story to falter into a series of training/philosophy discussions, but I wanted to show how Ranma and Shaak Ti's teacher/student relationship would be like, and what Ranma's major issues with the Jedi order are, and that Shaak Ti is beginning to think about them. From now on I can concentrate on their adventures and the romance side of things, as well as highlighting their changing thoughts vis-a-vi eachother's beliefs, the main plot (duh) and then the sheer havoc Ranma is going to leave in his wake for one reason or another. I will however be using time-skips from now on occasionally to show travel times. I don't want to get bogged down in such every time I turn around.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Ranma or Star Wars. If I did I'd certainly have not put out the movies in the wrong order LOL, or pair Ranma with Ms. Obvious.

First Warning! This chapter has many non-canon SW points, and a lot of philosophical discussion. I wanted to get the last bits of 'getting to know you' and debate out of the way now, before leading into the events of Phantom Menace. Not to say there isn't any action, but it takes backseat to the rest.

Second Warning! While ultimaflar0 has betaed this chapter, there still might be several small mistakes throughout - I speak specifically about gender confusion when it comes to Ranma. He spends most of this chapter female (for obvious reasons) and there might have been some confusion about that point when I wrote it/and he reviewed it.

Other than that, hope you all enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Water Planets of Course Means Swimsuits**

As their ship continued on its course Ranma could not pull his eyes away from the view through the ship's bridge. After all, this was only the third planet he had seen from space, and the other two had been disappointing in the extreme. Coruscant because Ranma didn't like cities and Malastare because of the nature of the people Ranma there, and the fact that Ranma hadn't been able to get out to explore.

Dac was not a disappointment. It hung there like a giant blue, green and white marble in space, sort of matching images Ranma had seen of Earth from various NASA videos in Furinkan. Except it didn't have any sign of any landmass, it was slightly greenish water from one pole to another, that water covered by white clouds here and there, with only a few small, widely scattered bits of land here and there. Ranma wondered what sailing on this planet would be like, the wind and waves, the feel of them, the joy of exploration.

Around the planet were a series of obviously constructed rings, thicker here or leaner there. These were the Mon Calamari dockyards. Though not very well known in the Republic, these dockyards had built the Mon Calamari trading fleets, the sector's defense fleet, and above all their exploration fleets. _Living on a planet like that, no wonder they took to space and exploration so well!_

"It's beautiful." Ranma murmured, smiling broadly as he turned to look at his companions.

"True." Kit said nodding his head. "The Mon Calamari has always treated their planet with respect, as have the other sentients who have evolved on the planet. Even the Quarren do, at least in the main these days. I have no idea if that was the case before their aborted war against the Mon Calamari centuries ago."

Ranma cocked an eyebrow. "I didn't know that there were other species on this planet, and war?"

"There are at least two other known intelligent species that have evolved in the seas of Dac." Kit said, while Shaak Ti piloted them towards the docking bay where they would be leaving their ship to take a shuttle down to the planet's capital. "The peaceful Whaldons are known to be sentient and intelligent, but have no real need for technology in any form."

"Then there are the Quarren, a bipedal species much like most sentients, with typically gray skin, facial tentacles and gills. They and the Mon Calamari both developed technology at roughly the same time, and began to build cities, the Mon Calamari having evolved near the surface of the ocean and the Quarren in the depths. From what we know, the Quarren started a war of expansion against the Mon Calamari, but the Mon Calamari beat them back eventually, destroying much of their civilization to halt the war."

Shaak Ti took up the tale, her hand still working the controls. "But instead of wiping out their competitors as many other species have done in similar circumstances, the Mon Calamari did something entirely different. They took the survivors of the war, primarily children, and began to educate them in Mon Calamari ways." She smiled slightly, as they all felt a slight reverberation through the ship as it came to rest in the docking bay. "I've enjoyed speaking to many of the Mon Calamari I've met; they are generally speaking a gentle species, kindhearted, hard-working, and pragmatic."

"Pragmatism would make them dangerous foes," Ranma murmured, smirking a little. "I remember watching them and the… Sluisi right? They ripped the Yinchorri defense fleet into pieces with relative ease."

"Yes, that is the other part of the tale of the war between them and the Quarren." Kit said with something between a smirk and a frown on his face. "Once certain war is necessary, they are willing to put forth any and all effort needed to win at the least cost to themselves. Now, are you two ready?"

Shaak Ti nodded, standing up from the controls and pulling her hood over her face. A moment later to Ranma senses she became, not invisible, but simply very hard to concentrate on. "Interesting, so that's Force Stealth hmm?" He murmured. Then with a sigh Ranma began to pull the Umi-Sen-Ken technique over himself.

To Shaak Ti and Kit it looked as if Ranma had simply somehow disappeared. Concentrating they could still sense him vaguely through their Force senses, but even that was hard. Whatever technique he used had extinguished his pillar of Living Force, leaving only a blankness in the Force. They could track that blankness, but it was **hard** , and if they hadn't been ready for it, might have been impossible.

However they **had** seen this trick before when they discussed how to go about trying to solve the mystery of the missing family of rangers. Both Jedi were surprised when Ranma had offered to help them out before seeing to his own business here but as he explained it his Code would let him do no less. The fact this would let him see more of their Force abilities outside of sparring was a mere bonus.

When they exited the ship, Kit found himself being greeted by a group of Mon Calamari. Two looked to be security guards with blasters belted at their sides. Another looked to be a policeman, dressed in the formal yellow and blue dress uniform of the police here on Mon Calamari, while the fourth was dressed almost as extravagantly as a senator, long flowing robes of multiple colors, with a high ruffle around his neck.

That worthy stepped forward, holding his hand up in formal greeting. "Jedi Knight Fisto? I am governor Prlass of the city of Mon Cal, with me is chief of police Ychrag." He looked beyond Kit for a moment before concentrating on the Nautolan Jedi again. "I'm sorry, but we were told that there would be two knights sent to investigate the mystery of the missing Degral family?"

"Unfortunately Minister given the unique nature of Dac it was decided that sending a Jedi Knight who was not as at home in the water as I am would be more of a liability than an aid. We've sent word to a few other Jedi Knights and one master, including master Trallin." All four of the Mon Calamari, even the security guards nodded at that. At the moment master Trallin was the only Mon Calamari Jedi, though there was a young learner named Nadhar, and a Quarren Jedi Knight who Kit had met once.

"Unfortunately all of them are currently on other assignments, so until one of them becomes free enough to back me up I'm afraid I'm all you're going to get." Kit shrugged modestly, causing the governor to chuckle, which sounded like a fish gargling to human ears.

"Well in that case, I'm supposed we'll have to make do. If you would follow me, I'll brief you on some of the details of the case as we head down to my city."

"That would be most appreciated. I realize my travels here have takenoverlong and I am eager to come to grips with this mystery."

"I'm afraid this mystery has already evolved beyond what little we were able to tell the Temple before you were sent to us. But come we will speak of this in the shuttle."

The five of them walked through the space station, heading towards a smaller landing pad several spaces down from the one where the Jedi's ship had docked, none of the Mon Calamari noticing the two unseen lurkers following behind them. While Ranma looked around the space station with interest, Shaak Ti and Kit both concentrated their Force senses on the two governmental representatives.

Both of them came away with the same surface feelings: concern, worry, rising confusion, and a dedication to what they thought was right. Not enough to give the Jedi any clues as to what had occurred since word of the disappearance had reached the Temple.

Soon enough they were entering a smaller docking bay. Inside it instead of the six ships that the Jedi's _Consular_ was sharing berthing space with was a single far smaller ship, barely the length of a fighter plane, but much wider and far less aerodynamic looking. Inside it became obvious that this shuttle was the governor's personal ship: the inside was decked out with fine, comfortable looking seats, a painting of a scene of something from Dac, and what looked to Ranma like a refrigerator.

The two guards got into the front of the shuttle, one of them being the governor's personal pilot as well as bodyguard, while the two representatives sat in the back with, they thought, their sole visitor. Shaak Ti and Ranma took up position far enough away that they were out of sight before sitting down. Shaak's Force technique would still keep any attention from concentrating on her, but Ranma couldn't do the same with his weight, someone would notice his impact on the seat. Instead he squatted in the walkway between the two sofas near the back of the shuttle.

When the door closed behind them Kit began immediately. "What has changed since the Temple lost contact with the Dergals?"

"First, the police received two untraceable messages. The first was a message purportedly taking credit for the kidnapping along with listing various terrorist threats, signed by someone purporting to be from the Independence League. You have to understand at the present moment my planet is facing a very fierce debate, and the Independence League is one of the political parties involved." The Governor began slowly.

"The debate on becoming a full member of the Republic, or remaining as simply a signatory, independent and separate but aligned with the Republic." Kit said with a nod. He'd been briefed on that, and all of the political pros and cons from the Senate's perspective, as well as why the Mon Calamari were so ambivalent about the idea. Not that he could blame them at all, the Mon Calamari sector was technically speaking in the Outer Rim of the Republic, and their defense fleet while small was also concentrated within it and **very** well-equipped.

 _And led_ , Kit thought, remembering what Ranma had said earlier about the fleet actions against the lizards. But that would change if the Mon Calamari became Republic members, they would have to either add their fleets to the Republic's or decommission it, assuming the Republic could protect them. "I'm afraid I can't say I've been following that debate, but I am aware of it."

"Then you know that both Lotur and Ressa Dergal were very outspoken in their belief that Dac would be better served as a full Senate member rather than remain separate? In fact, they were almost the speakers for that stance because of how well respected they were due to their work as Alderaan Rangers." Whatever its stance towards the Republic and the senate, The Mon Calamari respected Jedi and had since first contact. It made sense they would equally respect individuals who had worked with Jedi in the past.

"I understand that, but I had not heard that the Independence League has turned to violence to support its views. In fact if anyone had mentioned it to me I would have said it was a near impossibility."

Here the police commissioner, Ychrag cut in smoothly. "Before this they were not. The most of what we've had to deal with on both sides of course were graffiti and other defamation of public property. Oh, we had a few clashes between groups of individuals on either side of the debate in some of the smaller cities but not anything like this."

At a wave from his nominal superior Ychrag went on. "But the investigation is made even stranger from there I'm afraid. You see about six days before the kidnapping, the leader of the Dac chapter of the Independence League, Governor Tovvan of Northpost, one of Dac's biggest cities, passed away."

Kit blinked in shock while Ranma frowned. _All these Governors, so each governor comes from a city? Or is that just a translation of another word?_ It would prove to be the latter actually, in Mon Cal, 'Governor' could mean a lot of different things. Shrook'an, the Mon Calamari Dooku treated with for instance, should have had the title of Foreign Minister of Affairs, or Chief Speaker for the Mon Calamari Sector. But to outsiders the Mon Calamari and Quarren simply used the all-encompassing term governor for many such governmental positions, given the nature of the voting system that put them into the various offices.

Ychrag went on, his mouth parts moving into his species equivalent of a sneer. "But while that investigation is ongoing, I find it hard to believe that he would keel over dead from food poisoning while on sabbatical at his age. Since then the opposition has split, with several groups becoming more violent than others, while most simply stepped up their political pressure. No one group has more legitimacy than any of the others, their organization changes with the tides. Good reefs, even most of the names they go by change on a nearly daily basis!"

"And while that first message named the League as being behind the kidnapping I have personally questioned the so-called leaders of each group. None of whom admit to any involvement, and I'm afraid I believe most of them are innocent for various reasons. Certainly I don't think any of them had anything to do with the second note we were sent." Ychrag finished.

Here the governor took up the tale, nodding his head seriously. "This second note was delivered four days ago," he said handing it over to Kit. "It says that unless King Yos Kalina immediately suspends the ongoing vote to join the Republic as a full member that the family will be killed, and there will be blood in the streets and…"

"I can read it myself thank you," Kidd said, not curtly but seriously as he stared down at the message. The Mon Calamari sector was technically led by a king, who had certain powers of oversight, but for the most part these days his power was mainly ceremonial.

"Now I wish I'd brought Knight Vos with me," Kit muttered, knowing that with his Kiffar-given psychometryQuinlan would've been able to see who had written this note. Kit could sense something about it though. Holding the note up to his nose, Kit frowned thoughtfully at a faint hint of something there.

But what it was escaped him and he turned his attention back to the locals. "You say none of the leaders of these factions have admitted they were behind the kidnapping?"

"No, they're all pointing at one another and at us claiming that someone on our side of the debate decided to stir up opposition this way by creating a scapegoat." The governor's tone of voice told his listeners how little he liked that idea. Duplicity of such a stripe was well beyond the norm in Dac politics.

"I would like to interview these leaders, and I'm afraid just to be fair I'll have to interview anyone on your own side who has the resources or motive to pull off such a kidnapping. I also want to talk to friends of the family in as informal a setting as possible if you please, so no police presence commissioner. I'll also wish to examine the family's home. Unless you believe they were kidnapped elsewhere?"

"No the scene of the crime was certainly the Dergal home, we didn't find any specific clues, but we know that they were home when they disappeared. We also found a few clues by the family's personal diving area. It showed without a doubt that something had been dragged along the floor, along with some other clues. My investigators believe some sleeping gas was pumped into the house at night, then the family, mother, father and young son, was carted off into the water. And of course after they entered the water…" the police commissioner shrugged eloquently.

"So the kidnappers escape into the water," Kit said with a nod. "That's an important point, and I have some tricks to track people through water via the Force, if too much time hasn't passed at least. Which, I'm afraid it might have by this point blast it. Could they have initially come out of the water as well?"

"Not without overcoming the house's security. All houses that have personal entrances to the ocean have security on them." Despite their peaceable nature, the Mon Calamari did have crime just like every other species.

"Then I think we've got a plan going forward gentlemen," Kit said, nodding his head. "If you could set up those interviews with the League's new leaders, those I'd like to do formally. I'll head over to the scene of the crime now and interview the neighbors first."

The governor and commissioner both nodded. Moments later the shuttle began to slow, its descent leveling out slowly. Still hidden under the Umi-Sen-Ken Ranma took the opportunity to stare out of one of the shuttle's windows, smiling as the city of Mon Cal came into sight. It was large, even from the air that was pretty damn obvious, though not as large as Tokyo, or any of the other cities he'd seen from the air. But the buildings were even taller than those in Tokyo, large spires with lightly curved tops they were, metal and stone of some odd black and gray color, with striations of yellow of all things here and there.

It was only as they came closer that Ranma noticed that the city abruptly, ended far more abruptly than any human city would have. There were no suburbs here, or if there were they were part and parcel of the central city itself. And the entire thing wasn't an island like he had thought, but a ship floating on the water, the metal edge of it visible as the shuttle moved towards a landing pad stuck out one side of the city ship. Water also moved through much of the city, dominating most of the roads he could see, leaving only small walkways and dozens, hundreds, of scattered bridges crisscrossing the waterways.

 _It reminds me of that Italian city, what was it, Venice?_ Shaking his head Ranma chuckled internally. _It's fantastic looking for damn sure, but how in the world is something that massive and top heavy floating?_

Soon enough he exited the shuttle. Kit walked off with the locals, allowing Shaak and Ranma to duck away quickly, moving around dockworkers, functionaries, and machines of all sorts until they passed through a building designed to handle incoming arrivals and into the city proper. After that they soon found the local equivalent of an alleyway, where they came out of their differing stealth abilities.

Shaak Ti pulled at her robe, pointing over to a store nearby. "I'm going to head in there and change into my disguise, wait here."

"I should probably come and change too," Ranma replied. "With all this water around, it's only a matter of time before I get splashed anyhow. Best to already be in female form when that happens. And given what the Mon Calamari reps said I bet most of the buildings around here have some access to the water, though I wonder how the hell this place is even floating."

"I had forgotten you didn't know much about Mon Calamari architecture," Shaak Ti said. "Trust me; this is the equivalent of the tip of an iceberg poking out of the water. Most of the city is below us, Mon Calamari cities are mostly under the water line."

"Really?" Ranma blinked then smiled. "That sounds really rather awesome frankly. Do you want me to hold onto your lightsaber?"

Shaak Ti frowned, touching the silver cylinder at her side protectively. Entrusting another person with your lightsaber was a sign of friendship that had few equal among the Jedi, but it was a weapon that no ordinary civilian would be seen with. Nor was she good enough at Force Stealth to cover its presence alone. So she nodded reluctantly before handing it over then winced her hands clenching in reflex as Ranma promptly stuffed the lightsaber into his ki-space pocket. "I, nothing will happen to my lightsaber in there will it?"

"Heh, no worries Shaak. Inanimate things like that don't change in ki-space. Don't worry about it, I promise yer lightsaber will be right as rain when you see it again." Shaak pouted a little at his tone, but broke into a chuckle as Ranma leaned down to the water of the main street, splashing himself in the face, becoming the red-haired human woman she had first met. "Now come on, it's been ages since I went swimming."

The two of them made their way towards the clothing store, entering it quickly. While Shaak Ti headed towards the changing area cloaked in Force Shadow, Ranma began to browse the store for anything that would fit him-now-her. When they met up back outside, Ranma wore her normal pants atop a one piece swimsuit, covered by a large T-shirt both of which she bought from the store.

Shaak Ti had also changed, in her case into clothing that made her look like a worker off a starship here to explore the city. Underneath that she wore a swimsuit much like Ranma's, a simple white one piece that, according to the shopkeeper she had talked to, set off her red skin. After exiting the store she frowned, thinking. "We'll need to find a place to stay, and then I think we should head over to the scene of the crime as well."

"Won't Kit be following that up? Wouldn't it be better to try and follow up some other area of investigation?" Ranma asked using terms he'd seen on an anime show concerning police detectives.

"I predict that Kit will be side-tracked." Shaak Ti said with a faint smile. "You didn't notice, but there were several other dignitaries there at the port waiting for him. Being an official Jedi sometimes helps investigations along, but it can sometimes also bog you down in formality, hence why we came up with this plan in the first place."

"Ooh, could that be another reason for you all to break away from the Senate? No…" Ranma quipped, nudging her with a friendly elbow.

Shaak Ti rolled her eyes, but otherwise didn't respond, as she directed the two of them down the street towards a hotel that catered to offworlders, one of only a few in the city that did. Even here in the capital, offworlders were not a common sight on Dac, and both women got some odd looks from passersby because of it, though nothing that was aggressive or angry-feeling.

 **OOOOOOO**

Kit had indeed been sidetracked, though not as much as he had feared. Two of the delegates, here to greet him formally came from the Independence League. They wanted to assure the Jedi that their misgivings about joining the Republic as a whole did not extend to the Jedi. With his Force senses, Kit probed the two men, coming up with nothing of importance to his current task.

The two of them however were happy to show Kit around and introduce him to their fellows elsewhere but there Kit ran into a wall. None of the leaders of the anti-Republic faction, Mon Calamari and Quarren both, knew anything about the kidnapping. They were not worried about it and many of them were happy to have the two Rangers out of the public eye but there was nothing sinister about that. There was nothing that hinted of any involvement on their part.

From there Kit made his way to the hospital where Ressa Dergal, the wife, was known to work. He found nothing of import there, a few friends who had theories, but nothing that seemed to hint at anything being behind the kidnapping other than politics. Though as he was leaving one of the doctors said, "I hope you find them, and I know both of their parents will be happy to see young Brigo taken away to be a Jedi."

"I'm sorry?" Kit turned, frowning lightly. "I didn't know anything about Brigo having been tested?"

"Yes, we have his Midi-Chlorian count here." the doctor said tapping button on a data pad for a moment." Kit looked at it, frowning thoughtfully. Brigo was certainly showing a high enough level to be taken on as a youngling, possibly even to make it through to learner status. _Strange, we didn't hear anything about this. Could this be an anti-Jedi move rather than a political one? Someone not wanting another Mon Calamari Jedi? But that makes even less sense than the actual kidnapping!_

With a sigh Kit moved on from there to interview other friends of the family, and then the neighbors. By which time, Ranma and Shaak Ti had already been and gone from the Dergal home.

 **OOOOOOO**

Watching Shaak Ti over the course of the day Ranma learned that Jedi skills with the Force were well above anything he could do in this area. Not only were they able to discern the surface thoughts or emotions from others, making lying to them next to impossible, they could even feel a sense of a place, nothing explicit but enough to get an idea of what had happened there. Because of this Shaak had already cleared the neighbors without even talking to them.

Now they were actually entering the house, and Shaak Ti smiled as the two of them moved into the modest one-story home. "The family was happy here. Their happiness permeates the entire building."

The house was a simple dome shape, with no hint of straight lines anywhere, not even in the windows, something that looked bizarrely alien to Rama's eyes but pleasing nonetheless. On the roof there looked to be a small garden one stilts to even the ground, with an equally small solar panel nearby.

Inside, the house was neat, clean, but not austere by any means. There was a jumble of what looked like toys near the doorway into what was obviously a small child's room set, strangely to Ranma's eyes, off the first floor main hallway. The kitchen, equally oddly to a human, was on the second floor, as was the sitting room and a small dining room.

While Ranma looked for physical clues Shaak Ti closed her eyes, simply feeling out the Force in the place, trying to get a hint of what had happened. Ranma finished first and came to stand beside her quietly so as not to disturb her concentration. When she opened her eyes and Shaak Ti noticed this, she smiled, nodding at the redhead in thanks. "Did you sense anything?" Ranma asked, returning her smile.

"Nothing specific. I know where each of the family was last, but there's only a moment there, in the child for some reason, of fear. Just a split second before drowsiness overtakes it. I can't tell if that was a nightmare of some kind, or if he somehow spotted what was going on and was put to sleep with the gas agent the commissioner mentioned before he could react further."

Ranma frowned, moving around the house again until he found the entrance to the water. "This is what Ychrag was talking about right, the house's entrance to the ocean?"

Shaak Ti moved over, nodding. She knelt down, gesturing at the marks on the floor. "And these are the marks his investigators found. They were definitely caused by something metal."

Her frown still in place, Ranma stepped forward, looking into the water and noticing what looked like a faint web covering the entrance right below the water's surface. " **That's** the defense? Doesn't look like much to me." She pulled out a pair of goggles and a breath mask she'd bought with her swimsuit, slipping them on while handing over a second one to Shaak.

"It might be mildly electrocuted, or have some kind of paralytic smeared on it. And it's mono-wire that will be a lot stronger than you think." Shaak Ti replied, moving over to a nearby panel. Studying it for a moment she then entered a few numbers, and the webbing disappeared to one side. Before she could turn around she heard a faint splash and rolled her eyes. "Ahh I see someone's gotten bored."

The water was surprisingly warm, pleasant even. Ranma was mildly surprised by that, but she kept her wits about her, looking around quickly. Then he gasped in awe at what the city looked like underneath the ocean's surface.

The city really was like an iceberg, the portion of the city under the water dwarfed what was above. The city's central spires shot down into the water so far Ranma couldn't see their bottoms, with the central-most slowly merging into one. The others spread out well beyond his sight in every direction, either straight down or diagonally, adding further to the city's stability.

Most of the buildings from up top dove down several stories, with only a few like the Dergals not being built further into the water. Ranma would later learn that such houses were set up that way due to the construction of the city for ballast reasons, and they were all given as gifts from the city to those who had performed great deeds. The Dergals were given theirs because they had helped a few Jedi Knights shut down a pirate gang on the Mon Cal sector's borders.

The water, darker as you went down of course, was lit by hundreds, **thousands** of lights. Lights coming from small water lights set in the walls of the various structures, lights from windows, lights from various small submarines or Quarren and Mon Calamari moving about in the water all around them. It was an amazing sight.

Ranma was so engrossed in the view that she didn't move out of the way and when Shaak Ti jumped into the water she splashed down on top of Ranma, her wet, lithe body smacking into Ranma's back for a moment causing Ranma to blush and move away quickly through the water. The two of them looked at one another in the light of the underwater city, and Ranma held up her hand to Shaak Ti, indicating she should try to figure out where to go from here.

Shaak Ti frowned, wishing Ranma had some trick that could help them in this investigation, but his skills were geared toward battle for the most part, and this kind of thing was beyond him/her. Closing her eyes once more behind her goggles and treading water for a moment the Togrutan Jedi sent her thoughts out into the Force, smiling as she felt the life all around her. It wasn't like being in a forest, the Living Force wasn't that strong here, but still it was an amazing feeling after so long spent on Coruscant and its unnaturalness.

With her Force Sense moving around her she looked for anything out of the ordinary, anything that could hint at what had happened to the Dergal family. For a moment she couldn't get anything from her senses save a vague sense of unease. Then she felt something at the periphery of her senses, well below where they were currently treading water. It was a spike of interest and anger from a single mind, one that was suddenly watching her and Ranma.

Breaking out of her trance, Shaak Ti quickly wrapped herself in her Force Stealth technique and watched relieved as Ranma did the same without instruction. Then she pointed down and to the side, swimming swiftly and strongly in that direction.

Ranma quickly caught up with her, moving in front of her as if she was a bodyguard for a moment. Doing so however caused Shaak to notice that she could see the movement of the water as Ranma moved through it. Her Silent Thief (and what was with that name anyhow?) technique couldn't hide the effect her body had on the water around them.

They soon came to one of the stone and steel spires of the underwater city, one with many different entrances to it. Shaak Ti frowned, clinging to one such entrance for a moment as she once again stretched out her mind. But they had moved too late, or perhaps they had not disappeared from their watcher's sense's fast enough. The mind she had felt was gone now.

But she knew vaguely which direction it had been moving when it did. _Deeper, far deeper, and the shape of the mind, a criminal of some sort, that's something at least,_ she thought, then shrugged her shoulders tapped Ranma on her shoulder and pointed back up towards the surface.

Instead of returning to the Dergal house, the two of them made their way towards a public entrance to the upper city. This area was mostly used for families with young children, the elderly, or offworlders who wanted to take part in the local pastime. Coming out of the water the two women got some leers from the various aliens, including the Quarren, but only a few of the Mon Calamari seemed to be 'cosmopolitan' enough to think aliens were of any interest.

Ranma too had issues, staring at Shaak Ti. Shaak Ti's suit was very modest, much like her own, a one-piece suit that covered everything from the privates up to her shoulders. Yet it was white standing out in stark contrast to the red skin it was clinging to, and the body underneath it was sooo good...

Shaking her head, Ranma sent her red hair flying, moving to take Shaak's arm in one of her own, leaning in to whisper, "What did you find?"

"Someone was watching the water entrance, and noticed us coming out of it." Shaak said grimly, despite a small smile making its way over her features. Clipping her mask in place at her side with her free hand, she pulled on her small headdress, smiling slightly as the azul fang settled into place on her brow.

She was silent for a time as the two of them walked through a crowd, but spoke up as they moved away from the crowd and the public entrance. "I felt his spike of surprise, anger and irritation. I hoped we could catch him but I should have known we wouldn't be able to catch a local in their own environment." She shrugged her shoulders and Ranma nodded.

She watched, one eyebrow rising as Ranma moved in front of her, her entire being changing. Suddenly the redhead was no longer simply walking along beside her taking in the sights of the city like a tourist. Now she was looking at various hiding places, shadows and vantage points, wary of danger. "Do you think they know you're a Jedi?"

"I don't think so, or at least they won't have proof of that. I'm not very well known, and very few people, even criminal sorts, know a single Jedi by sight. But they could think we were connected with the investigation somehow."

"Just great," Ranma muttered, relaxing only when Shaak took her arm pulling the redhead to walk beside her once more. "So should we wait here and see if they come out after us, make fools of ourselves somewhere and become targets, or simply assume they'll attack us anyway and move on back to our hotel?"

"If they attack us I'd rather not get civilians involved, so I think we should move back to the hotel. But if we come upon a place where we could possibly turn the ambush on them…" her voice trailed off, and she smiled, showing pointy teeth for just a moment.

"Sounds good to me, just remember though if they don't know you're a Jedi that means no lightsaber or Force tricks for you. Think you can handle that?" Ranma said, smirking a little and bumping one hip against hers.

"I think I can manage." Shaak smiled. "Now, if we do find such a place, here's what we do."

The two of them did find a spot, and slowed down, arguing loudly about heading out for food or back to the hotel. It was a normal scene, save for the fact that there were no other passerby on this small street at the moment.

They both caught the flicker at once. Ranma noticed them out of the corner of his eye, his sixth sense warning him, while Shaak Ti felt a few nearby minds suddenly concentrating on them through her Force senses, which she was stretching as far as possible. "Now," she said calmly.

With that she ducked aside as Ranma did the same. Several blue circles of stun light passed through where they had been standing and a few voices speaking the local dialect were raised in anger at the missed shots. "/Damn it Ruffo, you gave us away!/"

"/Scrag you Nerl, you missed them too!/" This sentence was followed by several other stun bolts zipping towards Ranma and Shaak. Shaak dove into the waterway they had been walking alongside, while Ranma leaped up to a low-hanging balcony, flipping himself up onto it.

"/Hah, I've got the Togrutan bitch, you take the human!/" This was followed by another splash as one of their attackers dove into the water after Shaak Ti

"/Wh, damn he's like an acrobat!/" Another voice shouted, while its owner tried to get a bead on Ranma. Ranma leaped over the circle of blue light, tapping his feet down onto another balcony for only a second before changing direction, landing on a nearby roof and rolling to avoid another shot.

Grabbing up a small piece of stone Ranma hurled it at the shooter, who was a Mon Calamari standing out in the open on top of another rooftop. The man didn't bother to dodge the tiny pebble, merely lining up his shot on Ranma now that he was standing still for a moment.

He was therefore surprised when the small pebble smashed into him like a bullet from a slug-shooter. With a cry of pain the man flew backwards, rolling as he hit the roof. He tried to get to his feet, only for a sharp pain in the neck to send him back down to sleep.

"There we go, and no Force tricks required." Ranma muttered, slinging the man onto one shoulder before making his way back down to street level.

There he found Shaak Ti already waiting for him, pulling another would-be attacker out of the water. He was a Quarren who was dressed as shabbily as Ranma's captive, but there was nothing else discernible about him in the light of the streetlights. Sitting his own prisoner down next to the Togrutan, Ranma whispered, "Can you sense anyone else watching us?"

"I did when the ambush began, but it's gone now. That doesn't mean we're not being watched, just not from within my range." Shaak whispered back, before going on more loudly. "This one must've been drunk, he tried to use his blaster underwater, and shocked himself unconscious!"

"Really?" Ranma asked, one eyebrow raised and she shook her head as Shaak nodded. "Damn, that's sad. So, are we going to wake one of these idiots up or what?"

In the distance however Shaak began to hear the sound of incoming sirens. "No, I don't think so, we'll leave them for the locals. It would do us no good to be brought in for questioning as witnesses or anything else. And I don't think these two would have any information anyway."

Dumping their two-would be attackers there, the duo quickly continued on their way through Mon Cal towards their hotel. The room they had gotten had two beds, a very small but well-accoutered bathroom, and several of what Shaak Ti called water bulbs, globes of glass which each held water and a local oceanic plant.

As Ranma moved around the room looking at the plants, Shaak Ti ordered them some food from the hotel. While that had been Ranma's idea originally, by the time they arrived at the hotel Shaak Ti had been feeling some hunger to. Putting the phone down, she turned to Ranma bringing up that very subject. "Ranma, I've noticed over the past few days that my appetite seems to have gone up. Is your training supposed to cause that?"

"Yeah," Ranma said turning away from the last plant, something that looked like a starfish but with flowers at the end of each of its points. "All martial artists eat a lot in comparison to normal people, and when you start building up your ki that becomes even more pronounced. You're seeing that happen faster than I expected, but given your Jedi training and how fit you were already I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"I see." Shaak Ti mused, then she laughed quietly both at the backhanded compliment she'd just been given and at an odd thought she'd just had. Ranma cocked an eyebrow at her and she shook her head still chuckling. "You remember my saying that I've run into Senator's wives and other VIPs who are… body conscious? I'm just imagining what their response would be if they saw me eat enough for any three of them, then offhandedly mention that I wouldn't gain a pound from doing so." She sighed theatrically. "Shame, it would be the perfect crime…"

"Careful!" Ranma laughed. "You might break that whole unemotional Jedi ideal you're supposed to be upholding."

Shaak Ti rolled her eyes at the redhead's gentle joke, though there was unfortunately more than enough Jedi who really believed that idiocy. For her part Shaak didn't believe in shutting herself off entirely from her emotions, but was very wary about the depth and power of them. However now was not the time to continue that debate. They had a job to do first. "Tell me, did anything about our attackers seem odd to you?"

"I thought they were thugs." Ranma said simply. "You know gangers, like those idiots I ran to back on, or should that be in, Coruscant? Y'know, the ones I left…"

"Thank you I don't need to be reminded of that particular sight." Shaak Ti said quickly, shuddering a little at the imagery it brought to mind. "Yes that's what I was thinking they were just normal ruffians, not very well armed, or intelligent. But there **was** someone else there, as I said."

"Was it the same person you sensed watching the water entrance to the Dergal place?"

"Certainly the same species." Shaak Ti replied then at Ranma's quizzical expression she elaborated. "While most Jedi cannot read deeply into people's minds, we can skim their surface thoughts." Ranma nodded having heard that before and she went on. "Each species however has a certain structure to their thoughts. This one wasn't one I'm familiar with, but then again I haven't had dealings with either the Quarren or the Mon Calamari before our arrival here."

"And I suppose that if it wasn't an individual from either of those species they'd have stuck out like a sore thumb, especially down in the water," Ranma muttered. "Would you've been able to tell if the other passersby had noticed a stranger?"

"I would have yes, and I didn't sense anything unusual from their reactions." Shaak Ti smiled slightly. Ranma might not be able to use Jedi Force tricks, but he was quickly beginning to understand **how** they could be used and plan accordingly.

"Speaking of that first watcher," she said quickly, snapping her fingers in a human gesture which, much like nodding, had crossed species. "When you tried to use your cloaking technique in the water, you were still somewhat visible thanks to ripples in the water caused by your body's movement. Just something to think about in the future."

Ranma shrugged. "No technique is perfect I suppose, I already knew any species with infrared or sonar could see through it. I'd like ta see if I can pick up your trick, that Force Stealth technique anyway, so we'll see."

Shaak Ti merely nodded at that, having come to understand how Ranma's ability to adapt was his strongest ability. She wouldn't put it past him to improve his current technique or find a way to use Force Stealth with his Internal Living Force.

The two of them continued to talk about the case before Shaak Ti began to describe other similar missions she had gone on an in the past, of which there had been for: two kidnappings, and two missing persons. The missing persons cases had ended with the individual turning up long dead, before the Jedi had been asked to search for them. On the other hand, she and her master had gotten the kidnap victims back in both cases.

"But the nature of this world and the fact that we don't have any local contacts to work with is going to make much harder." After all, the Dergal family was supposed to be their local contacts here outside of the government's representatives. "I hope that Kit has turned up something on his end."

"I just hope we get the Dergals all back alive." Ranma replied grimly. "I honestly don't care who's behind it, kidnapping a family like that, especially a family with a young kid? Sets my blood boiling."

"While I agree with you remind me not take you to a few of the Core-ward planets. Several of them believe kidnapping is simply another normal tool of politics." Shaak Ti replied dryly.

Ranma shrugged. "If they don't have any martial arts styles, I'm not interested in them anyway."

At that point food arrived, and Ranma got up to answer the door, opening it to a service droid who pushed in a tray. After paying the servitor Ranma moved over to the bathroom and splashed herself with hot water, changing forms. He figured he would spend so much time in female form, he might as well savor what time he could spend in his male form.

Coming back he frowned at the cuisine that Shaak Ti had picked out, visible now since she had removed the coverings from the various small dishes. The Mon Calamari believed in many small dishes per meal rather than one main portion and an appetizer like most human planets. "Fish, fish and more fish or something similar?"

Shaak Ti smiled at his dubious expression pointing to each dish in turn, giving their names and descriptions. They both dug in, before pausing, and looking at one another. "Unfortunately while this hotel caters to offworlders it doesn't actually have a nearby supplier for human, or Togrutan food." The food was somewhat bland, well-cooked from what they could tell, and somewhat filling, but not exactly tasty.

For his part Ranma simply grimaced and ate quickly to not actually taste anything, causing Shaak Ti to smile teasingly at him. "Food is a thing you will have to get used to in this universe I'm afraid. Very few planets are cosmopolitan enough to cater to all species taste-wise, you were rather spoiled on the trip here given that Coruscant could do just that. Most of the time while on missions we Jedi have little choice but to eat what is put in front of us."

"Is the Council really that tightfisted?"

"Not particularly, though as I've said before I think it's simply another way of making certain we abstain from all worldly things." Shaak Ti laughed. "Frankly after long enough in space you just eat what's in front of you. On the other hand, I **can** cook. My master was most insistent that I learned how to take care of myself, and I can cook both low-tech and with a kitchen."

"Low-tech I assume means camping out or something?" Ranma said with a laugh. "I'm going to have to cook for you sometime too. Beef bowls I think given how much you like steak, with the meat as rare as I can make it, or Kushiyaki."

"I like the name of that first dish for certain," Shaak laughed in turn. They kept on eating for a time, exchanging tales from their own cooking experiences. Ranma regaled Shaak with a few stories of Kasumi and her cooking, while Shaak replied by relating a time she'd gone undercover as a kitchen assistant.

After a while the meal was finished, not so much to their liking. The food had been only passable. The conversation however had more than made up for it.

Pushing the tray back to the doorway, Ranma turned and was not surprised to see Shaak Ti had already sat down on the hard floor of the room. The hotel didn't have any rugs anywhere, and Shaak Ti had explained that that was because the locals simply didn't use them. It was a small thing to Ranma, but rather jarring considering that every human culture had rugs or something similar, even primitive ones. "More meditation?"

"Indeed, I think we should take turns today however." She smiled faintly looking up and Ranma from where she sat. "You said at one point you wanted to experiment with reaching out the Force once we arrived on planet. Well, here we are."

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he looked into Shaak's faint smile. "You just want a chance to whack me when I don't do it right, don't you?"

"While turn-about is fair play, I am a Jedi and we are above such petty things." Shaak Ti replied, sententiously, though her smile twitched slightly giving her tone the lie. "But come, I think I'm actually interested in what will happen when you do."

"Should we get out the holocron?" Ranma asked reluctantly. She still didn't want to show Master Halcyon his female form. The way the Jedi talked about the holocrons it was obvious the things were expensive as hell and he really didn't want to be blamed for breaking, not when at least half the masters he'd already met had such a poor opinion of him.

"I don't think so, I know you're reluctant to show your female body to him. I think that it's rather silly, the holocron will the able to handle it. But I don't want you to be nervous or have any misgivings when you try to reach out to the Unifying Force."

"You're not the one those stuffy old codger's would blame for breaking it." Ranma muttered. With a sigh he fell into a lotus position across from her. "Do you want to go first or should I?"

"You first I think Ranma," Shaak Ti said with a faint smile, picking up a spoon from where she had said it on the ground. The utensils on this planet were generally speaking the same as most worlds, though neither of them had used the spoons in question. This gave Shaak a blunt object to smack Ranma with, and she was looking forward to the opportunity eagerly.

To her surprise however Ranma understood the difference between his normal meditation and her own. As he had told her, Ranma had experimented once already and had spent days watching her try to change from one style to another. Rather than reaching out to the unifying Force as a whole therefore Ranma concentrated on the living Force in one of the local plants before he allowed his senses to widen to the Unifying Force surrounding them.

The living Force of the plant was small, ephemeral, one strand among billions pressing in on Ranma's ki sense. But he kept hold of it, refusing to be washed away in the flood of...

There was no single word for what he was feeling. Emotions, feelings, the makeup of the bed next to him, the floor underneath him, the city beyond, the ebb and tide of the water of the entire planet. Everything that the Unifying Force was made of was there, interconnected. The emotions rattled, some darker, angry and red veined, or hateful and green. At least in the area around them however the lighter emotions abounded.

It was like a stream, or that was the first image Ranma's mind first grasped. A stream of billions upon billions of light streamers, with images floating to the surface here and there, the Force trying to get his attention, but his mind couldn't quite grasp of them. Ranma's self, whatever it was that made Ranma himself, stood, refusing to be pushed by the stream. After only a very brief moment he pulled his senses back to his body gasping, falling forward almost onto his side at the sheer mental exertion that he had just put forth. "Th, that was a hell of a lot different from the time in the temple! Gahh…."

Across from him Shaak Ti had dropped the spoon she had been playing with and simply stared for a moment. She had felt Ranma reach out to the Force, but it was an unformed attempt, not merely a mental one like what would happen during meditation, not sending his mind out into the Force like a Jedi would to use their mental disciplines, or even reaching out to the physical power of the Force. A Jedi who was using a power like Telekinesis would reach out for that power.

But Ranma hadn't reached out, instead he had sent out what almost like a gestalt of a sort into the Force. Everything he was he had pushed out into the Force, but then he had pulled it back, refusing to let the Force interact beyond the barest minimum with his own Living Force. "That was… a profoundly interesting experience Ranma. And it makes sense that it would be different here, the Force in the Jedi temple has been, call it softened over the millennia by so many Force users reaching out to it under controlled circumstances. What did it feel like?"

"I think that's enough experimenting," Ranma said with a gasp. "I did not like that feeling, not one bit."

You could be thinking about it too much." Shaak Ti stroked her lekku thoughtfully. "You mentioned more than once that you make up moves on the fly or in the midst of combat which you have trouble replicating later. Perhaps we are starting this from the wrong end. I think if you can interact with the Unifying Force successfully just once, you would be able to duplicate it later."

"I don't think so," Ranma said now somewhat recovered pushing himself back upright. "I think it's a matter of control. To me as a martial artist **control** is everything, that's why I dislike the Jedi Order's method of training, you don't control your emotions you just push them to the side or push them down." Shaak made a 'get on with it' gesture and Ranma smiled slightly before obeying. "But when you reach out to the Force like that, you are letting the Force guide you, guide your actions, your thoughts and senses. That's a very hard concept for me to get over."

Shaak Ti nodded and explained what it felt like from the outside and Ranma frowned, understanding that he did need to experiment more if he was going to try to figure out a way to use the Force. At the present time he didn't think he needed it, he already knew how to reach out to the Force to refill his own reservoir; though he hadn't liked the experience he knew he could replicate that at least again. But not reaching out to the physical energy of the Force but rather the ephemeral 'skein of the future and present' as Shaak Ti put it was a lot tougher.

"You have a strong sense of self Ranma. In the main that is a good thing, but we Jedi are told… not to have no sense of self, but to see ourselves as part of the greater picture, to become conduits for the Force." Shaak Ti replied, stroking her lekku as she struggled with the words. "You don't have that, I think if you did you'd be able to reach out as we do. What you're doing now isn't so much reaching out as, as… setting your soul up as a sort of flagpole, standing in the wind of the Force, but refusing to let it blow you where it will. Still, an interesting experiment at least. And you're certain you could reach out to the Force to, what's the word you used, to 'recharge' yourself?"

"Oh yeah I could do that before I met Master Dooku. But your Force Battle Precognition, and I think even your cloaking technique, I'm not going to be able to replicate those until I get over this."

"Thank the Force for small mercies." Shaak Ti said with a laugh. "Ranma, you're already abominably hard to fight close-range. I'd hate to think what you would be like if you could also predict your enemy's moves like that."

"Yeah, but even your telekinesis is going to be tough to reproduce without somehow using the Unifying Force. Not until I figure out a way to just reach out to the energy of the Force without the mental and emotional sides and use it outside my body. I won't say it's impossible, that isn't my style, but I refuse to give up my control like that."

"We're all learning here Ranma, though I would say you don't need Force Telekinesis as much given your own long-range attacks." Shaak Ti said with a faint smile, slightly enjoying being on this side of things for once as she reached forward to pat Ranma on the knee. "Now I believe it is my turn? But I will want to see if the Force can tell me anything about our mission before I continue to practice your method of meditation."

Ranma nodded, and scooted closer, until their knees were nearly touching, watching her closely. His eyes began to glow slightly with ki sight, and Shaak Ti nodded before closing her eyes. First Shaak reached out to the Force as if she was trying to probe the future, trying to get a sense of what they should do next in terms of their investigation.

But instead of showing her any hints of their quarry, the Force showed her one of her own memories. It was of the time when Shaak and her master had been on Shili and she had gone on a ritual hunt. Not the battle with the creature whose fang she now wore on her brow, but the actual hunt itself. Specifically Shaak stalking the akul, the beast whose teeth she wore on her headdress. She had first learned how it moved then prepared a trap which injured the beast slightly before following the blood trail back to its lair, where she had fought and killed it in single combat.

She began to come out of the trance for a moment, smiling now. Then she remembered what Ranma had just done, sending not his mind out, but a gestalt of himself. _I wonder…_ Action followed thought quickly and she reached out with a portion of her old Living Force as Ranma did, as well as the thought, _thank you._ Shaak Ti didn't know why she did that, but she got a feeling, almost a positive response from the Force, as if it approved. It was very hard to put into words, but that was what it felt like.

She opened her eyes to see Ranma smirking at her. "That was different, it almost looked like you were trying to pull in some energy again for a ki technique, but not quite. You only sent out a brief flare of your own energy rather than pulling in any of the Unifying Force. Any reason why?"

"I don't know, it just felt right for some reason. But the Force did tell me something I can use for our investigation. What time is it?"

"2000 local time. We've got another hour before Kit is supposed to check in with us. We've got time for you to try to meditate and grow your ki reservoir."

Shaak Ti nodded, and closed her eyes once more. About 45 minutes later she came out of her trance at a pat on her knee. "It's almost time Shaak."

A few moments later the two of them were once again sitting at the desk as Kit called them on the secure com they had set up before leaving their ship that morning. His opening comment however was not exactly helpful. "I hope you two have had more luck than I have, or else this mission is going to become very irritating very quickly."

"I'd say we're feeling the undertow." Ranma said with a grin, causing both his listeners to groan aloud at the bad joke. After putting her hand over Ranma's mouth to stop him from continuing on a similar vein Shaak Ti continued describing their day from start to finish.

"And other than them being the same species you don't have any clue as to the nature of the watcher?" Kit said frowning thoughtfully.

Shaak nodded, but expanded slightly. "I'm hesitant to stereotype and say they were Quarren just because that is my first thought, but..."

Ranma removed Shaak hand from his mouth, holding it in both of her own for a moment as he looked between the two Jedi. "The way you phrase that, it sounds like you've got a political reason."

"Unfortunately I do." Shaak replied, gently regaining her hand from Ranma. "The Quarren are a minority on Dac. Their numbers have never grown to the level they were before their disastrous war with the Mon Calamari, and some of them resent that. They also resent their political and social domination by the Mon Calamari. They have a legitimate voice in the government, indeed some of the cities on Dac have elected Quarren representatives to the world Council and they have representation on the lower governmental levels as well. But that doesn't matter because it's still a **Mon Calamari** government, you understand?"

"Sort of?" Ranma said shrugging his shoulders. He didn't think offhand of any similar experience he'd heard of on Earth, though possibly the suffrage movement, or maybe the Equal Rights Movement in America? _But then, women and African Americans never tried to go to war with whites, and the Quarren were never enslaved to those they had attacked. I wish I'd studied more world history than I did, I was always more interested in the wars than the politics behind them._

Kit nodded then described his own half of the investigation, ending with a faint sigh, his lekku moving in a chaotic pattern, a Nautolan sign of faint irritation. **"** It definitely looks like a frame job so far. I've talked to all of the higher up leaders of the splintered movement. Despite the amount of evidence pointing to them, none of them had any part in the kidnapping."

"And there's no hint as to where the evidence is coming from, and what is it?" Shaak asked. "And may I say that I'm happy you're the one handling that side of things, my knowledge of computers and programming is not the best."

"And you think mine is?" Kit laughed, but there was more than a bit of self-deprecation to the noise rather than actual humor. "As to the evidence, mostly strange payments, missing funds, videos of them meeting at odd times and places, strange shipments that have no physical evidence of said, and a copy of a public video of some of the low-level grunts of the League being seen staking out the Dergal place. The individuals in said video have rock-solid alibis of course, and I interviewed one of them already, he's a gofer to use the human parlance. I'm working with the government's computer specialists to backlog the various bits of evidence, but most of it's appeared in the last three days, backtracking them is going to take a lot of time."

"So while the top brass has been cleared you can't tell if someone further down the chain was involved or not?" Ranma groaned. "Ugh."

"Exactly my young friend. I've done these kind of missions before, we both have." Kit nodded toward Shaak who nodded back. "But unfortunately we are coming in so long after the actual crime that any Force traces have fled, leaving us to fall back on our ability to read the truth in people and normal investigative work. It's not the first time I've dealt with this issue, but it can get tedious."

"Tomorrow I'm going to start questioning some of their lieutenants, as well as anyone in the government that could possibly have the resources to spirit the Degrals away in order to frame the opposition or plant the evidence to said beyond the note sent to the police. But frankly at this point I think that the political side of things is a dead-end. But I feel there is a third group involved in this somewhere, we just need to identify who." Kit finished, looking at both his listeners.

While Shaak simply nodded Ranma asked, "Who could gain from that kind of thing?"

Both Jedi shook their heads, but Kit was the one who answered verbally, having studied the Mon Calamari sector's government in more depth than Shaak in preparation for this mission. "We don't know. While in some planets a corporation could be behind this kind of move, that's not the way the corporations or smaller companies on Mon Calamari act. If they were caught at it, the government would simply absorb the company, and the perpetrators themselves might well be executed. And aliens such as you and Ranma stick out like a Corellian in a monastery."

Shaak nodded thoughtfully while Ranma laughed at Kit's joke. "The criminal element?"

"By and large the Mon Calamari are a law-abiding people, but there of course is such an element. Yet the police have contacts among them, and none of them have hinted at anything from that direction. Besides, hitting such high-profile targets is not in keeping with the way Mon Calamari or Quarren criminals act. They tend to keep a very low profile, and keep to socially acceptable crimes for the most part: recreational drugs, some racketeering that sort of thing. The truly depraved, well the Mon Calamari are peaceful and pragmatic people, but they have very **certain** methods of dealing with murderers or rapists

"Good to know," Ranma replied dryly. "Okay, so it's possibly not locals at all. Maybe some old business from their Ranger years? I'd guess helping you Jedi out could have got them some enemies over the years."

"A definite possibility but I looked over their records." Shaak shook her head. "They never dealt with anyone with the reach to hit them here on Dac, certainly not without causing a much larger splash, no pun intended."

Kit and Ranma still smiled and laughed at her respectively, and Shaak Ti rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. One group of pirates might be able to pull off a raid to kill them, another group of criminals with Black Sun ties could possibly kidnap them, but get them off planet without leaving clues behind? No."

At Ranma's quizzical expression Shaak expanded slightly. "The Black Sun is the most powerful intergalactic crime syndicate at present. They have ties to a lot of smaller bands of criminals spread throughout the Republic, but as far as the Order knows they don't have enough penetration out here in the 'Rim' to get away with such activities. And they seem to have had a bit of a civil war recently as well."

Ranma nodded and Shaak turned her attention to Kit. "How certain are you of your belief that the opposition and the government aren't involved this?"

"Fairly certain. I'm almost positive that whoever does have involvement has some spies in both parties, but the organizers, the planners they certainly aren't involved at the high levels of the rate. I will be much more certain after I've talked to the mid-level functionaries. But the Force is telling me there's a third group involved in this that wanted open conflict between the two political parties, and it's only the Mon Calamari dislike of conflict that has kept that from occurring yet."

"Would you be willing to play bait?" Shaak Ti asked suddenly.

Kit's eyes widened at the sudden shift of the conversation but he nodded thoughtfully. "You intend to let me be a traplight, bait? While you wait nearby to try and tail anyone watching the action I presume?"

"Something similar, only a bit more high-tech." Shaak Ti smiled, and it was a very predatory smile showing all of her pointed teeth for a moment. Next to her Ranma smirked, the sight sending his pulse to racing. "I think we need to lure the azul out of the grass, and then trace it back into its lair."

 **OOOOOOO**

Kit spent half of the next day, from a very early start to midafternoon in fact, interviewing people in both the government and the formerly United Anti-Republican party. He told all and sundry how his investigation was going as well, that in his opinion no one on either side of the debate was involved in the disappearance.

Many of the locals were reluctant to take his word, but the word of the Jedi was always trusted in matters like this, it was why they were so well thought of as investigators and lawgivers. In fact, Halcyon had told them that in his time the Jedi did far more investigative work with locals to solve crime then diplomatic missions.

By midday practically everyone who was anyone in the government local government knew that Kit was going to start looking for someone else who could be behind the Dergal family's disappearance, rather than the opposition as had been supposed. And as Shaak Ti had predicted, this elicited a sharp response.

Kit asked the local police commissioner to set up a news conference for that evening, but before that told the man, on an open comlink, that he wanted to investigate the Dergal household first. Sure enough, as he was about to enter the house his Jedi senses, which he was stretching to the max despite seemingly being at ease, warned him of danger.

He quickly turned, bringing up his lightsaber to deflect several blaster bolts aimed at his back from four different directions. Two of them came from street level, a pair of very seedy looking Mon Calamari, while up above a Quarren tried to range on him with a blaster rifle quipped with a sniper scope. The two charging towards him fell, their blaster bolts blasts returned to them knocking the legs out from under them, whilst Kit had deflected the bolts from the sniper to destroy their guns. The sniper cursed, and he turned to flee but with the help of a Force jump Kit was quickly onto the rooftops and chasing after him.

Behind them a watcher had remained in place, cursing quietly at yet another ambush gone awry. _Damn Jedi and their senses, hopefully the second ambush will go better. And I have to wonder about those other two we tried to have ambushed last night, they didn't show any Jedi skills, but still…_

Still thinking about what to report to his superiors the man moved through the city, never noticing that he had gained a shadow. After a few minutes aimless walking he moved towards an entrance to the ocean. Just as he was about to enter, Shaak Ti, who had been trailing him using her Force stealth, placed a small waterproof tracker on his belt buckle.

By this time around Ranma, again in female form, had moved in to help Kit with the second group of ambushers which the sniper had led him into. This ambush was far better thought out, but between them the ambushers were overcome with ease.

Moments later Shaak Ti joined them, handing the tracker over to Kit. "Your turn." She said simply. "The rabbit is well on its way back to its hideaway. I'll stay behind and get in touch with the locals."

She held out her hand expectantly to Ranma, who nodded, swiftly pulling her lightsaber from her ki space. Shaak Ti smiled as she took it, bowing her head slightly to him, while he simply waved her off. "You won't have it any trouble with the locals? After all they don't know you're here right?"

"I shouldn't have trouble, our reasoning for our piece of duplicity was sound. Regardless, I'll handle that aspect, you two need to get going." Shaak Ti ordered.

Ranma grinned, smacked her on the shoulder in passing as she raced after Kit, who had already moved off heading straight towards the same entrance to the ocean the tagged watcher had taken. He smirked back over his shoulder toward Ranma about to say something along the lines of trying to keep up, when he realized Ranma was already beside him. _If she moves as fast through the water as she runs over the rooftops, this could be an interesting little race_ , he thought, getting excited at the idea. If there was one thing that Kit had an ego about, it was his skill in the water.

Being in the water was as phenomenal experience today as it was the day before to Ranma, even as she gulped in air and then put on one of the diving masks that the locals sold for alien visitors. He nodded to Kit who nodded back then without another word slipped down into the water, diving straight down, occasionally looking at the tracker which glowed green in the ocean. Like the bug the tracker itself waterproof borrowed from the local police without the police actually knowing about it.

The two of them kept swimming downwards through the city, traversing what Ranma felt was the equivalent of forty stories or so very quickly, before they began to move away from the more heavily populated areas. They continued down, their descent slowly becoming a diagonal. They were still going down, but now they were moving away from the center of the floating metropolis.

A few moments after that, Kit radioed through his waterproof wireless radio to Ranma, who picked it up in his diving helmet. _Remarkable, she's able to keep up with me!_ "We're moving away from the city now. We're moving deeper into the water too, how are you holding up?"

In all honesty this was far, far deeper than Ranma had ever dived before, either before or after he/she had been to Jusenkyou. The pressure on her body was getting to be noticeable now, but Ranma was a hell of a lot tougher than a normal human, so she simply replied in the affirmative. "I can't say I like how little light there is down here, without the light of your tracker I don't think I'd be able to see in front of me, but I can deal with the pressure."

"Shaak Ti mentioned you can use something like our Force sight, use that to track me." Kit ordered. "The light of the tracker might give us a way if they have anyone on lookout, so I'm going to cover it from now on. In fact, they might be able to pick up or radio signals too, so from here on out we're swimming silent."

With that he placed a bag over the tracker, holding it up to his eyes for just a moment to take his bearings and then putting it away.

Ranma sighed but obeyed his eyes lighting up for a moment before dimming and the two of them continued down at a diagonal deeper into the water. Yet still Ranma kept up with the Nautolan Jedi, astonishing him further.

Indeed it wasn't Ranma's body that began to have performance issues, but his diving equipment. After another half hour he began to hear creaking from his mask. The depth pressure had begun to overcome the mask, which wasn't rated for this depth. Even so, Ranma soldiered on grimly.

A few moments later, Kit stopped, putting a hand back to stop Ranma in the dark of the water. He immediately winced as Ranma grabbed his hand where it had been touching her breast and moved it down to her stomach, then let it go with a semi-friendly pat on the back of the hand. Kit patted Ranma's stomach twice in apology, then three more times in rapid succession before holding three fingers out against Ranma's stomach to indicate that he felt three people out there. Not knowing how accurate Ranma's ki sight was in sensing movement Kit had opted to use another form of communication.

Ranma nodded then squeezed Kit's hand once in acknowledgment. Looking around she could see two of the watchers, moving through the water far faster than any normal swimmer could. _They must be using some kind of transport, a small submarine, a skimmer or something?_

Regardless, Kit moved down even further, using his own Force abilities to guide the two of them past the watchers. Like the Quarren his race had evolved in the depths of the ocean, and Kit was a past master at moving silently through the water. He was also good at turning people's attention away from him. Reaching out for the Force, he turned the minds of the watchers away, causing them to think a school of fish in the distance was an approaching Mon Calamari patrolman.

As Kit did so and while Ranma was becoming more worried about her mask, Kit realized something which made his mood plummet. _Oh dear, they are all Quarren. And… I can sense the minds of a large group of them in the distance… what have we stumbled into here?_

Ranma of course couldn't sense the watchers minds of those in the distance. What she could sense and see, was her mask giving out. As the two kept swimming a long crack appeared in the mask, directly over one eye. Even without any light down here Ranma could see it, and feel it too. _If we don't find this place soon I'll have to turn back. And if that happens I'm going to be pissed off!_ And, though Ranma didn't want to admit it, she was getting worried that if her mask broke she wouldn't' be able to get back to the surface before his air ran out.

Luckily for Ranma, about five minutes later Kit began to see what looked like a large five or six stories tall structure in the distance. It was built into what looked like the side of the crevasse, leading down even deeper into the depths of the ocean. They reached the side of the construct quickly, and the two of them been began to move around it, looking for a way inside. Ranma found it and made her hand glow for a second to get Kit's attention. Kit quickly came towards her, and Ranma gestured to the hatch that she was holding onto at present.

Kit nodded, and began to look around for any controls that could let them inside, finding none. _It must only be opened from the inside. We could wait for one of the patrolman to come in, but does Ranma have enough air to last?_ While Quarren could breathe air they had gills and could swim indefinitely as could Mon Calamari, though they found it somewhat uncomfortable which Quarren did not.

A second after that, Ranma took the choice away from him. He reached forward, digging his fingers into the metal of the hatchway, a sight that caused Kit to gasp inaudibly in the water for a moment. Then his eyes widened as far as they could when Ranma ripped the doors open to either side overcoming whatever lock was on them through brute force.

The two of them entered quickly, finding an interior door that was still locked in front of them. The water rushed in all around them and Ranma turned pulling the door closed while Kit activated his lightsaber, slamming it into the interior door and cutting his way in. The sight of the blade activating in the water caused Ranma's eyes to widen slightly, but then the redhead was too busy to care. The water pressure threatened to push Ranma away before she could close the doors, but she was finally able to do so, holding them closed despite the damage her initial opening of them had done, gritting his teeth as he stared at the giant crack in his mask, visible now thanks to a dim red light set into the side of the airlock.

Meanwhile Kit turned thrusting his lightsaber into the interior doorway, cutting a portion of it away. The water around them splashed out into the interior of the hideaway, and he turned. Lifting the lightsaber over Ranma's head Kit slowly melted the doorway closed permanently as Ranma began to sink to her knees, keeping the door closed until the job was done.

For a moment Ranma simply stayed on her knees in the still dissipating water before pulling off her mask and gasping in air. It smelled like mold and old sweat but at the moment it was the greatest thing she had ever smelled. "Sorry Kit," she said gasping a little. She held up her mask, showing Kit the damage it had taken. "I can hold my breath a lot longer than most, but even I need to breathe. I, I don't think I'd even be able to get back to the surface from here."

"It's fine Ranma, we'd have had to get in anyway. I couldn't find any exterior method of opening the door. But they know we're here now."

"Can you do you're force thing to find the missing family?" Ranma asked as she pushed to her feet, moving towards the door way and staring out of the cut Kit had made. The hatch led into a call small corridor, the end of which both turned away from the entrance in a circular pattern to either side. One side sloped upwards, the other one gently downward.

Kit chuckled at his erstwhile companion's way of talking about the Force but nodded, reaching out with the Force to find any group of three Mon Calamari minds. He frowned as he felt other minds: minds organized much like his own. _What in the universe?_ After a moment however he came out of his trance and pointed towards one corridor just as security guards rounded around both ends of the hallway. "That way, through our new friends."

Ranma and Kit bolted out of the entrance way, as one moving in different directions. This action surprised the security teams which had responded to the ongoing blares of the alarm, though several of them were able to get their weapons up and fire at the two attackers. Ranma bounced off the walls randomly, closing with a speed that took those trying to fire at him by surprise. Her random bounces threw off the shots of even those defenders who were fast enough to aim at her, and soon she was in among the group to the left of the airlock.

Kit activated his lightsaber, blocking a few bolts that came his way, bouncing them back to hit the defenders, hitting them in the legs or shoulders. Once the last was done, he closed in and sent them all to sleep with blows to the back of the head from his powered down lightsaber. Two of them still tried to fight, only to lose arms before he knocked them out.

Over the weeks of discussion with Shaak and Ranma Kit had realized that the lightsaber made it all too easy to take lives, and had adjusted his Shi Cho form to injure rather than kill. The Quarren he dispatched might not thank him later given their lost limbs, but it made him feel somewhat better as he remembered a conversation that he'd had with Shaak and Master Halcyon.

"Every life you take weighs on you, large or small," Master Halcyon had said. "Never be so blasé about it that you do not remember that fact every time you swing your sword. The lightsaber in the hand of a Jedi is a tool to defend life and justice, not to take it save when doing so will protect others." Coming from a renowned lightsaber master whose teachings were still a part of the basis of Jedi training, that had stuck with Kit.

"Which way?" Ranma said, staring around the edge of his end of the corridor, almost absently delivering a kick to one of the defenders who looked as if he was still conscious from the tap she'd given to him earlier.

"Down." Kit replied. "But not yet. From what I'm sensing this will only take us down a single level, we need to go much deeper before we're on the same level as the Dergals, who thankfully seem to all be together. Head forward from your position, there has to be a way further down, and if we can keep our movements from becoming too predictable they might not be able to pin us down."

"Good luck with that one." Ranma laughed.

They quickly ran into two more security teams, both wielding blasters. One lucky shot impacted Ranma in the arm, and their astonished faces as Ranma didn't even seem to feel it was a sight to see. Thankfully they didn't seem to be having then in the way of the security guns, but their numbers were surprising, each group larger than the last. The fourth such team composed twenty defenders, their blasters nearly filling the corridor with bolts from one end to another. Yet despite that, Ranma and Kit were able to weather their assault and close.

They soon came to another spiral ramp, this one leading directly downwards and Kit nodded pointing down. Ranma nodded back, taking the lead position. "You have any idea who we're fighting?"

"They're mostly Quarren, which is giving me a bad idea about what this could all be about," Kit said, shaking his head at the martial artist's durability. _There has to be some Force related ability there, perhaps cellular reinforcement on a macro scale? A skin sample or a blood sample could tell us something I think…_

He paused for a moment right at top of the spiral, staring at a body Ranma had knocked unconscious, a Nautolan like himself dressed in black with a shoulder and knee guard marked out with a white and blue image of a beast from his homeworld. "As well as some of my own species. Going by their dress I think they are a troop from the Tole Dreitha. They're a group of very dangerous mercenaries who specialize in underwater activities of all sorts, up to and including terrorist bombing." He looked up and Ranma his eyes grim and his almost habitual smile gone. "I think for them we should probably waive your normal rules of engagement Ranma. They are the worst sort of mercenaries, the kind that only care what their pay is, regardless of the job."

Ranma shrugged while and the two of them continued to race downwards. "That's your choice, remember we want a lot of live prisoners to ask what the hell is going on here though."

"True," Kit replied with a nod, centering himself in the Force once again. His irritation at seeing members of his own species involved in something like this had shaken him. _But I am a Jedi, I am above such things. I must control my shock, my guilt and shame. I must pursue justice, not attempt to wipe the dishonor of the Tole Dreitha from the universe because it would make me personally feel less shame for being of the same species._

The two of them pushed forward, overcoming the defenders in groups along the route everywhere the defenders attempted to halt their progress. Twice they were ambushed from separate floors which intersected the spiral, but at those points Ranma's durability and Kit's lightsaber skills saw them through. Ranma estimated they had gone downwards at least four or perhaps even six stories worth by the time that the corridor leveled out once again, and had dealt with something like a seventy defenders.

At the end of the spiral they ran into their first real test. Two gun turrets pushed out from the walls. Covered by small personal shields they began to blast away at the bottom of the ramp, forcing the two attackers back. Kit grimaced as his lightsaber flashed, deflecting the bolts with difficulty. These were quad lasers not infantry grade blasters and the impact of them on his lightsaber was far heavier than handheld weapons. He could compensate of course, but he couldn't block and charge forward along the narrow corridor at the same time.

The two of them ducked back into the spiral, using the doorway from the spiral into the corridor for cover looking at one another as the heavy bolts continued to flare between them. Ranma chuckled, gesturing out before pulling her hand back, watching a bolt pass through the air it had just occupied. "Think you can do one of those Force pulls of yours?"

Kit had proved a time or two to be surprisingly adept at telekinetic attacks like that, not very powerful in them, but subtle in their usage. However he shook his head. "They're too far away, I'd have to cross at least half the distance to be able to reach them."

"How strong are those shields?" Ranma asked.

"Good question," Kit replied, stretching out his senses for a moment to make certain that they weren't being encircled from above. They were, but none of the Quarren or his own people were that close just yet, they were all bunched up at the last intersection. Still, it was only a matter of time before they built up enough courage and numbers to come after them, and then he and Ranma would be pinned here. "In fact, I'm at a loss as to how they have small shields like that in the first place. Personal shields like that are immensely expensive!"

"Joy, so that leaves it to me." Ranma smirked.

"Ranma…" Kit asked, his tentacles twisting in the equivalent of a raised eyebrow as Ranma pulled out what looked like a heavy skimmers main gun and set it aside against the wall. "…That was in your ki space I take it? Where in the world did you get that?"

"On a little shopping trip back on Coruscant," Ranma said smirking evilly. "Do you think it could get through that shield?" Kit nodded with a smile of his own and without further ado leaped out of into the corridor, his lightsaber flashing as it once again deflected quad bolts into the walls and back at the shielded guns. The shields shimmered, but held.

Ranma laughed, shaking her head. "Man after my own heart!" She pulled the large rifle up, and sighted past Kit's head towards the targets. "On three, one…"

As Ranma counted down, Kit gave himself to the Force even deeper than he already had, waiting for the timing to be perfect. On 'three', Ranma pulled the trigger, watching aghast as Kit didn't duck immediately. Then he did, letting the heavy bolts from the massive weapon pass just over his head to hammer at the two heavy blasters in their niches. Even as Kit once again began to block the bolts coming toward them, the gun's shields glowed red then failed one after another. Ranma's attack continued, slagging first one gun then the other.

Kit now charged forwards, with Ranma right behind him putting his blaster away as the guns fell silent. "Push! Push on!"

A moment later they reached a circular area that led off to various corridors, two of which traveled back up, another down, and one straight ahead seemingly on the same level. More importantly guards boiled out of each, mixed Quarren and Nautolan, to join a group already putting defensive blocks into position there. "Fire, Fire damn it, kill them both!" Shouted one Quarren, even as he opened fire himself.

"For freedom! The depths will take you!" shouted the Quarren and the mercenaries, who didn't need to be told. Fire crisscrossed the room at the Jedi interloper and his strange companion trying to cut them down. Kit fell back desperately blocking bolts, wincing as one of them nearly caught him in the shoulder despite the best he could do.

Ranma jumped forward, avoiding many of the energy bolts aimed her way, bouncing off the ceiling to land in the center of the room. Not even thinking of getting her overpowered gun again she clenched her fists gathering his ki in them before thrusting her fists forward shouting "Moko Takabashi double!"

Cerulean spheres of Force shot out, slamming into the first people out of the nearest corridors, throwing them back in heaps. Ranma leaped forwards, jumping into the first groups that had tried to put together a defensive position in the actual intersection.

For a moment the fire slackened off as the defenders stared in shock at Ranma. Behind her Kit charged forward now. "In the name of the Jedi Order, the government of Dac, and the Republic you are all under arrest!"

"Not the best warcry my friend!" Ranma laughed, slamming one Quarren down to the ground with a kick before using the impetus of that impact to push backwards slightly, grabbing the head tentacles of two more in passing before slamming their heads together as her feet landed on a Nautolan's back, crushing him into the ground. She winced as several blaster bolts found him, but these were normal hand blasters and rifles, nothing heavy so they couldn't get through her durability. Even better Ranma was moving so fast the defenders actually killed one another as she dodged around

"We Jedi are not specifically warriors, so I apologize for my lack of a warcry! On the other hand I prefer to let my actions do the talking!" Kit said, with a laugh as he actually began to enjoy this. There was just something about Ranma's attitude to combat that was infectious.

Shi Chowas a lightsaber style dominated by heavy sweeps, slashes and blocks, large movements of the lightsaber designed to take out multiple enemies at once or deflect blaster bolts in any direction the user wished. In an enclosed space it became a decent defensive style against blasters, but in a medium-sized space like this it was a deadly offensive style.

Kit put it to good use, killing or taking out of the fight two or even at three terrorists with every sweep of his lightsaber that didn't block a blaster bolt from hitting him. _We really have to look into that durability of Ranma's!_ He thought to himself, turning slightly to watch the way they had come in from as more defenders joined the battle.

"Kill them, kill them aghh!" shouted another Quarren as his head was smashed to the floor by another kick from Ranma.

"Stand still you fucking female, and take your punishment!" said another Quarren.

"That sounded dirty, was it supposed to you fugly bastard?" Ranma quipped, before landing right in front of that Quarren, a small feminine fist lashing out. It caught the mouthy Quarren in the stomach, throwing him back so hard his body crashed into the metal of the tunnel and left a dent, despite there being solid rock on the other side. "Sorry, not interested!"

The locals simply were no match for Ranma and Kit. The last of them fell quickly but to their credit none of them retreated. Even those that came in from behind the two interlopers fought and fell where they fought.

Ranma moved around the room, quickly making sure that none of the defenders were going to be moving anytime soon, knocking out the crippled that Kit had dealt with, and making sure of her own at times. As she did this, Kit reached out with the Force, getting his bearings once again only to break off with a faint smile. "Straight ahead for us, but Knight Ti has arrived with the locals as well. We won't be alone down here for much longer."

Ranma smiled at that news, but moved her head toward the corridor Kit had indicated. "In that case, we should get a move on quick. How much you want to bet these guys would rather kill the hostages and dump their bodies somehow before we get to them just to get rid of the evidence?"

"I would rather not bet anything when it comes to the lives we're here to protect." Kit said promptly pointing down a corridor and then leading off, the Force assisting his speed as Ranma quickly joined him.

 **OOOOOOO**

As Shaak had predicted she didn't have much trouble convincing the locals of her bona-fides. Indeed, it only took showing her ID and her lightsaber to gain the local police commissioner's trust. After that she explained what they had done, and showed him the tracker that Kit was carrying as part of his own tracking device.

Organizing a force to go after them took a bit longer, but not much. While the Mon Calamari were not a truly martial race as most thought of the term they were an organized one, and the Dac equivalent of their National Guard was nothing to sneeze at even if it didn't have much in the way of heavy weapons platforms.

Shaak led a large task group comprised of the local constabulary and the National Guard deep into the ocean towards where she felt Ranma and Kit's presence, hoping that the two of them were well on their way to finding the Dergal family. Closing in on the odd construct Kit and Ranma had invaded they began to run into interference.

The first was a large group of small skimmers carrying Quarren armed with heavy slug throwers. These were designed like jet bikes almost, fast and mobile in the water but without any armor to speak of and little offensive punch. The heavier police subs and transport vessels were in the process of forcing their way through when Quarren and surprisingly Nautolans armed with smaller but similar weapons designed to work underwater boiled out of the installation.

A battle began there in the waters, with Shaak using her piloting skills to good effect at the helm of a small submarine, while Tune, picked up at the police station where Kit had left him, manned the guns.

Even as she piloted her submarine against the defenders however, she kept her mind on the main prize. "Subs one through six, you're on guard detail for the troop transports. Troop transports, I am highlighting what looks like an entrance to that complex, can your scanners pick up any others?"

"Negative master Jedi," said commander Eresham, the Mon Calamari in charge of the force from the national guard, currently riding on one of the troop transports. "It looks to be the only entrance. We're getting a 360 view of it now, and there doesn't seem to be anything else there. They don't have any exterior weapons on its hull either, praise coral."

One of the transport pilots cut in then. "It looks like a _Shir'aan_ class colony ship, only with the hyperspace generators and real space engines removed. But it couldn't've been here for long, this is off the beaten trail around Mon Cal true, but it's not **that** far off. Surely someone would have reported it if it had been here more than half a year or so."

 _A local base then, designed just for this one act,_ Shaak thought then said it aloud.

"Most likely my lady," said one of the other sub pilots. Several of them had broken off to take the attackers under fire, corralling and pushing them away from the installation as best they could, up and away in the water. More than a dozen small skimmers had already been destroyed, their greater mobility at a major disadvantage at a defensive action like this. The swimmers were faring better, but they were also being forced out of position.

They tried desperately to close with the troop transports, the large transports obvious among the smaller, far sleeker police subs. But the six subs Shaak had ordered to defend the transports cut them down mercilessly.

With the cost generally clear, the transports moved forward, docking one after another with the outer hatch, despite the damage Ranma and Kit had done. Within moments over a hundred heavily armed Mon Calamari and Quarren troopers were moving inside. Soon after that Shaak Ti felt that the exterior battle was under control. She maneuvered her small sub to join them, docking with one of the transport ships in turn before heading inside.

Shaak exited the airlock, pulling on a small com bead, connecting her with the police units which had already begun to spread out throughout the underwater base. Nearby stood a middle-aged Mon Calamari, one of the transport commanders who had stayed here to organize the inflow. On one arm was a holographic map of the area, continually being updated as the troops moved through the base. "Your mapping as you go?"

"Yes Master Ti. We took some of the map from the colony ship this place resembles from the outside, but like all Mon Calamari ships it would have been different in the interior in small to large ways. Making assumptions based off that map would have been folly."

The Togrutan Jedi nodded her head, moving out of the way of the inflow of more troops. She concentrated through the Force, feeling for where Kit and Ranma's presence were. She stopped concentrating on that however when she heard a controlled, yet grim voice over the police feed. "Lieutenant Imrek is down. Falling back, but we are under heavy fire. Four, repeat four quad lasers behind heavy shields. Repeat, taking heavy fire from automated defenses."

"Where is that report coming from?" Shaak asked quickly, turning to the captain. The captain quickly tapped in a control, making a small dot appear on the map. Shaak took another moment to stare at the map memorizing the route before nodding sharply. "Send a company after me captain, but make sure they are heavily armed, I'll get your people out of there."

With that she raced off, pushing her speed with the Force as much as she could. She would later be surprised to learn how fast she really was. Not even a minute had gone by since she had heard that communication and the time she arrived at the battle.

Four Mon Calamari and a single Quarren all dressed in the same uniform was pinned down in the open of a long hallway. They were using the bodies of three of their compatriots and four dead defenders for cover, while two other Mon Calamari further back tried to give them cover fire unsuccessfully with rifles.

The Quarren was injured screaming, his leg badly burned in several places. But one of the Mon Calamari was trying to see to him while the other two continued to rain fire downrange at the quad lasers that were keeping them pinned.

Shaak noted it had been incredibly smart of them to use the bodies of their fellows. But such cover was not going to protect them for long.

"Check fire you two!" Igniting her lightsaber, Shaak charged forward past the Mon Calamari at the entrance to the hallway. They gasped in shock at her speed, raising their rifles to point at the ceiling. A second later she leaped over pinned down troopers even as the quad lasers began to fire at her. She batted their bolts aside, smacking them into the walls or back the way they came, then took a moment to glance down at the pinned Mon Calamari. "Retreat as best you can." she said crisply.

Two of them did so, leaving one behind, who grimly began to pull at his lieutenant's body, not to remove the body but to get at his belt. He found two thermal grenades, holding them up to Shaak who had turned back to her deflection of the quad lasers bolts. "These might take those shields down, Master Ti."

"They might indeed." Shaak said, nodding. "How good are you at throwing them?"

"I won't win any prizes but I'm accurate at least," the man said, quickly standing up behind Shaak who continued to shield them both with her lightsaber. "I'll aim for the closet on the right first."

Shaak nodded, and then continued to block the bolts coming towards them. Her lightsaber dipped slightly and the man threw the grenade over one of her shoulders hurling it towards his target. It impacted and the shield died, followed quickly by the laser behind it, immolated by its own bolts returned by Shaak's lightsaber.

"All troopers, hold fire then concentrate when the target's shield goes down!" The man behind her barked, answered by four affirmatives shouted over the din of the ongoing spans and boom of the lasers and Shaak's lightsaber. "Ready, for number two, Master Ti?"

"When you're reading Lieutenant." Shaak replied, having a slightly easier time of it now that they were down to three quad lasers.

"Not the LT ma'am but here we go." Two more grenades followed the first one after another. The troopers behind Shaak fired all around her, at each exposed target in turn, destroying two more of the emplacements.

"What exactly is beyond here do you think?" Shaak asked, as she continued to block the sole remaining quad laser's attacks..

The man behind her head shook his head. "The Lieutenant said something about them pushing on down here from every direction, so we think it might be an armory or a command center."

"Then we shouldn't waste time." Shaak said with a nod and then she began to stride forward into the bolts coming down the hallway towards them. Shaak was able to project her Force telekinesis powers much further than Kit could, her lightsaber style emphasized the use of both weapon and Force, though Kit was somewhat more subtle about it than her at times.

But this wasn't a job for subtlety, this was a job for reach and power, especially since the quad laser had just been joined by several dozen Quarren coming round the corner behind the laser. Once she was within her known range Shaak reached forward, the Force bypassing the shield entirely. Finding a hose of some sort, she reached through the Force and ripped it out of the wall. The quad laser died, slumping down as its power failed.

From behind her the Mon Calamari began to push forward, bolts of stun beams passing by her on either side now. She continued to stand there as they moved forward defending them from return fire, until two of them came forward with large riot shields, which could block blaster fire, moving them around her with difficulty into position.

Once they were in place Shaak moved back, nodding at the Mon Calamari who had thrown the grenade. He seemed to have taken charge here, even as another squad had joined them. "Well done."

"Wouldn't've been enough without you Master Jedi." He said, his galactic standard somewhat accented, but not overmuch.

"What is your name Lieutenant?"

"Not a Lieutenant Master Ti, part of the militia. I'm Ensign Gial Ackbar."

Shaak nodded, and made a mental note to recommend him for his courage under fire. After all, most of the militia wouldn't have been combat veteran before this, and he had handled himself with courage and intelligence. "Will you be all right here Lieutenant?"

"Not a Lieutenant Master Ti." The man repeated.

"You are now," Shaak said smiling. "Or at least are acting that way. I say again, will you be all right here?"

"We should be. With the shields up here now, and our heavy weapons coming in we'll be able to break through to the armory before too many of them can get armed." The fact that was one of three armories in the place was a problem, but in the end, the defenders simply didn't have the numbers to see off the attack.

Shaak nodded, deactivated her lightsaber and out to them. "Good luck Lieutenant Ackbar, I must be off." With that Shaak turned and raced off, feeling once again for Kit and Ranma's positions.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time the troop transports began to arrive, Ranma and Kit had run into their final hurdle: a few of the kidnappers, all Quarren, had decided to take the Dergals hostage. The area they were in was smaller than the intersection where Ranma and Kit had run into the defenders last, leading into what looked like a converted penitentiary, both of the parents were down on their knees with guns pressed against their back of their heads, while the young baby was being held in the arms of another Quarren, a gun pressed into one of his large protruding eyes.

"Stop right there!" a Quarren stepped forward wielding a heavy blaster rifle pointing it at the two invaders. "Stop right there and drop your weapons, or all three of them are dead! I, I mean it, I'll off the fucking tadpole first!"

Kit held up his hands, deactivating his lightsaber but not letting it fall just yet. "Easy, it's all of over. You know it, I know it. If you all stand down now, you and your fellows here will be given leniency under the law. There's no reason to make it worse on yourselves now."

"Personal satisfaction will do nicely **Jedi**!" The Quarren gargled, sounding somewhat manic to Kit's admittedly uneducated ears, though as he went on he calmed down, seeing another team of guards coming in behind the Jedi. "Three less Mon Calamari in the world! That's always a good thing in my book **Jedi!** Peace!" He spat that word. "You Jedi are alike, always siding with the oppressors! Always siding with your damn Republic! We Quarren have been slaves in all but name, and where were you, oh bringers of justice?!"

"There are Quarren representing their people at all stages of the Dac System government, you are citizens of the Mon Calamari government, not slaves." Kit said firmly, refusing to be baited into a debate with this man. To his side Ranma simply stood, her arms stretched empty above her head. "I have seen real slavery, you have **not** been enslaved."

"Silence Jedi! Lies spew from your mouth like hot air from a vapor! Toss your lightsaber down. No tricks, Jedi. You can't trick all of us. Toss it over your shoulder back the way you came."

With a sigh Kit did so. "Very well, now what?"

Almost immediately two of the Quarren aiming guns at the kidnapped family turned their guns on Ranma first, gunning her down. She fell backward, but then as they were about to turn their guns on Kit Ranma rolled suddenly. Her hands flashed forward holding several small bits of shattered wall and flooring. The bits struck with bone breaking strength shattering the hands of the gunners, as well as catching the leader, or at least the one who had been speaking which probably meant the same thing, in the forehead. The impact of that particular rock threw it's victim backwards, his skull shattered.

That was all the opening the two ex-Rangers and Kit needed. Kit's lightsaber zoomed through the air from where it had landed into his hand, and he turned towards the doorway, blocking several blaster bolts from the groups of guards that had come up behind them. Many of them went down from the deflected bolts, and he gained the doorway easily, holding it against the rest.

The two ex-Rangers pushed themselves to their feet, taking their injured guards down in a heap, rolling around on top of them and using their tied together fists to pummel both Quarren into submission. At the same time Ranma leapt forward, grabbing the baby where it would've fallen from the air out of its kidnapper's hands making a point to stamp on the leaders chest hard before knocking him unconscious. She then moved over to the Rangers placing the blubbering babe next to his mother for a moment. "Just a sec, I'll have you loose in a minute."

So saying Ranma gripped the handcuffs holding them, which looks to be more like thick metal wire rather than metal cuffs connected by chain. Nonetheless, Ranma easily ripped them without even a grunt of effort.

Ressa immediately grabbed up her baby, shushing him quietly as the father raced over to one of blasters, then took up a position by the doorway firing out past Kit. "Thank you for your aid Jedi Knights." he said, sparing a moment to glance at Ranma. The short human female was impossibly strong, and he wondered if she was from some high gravity world or something.

"One Jedi, just between us I'm something else." Ranma said laugh as she grabbed up two blasters. "Are there any other guards down this way?"

"No," the mother said quickly, moving into a corner away from the fire with her son in her arms. She would've normally run out to help her husband, but taking care of their child came first. "This passage only leads to our jail cell."

Ranma nodded, and moved to support Kit. "Mission accomplished?"

"Our part of it for certain." Kit said with a nod. "Extraction could be at bit of an…" he paused as he felt a faint tingle in the Force, a familiar Jedi mind coming closer. "Never mind. The cavalry has already arrived, and in force too."

"Cavalry? Do you even know what a horse looks like Fishy?" Ranma quipped, causing Kit to laugh while the Rangers shook their heads in disapproval.

Kit was true to his word however. Not twenty minutes later, the battle was over, with the last mercenaries giving up and the last Quarren stunned or otherwise in custody. As the local police began to round up the prisoners, of which there were practically hundreds, Shaak and a small band of them met up with Kit and the others.

Ranma and Kit both exchanged brief but extremely heartfelt clasps with the other Jedi. "An excellent job all around," Kit said smiling as he released Shaak's arm to go over and look at the child with one of the medical doctors, speaking quietly to the parents.

Shaak and Ranma remained holding hands for a second before letting go as Ranma smirked. "Sorry we didn't leave anything for you to do."

Shaak laughed. "Oh I had my own fun Ranma, believe me."

 **OOOOOOO**

"All the Quarren you captured were apparently part of aradicalsplinter group. They believe that Quarren need to fight for their independence and overthrow their oppressors. Who obviously are my race." said Ychrag. He exchanged a glance with another senator who had come in from one of the Quarren dominated cities.

The Quarren responded by lifting up many of the tentacles around his mouth, in the Quarren equivalent of a sneer. "Many of my people could wish for an equal voice in the running of Dac, but considering the size of our populations we can't honestly say we aren't equally represented. I will admit that the general feeling about my race in the galaxy as a whole is rather bad, but it isn't exactly unjustified. Not just because of groups like this but my species inclination for certain… vices that the Mon Calamari do not have."

He glanced at Shaak and Ranma, then away, trying to hint at what that actually meant. Many Quarren found other alien species, particularly females to be fascinating, something the Mon Calamari generally did not. And the Quarren were also much more likely to be involved in the crime of all sorts than the Mon Calamari.

"But groups like this are simply trying to turn back time. They want to go back to the good old days where we tried to expand at the expense of our neighbors, which ended when the Mon Calamari defeated us. My species is naturally aggressive, and many of us resent the Mon Calamari not, well, rolling over and dying even now thousands of years later." The Quarren's voice was a sort of gargle in Galactic Standard, yet even so his tart tone came through.

Shaak nodded, while Ranma simply listened politely, not really taking it in. She didn't care about the background of the kidnappers and even less about the local politics. So long as slavery was outlawed here she wasn't going to take much notice. No, she was more interested in listening to the conversation going on next door. She smiled slightly as he heard Kit agree to keep the young child's Midi-Chlorian count secret, so long as the family kept in constant contact with the Order and the Rangers. It showed a humane side that Ranma hoped to see expand to the rest of the Order in the future. The whole idea of bringing in youngsters, babies in particular, right away was sheer anathema to Ranma.

She came back to the here and now when the police commissioner addressed Shaak Ti. "You realize that because all of this was politically and socially motivated you're probably going to have to make a statement at some point? Whether you are here as a representative of the Republic or not, that is the way you are seen."

"I know," Shaak's replied with nod, sighing internally. "I wish it wasn't so, but I at least can understand other people's points of view on that subject. I intend to make two statements, the first on the crime itself, which I will do this evening. I will laud all involved for keeping calm, for not allowing emotions to control their actions, and for looking for facts rather than simply believing their first impression."

She looked at both the government officials sternly. "My statement about the ongoing debate to completely join the Republic, which made the Opposition Party such an obvious foil for this crime, I will require a few days to think of."

Kit had already received an invitation to do just that even before they had solved the case. But as a Guardian, Kit was not as well suited for diplomatic missions as Shaak was, who until recently had been a shoe in for the Consular class. She was now technically a guardian herself, despite not having reviewed her bounds yet to enter that sect, but she would do so after this mission was finished. Her belief that becoming a Guardian was the way forward for her had solidified over this mission and the weeks interacting with Ranma. _At least as a Guardian I might be able to keep up with him,_ she thought now, looking over at Ranma.

As the two of them left the police commissioners office Ranma asked, "Will I have to be present for this statement of your?"

"I'd like your support, but I don't think you actually have to listen to it, no." Shaak replied with a smile. "And don't worry, after I make that statement most of our time will be our own, and you can start looking into that ship of yours."

"So we'll be able to move out of the hotel and into a place where we can start training again?"

"Almost certainly," Shaak nodded laughing quietly at Ranma's one track mind. "For now however, I'm feeling rather hungry… again. This is going to take some getting used to. And we need to continue acclimatizing you to different foods."

Ranma grimaced, but linked his arm with hers and joined her in laughing at her joke as they made their way over to Kit and the Dergals.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day the duo checked out of their hotel even faster than they had checked in. Shaak Ti's face was now plastered all over the local news, her identity as a Jedi ousted to the Nth degree. Indeed her public statement from the night before about the kidnapping was replaying as they check out on the main holocron screen while the two of them were at the front desk.

Despite her dislike of the attention she didn't think she deserved Shaak was not above using her ousted Jedi status to get the two of them an apartment elsewhere on the planet on the government's tab. The complex was on the outer edge of one of the floating cities in the equatorial belt called Aleisto, which was the closest the planet had to a tourist attraction for offworlders. That the owners would gain fame and notoriety through having a Jedi stay there was not lost on Shaak or Kit, but both decided not to make a big deal out of it since the place was so perfect for Shaak and Ranma's long term needs.

The apartment was a single story affair with two bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen, and a main sitting area. More importantly to the Jedi and Ranma however was the fact it had a personal training complex out back, and shared an artificial beach with several other complexes along the edge of the city's area. Ranma was looking forward to getting some sun out there as well as swimming, so long as he didn't have to dive as deep as he and Kit had. And the training area was perfect for most of the training they would be doing.

Once they were all checked in Ranma, Kit and Shaak separated with Shaak and Kit going over to the police station again. The amount of high-tech, expensive gear the Quarren separatists had was disturbing, and something both Jedi wanted to follow up on quickly. Unfortunately neither Jedi Knight had the computer or economic skills to run that aspect down.

While Kit started to question the prisoners on where they had gotten their funding, Shaak concentrated on making certain that there was no backlash against the Quarren, which could result in more internal issues for the Mon Calamari. It was a good lead up to the public statement she'd have to give to the Representative assembly.

For her part Ranma took a shuttle up to the Mon Calamari dockyards with Tune where they began to start the process of finding the right construction company to work on Ranma ship. Thank to Tune having started the process before the Jedi had finished their mission this went quickly with Ranma only needing to choose between Tune's top five choices.

The one Ranma decided on was mid-to-small company going by the name of Storm Weathered Shipyards, or at least that was what it translated into Galactic Standard. According to Tune it really meant something more in the Mon Calamari tongue, about how their ships could see their owner through any storm. But that really wasn't important to Ranma.

What was important was they specialized in two areas. The first was building medium-sized spaceships of all varieties, and even smaller ships too, which included starfighters. They had the legal right to build combat vessels from the Dac System government, a fact which had let Ranma cut out two of Tune's choices. Ranma didn't want his ship to be a sitting duck with no firepower, and the reason he had wanted a Mon Cal ship in the first place was because their ships were not only beautiful but beautifully engineered. Adding weapons later would have been expensive and difficult.

SWS also specialized in optimizing ships to the performance their clients required. Most of those clients were other Mon Calamari of course, but the rest of the sector also bought ships here, and SWS had some very good reviews from several other races in the area. That meant they were able to both modify a ship with his input and also knew the differences in environmental and other areas between their own race and humans.

She had Tune set up a meeting with one of the designers, and to his surprise the astromech droid was able to get them in to see the designer late that very day.

The Mon Calamari was the oldest individual of that race Ranma had heretofore met. He was short of stature and almost gray of skin while the skin around his neck and eyes noticeably wrinkled, and he had a lot of those little hairs the Mon Calamari developed on their chin. But there was a certain indefinable toughness to him, and his webbed, long fingered hand was both strong and calloused when he shook Ranma's in the universal gesture of welcome. "You'd be that young padawan who helped the two Jedi with the kidnapping case correct? Any Jedi's a friend of SWS, especially after you helped the Dergal's out, we're all proud of them around here. I'm Ducat Askai, are you here to order a personal ship for you and your master?"

Ranma paused for a moment, wondering if she should correct that assumption. He shrugged however, realizing not only was it unnecessary it would simply confuse the issue right now. _Huh, and come to think of it, I bet that's precisely the assumption Yoda wants people to reach. If they do, not only do I have doors opened for me, but anything good I do reflects back on the Order, and any, call it collateral damage I cause, can be put down to youthful exuberance or something similar. Crafty little frog._

"Something like that. We're still not certain exactly what I am, and the learning goes both ways I suppose. But yes, I'm here to purchase a ship." Ranma said, prevaricating slightly yet not outright lying or correcting Ducat's assumption.

Ducat nodded, gesturing Ranma to sit down at the desk, the center of which was dominated by a hologram projector which immediately came to life showing the name of the company before the man began to type in commands. "What exactly are you looking for? Medium hauler, long-range scout ship, starfighter? We make allthree here of course, starfighters might be new to Our race's defense fleet, but the technology is sound, as are the tactics. And do you know about Mon Calamari shipbuilding practices?"

"I've read about them, but I'd love to hear it from a local perspective." Ranma answered, sitting down and gesturing Tune to one side. Ducat nodded at the droid, noting that it was one of the new R2-D2 types before going into his spiel. "Every Mon Calamari ship is unique, not just in small construction modifications from one dock to another, but in several larger areas. Where the shield generators go, where the living quarters are, how power is maintained. We strive with every ship to learn more about the design process of shipbuilding, every ship in effect a mixture of a test bed and a work of art. We also believe in redundancy, that is why you might have heard about how our ships are so much more durable in comparison to similar sized vessels."

Ranma nodded. "That was the aspect that actually got me interested in your ships in the first place. I don't know if you've heard about it, but I was actually there on Yinchorri with the Jedi, and let me tell you and after we noticed your fleet hadn't lost a single ship in the battle."

Ducat puffed himself up slightly. Mon Calamari were not, despite what Ranma had seen, that well-known outside their own sector. That sector was a bustling, highly industrialized area in terms of the Outer Rim, but Mon Calamari themselves and the species in that sector didn't actually interact with much of the rest of the Galactic Republic. Their ships weren't very well known, and their military, small as it was, was a mere rumor at this point to most.

Indeed, that had been one aspect of why Shrook'an had agreed to step in when Count Dooku had sought their aid. They wanted to make a statement, most particularly to groups such as the Techno Union and the Trade Federation, both of whom were trying to make inroads into their sector.

"Yes well as I said, it has some very practical upsides to it as well as drawbacks. We're more expensive, and we're somewhat slower than what you as a human might be used to dealing with. I think," Ducat went on, surreptitiously looking at his computer, which had been analyzing Ranma's speech pattern "that you're a Corellian correct?"

"Not exactly I've been trying to get that accent out of my speech, guess it still needs work. But yeah I understood that, and trust me, money's no object."

"Normally it would be for Jedi…" Ducat replied, frowning thoughtfully. "Jedi are not supposed to have much in the way of possessions and I know that goes for ships as well. I can't personally understand why, surely having the best ships would be a like a warm current when about your missions." Ducat had personally never dealt with Jedi, but he had talked to several other shipbuilders and others who had, most notably the family of one of the only current Quarren Jedi. "Still, I have to say that a more open purse policy is long overdue."

Ranma decided once again not to correct the ship designer. After all it wasn't really any of his business so long as Ranma had enough money to pay for the ship. "I have upwards of 2,000,000 credits, will that be enough?" he said with a faint smile.

Ducat barked a laugh, then tapped a series of keys. The hologram above his desk changed, its field expanding to allow it to show several ships of various types ranging from small fighters to a medium scale hauler. "With that kind of money, you could buy any of our current designs, and modify them to your specifications. Or even pay us to come up with an entirely new design!"

His eagerness showed through clearly, and Ranma laughed quietly. Mon Calamari were artists and explorers, just as Ducat had said. They took to designing ships like that was part of their art, just like Ranma did with any martial arts technique. It was always fascinating to watch a master at work, and Ranma realized she was going to enjoy this.

The next few hours passed quickly, with the two of them plus Tune working on narrowing Ranma's design needs and wishes down. Ranma wanted a ship he/she could live in that had enough room inside for a crew of around four to live in comfortably, or for two to live in comfortably with enough room to exercise. Defense was a necessity of course as well as overall power, but outside of food for the crew holding space wasn't a necessity.

It was when they began to talk about weapons that Ranma became grateful for having not corrected the man about this not being for a Jedi specifically. It turned out that while the Mon Calamari were not part of the Senate, they followed many of the same rules in terms of armed ships in their sector of space. You could have as many defensive installations, shields and armor, as you wanted but weapons were another matter entirely.

Thanks to not having corrected the man, Ranma got around this, sort of. The designer warned that many systems would still require her to purchase a permit if he was active in their space, but a Jedi's ID would get her a pass in most. "Except in the corporate sector and worlds owned outright by the Technocracy." Ducat said with a shake of his head. "At least that's what I hear."

Ranma nodded, but he had no intention of going into the Corporate Sector anyway. _Unless they have martial arts I'm not interested._

Eventually the two of them decided on a unique weapons design. The ship would carry two proton missile launchers forward, hidden underneath panels which could slide back and forth, along with a large grade Ion cannon. It would have two pintle mounted light quad-lasers for visible defense. They wouldn't do much against capital ships, but were deadly against fighters and most pirate ships.

Proton torpedoes had been around for a while, and were fast anti-ship missiles which could pack a punch even on a fighter scale, which these were. That allowed Ranma's ship to carry over fifty of the torpedoes, whereas if they were capital ship sized it would only have been able to carry fifteen.

Ion weapons on the other hand were a relatively new design to the Mon Cal sector Ducat was interested to work with. Ion weapons duplicated electromagnetic pulses, taking down shields or other electronics. Shields could deflect or absorb most energy, but ionic particles instead traveled along the energy of the shield until hitting the shield generator, shorting it out.

Ion weapons were not all powerful of course, how long this process took depended on the size and durability of the shield and the power of the weapon, and they were bulky, three times the size of an equally powered turbolaser, and energy hogs to boot. This one wasn't incredibly powerful, but if a shield wasn't fully powered or if the ship was of equivalent size or smaller, it would do the job with only a few blasts, and power wasn't an issue in any Mon Calamari design, given their policy of redundant systems, including power generators. And no one would ever suspect a ship this size having one in the first place.

The final ship design, as it spun gently in the air between them, looked almost like a Mon Calamari Sha Shore class heavy starfighter, a recent design by one of the man's friends over at Blue Reef Shipyards. The size and the interior was designed around a light freighter of the Dangerous Water type, a ship design that was well known throughout the Mon Cal sector, durable and quick.

Ducat had been in his element the entire time, and found Ranma an excellent client, insightful, thoughtful, a good listener, and, it had to be said, one who didn't seem to care about the cost. He wasn't used to dealing with humans, but if Ranma was normal for the species, he could well understand why the government had begun to start advertising for further shipbuilding projects outside of the sector.

Right now Ranma was using the hologram on the desk to turn it this way and that looking at the ship avidly while Ducat brought up several figures on a hard screen before him. He looked at his dockyards current schedule, the number of available workers, resources, parts, and everything else that could tell him how long it would take to get this project off the ground.

"You're in luck," he said after moment. "We have three projects which have stalled due to the company reneging on the last payment. Under the structures of our contract with them, I can switch the resources of one of those projects over to other work, and that should give us enough material to start building almost immediately. The work crew too, which means we can start work on the structure of the ship tomorrow. Excellent."

Ranma nodded and Ducat went on. "Now for payment, will you be remaining on Dac? If you are, we prefer to negotiate a pay as it goes basis, that way there's no hard feelings on either side if something happens and construction is delayed, or you are unable to meet the payment."

"That's fine," Ranma said with a nod. "In fact, I'd like to be involved in the actual building of the ship. At least when you get to putting on the exterior armor section."

Ducat paused at his typing, looking at him thoughtfully. "May I ask why?"

"Two reasons. One, I have little to no engineering background, and I'd like to know is much as I can about the ship from the keel up. I figure on the job training is going to teach me that, and I've always been good learning with my hands anyway. I know a lot about construction of houses and electronics of that nature and I want to see if that can carry over to ships."

Ducat nodded. He didn't know where Ranma would've learned such techniques, but he understood the interest, and he had known several people both Quarren and Mon Calamari who had made the jump one way or the other from spaceship design to water-ship design or housing. "They aren't exactly the same," he warned, "though you could possibly pick it up quickly so long as you are flexible enough mentally."

Ranma laughed. "No worries there."

"And the second reason?"

Ranma frowned thinking about sharing what might become one of his most powerful secrets. But realizing that she needed the man's up approval for this idea to even work, she decided to come clean, in a way anyway. "There is a Force technique that I've learned which allows me to reinforce items well beyond what they are normally capable of in nature via the Force. I have seen an ancient master use this technique on a piece of wood, and harden it enough to punch through heavy metal. I want to see if I can toughen up the metal itself in a similar manner."

"Interesting…" Ducat mused, his old eyes narrowed in thought. "I have never heard of a similar technique but as you are a Jedi I will not question it, the Jedi and their Force powers are not well understood by us layman after all."

He laughed, while Ranma breathed a sigh of relief at having gotten past that hurdle. After a moment of gargling laughter the ship designer went on. "If you can show me an example of this, I will happily add you to the work crew once we get to the point where we're putting the outer hull together But will your master be agreeable to your taking time out of training? I understand that the Jedi train every day, and building this ship will take months."

"I think Shaak will be happy with that." Ranma said with a smile. "She's got political junk to deal with these days, and after that, I can spend half the day up here working on various projects, and the rest of the day with her."

Ducat nodded, chuckling internally at Ranma's attitude, which while not matching up to any tales he'd heard of Jedi was at least amusing. The two began to talk about numbers and eventually the two of them agreed on a price. The ship would be **extremely** expensive for a ship of its size, but with five medium class shield generators, four energy generators, and the weapons, the expense of one and a half million Republic credits was pretty believable.

"And you'll be by tomorrow to show me an example of this 'strengthening technique'?" Dukat asked.

"Agreed," Ranma said, signing his name on the form and then standing up holding out her hand.

"In that case," Ducat said smiling in the manner of his race. "I look forward to working with you Ranma."

It was near evening by the time Ranma got back to Aleisto, where she quickly met up with Kit and Shaak for dinner. The three of them ate together, telling one another about their day so far.

Kit told the other two about his part last. His questioning of the prisoners hadn't turned up anything, even with his Forces sense on max he couldn't discern anything incriminating in terms of the tech gear he and Shaak were so concerned about. He turned up a lot of other things, and most of those terrorists would be put away for life because of it, but nothing about the tech, which the Force was telling both Jedi was important.

He shook his head slowly. "I've also sent off a Hypercom message to the Council, and they've decided to reassign me already. I'll still be within the Mon Cal sector for now, there are a few issues here that the Council believe require a Jedi's touch. All of them investigative, with only one of them having a political overtone, thank the Force."

Shaak laughed quietly at his overdone expression of relief at that, shaking her head ruefully. "I on the other hand will be stuck dealing with the politics here for a while. Speaking of, did the Masters mention anything about Master Dooku and his current self-imposed mission?"

"Politics move glacially slowly when there are so many competing factors," Kit said with a shrug. "They didn't hint at anything going on there just yet, though I imagine eventually we'll hear about it one way or another. The impression I got from Master Windu was that Dooku and the other political experts have decided on the wording of their first draft, and have gathered enough backing to start working the entire Senate but not quite enough to do so openly just yet. There are several issues still unresolved, and in particular..."

Ranma tuned out the conversation for a moment, not actually interested in politics at all, even if Dooku was involved. Instead she picked up a fork, and began to channel her Force into it slowly, trying to replicate Cologne's strengthening technique. She paid attention again when Shaak asked "Did you actually talk to Master Dooku, or not?"

"No I didn't talk to either him or her to Master Yoda. I talked to Master Zagarat of the Council of Reassignment, though he did pass on a message from Yoda to you and to Ranma."

Shaak and Ranma looked at one another than back and Kit who smiled slightly. "Unless something else comes up he wants you both to head over to the Kashyyyk after your ship is finished."

Ranma sat up eagerly while Shaak's lekku twitched slightly, betraying her sudden interest. Shaak had never been to Kashykk, but had heard stories about it, and it sounded amazing. For his part Ranma had met a Wookiee and had looked up their home planet as much as he could afterward, simply because it had been interesting. "Did the froggy say why?" Ranma asked.

"No, but he did say that he would be there." Kit replied, ignoring Ranma's derogatory term for the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order with difficulty. "I don't know what's going on, but Yoda and a few of the other Masters are no longer on Coruscant they're out and about elsewhere. And…" Kit frowned, thinking about his impressions from the brief conversation. "I have to say that I think Master Windu looked… almost harried I want to say. I am uncertain why."

"Interesting." Shaak murmured, smiling faintly, not knowing what to make of that and simply concentrating on the message from Yoda. "I've always wanted to go there, the flora and fauna on the Kashyyyk is supposed to be fantastic both in variance and type."

Kit shook his head ruefully. "You and your plants. Give me water worlds any day."

 **OOOOOOO**

Early the next day Kit left the planet, bidding farewell to his two friends before taking the _Consular_ class ship out on the first mission the Order had sent him to the Mantooine system.

Returning to their apartment, the two spent the morning training, then the afternoon meditating where Ranma again failed to figure out a way to interact with the Force without putting his all into it. To Ranma's way of thinking there was no way to just take in energy from the Force, and he couldn't seem to get the hang of sending out just his thoughts, unable to separate them from his Living Force, as Shaak put it.

On the other hand, Shaak made significant progress in enlarging her reserves. That evening, she also finally got Ranma to agree to powering up the holocron again, and to show his female form to Master Halcyon.

"You mean to tell me that you think this is Ranma?" said the hologram staring between the short but very svelte redhead and the Togrutan Jedi. "Have you been touched in the head? She looks more like a descendant of the Sunrider clan than anything else, she's not even the right height for Ranma. This must be a joke."

Shaak stood up behind the shorter redhead, holding one pitcher of slightly steaming water and another pitcher of cold. She looked down at the redhead asking, "Are you ready?"

"Let's just get this over with." Ranma groaned. "It's not like I'm going to spend that much time in my male form on this planet anyway. I know better than to tempt fate like that." Indeed, the only time since they had arrived Ranma had dared be in male form was when he was sleeping or in the shower. He'd tried to go out the other day as a guy, only to get splashed not two minutes later by a passing ship moving along the city's waterways.

Shaak smiled encouragingly and poured the hot water over Ranma's head. Ranma, who had changed out of her swimsuit for the occasion and was back in his normal garb of silk pants and spacer's shirt, shifted, gaining in height as his body went through the change until he was equal to Shaak's own height.

For a moment the hologram of Master Halcyon simply stared, his mouth opened, his eyes wide. It was a show of shock and amazement that no Jedi master should've ever shown, alive or dead. "How?! Why?! What!?" the hologram seemed to flicker for a moment before coming back as strong as ever, but Halcyon's expression of shock was still there.

"You should feel what it feels like in the Force Master," said Shaak laughing. For some reason the sheer joy that the Force felt, that laughing humor in it when Ranma went through his change, was just funny no matter how often she felt it.

With a sigh Ranma explained the origin of his curse, and also where he and Dooku figured he had come from originally.

Halcyon simply listened, the hologram kneading at its nose as if he was a living person dealing with a migraine. "That is an impossible tale. But I have known several impossible tales to prove true, and the strength, and mystery, of the Force is never to be underestimated. Very well, I will try to understand. Does this mean you would wish to train as a woman as well?"

"I suppose," Ranma muttered staring past Halcyon to the window where the water of the ocean could be seen. "Even standing here I think I'm tempting fate." _Is it just me, or do those waves lapping against the artificial beach look as if they're coming deeper inland?_ Some might have called Ranma paranoid, but after all his misadventures, he felt perfectly justified.

"I think you're just being silly, but I won't argue." In reply Ranma poured the cool water over his head, and Halcyon once again stared as the change occurred once more. "And you say the Force feels like it's laughing? Humor, really?"

"Indeed master."

"I've never felt anything like that." Halcyon murmured, a smile on his face. "That would be quite a treat I have to say. I'm almost envious of you Knight Ti." With a shake of his head he got down to business. "Now, what exactly do you wish to be trained in tonight?"

The two of them spent some time working on lightsaber forms, while Ranma developed his own staff/spear skills from that. Then Ranma and Shaak once more debated the Jedi code as it existed today with Halcyon as a mediator. But this debate wasn't about the Jedi's training in, or rather abstaining from, emotions. Thanks to Halcyon's backing Ranma had won that argument, though Shaak was unwilling to admit the Order's Oath was so far removed from what it had once been.

Instead, Shaak decided on a new avenue of attack, the idea that Jedi should not have families or create attachments to people or planets. She had looked up several bits of history from the era directly before the Reformation, during the so called New Sith War. Specifically several events that had led to the creation of the Army of Light, the Fourth Great Schism of 1000 RR (a nomenclature used to count back from the Russaan Reformation.

It was searching for forbidden knowledge, ego, and a desire for power which led to Darth Ruin's fall to the dark side, so much so that even today his Jedi name was known to only a few historians in the Order. And it had been Ruin who had restored the power of the Sith and launched them at the throat of an unsuspecting galaxy, with the aid of fifty defected Knights, all of whom came from long-standing Force Sensitive families.

She also used events throughout the new Sith War era that showed how giving into emotions and having divided loyalties, such as to their planets and families rather than the Order, that resulted in either battles lost or the war going on for far longer than it should otherwise have. It was during this era where the Jedi Order fractured more than any other, the High Council on one side, and the Jedi Lords on the other.

Yet Ranma had also looked up the New Sith war, though he was more interested in the tactics and strategies, as well as the techniques the Sith and Jedi used, than anything else. He'd come away with a respect for the Unifying Force and the effects it could cause. Despite his one track mind however Ranma had absorbed enough other information to fight back against Shaak's points.

"I'll admit that there are some ideas too dangerous to share with everyone, ideas and powers the search or use of which act like a… like a cancer to the soul. Immortality is one, the idea of having power over the lives of others another." Ranma began, causing Shaak's eyes to widen. Ranma's ability in these debates was growing quickly, and by acceding to that, he strengthened his coming argument against the rest of her points.

Ranma went on. "Yet it's easy to pick and choose from a war that lasted a little under a thousand years to try and prove your point. I look at it differently. One, only two Jedi Lords, Jedi masters tied through blood and race to their planets, fell to the Dark Side in the waning days of the war. Two, Jedi Lords, in the main, served their planets well, creating, what was it, beacons of order and civilization while the Republic died around them?"

Shaak winced but was forced to accede to some of that, but fired back. "Yet after the disbanding of the Army of light," she stopped and smiled as Ranma shook his head, muttering something about 'still sounds like something out of an RPG game', before continuing. "How many of those planets welcomed the return of a democratic Republic, and the order being more hands off? All of them did in one form or another."

"Of course, in times of peace it's easy to want to go back to the way you remember it from before the war. That doesn't mean the Jedi Lords were bad rulers, only that they weren't elected and therefore not seen as real representatives." Ranma rebutted. "But that isn't my point, my point is that those Jedi Lords didn't fall to the dark side, despite having families, loved ones, children, friends outside the order."

"You know what most relationships have? Passion!" For some reason when Ranma said that Shaak had to fight back a blush, she didn't know why. "Passion and love for the other individual. Most of those knights and lords had loved ones, they didn't feel jealous because other people could be around them, they didn't become angry when they were away from them. No, they believed in their love, and that love, that connection, made them fight the Sith when the High Council was trying simply to restore order to the Republic."

"I will acknowledge that they fought with a fervor High Council trained Jedi could not match, but they also were not as controlled, or as calm as they should have been and that led them into mistakes." Shaak returned. "It's known Master Hoth led ninety Jedi to their deaths despite being told his mission could only end in failure in the last days of the battle of Russaan and there were many other examples of Jedi Lords falling to their emotions when calm control would have served them better.

"Agreed, but that's just it." Ranma crowed, pointing at her. "Control is the thing, not ignorance! Look at that one bastard Hoth fought, he started life as a lauded member of the High Council right?"

"Yes, he was, but his arrogance and ego led him to the Dark side." Shaak replied.

"If he had more of a connection to the rest of the High Council, maybe he would have been more human, less egotistical and humble."

Shaak's fingers began to play with the end of her lekku in a way that any Togrutan would have seen as a sure sign of embarrassment. _I can tell he's winning this round darn it._ She stopped playing with her lekku, her eyes narrowed as she suddenly realized she didn't find that idea so worrying any longer.

Even so she tried one last time to rally. "Yet having divided loyalties also caused many Jedi to join the Sith, or simply turn Dark. And there have been eight or nine Jedi since the Reformation that fell to the Dark because they took lovers, there is evidence to indicate that having loved ones leads to the Dark side."

"The Jedi Lords had divided loyalties, most soldiers have divided loyalties. If they couldn't deal with it, they wouldn't have joined forces, they'd just have stayed home and defended their single systems. Again, control and friendship is the thing."

Ranma's voice softened as she went on. "As for the Jedi you mention since your Reformation, would they have fallen to the Dark if they had to hide their associations from the rest of the order? That'd be like, like having an affair or something , a part of you knows it's wrong no matter how good it feels, and it opens ya up to other, darker emotions. And given the recoil effect the Unifying Force can have on emotions, if you start to fall, stopping yourself would be damn hard. I'm not arguing that the Dark Side exists, it obviously does, but I think you have to realize that shutting out the good emotions leave you more, not less open to the Dark Ones, as well as cutting you off from your fellow sentients."

"I…" Shaak Ti paused, gathering her words. "I cannot refute many or your points, yet, yet you cannot deny that the Oath as administered today, the training of the Jedi today, have helped the Order and the Republic. A thousand years of peace, of stability, have been aided by the Reformation and the changes to the Order it put in place."

"Has it been stability, or simply stasis?" Ranma asked, her voice still soft, knowing how difficult that was for Shaak to admit.

Here Halcyon broke in, giving more examples of what that order was like in his day, a fond smile on his face as he talked about his own family, tacitly showing that he felt Ranma had won the debate, before asking a question he had been thinking about since he had been awoken by Grand Master Yoda. "Did you not say that there was a Jedi Master with my name today? That means that at least some of my family either haven't been Jedi but borne them, or we've retained our ancient practice of marrying regardless of the Council on Coruscant."

"I don't know about that, but there was a master Nejaa Halcyon. I haven't met the man personally, but I've heard good things about him. He works in Corellia and is stationed there permanently as the Sector's Jedi. I understand he is a proponent for working with local law enforcement more heavily than most Jedi do, preferring to work directly with government officials. But if there were enough Jedi to go around one to a planet I could see his point, but as it is…" Shaak shrugged.

Ranma's eyes narrowed at that, thinking of another point she could have brought up: that the Order's numbers today were nothing like they were before the Reformation, either because the Order's policy on the transfer from learner to padawan were too strict, or because there just weren't that many Force Sensitives anymore. But Ranma decided, in a rare diplomatic moment, to not bring that idea up.

Kieran Halcyon nodded thoughtfully. "When decide you are finished learning from me I would you ask you to give my holocron to this Nejaa. I realize that I share this holocron with other Masters, but my original plan was to leave this to my descendants, and I have not met this latest bearer of my name."

"I will have to check in with master Yoda about that master Halcyon. You were only loaned to Ranma and myself after all you rightfully belong to the Temple library." Shaak replied, though she was frowning as she did so.

"I see that much has changed indeed." Halcyon murmured. "In my time, the last wishes of the Jedi who had imprinted itself on the holocron was always taken into account."

"I will see what I can do master, I just can't promise anything."

As Shaak replied Ranma frowned wondering about this new Halcyon and whether or not he had ever actually sought out the ancient master's holocron. _If he didn't, that could be one reason why they haven't met, though why he wouldn't is the question. But I don't suppose that's any of my concern._

After a few more moments discussion, Ranma and Shaak decided to turn in for the evening. The next day they got up, as normal, but when Ranma changed to his female form she frowned, feeling queasy to her stomach, a semi-familiar and all too hated feeling hitting him. _Fuck, really? I knew I'd face this a few times during our stay here, but so quickly?_

She groaned, reluctantly changing back into her normal clothing, knowing that wearing a bathing suit during this time was just asking for trouble. Moments later she joined Shaak at the breakfast table. She took one look at the local meal that Shaak had ordered in for them then raced back to her bedroom's fresher. Shaak blinked, then quickly followed. "Ranma, are you feeling all right?"

A few moments later Ranma exited, holding her stomach gingerly. "Ugh I'm fine, it's just the monthly monster has appeared, if you know what I mean."

Shaak frowned for a moment then got it. "Oh, you're fully, that is you are, um, fully functional? I hadn't made that connection. I'm sorry. My own race doesn't have such a thing, we have cycles, but they are happen once every three months rather than once every month."

"Lucky bitch." Ranma growled. With her, periods were a thing of queasiness, some outright pain, and a lot of emotional turmoil.

"Not really, our cycles are much more **intense** than human cycles. I normally have to spend an entire week meditating day in and out, to get a handle on it. Not so much physical as emotional control for us, save for one day directly in the middle where, it becomes even more painful than for humans normally."

"Still lucky," Ranma growled. "And I don't think I'm going to be keeping any of the local food down. No offense, it just looks too weird and my stomach always becomes sensitive during this time."

"I'll see what I can find for you Ranma," Shaak promised. "But I hadn't made that connection I'm ashamed to say. Your female form is a fully functional one." she shook her head.

Ranma nodded, looking at her thoughtfully before deciding to try this once again. "Yes, and that's why I have certain… nightmares… if you know what I mean."

After thinking a moment Shaak understood what Ranma was hinting at. "I can understand that." Then she smiled faintly looking at Ranma's wary expression. "I have had some of the same dreams and fears, indeed many female Jedi I know have. Would you like to talk about them, sometimes talking about them makes you realize your fears are nothing but smoke in the wind."

Ranma nodded again, and the two of them talked about his 'adventure' with the Ultimate Moxibustion Weakness Point. Up to that point if he had any dreams about being attacked as a girl by a guy it would always end up with his subconscious mind showing Ranma beating the shit out of them. But after that, dreams of what Kuno or Sanzennin or even, to her horror, Happosai could have done to her, were frightening.

The nightmares had become infrequent when Akane, in one of the few real selfless moments in their 'relationship' had helped her find the point and release it. But they had come back after the Imperial favor and Youthful Mind points had been undone. Now Ranma knew the guys after him/her wanted to do more than just grope his chest or kiss her, and the idea of any guy touching him/her in that manner was gross. While awake Ranma knew the odds of running into anyone strong enough to overcome him/her was next to nil, but asleep, his fears of those nights when he was so weak came back to haunt him.

Shaak heard Ranma out calmly then talked about how at one point she had been captured by a group of criminals she and her master had been investigating. The feeling of helplessness as they began to drug her was one Shaak would never forget, but luckily her master had been able to trace her through the Force and rescue her before they could do anything to her. The nightmares of that time had been horrible, and had reared their heads again during her test to become a knight.

It was a cathartic experience for something Shaak hadn't really expected when she offered to hear Ranma out. Both of them were able to point out to the other that their feelings of helplessness were not based on reality, neither were the sort to ever be truly helpless. While it was obvious hearing this from someone else helped reinforce it. Moreover Ranma had several unarmed techniques and had devised other methods to escape handcuffs and other similar things. He also had an immunity to various drugs, and promised to work on that with Shaak in the future.

Unfortunately, their morning had to end eventually, and Shaak looked up at the clock shaking her head. "I have to get going. There's a meeting of the Sector Assembly today, and they wish me to address them on the issue of Mon Calamari joining the Republic. I'd like to meditate one more time on the issue, but I don't think I have time to do that and have a shower. Not that it wasn't nice talking to you about this Ranma but…:"

"I understand." Ranma said with a faint smile. "My monthly monster makes me more emotional, it doesn't make me stupid." The two of them shared a laugh, and Ranma moved to get Shaak's clothing ready as she moved to the fresher station. A moment later Shaak came out dressed, and asked Ranma what he would be doing today.

"I'll head up to talk to the design team to start work on my ship." She held up a fork, then gestured, stabbing it into the metal of the table with a flick of the wrist. The fork sank to the ends of its tines into the metal of the table. "I think that should convince them that I was telling the truth about my technique, and hopefully none of the Mon Calamari will make me lose control of my emotions."

"How intensive timewise is that technique?" Shaak asked intently, ignoring that last bit for now, trusting Ranma not to lash out unless he needed to. "Again, having tougher stronger ships could save Jedi lives."

"Very and that's if I can do it at all. I know Cologne was able to do it, and happy. That damn pipe of his…" Ranma shook his head grimacing at the memory of how often happy had blocked his attacks or thrown him with that pipe.

"But I think that unless I figure out a shortcut, every panel is going to take me several days of forcing ki into them, because every time I stop I'll lose some of my progress. If I had more time, or if I had another person with the technique it could go faster, but as it is…" She shook his head. "Sorry, but I just don't think it's a viable technique to train Jedi in. Maybe eventually it will be, and you guys can figure out a way to shorten it using the Unifying Force, but I can't just yet."

Shaak nodded. "By the way, on a similar vein, are we going to keep training my toughness?"

"I'll be setting up a training area for us for that, it should go a lot faster now that we can work on your whole body at once rather than piecemeal. I'll warn you now though it's a very painful process." Ranma warned.

Shaak shuddered a little, but then threw back her shoulders resolutely, her lekku moving slightly as she did. "I am no stranger to pain Ranma, and the benefits will pay for itself."

"So long as you're sure," Ranma said warily. "Just don't blame me when you're a black and blue mass from head to toe. Or, heh, your species equivalent."

"That would be purple and black actually." Shaak laughed with Ranma joining her, and the two left the apartment together before moving off in different directions, strangely cheered.

About an hour after they left, a Mon Calamari, a local who worked as a technician here in the complex, entered their apartment, looking around surreptitiously. Shaak had called in an order form for a TV to be added to the room, along with a data reader. She wanted to start teaching Ranma how to read Galactic Standard and continue his piloting lessons, and those would help her.

Installing those items took the man a bare few minutes. But after that, he moved around the training center, stationing small listening devices in the training area. He had no idea why his current employer wanted to spy on the Jedi, nor did he care. However he didn't have enough devices to cover both the apartment in depth and the training area.

After finishing the training center he had to make a decision, and decided to put his last video recorder in the main sitting room along with his second to last audio receiver. The last he placed in one of the rooms, figuring that whoever his current employer reported to was possibly interested in blackmail material as well as the Jedi's training techniques. A bedroom would be the best shot for that kind of thing, with the sitting room the best for overhearing discussions.

 _Easiest credits I ever made_ he thought to himself as he exited the apartment. Four months later, his body would be found tied to a piece of concrete and left to rot in the depths of the ocean having gone missing months earlier.

 **OOOOOOO**

Like the Republic Senate, the Mon Calamari Sector's government was through elected officials. Although the Mon Calamari still technically had a king, he didn't actually have much to do with the day-to-day running of the government. He was a voting member of that government, and had veto power, but could only use it if he could defend the veto as being for the good of the Sector as a whole, and so was rarely used.

Indeed, in normal parlance, the last time the king had needed to use that veto power was during the initial meeting with the Republic, to override his race's normal eagerness towards exploration and knowledge. The king at the time had not wanted to rush to any decision about joining the Senate, something that had paid off in the decades since.

The king was not in attendance today, distancing himself from this debate, something Shaak was ambivalent about. She would've liked to meet him, but understanding he wanted to maintain a distance from this debate was itself a telling point.

The Assembly was set in a circular amphitheater, with many different tiers. Seating here was not in any sense hierarchal, it was at a first-come first-served basis, for the locals, with others randomly chosen via computer for the planetary governors who could not attend in person. Only a few places near the floor were designated for specific occupants. These were mostly taken by individuals from the different Sector government position and she nodded politely to Shrook'anand the local police commissioner before looking around her at the gathered delegates as she took the seat reserved for outside specialists or observers.

Shaak sat there for a few hours as the Assembly discussed various items. The only one that interested her was the ratification of the formal agreement between the Mon Cal Sector and the Sluisi in regards to the Sluisi system. She felt a few of the governors or senators looking at her, but ignored them with the ease of long practice.

Instead Shaak's eyes nearly closed as she opened herself to the Force, waiting for her moment to speak, searching for any hint that the Force wanted her to do something specific here. She didn't receive one, but since that lack of response was the same she had felt the first few times she had meditated on this issue, she wasn't surprised. _Alone then, ah well._

Finally the Assembly Speaker turned to the point she was here to address. He began by reiterating what had occurred in Mon Cal, the kidnapping, the frame job on the party Opposition, the fact the extremist might have been behind the Opposition's original leader, and how the Jedi had resolved the issue.

As he wrapped up, he waved lightly in Shaak Ti's direction. "But the reason the opposition party exists is still there, still dividing our people. Should we join our family to the larger shoal of the Republic, or should we continue to swim into unknown waters alone? It is a question plaguing many, and the emotions of the debate are still running high regardless of the true perpetrators of this flare up between the opposition party and the Dac system government. To speak on this issue, we have asked Jedi Knight Shaak Ti to give us her, and the Order's opinion on the matter."

There was a burst of noise from many of the governors and government reps. They had all known this was coming, but still needed to voice their disapproval at an outsider being involved in what was an internal sector matter. Particularly a Jedi, even if she was one of the three who had rescued the Dergal family and ousted a terrorist threat none of them had seen coming.

Shaak stood up smoothly at this, moving to the center of the room her entire manner poised and confident. With no direction from the Force, she had come to a conclusion which many of her fellow Jedi would never have considered. But after so long speaking with Ranma, listening to him then thinking about her issues with the Senate, she had decided on a course of action that was not in keeping with normal Jedi practices in this day and age. _Time to start rocking the boat._

"Governors, Senators, good sentients all, thank you for this opportunity to speak. You have asked me for my opinion on this issue. I know that some people call the Jedi voices of the Republic. Some specifically call us representatives of the Senate, some the Senate's strong men, others their tool."

She nodded at those senators who had called her such moments before. "And in many ways, you would be correct. We, the Jedi Order are tied into and a part of the Republic. We have been for millennia, and it has served both the order and the Republic well, generally speaking."

"But there is an aspect of that relationship that has only crept into the order in the last hundred years or so: that of representatives of the Senate and its policies. My order was at its beginning about justice and law, not policy, not government, **justice** and **order**. And order you must admit, serves the majority of people."

There were some nods at that. The Mon Calamari people were organized and orderly as a rule, despite their artistic bent when it came to shipbuilding and other pursuits.

"The Jedi have a stake in the Senate, and the Jedi have a stake in the Republic." _Supposedly, though I'm wondering if that's actually the case. Best not to mention that now though._

Pushing those thoughts to one side, Shaak went on. "But I personally do not have a stake here with the Mon Cal Sector government nor do the Jedi. You Mon Calamari have for as long as you have been on the galactic scene allowed Jedi into your systems, have sent your young ones off to become Jedi, be they Quarren, or Mon Calamari, or from any of the other systems in this sector. I do not see that changing anytime soon."

There was some laughter at that, but more nods. "So can we assume then that this Jedi has no stake in the idea of the Mon Calamari becoming full members of the Senate?"

There were some murmurs about that, but more nods than anything else. "So it is as a truly neutral party I stand here then." Shaak smiled. "Excellent, Jedi should always be neutral, especially when giving their opinions about a matter of policy and law. Here then is my opinion, and the opinion of the Order:"

"I do not have enough information on the economic side of things to make an informed decision or give an opinion based on that. I have heard the debate about the economic side of things, how opening your borders to foreign commercial ventures would be both good and bad, how having to agree to the Senate's enforced structure on such would be good or bad. In particular the Technocracy, the Banking Clans, and the defense issue, while on the other side the lightening of tariffs, the spread of your trade network, and access to more industry or technology. But again, I do not have enough knowledge to give you a true opinion there."

"So let us move on to the social aspect." Shaak went on, ignoring the exclamations of shock, as people realized she wasn't trying to dictate to them, or even convince them of the Republic's position on things. "Would opening your borders be bad socially? What ideas would you let in now that you aren't already open to?"

That brought even more laughs, since the Mon Calamari society was a pretty open one anyway, and Shaak Ti move on. "So then, we come to the Governmental side of things. You would, as a full member of the Senate, be allowed a voice in the Republic."

"A single voice, joined to thousands, sometimes arguing sometimes working in concert. That voice can be loud or soft depending on who you send, and there are, needless to say, pros and cons to having that voice able to speak to other sectors, other senators or interest group from outside your borders. Your economy is strong, you have much to offer the rest of the Republic and vice versa, no doubt your Senator, whoever it is, will become a power."

"Yet I understand the opposition on this issue too: for as a Senator you would, as I said, be a single voice among thousands. Thousands of voices who could, once you join, make policy and enforce it here in your sector unless you are strong enough to get dispensation like the Corporate Worlds or the Trade Federation."

She fell silent for a moment, letting the realization percolate that she had simply reiterated all the pros and cons that the Assembly members had brought up in the past. "I believe that this must be a decision that **you** make not because of pressure one way or another, or because you wish to join the Republic. You must make this decision based upon what is best for your people."

"I would urge you to continue to speak about it, to continue to talk. **Discussion** and discourse, logic and facts gentlemen should guide your decisions, not emotions, not personal self-aggrandizement, or exterior pressures."

"That is not what other Jedi have said on this issue." said one voice from the back of the hall. "Master Traillin and Knight Prokko have publicly stated they feel we should join the Republic, and the ex-ranger family you and your padawan and Knight Fisto saved were all outspoken about us joining."

"That might be true and the Dergals are citizens of Dac, as such they are allowed to have an opinion. We might be the voice of the government, but I believe that the Jedi should be the voice above all of reason and peace. Do therefore what you believe best for your people gentlemen, do not think that we can dictate terms to you, and never bow to external pressures whatever they are unless you believe that in so doing you will better your own people's way of life."

There were more than a few voices raised in murmured exclamations at her position. But the majority seemed to sit up straighter, stand a little more certain, knowing that the Jedi would back them whatever they thought.

Shaak smiled, nodded her head and turned the floor over to other speakers moving back to her seat job done in her opinion. It was not what the Order might wish. The Order probably would've wanted the Mon Calamari to join the Republic simply because it would make dealing with them somewhat easier, quantify the various legal issues facing them whenever dealing with the Mon Calamari or the various planetary governments, allow them to command rather than ask for aid.

But Shaak felt that maintaining neutrality was what the Force wished of them. _We are instruments of the Force, of peace and law, not a single government, no matter how powerful._ She idly wondered what Ranma would think of it then shook her head, stifling a laugh. _Ranma would probably be asleep in a corner by this point. Not that that idea doesn't have much merit…_ Shaking her head slightly, Shaak sat back down, ready to sit through the rest of this meeting.

 **OOOOOOO**

"When you said this exercise was going to hurt, I didn't expect you to mean it quite so…" Shaak paused thinking of the word, as she stared at the training area, her lekku twitching slightly in concern. "Literally?"

"Yeah, it'll be painful, believe me." Ranma said with a nod pushing sweaty black hair out of his eyes. _Huh, gonna need a haircut soon, wonder I'll be able to find one here on Dac?_

It had been nearly a week since Shaak Ti had addressed the Mon Calamari Sector Assembly, and Ranma had gotten over the last of his female form's monthly issue two days ago. Since then he had tried his best to remain a he as often as possible, which hadn't gone well. Shaak was still rather bemused to see that Ranma truly did seem to attract water, the only way he was able to remain male was to stay in the apartment or the training area. Every time he went out, he would be splashed within ten minutes max.

On the other hand Ranma's period had passed with no real issues. It turned out that working on the ship in near zero-g with the Mon Calamari actually helped. A lifetime of training in midair maneuvers had made Ranma at home off the ground, and it was a small step from that to the shipyard environment, so it didn't bother her stomach. And her strength and eagerness to learn had garnered her the respect of the dockworkers.

Even better, Shaak had found a store that sold vitamin bars. They were tasteless, but the sight of them wasn't nauseating to the human 'female', which allowed Ranma to eat them without issue. And being able to eat and work up in the dockyards helped Ranma deal with the emotional turmoil of her period with an equanimity Shaak knew she would envy the next time her people's cycle came upon her and she had to deal with the pain of it.

Ranma had also set up the training area for the same toughness training he and his father had recreated after seeing the effect it had on Ryoga. This consisted of several large pieces of ferro-crete the size of the two of them standing side by side, a pulley system, rope and a larger, even thicker wall of ferro-crete. This was the setup they were currently looking at and Shaak shook her head bemusedly staring at the ropes designed to hold the person going through the technique in place against the wall.

"The funniest thing though was Ryoga, well, you remember me saying it was an Amazon technique?" Shaak nodded, having heard about Ranma's rather bizarre fiancé issue. Not that there weren't races out there that practice polygamy of all sorts, there were, and she had met several such in her time. But the method in which Ranma had gained his fiancés still amused her.

"Well he thought he was learning a technique designed to shatter people with a touch." Ranma moved over to one of the smaller boulders, holding up a finger and then tapping it lightly with a single finger. The stone shattered as if it had been hit by a turbo laser blast. As bits of rock and debris settled around them he turned, grinning. "Of course it was a lie, ya can't break bodies like that. But the real reason he was going through the training was the durability factor. I'd already learned the Amiguriken technique, so improving his durability was the only way he could take the punishment I could dish out."

Her eyes wide and still staring in shock where the rock had been Shaak nodded, before shaking her head quickly to rid herself of the shock of another Force technique she'd never heard of. _Of course I know of Master Windu's shatterpoint, but that isn't a skill you can actually learn, you need to be born with the ability, and even then, I don't think the shatterpoint can do that!_ "Will I be learning to do that?" She asked waving one hand at it.

"I don't know," Ranma said, smirking widely. "Can you multitask?"

Shaak was very tempted to respond to that with a rude gesture, a response that shook her for a moment then she just laughed quietly. Being around Ranma for a while either made you go insane, or made you loosen up to a degree that all too few Jedi would be willing to deal with. It astonished her at times, and this was one of them, that she was growing to like the experience. "When do we begin?"

Several hours later, Shaak lay on a patio chair, groaning in more pain than she had been since one of her more spectacular failures as a young learner. "This… this hurts worse than when I broke all the bones in my legs from mistiming a Force Jump landing," she groaned. Under her head, her lekku twitched slightly in spasmodic pain, her skin near purple and bruised practically everywhere.

"I did warn you." Ranma said, flipping her red hair back over her shoulder as she leaned down placing a cool drink next to Shaak's head. Ranma had changed to his female form before carrying Shaak out here. "I went through the same thing, and I have to tell you Ryoga held out for even longer at it than I did. You did good for your first day though."

Ranma paused suddenly, looking down at her feet then away over the side of the wall of the apartment's backyard and down to the communal beach. "U-um, d, do you want a massage? Er, and we've got some pain relief balm, I grabbed it from the ship before Kit left."

"AHhhghhhhh…." Shaak groaned, trying to lift her head enough to get her lips around straw stuck in the drink, a strange looping thing that had a small bell worked into one of the loops for some reason. _A local thing perhaps?_ She decided to ignore it concentrating on more important things. "I, I think I would like that Ranma thank you."

She did not notice Ranma's blush becoming more pronounced, concentrating on the little bit of movement that was needed to get her lips around the straw. "Al, alright, I'll be right back."

Shaak grunted, now sipping her drink and trying to will pain away through the Force. She had been keeping it in check before this, but there was a limited return on Force tricks like that. The Force could heal, slowly for most, but all Jedi could mentally use it to push away pain, yet that was **not** the same thing as actually healing the damage done.

Nonetheless thanks to her training with the technique in the past few weeks Shaak had pushed the pain down a little more by the time Ranma was back and she heard the creak of her patio chair then a weight dropping on to her legs slightly.

Ranma leaned down, his face still flushed. _Thank god I'm in my female form!_ She was sitting directly on Shaak's thighs, and the feel of her skin under his was Distracting with a capital D. Both of them were as was normal these days wearing their one piece swimsuits, and Ranma's thighs were directly on either side of Shaak's own.

 _Damn it, why'd I volunteer to do this again?_ Ranma moaned internally. _Fucking hormones, down, down! This is, this is just a friend doing something to relieve a friend's pain nothing more._ Ranma would have felt better after thinking that if another part of his mind, the part he was trying to ignore right now, didn't reply with a _'yeah right'_ and something that sounded too much like a cackle for his state of mind.

It didn't help matters that Ranma's initial physical reaction to Shaak had been reinforced with the friendship that had built up between them over the past few weeks. Ranma didn't think that he (currently she but still he in his mind) was in love with Shaak, not yet. But it could all too easily move in that direction.

Ignoring those thoughts, Ranma quickly spritzed a bit of the suntan onto Shaak's bare shoulders and arms. Shaak grunted a bit, muttering "Cold!" before she sighed as Ranma spread the lotion over her arms, and then grunted again as Ranma started to massage the lotion into her battered body.

"Oooh…that feels wonderful Ranma, thank you." Shaak and a few of her friends among her fellow learners had given one another massages, when they were young to ease out pains. That kind of thing was allowed among the learners, since they were often pushed well beyond normal endurance in the Jedi training. But already Shaak could tell that Ranma had a far better understanding of massage than any of them.

Ranma nodded, trying hard not to get too into his current job despite what his hormones were trying to tell him. _Again, thank God I'm a woman right now!_ The feel of Shaak's skin under her hands, even with the bruising was one of the sexiest things he'd ever felt. Right up there with her first taste of chocolate or the memories of Shampoo's body that time she'd surprised him in the bath.

"You really did do good y'know." Ranma said, trying to keep her mind on more important things rather than that feeling, or wondering what her lekku would feel like, or the curve of her buttocks right under, _stop that!_ "Y-You're the continual use of the Force to try and mitigate the pain you were feeling let us do as many reps in half a day as I was able to go through in three times that many hours."

Ranma's pain tolerance was incredibly high for any normal human, but when Genma and he had decided to go through the endurance technique himself, he hadn't yet learned how to use his ki to actually mitigate the pain, or any mental exercises to dull the impact. Ironically it had been Kasumi who had taught Ranma those mental exercises. She had dealt with several broken bones when she was younger, and her period was immensely painful for the young woman.

Shaak on the other hand had years of practicing using the Force to mitigate pain from wounds or exertion and had taken to using them to offset the punishment her body was taking in their spars easily. "In fact, I think you should nearly be up to my level of durability by the time my ship's ready to go."

Shaak murmured something, arching her back as Ranma found a particularly sore point then whimpering slightly as a knot between her shoulders unraveled. "Ohhh, that feels nice" she moaned, causing Ranma to twitch slightly.

She felt this through her thighs, but ignored it to reply to Ranma's praise. "Ahh, I'm glad for that. And I have just tell you again, no matter what kind of pain I'm going through right now, the upside is tremendous one. I'm not certain it would be a good idea to have other Jedi go through your training as it is, and I'll be thinking of ways of doing the same kind of thing without, well the humiliation of it honestly. But being able to simply wade through small arms or even medium-powered blaster fire will save lives."

"Agreed," Ranma said with a nod. Unlike a lot of his real ki techniques, Ranma didn't really have a problem with sharing this type of training. It wasn't as if the durability couldn't be overcome after all, **he** certainly could overcome it easily enough. The Amiguriken technique frankly was more dangerous in his mind, and with a lightsaber you could easily overcome it anyway, given what Dooku had nearly done to Ranma when they first met.

 _And if they take away the whole smashing rocks into your victim thing they won't be able to learn the Breaking Point technique._ Which again was in Ranma's mind a little more dangerous a technique than Ranma was willing to share. Shaak had earned his trust, and after a few weeks with him Kit Fisto had quickly become someone Ranma liked, and might even think of training in the future, but he didn't trust the Order as a whole to use his techniques as they should be, not yet.

"A request however?" Shaak said, arching now slightly as Ranma began to work on her neck. "Mmm….could we just do this for our training just in the early morning? I have no doubt that I'll be called upon to arbitrate things even on a planet like this, so I'd like to keep my late morning and early afternoon free, and I know you want to be up working on your ship in the afternoon."

Ranma frowned. "Arbitrate, you mean like giving out justice? I thought that you'd already made your point about the whole 'should we join or not join the Republic' thing."

"I did, but Jedi are often asked to arbitrate on smaller matters while on missions. We are seen as neutral judges, guided by the Force. And the Force does has you've already learned give us quite a bit of an advantage in investigation and arbitration decisions, such as when two people disagree on something but which the law cannot easily solve or not solve at all, can be much more easily handled by Jedi."

Shaak smiled slightly. "Master Halcyon said that that was originally one of the larger aspects of the Jedi Order. Lying to a Jedi is incredibly hard, and by the time people are asking for arbitration they already have all the facts so it's just a matter of making a decision."

"Yeah but could that backfire?" Ranma asked.

"Oh yes," Shaak said seriously, now turning her head to look over her shoulder to where Ranma had turned around, and was now working on her legs. She smiled for a moment, looking at Ranma's back and the feminine curve to it, the way the redhead was nibbling at her lip as she worked.

 _I've only known him for a little under three weeks now, and I'm already closer to Ranma then practically anyone else. I wonder if that says something about him, her, heh, or me. Is it because I haven't conquered my races need for companionship and friendship as fully as I should have, or simply because of Ranma's personality? Regardless, I don't think I'm going to analyze it too much. It's simply too much fun._

Aloud she said, "There have been cases where Jedi made mistakes, we're only mortal after all. There have been other cases where we made incorrect decisions based on political pressure, public opinion, or simple arrogance without searching for all the facts. Many of those have of course been broadcast. The public seems to like pulling it's heroes to pieces just as much as creating them in the first place. That is why my master was so careful about teaching me patience and humility. If I don't think the case is clear-cut, I won't make a decision until I know all the facts, and if that means doing some research or investigation on my own, so be it."

"Good to hear," Ranma said with a nod. "And yeah, I suppose we can cut down on the time spent on this aspect of the training. Your sparring is coming along rather well too, as is your meditation." She worked the lotion into Shaak's calf muscles, easing the muscles there and causing Shaak to let out a small squeak.

Ranma to turned to look at her with a laugh while Shaak quickly turned away, flushing in embarrassment, her red cheeks lightening in color.

In an effort to regain her lost dignity Shaak went on briskly. Or as briskly as she could as her body continued to turn into a melted puddle under Ranma's hands. "G-good, in that case I will put together a tentative daily plan for us from now on. How long will you want to keep helping up at the shipyards?"

"Say from two o'clock local time to seven or so." Ranma shrugged. "But remember eventually I'm going to be doin' something I haven't tried before. That fork took me hours, so…"

Shaak nodded. "Very well. Then after dinner we will meditate for a time then have lessons with master Halcyon." She smiled faintly. Halcyon had begun to teach her mental exercises, and whatever the Halcyon family's lack of skill in telekinesis, they more than made up for it in mental disciplines. When she was done her training with him, Shaak would be able to dive deeper into a person's mind, seeing more of their motivations and even connect to the Living Force of another individual more directly.

Yet even that paled in comparison to what combining Ranma's training her in her own Living Force and that greater connection could do if combined. Shaak's Healing skills had risen astronomically of late, though she had initially put this down to the sheer amount of exercise that skill was getting. But it was her growing understanding of the way the Living Force in her own body worked and her ability to perceive that which had aided it. Shaak felt that if she could figure how to connect those two abilities, her ability to heal others would skyrocket.

She was eager to talk to one of her friends about that idea. Though a Jedi Knight like her, Luminara Unduli was quickly becoming known as one of the best healers the Order had seen for over 300 years, since the time of Master Marinus, a human who had rediscovered several healing abilities the Order had lost for centuries.

"Fine, for now though, just rest okay? I'll come and get ya for dinner." Ranma said, standing up and fighting back a temptation to playfully smack Shaak on her back, or, not so playfully, her rear. _Damn hormones!_ Not knowing Ranma's thoughts Shaak murmured her thanks, then, despite not being in the correct position began to meditate slightly, before falling asleep in the sun of Dac.

 **OOOOOOO**

Darth Sidious leaned back in his seat, contemplating ongoing video hanging in the air before his throne. _I really have to look into finding more Force sensitives to train, ones that can be subtle at need, specifically using their own Force senses without being found by those they are observing. Maul is precisely what his name implies, a blunt tool, an excellent tool, but still a blunt one. The information a Force sensitive could tell me of this training would dwarf what this video recording can. I hope that my little mission for the Bounty Hunter's guild proves successful. If not, well, she might serve as another blunt weapon at least._

He smiled faintly as he watched the giant piece of ferro-crete be lifted away from the Togrutan Jedi tied to the wall, shaking his head. _Torture as a training tool, the Jedi have taken a page out of the Sith's book! As amusing as that is however, the outcome supposed is surprising._

He smiled faintly as he listened to the discussion about the 'strengthening technique', and what it could do. _The local that planted the listening and video recorders, he could have been useful. The decision to liquidate him was not a well thought one. He was at the very least intelligent, and resourceful as well as desperate for money. Such people are useful so long as you are the ones holding the whip hand._

 _That, and the resources provided to him were not enough to do the job. I could far more if I could overhear more of their conversations. They don't seem to use the sitting room or their own rooms. But the individual who emplaced the listening devices can't be faulted for his decisions. No, the fault lies in my own tool rather than the pawn of my pawn._

 _But even with that I can tell what is going on generally speaking. It appears as if the Jedi are allowing this Ranma fellow to train one of their younger up and coming members to see if a Jedi can learn them, possibly before opening the entire Order to his teachings. And the one chosen for this experiment is, as I had already discovered, the same one recorded following him with Yoda, that pestilential geriatric!_

At that thought Sidious couldn't keep his mind from going down a tangent. _The information coming from Kashykk is… irritating, as is the fact the future is becoming more difficult to read, even for_ _ **me**_ _! The overall plan is still viable, but the end game could be much more difficult to pull off. On the other hand, the Order itself is split about these changes, my discussions with that bitch Gallia and the alien Poof is enough to tell me that even if the futures I can still see did not. That could let me utilize other front men, and the chaos of that and the ongoing conflicts will serve my ends just as well. I am nothing if not flexible._

 _However, that might mean I need to step up a certain personal plan I have. Master Plagueis is still useful, but he isn't flexible enough to go along with the new plan, and he still believes himself my master, a fact that is growing more galling and irritating with every passing week._

Shaking those thoughts off for now, Sidious turned his attention to the matter at hand."Computer, search known Jedi for anything known about a Jedi Knight named Shaak Ti." Sidious said aloud into the darkness of his hidden throne room. His room was wired for sound and connected to a computer whose system was nearly as self-aware as a droids. "Include all known acquaintances, past missions, enemies she might have made on those missions, and possible weaknesses, physical and mental. Prepare it for this evening."

With that done, Sidious turned back to observe the training once more, frowning as he watched the alien Jedi and the chaotic locus spar. Ranma was, as in all their training he had seen so far, training in hand to hand, and was covering his limb's with a shield of pure Force. _I could still wish to know more about this Ranma's odd abilities, his strange 'curse', and where he, or she, came from. But have enough to start with. The Jedi will not steal a march on the Sith!_

With a gesture a nearby communicator came on, carrying Sidious' voice to where his apprentice was meditating. "Darth Maul, join me. We have training to discuss."

 **OOOOOOO**

The next several weeks fell into a rhythm. Every morning Ranma and Shaak would get up early and spend an hour sparring together. Then Shaak would go through the toughness training, while Halcyon helped Ranma with his plains for his light pike, which was what Halcyon called the weapon he was planning, while Ranma monitored Shaak's progress. During lunch, Shaak would lay out on the patio and Ranma would give her a massage, while Shaak would practice her Force telekinesis by pulling small items of food towards the pair of them, or her Force healing on herself.

After that, Shaak would either remain there, or would speak to a Sector Assembly rep, clarifying this or that Republic law. Or if she was feeling up to it, meditate and practice under master Halcyon. Only a few times was she actually called upon to act as an arbitrator as she had said to Ranma that first day of her toughness training. These were not anything immensely important, just small issues which the local constabulary's couldn't come to a conclusion about without outside interference, and more than once Shaak was called in simply because the Jedi neutrality, which she had emphasized in her speech to the Senate, could more easily solve the issue without bruised egos.

While she was doing this, Ranma spent his time up in the dockyards. For the first few weeks he simply follower the team members around, lending his strength wherever it was needed, learning all he could about the electronics and different systems that when brought together became a spaceship. He would never be more than an engineer or technician, he didn't have the immediate understanding or any imagination for more, but he would at least know what to do for most nonlethal emergencies.

The ship slowly took shape, slightly slower than a human shipyard could have done the work on a common class of ship, but Ranma was well pleased. He wanted his ship to be unique, and the Mon Calamari were more than happy to help him in that. There were a few problems of course. Most importantly the electrical runs to the fourth shield generator that had replaced half of the ship's cargo hold crossed over that between the power generator and the engines. But every problem they ran into the Mon Calamari designer and his team solved just as quickly with a level of artistry and panache that Ranma could recognize and admire, but never come close to matching.

Several weeks into the building process, the exterior hull pieces were brought in, and Ranma went to work on the real reason he was up here.

Each piece of hull plate was about 15 feet long and five wide, but more than half of that was designed to go **under** another plate, aiding the outer defenses. This was another Mon Calamari design factor which added to their ships durability, as well as cost, both for the initial ship building and for repair.

Ranma found that enforcing the metal with his ki was indeed a slow process. Every day when he came back to the same piece a little under half of the ki would have dissipated, the metal unable to hold a charge of Living Force like something which had originally been alive. He talked to Master Halcyon about it, and Kieran mused that if Ranma was able to use the Unifying Force, he might be able to do something more permanent.

But Ranma was still wary about using the Unifying Force, something that had not been helped by his previous experiments in reaching out to it. He couldn't argue that the process might work though, and put it to one side to think about later while stubbornly continuing the exercise.

During the evenings, Ranma would come back and have dinner with Shaak. Then the two of them would talk or meditate under master Halcyon, or Shaak would teach Ranma more about piloting using a local training program, whatever they felt like doing before heading to bed. Both of them enjoyed their time together immensely for various reasons, but certain moments served to bring them even closer together:

As Shaak had predicted her species' cycle also came up during their stay on the water planet, around two months into their stay. While she was able to deal with the emotional issues well enough thorough meditation Shaak woke up one day groaning in agony, the pain centered around her lower torso. Sighing faintly Shaak began to reach out for the Force, slowly using it to push away the agony in her mind, as well as try to calm the actual pain in her body. _Ugh, I'm going to be useless for anything toda_ y she thought to herself, shaking her head. Even that bit of movement caused her some pain, particularly in her lekku which for some reason she had never figured out were even more sensitive than normal during this time.

She sat up in bed, wincing occasionally from pains in her arms and legs. Sitting in the lotus position Shaak once again reached out to the Force, slowing willing the pain away bit by bit. It was only after forty minutes of doing so that she felt well enough to get out of bed.

She found Ranma in the kitchen pulling out leftovers from last night for breakfast as he looked at some of the kitchen appliances. Neither of them had ventured into cooking just yet, not being at home with any of the local ingredients. He looked up with a smile on his face, which quickly segued into a frowned as he noticed how stiffly Shaak was moving. "Are you okay? Normally even after the toughness training you'd be back to normal by the next day."

"It's not the training, it's just that a certain time has crept up on me as it did you." Shaak replied obliquely, hoping that Ranma would get it without further explanation on her part.

Ranma did get it immediately, and quickly moved over to her helping her to her chair. Not that she needed it, but it was rather nice of him to hold the chair out for her. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Give me an out on training today?" Shaak asked, shaking her head. "I'm using most of my mental capacity to deaden the pain as it is. I couldn't possibly fight at more than half strength, and the idea of going through the toughness training on top of this is a horrifying one."

"Really? Huh, my fighting ability doesn't go down much if at all when I go through that. Though, I suppose that's because my normal inhibitions on using full power against people goes out the window."

Even Ranma's rivals in Nerima knew to stay away from Ranma when through her period there. It only hit five times during her stay with the Tendos but that had been enough to get the point across. When she put Kuno into the hospital for over two months because he tried to hit on her even Ryoga had gotten the hint. Even Akane had been nicer to him during that time frame, though his father had simply avoided him, which frankly was the best response of all in Ranma's opinion.

"That would be because your normal strength and power doesn't dessert you, whereas my combat ability is based on my Force abilities the majority of which as I said is already tied up with dealing with the pain."

"I don't think that's the case anymore," Ranma said smirking slightly. "In fact, judging by how you nearly kicked me through a wall yesterday, I think I can safely say that is no longer the case."

Shaak smiled at the memory of that. She had surprised Ranma with a backflip catching him neatly with a kick to the side of his head before he could get out of range. It was a good sign of her becoming better at using her entire body as a weapon and was one of very few blows she had really surprised him with. "Thank you for that, but it's still an issue."

"How do other female Jedi deal with it?"

"Most races don't have that issue. I know my friend Aayla doesn't, nor does my other friend Luminara or… most nonhuman Jedi who I can bring to mind actually. Humans however **have** developed a medicine that deals with the issue though I was told for medical reasons that it was not available for Togrutans."

"Okay…" Ranma said slowly. "The way you say that, it sounds like more than simple painkillers right? Oh, and do you want some of those?" Shaak nodded and Ranma got them out while Shaak explained that the pills in question actually halted the menstrual process. It had been developed on a Core World for population control reasons. The Order routinely bought stocks of it for the human females among it.

Hearing that, Ranma shook his head. "On the one hand sounds interesting, on the other hand it disturbs me, that whole suppression of the body thing just sounds wrong. Especially given the reason it was developed in the first place."

Shaak shrugged. "As I said I never looked into it after discovering the pills wouldn't work on Togrutan biology. I'm sorry. Would you have liked some?"

Ranma frowned, pulling at his pigtail for a moment as he moved over to grab some food and place it on the table in front of her. Unlike Ranma's Shaak's stomach wasn't effected so she was able to eat the local 'delicacies'. lf that was what they were, they had gotten this meal from a fast food place. "No thanks, No offense, but that feels more like you're running away from the issue."

"We'll have to agree to disagree on that one." Shaak said with a faint smile. Then she cocked her head, looking at him/her purple lips forming into a pout as she deliberately widened her eyes. "I don't suppose I could get a few massages could I?"

"Do we have enough of that pain relief lotion to keep using it?" Ranma replied quickly. "I'm fine with the idea, but last I looked we were down to nearly a fourth of it."

Shaak frowned. That ointment was a Jedi Order specialty, something the Agricorps made and sold on the market to bring itself and the Order as a whole some income. She couldn't recall offhand if she'd be able to buy it out here on Dac however. "I suppose just a massage then?"

"I can do that." Ranma said with a faint smile. He was never going to tell Shaak this, but massaging her was one of the highlights of his day for many reasons. The jokes they shared at that time were always fun, the closeness of it, as was watching Shaak use her telekinetic powers. The fact they gave Ranma some interesting dreams was a dirty pleasure too, one he wasn't proud of but could not deny.

"Thank you Ranma." Shaak said sincerely. Pain aside, she was slowly becoming addicted to Ranma's massages, and not just because of how they helped her with the pain. The friendship they had developed, the closeness they shared, called out to her Togrutan soul.

The next time when Ranma's period hit, Shaak decided to return the favor. But instead of offering to massage Ranma, she decided to cook. Ranma came home the first evening of her second monthly monster cursing volubly. She didn't really care about being in her female form these days, it was just a thing, and his/her mind did not change between forms, something he/she had always been leery of during her time in Nerima. But the amount of time he was spending in his female form meant the monthly monster was coming around almost as regularly as it would for regular woman, and that irritated him/her quite a lot.

She paused on the threshold of the apartment, sniffing the air appreciatively. _Something smells good._ That was a surprise, since most Mon Calamari foods either didn't smell to him or smelled at best like sushi. Sushi might be tasty, but the scent of it was not its selling point.

Following his nose Ranma made his way through the apartment toward the kitchen where he saw Shaak standing in front of the small kitchenette. Something was sizzling in a skillet on the burner, while a large bowl filled with local roughage was sitting nearby. All of it was various colors of green, and most of it, as Ranma knew at this point tasted like the seaweed it so resemble in the wild.

But there were a few that were actually somewhat tasty, one that tasted like lettuce and a small seed like plant that filled the same niche as rice. The locals also made a kind of small flatbread that somehow tasted like cinnamon. That had become a favorite snack of both human and Togrutan.

Shaak turned with a faint smile on her face, gesturing Ranma to sit down. "I decided it was time one of us at least try out the local foods and see what we can do with them?"

"So are you experimenting Shaak, or actually cooking?" Ranma said cautiously.

"The salad is an experiment." Shaak said with a smile. "What I'm cooking most definitely is not. It is akul steak."

Ranma's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, wasn't that he creature you had to hunt to get those teeth on your headdress?"

Shaak raised a hand to her headdress lightly, her smile widening slightly. "Indeed."

"So it's not like a steak is then, which is from a domesticated animal, this is more like Tiger or bear steak."

Shaak made an interrogative noise before turning quickly to her cooking, and Ranma elaborated. "Tigers are a f-feliniod predator on my world, and bears were," Ranma paused thinking of how best to describe bears. "Sort of another top predator I guess, kind of like that wampa thing I was forced to put down in the underground pit."

"A akul is more like a tiger than. It is large but moves very fluidly, and its jaws are its main killing tool. Its claws are dangerous, but it's bite can punch through steel with ease."

"Did you eat the one you hunted?"

"Myself, my master, and several high ranking dignitaries in the city we were staying in partook of it, yes. They are a delicacy on my world."

Cocking his head, Ranma had to ask, "How did one end up all the way out here then?"

Shaak shook her head sadly. "As Cubs they are rather cute and trainable. A trader tried to domesticate one as a guard animal, but his training failed, primarily because he didn't neuter the beast, and he apparently sold it to an unsuspecting Mon Calamari. Said worthy took it home, and promptly realized that he had brought a land-based predator onto a water world. The creature tried to maul several Mon Calamari when they tried to transport it to an animal reserve, the only such on the planet that is based upon land I might add, and promptly began to attack several of the other animals in the reserve."

"Ouch, talk about the law of unintended consequences. And when in this drama did they call you, hmmm?"

"Yesterday, well after the poor beast had gone insane with all the odd smells and its captivity." Shaak said with a faint sigh. "It took them a while to make the connection between Shili, the akul and my race, and even longer to actually think I might know anything about them. Just because I'm a Jedi doesn't mean I don't know anything about my home planet." She shook her head ruefully. "Though admittedly there are Jedi that wouldn't know anything in a similar case."

She shrugged. "An akul is the apex predator on my world, and this one was insane, it would likely have killed every other animal it came upon. After the authorities consulted me and I examined the beast personally I told them it would be best for the akul and for them if it was put down. I bought it off them and with the help from some of the locals, butchered it for some of the meat. Not a pleasant process I have to tell you."

"You didn't have to go to all that trouble for me Shaak," Ranma said, now feeling a little guilty. The idea that someone would go to that trouble just to give him a treat to make him feel better was really nice though, **really** nice.

"It wasn't just you don't worry." Shaak said with a faint laugh, causing Ranma to laugh too. "I wanted to thank you for helping me with my own cycle, and I know your own cycle is irritating. I felt this was a good way to pay you back, and to help you deal with it."

As she moved over to the table Ranma reached out, grabbing one of her hands and squeezing gently. "Thanks Shaak," Ranma said. "This means a lot."

For some reason Shaak found herself flushing slightly, and looking away almost as if she was feeling shy. "You're welcome Ranma, now, let's sit down and eat! I'm interested to see how the salad turned out, and the meat eater in me must be fed!"

Ranma laughed and let go of her hand, and the two sat down to one of the best meals Ranma could ever remember having. And the food was good too.

Several days later after his cycle as Shaak put it had passed, Ranma returned the favor, and Shaak came in to find Ranma in his male form cooking at the kitchenette. It got to the point where one or the other would cook at least once a week, something they both enjoyed.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nearly three months into their stay on Dac, Ranma's ship was nearing completion and Shaak was meditating when through the Force she felt the distant arrival of several Jedi in the dockyards circling Dac. She smiled, pulling out of her meditation and standing up, moving from where she had been sitting in the lotus position in her bathing suit to the fresher. As she did she called out, "com, open a link with Ranma please."

The apartment's computer did so, and as she stepped into the refresher, she said "Ranma, I just felt the arrival of several of my brethren, we might be having visitors. I don't know why yet, just giving you a heads up."

Ranma replied in the affirmative, and agreed to meet her up in the dockyards. Shaak took a shuttle up after a few moments spent dressing herself, once more wearing her Jedi robe. Moments later she and Ranma were there to greet the incoming Jedi as a _Consular_ class ship touched down in the docks above the planetary capital.

Two Jedi came out. One was an Aqualish padawan, his stance, age and the color of his robe giving that away even though he was a species that could not have the normal padawan side-knot.

The Jedi master, who Shaak barely recognized having only seen the man in passing before, was a member of another aquatic species, an Ishi Tib. "Master Grhoto, greetings" she said, bowing her head.

"Greetings Knight Shaak Ti," said the man, holding his webbed hand up formally, palm out in token of peace. "I bring you greetings." He smiled faintly, gesturing into the _Consular_ class ship. "No doubt you are wondering what I am doing here, please come inside, you and your… companion."

The Ishi Tib looked at Ranma, his eyes narrowed slightly over his triangular beak, but not antagonistically, more judgmentally than anything else. Ranma and Shaak entered the _Consular_ class ship, sitting down around the main sitting area, which Ranma noted was actually quite crowded with various items and boxes. He frowned in disapproval. He knew the _Consular_ class didn't actually have much cargo space, and all that it did have was used for food and other requirements for the ship itself.

 _But even so, how are they supposed to train in here with this kind of stuff all around?_ There certainly wasn't enough room to swing a lightsaber without hitting something. _Not,_ he thought complacently, _that'd slow me down much._

"Are you here on another assignment master, or are you here to pass on a message that the high Council would not wish to pass via Hypercom?" Shaak Ti asked as she sat down, gesturing Ranma to sit down next to her.

"A little of both, Knight Ti. Knight Fisto's report mentioned the small shields and the heavy quad cannons you two and this one ran into. " Master Grhoto said flicking one hand towards Ranma "That was not the only example of expensive high-tech gear being spotted in the hands of groups that could loosely be termed terrorists. I'm here to help hunt that lead down. My specialty lies in computer programming and analytical data collection." He shrugged modestly. "That and my ability to swim and stay in the water for long periods of time made me a natural to follow up this avenue."

"Do you have any leads yet? Or theories?" Shaak asked, interested. Neither she nor Kit had been able to make any headway on that mystery.

"I never create theories before I have all the facts," said the man firmly and rather sanctimoniously in Ranma's opinion. The man was coming off as earnest, but also a bit arrogant and rather stuffy to Ranma's mind.

"My padawan and I are also part of an experiment. Grand Master Yoda wishes for the Jedi to begin to relate more to local governments rather than to the Senate." From his tone the man wasn't certain what to think about that, but would follow orders regardless.

"As such, he has decided to begin placing teams of Jedi on sector government planets. We are the first to arrive here, but I understand Knight Fisto will be permanently assigned here as well, and two others, though their names have not yet been chosen. We of course will not assign Masters of the same race to their home worlds, the urge to create attachments would be too great for most, and the majority of the Jedi thus assigned will be rotated out every year to other posts to keep the same thing from happening.

Shaak nodded, fighting to roll her eyes. Her self-control of such things had diminished greatly with her ongoing interaction with Ranma. The man's attitude was very apparent to her now, and she wondered idly if he understood how arrogant and standoffish it made him seem. _In our efforts to remain neutral and aloof, we have become arrogant, is this how normal people see most of us?_

Aloud she said, "I see. I had wondered what master Yoda was doing, and that seems a good idea to me."

"Your approval is irrelevant Jedi Knight, he is the Grand Master, and it is his word we follow." The man said, without rancor but as if he was simply pointing out the weather.

Shaak nodded, reining in her emotions with ease while Ranma rolled his eyes and leaned back, crossing his legs on the table. Grhoto stared at them for a moment, but when Ranma made no move to remove them he went on.

"We were also tasked to drop off several pieces of gear to you. One of them is a small lightsaber construction table." He said gesturing to one of the larger boxes. "I have no idea why Grand Master Yoda and the other High Council members decided to send that, I imagine it has something to do with this… **experiment**."

His eyes flicked back over to Ranma, who merely stared back. "I have to say I am rather ambivalent about it. Only Jedi should use a lightsaber, anything else is simply asking for trouble or at the minimum lost limbs. They aren't toys after all. However, the High Council made that decision and I will abide by it."

The man went on much more seriously. "I have also the parts and pieces necessary for you to put together a Hypercom uplink for yourself. You'll have to piggyback onto a local signal for power of course, but it has an encryption code built into it."

Ranma snorted and nodded touching Shaak on the shoulder to stop her from speaking. "That's from Master Dooku right? He convinced the other Masters that the Senate might be reading your mail?"

"…Indeed." The master replied, staring from Ranma to Shaak Ti's shoulder.

Yet when he went on for the first time, the master came off entirely sincere and humble. "He wanted to give the credit to you I understand? Thank you. I cannot tell you the number of times an investigation into a senator or high functionary has come to naught because they were given time enough to prepare a defense or alibi. Of course there were always other clues pointing away from the Hypercom signals themselves being overheard, but even so it should have occurred to us all much sooner that the Senate might have been listening in to our mail."

Ranma nodded back graciously, removing his hand from Shaak's shoulder almost absentmindedly, and Grhoto made a mental note on how Shaak hadn't reacted to that somewhat intimate touch. _Jedi should not seek closeness with another, yet her race is against her there. So long as it hasn't grown to an actual… emotional connection… then I will not correct her behavior._

"The instructions will be in one of the boxes, I urge you to put the device together yourselves, once you have your new ship." He sniffed again, shaking his head. "Jedi should not covet worldly objects."

"Even if those objects let us perform our missions better?" Shaak asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Perhaps in that case, but they should be simple designs, not ostentatious ones, and certainly not s so expensive as I understand this ship is." Grhoto replied.

"The order isn't the one paying for it." Shaak said while Ranma nodded in agreement. "Ranma is."

The man turned slightly to face Ranma squarely. "The masters have made their decision plain on this, even if there are many among them who dissent. But I will abide by the Council's decisions as all Jedi should, it is simply very **odd** to me that we have welcomed you as an ally, when you use the Force in so odd a manner, and are clearly not a Jedi. Still I'll say no more on that."

He stood up abruptly, then watched as Ranma went around picking up the boxes and creating a pyramid of them in his arms, holding the lot of them with ease. "The Masters also said to get in touch with them the moment that Hypercom link is online and your ship is built."

"Is there any reason behind that urgency, or do they were simply wish for a progress report on the experiment, as you put it?" Shaak asked as she moved to help Ranma, showing far greater strength then even a Jedi Knight should be able to.

The master and his padawan's eyebrows both shot up, and the padawan looked eager to learn while the master merely nodded seeing some progress has had already been made. "I believe that the latter is true, but and Grand Master Yoda wishes to speak to both of you personally."

"Do you know how heavy this thing would be once we put it together?" Ranma asked. "Or how bulky? If it's small enough to transport, we can put it together in our apartment, and use it right away. If not, I'd want to wait until my ship is ready. If you are worried about someone listening to your mail you don't want to leave this device around, and I'm not free to spend all of my time up with the ship yard workers or in the apartment."

"Every race has sentients which can be bribed." the man said nodding his head in an abrupt, almost bird-like gesture. "You understand security good as is the fact that the experiment has already shown some results. Or have you always been so strong Knight Ti?"

Ranma laughed and nodded, while Shaak looked down at the items in her arms, her head cocked to one side. "I hadn't even realized it." She shook her head thinking that Ranma's mere presence tended to warp a person's ideas of what was normal.

A moment later the two of them on their way out, with Shaak formally bowing to the master as he nodded his head to her. A few moments later they were in the shuttle heading back down to their apartment. "So…" Ranma said, "How normal is that guy in the order?"

"Far too normal for me to wish," Shaak's sighed.

Later that day Shaak tried to invite the two newcomers to live with her and Ranma in their apartment, she was not at all surprised that Master Grhoto had refused, instead deciding to live in the ship they had come from for now until an ambassadorial suite could be prepared for them in the capital. That was generally in keeping with the Master's attitude so far.

Not that she was at all unhappy about his refusal. The idea of those two joining her and Ranma in their apartment felt sort of wrong to Shaak for some reason, despite the fact that she had routinely shared accommodations with Jedi she didn't know very well both at the Temple and on joint missions at times.

That standoffish attitude continued however. Neither the padawan, who had not been introduced, or Master Grhoto were interested in joining Ranma and Shaak's sparring. And not because of any High Council injunction against anyone else learning from Ranma.

No, they've didn't practice with lightsabers at all save the bare minimum the Order required. When Shaak asked him if they wanted to join, master Grhoto went so far as to say that the use of weapons was a sign of less civilized times, and that the Order as a whole might well do without them if the lightsaber had not become such a symbol of the Jedi.

Shaak smiled as he said it, nodded politely and changed the subject, very deliberately not looking at Ranma who had heard that. Shaak knew she would not have been able to keep a straight face if she had.

Grhoto did however keep her apprised of his ongoing electronic investigation into the off-world tech which the terrorists had used. He had quickly agreed with the local electronics experts that most of the evidence against the Independence League had been faked, and even tracked down the hacker who was responsible for it with their help. Unfortunately the Quarren in question did not have any connection to whoever had supplied the Quarren radicals with their advanced and very expensive weaponry.

In the weeks that followed, Grhoto tracked down several leads on them, all of them ending in dead ends. Whoever was behind this was very good at covering their trail, both electronic and in the real world.

About a month and a half after the two newcomers arrived, Ranma's ship finally finished construction.

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak and Ranma stood in the docking bay staring up at his ship. to Ranma's eyes the finished ship looked like the most badass manta ray in existence, with wings on either side of the main hull sloped backwards and down towards the deck beneath them. They held the two quad lasers on small topside pintle mounts. It's jaw, which was where the cockpit was, thrust forward from the rest of the body while the main engines were of course at the back of the ship and the entrance was under one wing.

It was about the length of four starfighters end to end, and at its widest point, was around the size of twostarfighters set wing to wing, and about a twenty-five feet tall. The body was slightly built up where the wings joined it. It was somewhat bulbous here and there, but mostly smooth, alien looking yet altogether beautiful in both Ranma and Shaak's eyes. "It's a beautiful ship Ranma, I think the paint job needs a bit of work, but the design is fantastic."

"I know!" Ranma said with a grin, nodding her head over to where the Dukat and his crew were watching them, all of them smiling proudly at their handiwork. Working on a one-off design like this, even if they had begun with the designs of two other ships and simply merged the two in many ways, was a joy to them: the highest art form their profession allowed for.

As the two walked around it, Ranma pointed out the panels which would move aside to reveal the main weapons of the ship which he'd mentioned a time or two to her obliquely. It was only sinking into Shaak's mind that the ship was going to be quite well-armed for its size. _Two proton torpedo launchers along with an Ion cannon, good grief. I'm glad they're hidden, that would make nearly any Core World deny us entry, unless of course they simply tried to arrest us and commandeer it for themselves._

In the interior, the entrance way alighted directly into the main sitting area of the ship. It was much smaller than on a _Consular_ class, but included a sofa along one side, and a holographic projector which, liking the _Consular_ class could be raised out of the floor or put back down. It was large enough for a spar, but not by much, and it would certainly limits their ability to move around.

Shaak cocked an eyebrow at Ranma shrugged. "We had to take the space from somewhere. Most of the interior cargo capacity went to the extra power generators. The rest will be for food, a kitchen which is down that way," he said gesturing towards the aft end of the ship, "and a very small laundry room. Oh, plus of course the ammunition for the torpedo launchers up front."

The two went in that direction, and Shaak nodded. The kitchen was small but it was well stocked with appliances, and utensils apparently as she opened a few of the drawers, which would of course be locked during maneuvers. But the sitting room would obviously also be the ship's dining area too, since there was no room to eat in the kitchen. The engine room was equally small, but the engine itself was a powerful one.

The cockpit was big enough for Tune, who was set in the center of it at the moment, warbling happily to himself, and two pilot chairs. There was no room for anyone to stand once you entered the cockpit and closed the hatch. The two bedrooms were smaller than those of their current apartment, something which part of Shaak regretted. She shook that a thought off however. _I am a Jedi, material things and comfort are immaterial._

The two rooms were directly down from the cockpit. About six feet by ten feet each room was set into one of the wings of the ship, and diagonal in shape. The beds took up much of the room, something Shaak could not in good conscience object to. There was a small overhead compartment above the bed and an equally small cabinet on the other wall.

"I think this ship needs some plants life," Shaak said thoughtfully, gesturing to the point of the diagonal behind the bed of the room they were currently in. "A small tree of some kind perhaps and maybe some plants in the main sitting room?"

"Well considering you're going to be living on this ship so long as your assigned to be my 'apprentice', I don't have a problem with you putting your own personal stamp on things," Ranma said with a shrug. "Go nuts."

The two of them fell silent for a moment as they continued their survey of the ship. While they wouldn't voice it neither liked the idea of Shaak being reassigned. Ranma was beginning to realize the reason why he didn't like it, while Shaak was still somewhat ignorant of what she was beginning to feel. All she knew was that she did not like the idea of leaving Ranma's side, and not simply because he needed a minder either.

Next to one room in the same wing was a very small walking closet that had been converted into a bathroom. A sonic shower of course, water on board ships was far too precious to waste on a water shower. A small area for toiletries was also crammed into the room. The shower itself however was of a decent enough size that you wouldn't feel cramped within it.

All in all Shaak was both impressed. "I like it Ranma I like it a lot frankly," she said as the two of them exited the ship. "What are you going to call it?"

"The _Wild Light_." Ranma supplied, pulling at his pigtail self-consciously. "Er, I figured it was appropriate."

She moved over to the locals, informing them that she greatly approved of the ship her 'padawan' had commissioned for the two of them, shaking hands all around, and being effusive with her praise in a way that most Jedi would not have been. It got a reaction and the spines of the Mon Calamari all straightened with pride even more so than they had already.

Shaak and Ranma spent the rest of the day shuttling their gear up to _Wild Light_ , the heaviest of which was the Hypercom transceiver and the lightsaber workstation. Ranma hadn't begun working with that just yet, but he had already finalized the designs he was going to follow once he did.

Once their gear was stowed away Tune piloted the ship out into space, and the two of them began to put the _Wild Light_ through its paces, finding the ship responsive and fast in maneuvering. Not as fast as a fighter would be in a straight line, but much faster than its size would indicate to most, and very responsive in its ability to turn.

It was a thrill to pilot for both of them and Shaak smiled proudly as Ranma put the ship through its paces. He wasn't quite up to the level where she'd trust him in a dogfight, but he was getting there.

This went on for several hours, before they went back to the dock and put in for the evening. After that, Ranma quickly put the Hypercom transceiver together in the main sitting area, where it thankfully was able to fit into the small compartment with the holograph projector and thus be stowed away at need.

"Should we call them now or tomorrow do you think?" Ranma asked looking over at Shaak.

Shaak frowned shaking her head. "I would like to put it off, we've had a full day already, however I don't think we should." The fact that she had even thought about doing so bothered her a little, but Ranma simply nodded, and quickly typed in a few buttons.

The Hypercom signal went out, piggy-backing out of the signal from Dac out into the intergalactic relay system, heading towards Coruscant. But even instantaneous transmission like this wasn't so instantaneous over that large a distance, and it was several moments before the call actually connected. It was responded to promptly however, and the faces of Mace Windu and Oppo Ranicisis appeared.

Shaak nodded her head formally up to the masters. "Master Windu, Master Ranicisis. We were told to call you only when our ship was finished, and we had a secure position for this Hypercom piggyback system. I hope that the wait has not been overlong."

If either Master had noticed the words 'our ship' neither gave any sign. "Not for the original reason we wished you to contact us, no. Master Yoda would still like to see both of you on Kashykk, but something else has come up." Ranicisis stated.

The two Masters exchanged a glance and looked at Shaak for a moment before Mace spoke. "Jedi Shaak Ti, padawan Aayla Secura is overdue reporting in on her mission."

Shaak didn't stiffen, her self-control was up to the task of keeping all of her emotions in check despite being around Ranma for so long. But inside a coil of cold dread began to grow. "I was never informed what mission she was on Master, is this late report of great concern?"

"Neither was the High Council for too long." Master Windu said his voice noticeably grim even through the Hypercom link. "She was sent on a mission by Master Cic'kan, though someone on the high Council must have signed off on it as well."

That caused the Shaak's worry to grow exponentially. Master Cic'kan was a Xerexian. His species was completely asexual, reproducing via eggs in crèches that the males germinated. They didn't even understand the terms for male and female and even after so long interacting with other species the idea that males and females were different were hard to grasp for them.

Worse on top of that built-in blind-spot Cic'kan was not very worldly. He had come up through the Jedi through his work with the Library and then joined the personnel division when his organizational skills were recognized. Shaak had dealt with him a time or two when she was a padawan, and found him to be analytical but rather cold in a way.

Ranma took one sideways look at Shaak's expression (or non-expression in this case) and leaned forward. "I take it there's been a problem here." he said coldly. "I remember wondering about what kind of mission a Twi'lek woman would be uniquely suited for. But I satisfied myself by thinking that most of the Jedi Masters I've interacted with would never be so damn stupid as to send a young girl on the type of mission I was thinking of."

Both Masters closed their eyes in pain at that pointed attack, though it was Windu who responded. "I wish that your trust in that was not in vain Ranma. Needless to say Master Cic'kan has been removed from the Council of Reassignment. He will never be in charge of personnel again, nor will he ever be allowed to take another padawan. And we are looking at his first padawan closely at the moment."

"Unfortunately Knight Vos learned of this event before we did, and we have been forced to place him under custody for attacking Cic'kan and two other members of the Council of Reassignment." Mace shook his head. "If not for Master Bulq being nearby Knight Vos might well have lost himself to his rage entirely, but his emotional turmoil is such we need to keep him under observation."

"Despite her master's indisposition, Padawan Secura needs extraction," said Master Oppo Ranicisis forcefully, glaring through the receiver as if he was still glaring at Master Cic'kan. "She was as Ranma and you Shaak have no doubt suspected sent on an undercover mission to follow a slave ring back to its point of origin. That point of origin seemed to be within Republic space, but we could not pin down where." He shook his head. "On the surface it was a good idea, but the cost what Aayla might be going through is too high a price for any information she could gain from it."

Windu took up the tale then. "We know she is very good at the use of mental abilities, that she can turn people's attention away from her and even use Force Stealth, but…" Shaak and Ranma both nodded resolutely and he went on. "The Jedi Order will not abandon a Jedi, not while I am Master of the Order. We want Aayla rescued, however that may be accomplished."

"However that may be accomplished?" Ranma asked before Shaak could get the words out. "So you're asking us to break her out however we can? Collateral damage doesn't matter, I want ta be clear on this?"

"I will shed no tears for anyone in a position to have slaves on Tatooine. That is where you need to go now. I would like you to get her out subtly if you can, but if you can't so long as it cannot be traced back to the Order I'm fine with whatever you do."

Ranma nodded, cracking his knuckles as he got to his feet while Shaak Ti did the same beside him. "Then we better get going shouldn't we?"

End Chapter

* * *

And there you have chapter five ladies and gentlemen. The next chapter, we dive into the events of PM, heh, and the lack of combat in this and the last chapter will be redressed (thank the Force, no more philosophy -_-;). This is also the only chapter which will not be based off canon plot pieces, the Quarren did of course want independence, but the rest of this chapter's actions came all from my own head. Even between the events of PM and the start of the Clone Wars (not certain fi that name will change, but we'll see) I will have Ranma and Shaak, and whoever else joins up with them, will be dealing with canon plot problems/issues.

Now, for two slightly more serious questions than the question I asked at the end of Game Changer about killing off Kuno. I actually wasn't serious about that guys, love the responses, but I just had to vent and know I wasn't alone in my pain with his damn accent.

Anyway, on to the serious questions: First, is Anakin redeemable? Whenever I come to this question, I remember he personally executed younglings and was willing to do so to protect his wife, and I can't remain objective about it. I think his main fall from grace is his relationship with Padme, and unfortunately I don't think that the Order will allow relationships openly for a while. I also feel he makes too good a villain, his slide into the Dark Side too interesting, to just get rid of it.

Second: Should this be a Ranma/Multi story? I am getting into the Shaak/Ranma dynamic, and I just have to wonder if a second girl should be introduced. Any thoughts on this and who would be a good addition would be helpful. Though I will say upfront if I do go this route it won't be without conflict, like in most of my other stories.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Star Wars or Ranma 1/2. Curse it.

 **WOW!** The response to the last chapter and my questions going forward were **amazing**. I normally take a few days off after posting a chapter, mainly to look for similar works to renew my muse, or to do other things. But this time, the response was so great I didn't have to, just reading the reviews and PMs about it was enough to keep me going.

There were a lot of good points raised about Anakin and the Multi pairing question. I will say now that the Anakin who became Darth Vader in canon is not going to be the Anakin who grows up in this story. I will also say that I have no intention of Ranma training him. I will not throw out the idea of him falling or not just yet however. We will see what happens going forward, but the idea of trying to shoehorn several of the events from canon that led to his fall just would not work.

And lets face it, a major problem with the prequels is that everyone knew going in what would happen in the end, I'm not going to spoil it for my readers like that. Seriously, if Lucas had made a 'What if' movie, how monstrously better than the prequels would it have been?

About the idea of turning this into a Multi pairing: that is what I meant, not a harem. For those of you who want lots of ladies added no, just no. Not only would that not work in this setting, but I agree with the reviewers who pointed out that Ranma is coming out of a harem Bad Ending, and that Shaak and the Order will have issues with only her being with him, let alone more. Nor do I think that harems with more than four girls work without a built in reason to allow them. Does this mean I won't add a girl, or at most two? I have not decided yet. Again there were a **lot** of good points raised about this concept, but I don't want to completely nix the idea because i routinely let the relationships write themselves in my fics. However, I will say that Shaak Ti will have enough problems with the two of them starting a relationship without the added issue of letting another woman in.

And on that note, **warning!** A bit of Shaak Ti emotions-drama in this chapter.

And just to put a bit more info out there: Padme is 14 at this point! And Ahsoka is 3. Anakin is 9. Aayla in canon is 16, but I upped her age by two years - she's a year and a bit younger than Ranma at this point.

This has been beta-ed by **Ultimaflare0** , however I have no doubt there are still strange sentences or redundant statements and the ever-present weird or wrong words. Despite that, I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: Rumble in the Desert

Even though the holograms had cut out, the Hypercom connection continued for a brief moment, sending Knight Ti all the order knew about this debacle and her destination. While their systems were doing so Master Ranicisis and Master Windu were silent each busy with their own thoughts. They were both thinking about this recent fiasco, and how they only had themselves to blame.

They should've seen something like this coming, though to be fair the idea that anyone on the Council of Reassignment let alone the High Council would have signed off on a mission like this was anathema to both of them. _Who was it,_ Mace thought his emotions calm but very cold. Sacrificing fellow members of the Order for simple information no matter how important was not something he could condone.

 _It would be different if we were at war and the information of vital importance, but for information about something like this? While I do not think a Jedi's life is any more important than anyone else's, it is still both wasteful and ugly to send a padawan of such promise into something like this. Even if Shaak Ti and young Ranma are able to rescue her, who knows how long it will take for her to overcome the memories of the ordeal. I hope that…_

Before Mace could complete that thought Ranicisis' calm voice broke into his musing. "You do realize you gave Ranma carte blanche to do anything he wanted correct? I might not know him as well as Master Dooku, but I believe that is something like the equivalent of giving a child the key to a starship and expecting him not to crash it." The older master's tone wasn't confrontational, simply quizzical however.

"I know that, I also know that the Hutts have begun to encroach on Republic space out there. The Trade Federation might be able to stop normal pirates, but they are the only party in that area of space that could stand up against the Hutts, and so long as the Hutts and their pawns steer clear of their holdings and ships, they won't."

Mace held up a reader, handing it over to Ranicisis. "That is two years of reports from the Ryloth Sector Jedi both before and after Master S'raa T'saa took over. The slave trade is increasing its depredations on them, and there've been some **ugly** incidents, despite the Rylothi senator not seeming to notice."

Mace frowned, his mind going down on a tangent for a moment as he wondered once again what happened to Anoon Bondarra and his padawan. The man had been reckoned a decent blade, not up to his, Bulq, or Dooku's level but close, and he had been killed without anyone seeing how it had happened or leaving any clues behind as to his killer. His padawan too had died, her body missing entirely.

"I see." Ranicisis said thoughtfully, closing his eyes for a moment. "You mean that was deliberate then?"

"If he and Jedi Shaak are unable to rescue Aayla in any other fashion, I can only hope they do enough damage to send a message to the Hutts that will warn them the Jedi are on the watch for their depredations." Mace said serenely.

"A show of force to dissuade further incursions." Ranicisis murmured, showing no surprise of the idea having already leaped to that conclusion. "Let's hope it works. And that there are not many innocent lives lost in the doing."

Mace nodded seriously, and the two both closed their eyes for a moment meditating before the next meeting with the rest of the Council. They needed to decide on the punishment to be handed out to Master Cic'kan and any other Master involved in this mistake. It would be a hotly debated topic however, not because anyone wanted to argue that Cic'kan had been within his power to send Aayla on this mission, but because of his years of unblemished service at the post and the fact many masters truly were worried about how close Aayla and Quinlan were.

And Windu would also be pushing to find out who among them signed off on the mission in the first place. Cic'kan wasn't the only one at fault on this issue after all. His own recent error in judgment, bringing padawans and too few dedicated Guardians to deal with the Yinchorri Uprising made Mace's desire to see this issue corrected even stronger.

Nor was this issue the only one facing the council today. There was another crisis brewing between the planet Outer Rim planet Naboo and the Trade Federation which demanded their attention and Master Qui Gon and his padawan should be arriving on the scene there soon.

 **OOOOOOO**

On the other side of that Hypercom link, both Ranma and Shaak had quickly moved into action. Shaak had moved to the cockpit to access the hyper-net, accessing the, pulling all the information she could on Tatooine into the ship system to go over later. The environment, the species they might meet there, anything, as well as making certain they had received a copy of Aayla's mission profile.

With that done, she quickly left the _Wild Light_. She made her way to the nearest dock-side hospital to consult with the doctors there about what kind of detoxification drugs she should take. The Mon Calamari might have different taste buds, but their digestive systems were near-human, which meant a close enough match to a Twi'lek's to be useful, even if he would have to double the normal dosage for her friend.

Even while Shaak was doing that she was also dealing with the downside of having become more emotionally open over the last four months. Fear for her friend, as well as anger that Aayla was put into this position in the first place roiled within her. The difficulty she had controlling those emotions, especially with the backlash effect from the Force all around her made Shaak think that maybe the Order had a point about abstaining from all emotions for the first time in months.

 _But that's wrong,_ Shaak thought, with difficulty it must be admitted, as she walked back to the ship towing a small grav sled behind her loaded with medical supplies. _That isn't facing the problem, that's avoiding it. Ranma is right about that, I must control this!_

As if summoned by that thought she heard Ranma's voice from behind her. Turning Shaak saw Ranma, again in his female form, coming up behind her. She too was leading a grav sled, loaded with what looked like food supplies and other things in unmarked boxes. Shaak's eyes narrowed however, knowing that Ranma had been gone for too long just to get the food supplies from their apartment. "Where were you?" she asked sharply.

Ranma stopped about a foot away, her eyes narrowing slightly. Then they widened as Ranma realized what was going on. "Easy Shaak," she said, reaching forward to grab Shaak's hand and squeezing it. "Meditate on the Force within you, not the Unifying Force, control your connection. Don't let your anger control you, control it instead."

Shaak closed her eyes for a moment, centering herself and almost immediately upon connecting to her own Living Force felt a difference. The backlash effect from the Unifying Force diminished, and her self-control regained its equilibrium quickly. She squeezed Ranma's hand back, smiling faintly. "Thank you Ranma, I had regressed a bit there I'm afraid."

Ranma shrugged her shoulders, bumping her shoulder against Shaak's as the two women moved back to the _Wild Light_ still holding hands, something that garnered them a few odd looks from passing Mon Calamari who recognized them. "You're trying to change the training of a lifetime Shaak, you're bound to have a few slipups, especially at times like this."

"Doesn't make me feel any better but thank you anyway," Shaak said ruefully. "But really, what were you up to?"

"Several things, one, these aren't actually foodstuffs, we've already loaded those. These are droid parts, a droid body and a repair kit."

"For that head you found?"

Ranma nodded. "I figure we'll need to concentrate on this mission and getting ready for it, so we won't be doing a lot of sparring. I might as well use my free time constructively. Besides, there's always been something about that head that bothers me. The amount of combat that thing saw..." He shook his head.

Once again Shaak was struck by the thought that if Ranma was a Jedi that kind of intuition would be the Force telling him something. _I wonder, Ranma might not believe in using the Unifying Force, but does that mean the Unifying Force doesn't believe in using Ranma?_

Something else however helped push that thought aside. Ranma was looking a little shifty. "And what else?" She asked warily. "Specifically, have you done anything that will cause me over-lengthy paperwork, or stop us from leaving as soon as possible?"

"Nope." Ranma said with a laugh. "Nothing like that, just getting more supplies, just in case, y'know."

 **Flashback:**

Chief of police Ychrag looked up as padawan Ranma was ushered into his office. Like many others he had often been surprised over the past few months by how un-Jedi like Ranma was, but Knight Ti and Knight Fisto seemed to condone her personality, so he was willing to assume they had a reason for it. Not that the redheaded human wasn't fun, or intelligent just not really what he had expected from a Jedi. "Your message said it was something important padawan, how may we help you?"

Ranma nodded her head, her face composed but serious, no hint of the normal amusement he felt being addressed as such showing. Rather, he simply rolled with it. "My Master and I have been sent on a rescue mission. Specifically we are being sent to rescue an undercover Jedi posing as a member of a slave ring. My Master and I believe it might be two birds with one stone time, but of course we would need a large enough stone…"

The Mon Calamari were a free people, they venerated freedom of thought and mind, and, more importantly to them, expression. Slavery was anathema to their society. Indeed, the fact the Republic tacitly allowed slavery to continue was a major point against it in their eyes, along with the Jedi Order itself.

This however sounded like a step in the right direction to Ynchrag, especially with the evil little smile that Ranma was sporting right now. "Tell me, how would you like us to help? It would have to be hidden among the reefs of course."

"Of course." Ranma said. "And we don't need personnel or anything of that nature, just some… hardware."

"Hardware such as untraceable military hardware? The kind, say, that a terrorist organization which had recently been shut down might've used?"

"We understand each other." Ranma said with a grin.

The police commissioner surprised himself with a barking laugh that had little to no actual humor in it. "I believe we do, and I think we can accommodate you."

 **End flashback**

"So I now have several SAWs, about two hundred rifles, several dozen thermal detonators, and even some handguns stuffed into my ki space right now. It's getting kinda cluttered in there actually."

By the time Ranma finished his tale the two of them were back aboard the _Wild Light_ stowing their gear. Putting the last of the medical supplies away in the small cargo hold, Shaak shook her head. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you're planning with all that, but it's appallingly obvious anyway."

Ranma shrugged, watching her carefully. That first moment had shown yet again that the emotional backlash effect between the Jedi and the Unifying Force was pretty bad. Shaak was in no way close to lashing out, but she was so normally in-control of herself, a beacon of serenity and good humor, that moment had been especially jarring.

So Ranma kept her voice deliberately light as she replied. "I figured 'be prepared' is always good advice right?"

"We're just there to rescue Aayla." Shaak cautioned, despite her own desire to do something about slavery. "I haven't been to Tatooine, I have no idea about the conditions there. Leading a slave rebellion sounds like a good idea, but will conditions allow for it to work? And what about after? Still, I suppose being prepared to arm said rebellion might prove efficacious."

"Ow, you said a big word!" Ranma said holding her head as if it hurt before heading over to the kitchen, taking a small amount of water hot water and splashing it on herself to change back into his male form. The feeling of that change washed over Shaak and blew the last bits of her fear, anger and uncertainty away.

What was left was diamond hard resolve, and she nodded resolutely to herself. _Hang on Aayla, were going to get you out. And then,_ she thought, her fingers twitching a little. _Then I think I am going to go back to Coruscant, look up Master Cic'kan_ _and carve out his eyeballs._

Just then Ranma came back in his male form. Looking at her closely he breathed a mental sigh of relief. Somehow however Shaak caught that, and she nodded her head at him. "It would appear that I need to work on my self-control even more than I had expected."

"If you can keep the backlash effect from affecting your emotions and can vent when you need it, I don't think you'll have that much of an issue. Take this episode as a warning and move on." Ranma said, sounding a little wiser than he normally did before gesturing up towards the cockpit. "Ready to go?"

Shaak nodded firmly then followed him, a rush of affection going through her as she did so. _Thank you Ranma,_ she thought, knowing she didn't have to say it aloud and delighting in that knowledge. Moments later _Wild Light_ exited from its hangar Bay, moving out from the dockyards of Dac and out into space. About twenty minutes later they exited the gravity well of the planet, and entered hyperspace.

"I have calculated our trip to Tatooine Master," said a voice from the control board. Tune had been busy since Ranma and Shaak had left, emplacing the speakers that would allow him to actually communicate with words with his Master for the first time.

Ranma and Shaak both jumped a little, not having realized that, and Ranma looked between Tune's body, which was set into a small indent in the ground between the two pilot's seats, and the microphone for a moment before smirking. "That was a great idea Tune, bet it'll come in handy whenever we run into trouble too. You were saying something about our route?"

"Yes Master. The fastest way to get to Tatooine is to enter the Trillius Trade Route via the Overic Trade route, then take the offshoot called, rather unimaginatively, the 5709 DC shipping Lane, which links Tatooine to the Trillius Trade Route."

"Agreed," Shaak said with a nod. "I don't have your ability to calculate hyper coordinates of course Tune, but that makes sense. Though why did your voice change when you answered us?" Tune's initial voice had been a smooth tenor, the second a baritone, both male but distinctly different.

"I am uncertain how I wish to sound now that I have a voice mistress." Tune replied, causing Shaak to start for a moment. The droid belonged to Ranma, not her after all. There was no reason for Tune to call her mistress, and she had never gotten the impression that Tune secretly wished to be a protocol droid.

However she filed that away for now as unimportant. "Your estimated travel time?"

"Four and a half days, mistress. I might be able to cut off a little over a day, and the trade routes will take us the majority of the way within two of those days, but getting to the Overic Trade Route first will take time. The last leg should only take a few hours."

Ranma whistled a little, looking at the map Tune had helpfully put up on the main screen. "Those hyperspace trade routes are **that** fast?"

"They are, and knowledge of their locations out here in the Outer Rim is what gives the Trade Federation its monopoly on trade in most of the sectors out here. Luckily the Order has some very good maps of its own, something which has made the Trade Federation angry a time or two."

Ranma nodded, trying to bring to mind what he knew about the Trade Federation, which wasn't a lot. He hadn't really studied the movers and shakers in the Republic outside of making certain that none of them backed slavery or seemed to be openly opposed to the Jedi. The Trade Federation didn't seem to openly be the Jedi's enemies but they did clash politically a lot, which hadn't been enough to grab Ranma's interest. Though there had been a blurb about some kind of war starting with a disaster for the Jedi because of the Trade Federation's use of droids as security guards, but that was all he knew about them.

A few hours later they came out of the first jump along their journey, re-orientated themselves, and then re-entered hyperspace, where they would stay for more than a day before the next route change. The two flesh and blood sentients left Tune to his work, heading to bed. Shaak wanted a good night's sleep and more importantly more meditation time before she began to go over the information she had compiled. Ranma agreed and understood, not even questioning her about it, something that made Shaak smile yet again.

Early the next ship-day the two of them sat on the sofa, their legs nearly touching as they both leaned against the sides of the sofa to look at one another. In front of them the small table which served as holographic screen and shared its sconce with the Hypercom relay was strewn with the remains of their breakfast and several data-slates.

Ranma noticed how close they were sitting like this but tried not to let his pleasure of it show. He enjoyed their closeness when they were like this, it was something he'd never had with anyone before. Not just being so close to someone physically, but the sense of openness and trust that went with it.

Shaak too enjoyed it, not realizing how far she had come from her normal Jedi upbringing to this moment yet. But they both had other things to concentrate on right now. She smiled slightly as Ranma turned his head to stare up the short corridor to the cockpit, yelling. "Tune, can you hear us?"

To their surprise the droid's voice came a small speaker set in the ceiling above them. "I can Master, there's no need to shout. This unit can act both as audio transceiver and receiver."

Ranma looked up at the speakerbrows quirking in surprise. "How the heck did you install that one?"

"I installed it last night Master when the two of you were in bed. It was rather tricky install on the ceiling, but my magnetized rollers were up to holding my weight."

"Huh, good work." Ranma replied before turning to Shaak. "Time for the serious discussion?"

Shaak nodded, her purple lips twitching for a moment before settling into a thin line. "First I suppose you should know more about Aayla and about her Master, what she looks like, and what I know of her skill set."

"I remember him, Quin-something right? His self-control did not impress me, but this whole episode is frankly pathetic from my point of view. I think I'm going to have to find this MasterCic'kan, and rearrange his features a bit."

"Get in line." Shaak growled, feeling the same anger she had felt the day before at the instigator of this crisis, but she controlled it easily this time. The hours spent meditating last night had helped a lot.

Ranma watched her closely. Unlike the day before however this brief surge of anger, or rather righteous indignation fueled by worry, did not cause a backlash from the Force around Shaak. _Good girl_ Ranma thought with admiration. _She's really in control of her emotions now_.

He wasn't certain Shaak would be able to keep it up though. This mission would be a test of her self-control beyond anything she had previously faced, especially with her emotional barriers having come down so far as they had thanks to their discussions. Still, Ranma had feared at one point she wouldn't even get to this point, and was filled with admiration for her for having done so.

Shaak didn't follow any of his thoughts the moment, staring down at a data slate as she pulled up a picture of a somewhat old looking human male with close-cropped gray hair. "This is Master Tholme, he is one of the best Jedi Masters the order has when dealing with the criminal underworld and espionage of that nature. Quinlan has quite a bit of background in that area as well, and Aayla was being groomed to follow in their footsteps."

"I take it that impacted their specialties? Windu said something about that." Ranma asked, his mind shifting onto the problem before them quickly.

"Indeed. They're extremely good at Alter Mind techniques, specifically anything designed to hide their presence, confuse the minds of anyone looking for them or turning them aside, even camouflage. You thought my Stealth was something? Master Tholme's version is leaps ahead of that."

"But a slave couldn't just up and disappear like that, and that kind of thing wouldn't work with security cameras would it?"

"It would to a certain extent," Shaak replied prevaricating. "The video recorder would still see something of course, unless you're talking about Master Tholme and his own version which would obscure even his physical presence. And even Aayla would be able to reach through the cameras to anyone on the other side and redirect their attention. Still you're right about a slave not being able to disappear like that."

She tapped the date slate's screen for a moment, then held it up again, showing a different image. This time it was of a young woman of Twi'lek descent, Ranma thought she might be around his own age. She had blue skin, a small, almost challenging smile on her face, dark brown eyes and a very pretty face. "This is Aayla, and trust me, the rest of her is just as pretty as her face is. I don't have to tell you what that means to a slave."

While Ranma nodded, his lips set in a thin line, Shaak went on. "Worse as a Rutian, that is blue-skinned Twi'lek, Aayla will no doubt be put on display in various ways, most likely dancing or otherwise **entertaining** whoever 'owns' her in order for that individual to show off his wealth and power. Rutians are rare among the Twi'lek, and always coveted by slavers."

She scowled worriedly. "Aayla would probably have been forced to rely on her other mental tricks, turning people's attention away from her to someone nearby or changing the type of attention she receives, so her watchers like to only watch rather than desire to touch. But that kind of technique is mentally consuming, I am uncertain how long Aayla could keep that up, especially if she was called on to use it for hours on end."

"But worse, that wouldn't work on any species that is immune to the Force. The Hutts, two of which control Tatooine, cannot be influenced through the Force, and there are a few other species like that as well."

"I didn't know that." Ranma murmured. "That makes this whole debacle look even more of a crapshoot than it already was."

Leaving the idea of what Aayla might be enduring to one side Ranma focused on the mission Aayla had been assigned. "Any more information about her mission? Do you think it likely that her being a Jedi was found out?"

"I don't think so. As I said, there are few even among criminals who know specific Jedi by sight. And Aayla hasn't done anything yet to be thrust into the limelight." Shaak murmured, now reading from another data slate. "It says here that she was able to keep up routine checkups with the Order until a few days ago."

"How did she get messages out?"

"She was sending them via a merchant who the Hutts routinely used to bring in delicacies. According to his he's apparently been passing on information to the Order for a few years now, a trustworthy man so long as you're paying him and don't ask him to do anything personally dangerous."

Before Ranma could ask she went on. "And no, transporting messages like that wasn't dangerous. He'd simply drop them off at the nearest planet with a Hypercom transceiver and send them through the hyperspace link with some routine inquiries to an investor."

"So there was no one close enough to pull Aayla out if she got in trouble? On the one hand, that sounds like somewhat decent espionage work, but on the other hand…"

"It was the merchant who sent word that he hadn't picked up her scheduled message. That's actually quite a bit braver than I would've expected from the man given his profile." Shaak murmured. Then she shook her head, looking up at Ranma. "But you're right, her backup should've been Knight Vos if she was sent on this mission at all, or even better Master Tholme. It says here the initial push for this mission came from him."

"Wait!" Ranma said, reaching forward to take the reader from Shaak. "Are you saying Master Tholme signed off on using Aayla for this?"

"No!" Shaak said sharply, pushing his hand away and continuing to read aloud. "No, it says here he wanted to employ a few spies among the Twi'lek race to do the same thing, but the Council of reassignment decided to use this mission to separate Aayla and Quinlan. There have apparently been rumors hinting that their relationship was…" she stopped reading, gagging a little. "Was not that of Master and padawan, but of lovers."

Ranma quirked an eyebrow. "Why is that so troubling to you? Other than you know the abuse of power thing."

"It is a **monstrous** abuse of power!" Shaak's exclaimed, shaking her head. "It's also ridiculous! I'll be the first to say that Aayla is beautiful, but she's only 18, Quinlan is 27. But it's the abuse of power that bothers me, and the fact that someone thought that in the first place. But worse is to not only separate them, but to do so by throwing Aayla to the wolves like this!"

"I don't know Mace or Ranicisis as well as I know Dooku," Ranma mused. "Are they liable to react negatively in the extreme to something like this?"

"I don't know, but I think the main issue will be that someone on the High Council had to sign off on using a padawan like this. Any mission involving a padawan, especially **just** involving a padawan, is something a member of the High Council would have to sign off on."

The two of them were silent for a moment, both of them staring at one another then down at the data pad in Shaak's hands, both of them Imagining what they would do if Cic'kanwere therefor a moment. Then Shaak shook her head. "But the reasoning behind the mission doesn't matter. What does is that Aayla went silent four days before your ship finished its construction in the city of Mos Espa. I think that was an excellent bit of timing for us, thank the Force!"

Ranma nodded, though internally he was wondering who Mace would've sent in if Shaak and he were not available for this. Still, he too concentrated on the here and now. "What'll we be facing here?"

"There are two main Hutt cartels that make their home on Tatooine. Out in the Outer Rim like this, they are the law, even if Tatooine isn't technically in Hutt-space. They are both extremely rich and there also doesn't seem to be any conflict between the two more's the pity."

"You were thinking of trying to figure out a way to set them against one another? Not a bad idea, but it might take too long for us to set up if we're really worried about what might be happening to Aayla."

"True. And on that note Ranma," said Shaak looking at him sternly. "My priority is Aayla. I love the idea of fighting against slavery, even by arming them like you think we might have to. But I won't okay any plans until we're certain of Aayla's location, and have a plan to get her out before any outbreak of violence."

She waited until Ranma nodded, which he did rapidly, easily understanding her priorities. "And even if we did try to create some kind of uprising, what happened after we leave? The planet is too far away for the Republic to care about, the Jedi don't have a military force that they could leave in place. Nor do we even know how many slaves there are there in comparison to mercenaries or free people. What I'm saying is we can't go in guns blazing, understand?"

"I wasn't about to." At Shaak's disbelieving expression he laughed. "Oh my first inclination was to park the _Wild Light_ over the Hutts' bases and demand they free the slaves at gunpoint. But even I'm not that naïve. I don't have all the answers, but the slaves there deserve to have a shot at freedom don't they?" Ranma asked.

Shaak nodded, but her voice was soft as she went on. "Ranma, a lot of those slaves may have been born into it, they might not have any wills of their own, or any ability to strike out. I don't want to shoot down the idea entirely, and I would love to do something about them, but not if it gets many of them killed in the process."

Ranma nodded, turning sideways and reaching over to pull her into a sideways hug, squeezing her shoulders. "I understand, and I know you're really worried about Aayla. But if we can swing it, this may be a good starting point to that whole war on slavery thing we've talked about. Just keep an open mind about it okay?"

Shaak nodded, blushing slightly at the hug. She'd gotten used to being somewhat more… tactile… with Ranma than Jedi were supposed to be with even their closest friends, but this was something different. This was an actual **hug** , and for some reason despite the conversation it sent a feeling through her that she couldn't quite describe. She had never felt anything quite like it before which worried her.

She gently pushed Ranma away, and pulled up another data pad handing it over. "Here, this is what the Mon Calamari could tell us, I have what the order knows, let's see how much we can verify about what we might be facing"

Wordlessly Ranma looked down at the data pad quickly flushing slightly at having actually instigated a hug with a woman. _And nothing went wrong, Wahoo!_

The first thing that struck out at him from the information however took his mind off that idea, as well as the emotions behind the hug in the first place. "So there's no real over-watch? The spaceport has a few turbolasers according to this, but nothing major. There doesn't seem to be radar either."

"True," Shaak said holding up the data pad from the order. "The order reports the same thing so I suppose we can take that as a given. However we have to assume that the Hutts watch the coming and going of the landing pads in Mos Espa itself closely."

"We'll land somewhere out in the desert, duh. No way they can watch the entire desert." Ranma said with a shake of his head. "With the training you've been going through, you and I could cover a full day's journey in a few hours, even in the heat of the desert. It says here the desert near Mos Espa doesn't have any predators. But something about raiders? The Mon Calamari don't know much about them."

"Tusken Raiders yes, the Order knows quite a bit more. The Raiders believe Tatooine belongs to them, and are violently xenophobic. Their tech however isn't much. If Tune is on guard I don't think they'll be able to get into the _Wild Light_ , and they certainly don't have anything heavy enough to damage its outer hull."

"There's a note here in the Mon Calamari section," Ranma said suddenly, holding it out to Shaak. "A mention of a Trandoshan Mercenary company heading through their space towards Tatooine?

"Interesting," Shaak murmured, reading from his pad for a moment before turning back to her own. "That could be a problem. As could some of the more pertinent information here. Specifically, how all the slaves are kept under control…"

Ranma frowned, leaning back. "I'm not gonna like this am I?"

"I don't like it so I don't think you will either." Shaak replied tartly. "Slave collars, but not just slave collars as in they can be chained up with them, these slave collars have shock systems built into them, as well as explosives which can be activated by their masters."

You're right, I didn't like it." Ranma winced. "And let me guess, they're also rigged to explode if anyone tampers with them? I could probably survive something like that, you couldn't, not yet. I could even try to remove it from the slave depending on how quickly the explosive goes off after you start tamperin' with it, and if tampering implies ripping it in half. But I wouldn't want to bet anyone else's life on that kind of thing."

Shaak nodded, patting his knee for a moment before pulling away. "Even the greatest of physical abilities cannot always every problem Ranma, don't let it bother you. Anyway, It says here that the master would have a controller which not only controls those functions, but also has some sort of range limiter. If the slaves go past a certain distance away from the Master, 'boom'."

She paused as she heard Ranma's teeth audibly grinding, reaching out again to his knee. She gently squeezed it for a moment, and eventually the touch got through to him, and he patted her hand at which point she pulled away. "Sorry, just the idea of being collared like that…"

Ranma shook his head. "I thought maybe I could go undercover in my female form, but if someone tried to put something like that on me, even if it didn't have anything like that activated, I'd go ape shit. Too many nightmares, too many fears there."

"I'm afraid I probably would go crazy too." Shaak said, neither of them wishing to discuss those specific fears aloud again.

Leaning back against the side of the sofa Ranma scowled, then an idea occurred to him and he clicked his fingers together. "Tune what do you think about these collars?"

"If you are asking me if I could take one apart or build one Master, I could possibly build one, but taking one already activated apart would be beyond me. I could possibly create a one-off scrambler to block a specific control signal to a single collar, but most of these collars will undoubtedly have some kind of safety feature against that kind of thing. Interrupt the signal long enough and they might go off."

"What about an EMP?" Ranma asked intently.

"EMP?" Shaak asked cocking her head. This move brought attention to her tentacles for the first time in the conversation, and she watched with a faint smile as Ranma noted their movement, before concentrating on her eyes. _I wonder if he still wonders about how my lekku feel to the touch. After this mission I might… s_ he cut that off abruptly, shaking her head. _What_ _am I thinking about? I'm a Jedi, I cannot be_ _ **that**_ _close to someone, not even Ranma._

Her attention focused back on Ranma however when he began to explain. "Electro-magnetic pulse. It's sort of like what the ion cannon is supposed to do. My planet had these weapons called nukes,"

"I know what nuclear energy is Ranma and I know what the effect of an ion cannon is, but I've not heard of an EMP pulse, though the effect is similar to some other weapons and tech I have heard of. Tune what do you think?"

"I do not believe we have sufficient resources to create something like that on a large enough scale to take out all of the slave collars in the target area mistress." Tune said after a moment. "I could possibly figure out a way to create a device that could create a similar pulse, but it would be small-scale, and would not go very far or last very long."

"Even worse," the droid continued, his tone changing once again as he continued to play with his voice. This time it was a female voice causing both his listeners to look at one another eyebrows raised, smiles appearing on their faces despite the seriousness of their discussion. "I am afraid that the shorting out would set off the bombs in the collars. Possibly not across the board but in enough cases as to be detrimental."

"So if we go down that route we might need some examples of the collars to experiment on," Ranma mused.

"If we have time, if not we may have to look for more direct means." Shaak said very firmly, though her lips quirked into of smile as Ranma's eyes lit up eagerly.

The discussion continued from there, the two of them going over the species they'd run into on Tatooine, the types of weapons the Hutts cartel's had access to, and any other information they could glean from their information. Eventually Shaak leaned back, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I think we've stared at these data-pads enough for one day." She checked the time and shook her head. "More than long enough. An early dinner then bed I think."

Ranma nodded, standing up and heading over to the kitchen since Shaak had been the one to cook breakfast. The talk during the meal was desultory, neither of them able to either off the topic of their mission or continue it at present. Finally it ended, and after Shaak put the dirty dishes into the washer, they bid each other good night heading to their rooms.

But not before Ranma pulled Shaak into another sideways hug. "We'll get her out okay, whatever happens, so long as she's there, we'll handle it and get Aayla out. Trust me on that, Shaak."

Shaak flushed again, but actually hugged him back. "Thank you Ranma, your, your being here means a lot to me."

Ranma nodded, flushing slightly at the feeling of Shaak returning his hug. He had to fight the sudden urge to see what she'd do if he kissed the top of her head, or her cheek. But he knew this wasn't the time for such things, and he eventually ended the hug, letting his arm fall to his side and turning away.

He didn't notice Shaak staring after him for a moment, before she too turned away, her mind again in turmoil. Laying down in her bed, Shaak stared at the bottom of the small storage compartment set into the bulkhead directly above the bed, frowning intently as her eyes closed.

 _A Jedi should not need such reassurance, should not be so emotional! I realize that control of emotions is more healthy than abstaining from them, but the emotions I sometimes feel when I am around Ranma, they go well beyond simply admitting that. I, I don't know what they are, but…_

 _My worry about Aayla is one thing, as is my anger about it, I can control those, put a name to the emotions I am feeling, their cause, and control them. But, but why do I feel so, so close to Ranma, why did my pulse set to race when he hugged me like that? What is this feeling I have growing within me when I am around him?_

Shaak knew it wasn't near physical attraction. Shaak had felt the attraction other people had for her more than once serving as a bodyguard or while undercover. She had even felt it occasionally when meeting a particularly handsome specimen of her own or of the human species. But the thought had never been more than an artistic appreciation for their forms. This was well beyond that, and it worried her.

 _This, this is attachment at its purest form, this closeness to another person, wishing to be with him, to be close, to, to touch him. By the Force, am I, am I attracted to Ranma? NO! I am a Jedi, I, I cannot allow myself to feel these emotions. They could all too easily cloud my judgement and, if they turn around on me, what would I feel then? What would I feel if Ranma decided he didn't want to be around me any longer, or didn't like me that way and found someone else?_

The first idea caused a frown to appear on her face, despite how hard it was to imagine Ranma saying such a thing. _Even worse the reaction from the rest of the Order would be very bad. I am supposed to learn from Ranma not become, become entangled with him. I, no matter our discussion about the old way, that is not how we Jedi are today, I admit that some of his ideas are correct, and that the Order's current practices are mentally unsound. But that is a far cry from admitting that I can be in a relationship._

 _I need to keep my distance from Ranma from now on. No matter how much I like it, I cannot, I gave an oath, no matter how I feel, or what I want to feel._ Shaak could admit that a part of her was eager to see where this would go, but the majority of her mind simply couldn't make the jump from the philosophical discussions the two of them had enjoyed to actually applying some of it, specifically the attachment concept, to her own life. The emotions were so strange, so new they scared her despite only just realizing they were there. So she fell back on the doctrine that had ruled her life, despite knowing it would be tough for both of them.

Eventually Shaak fell asleep, her dreams troubled but resolved to do what she saw as the right thing despite the pain it would cause both of them.

The next day Ranma noticed that Shaak was keeping a new distance between them. She sat at one end of the sofa placing the data pads and the breakfast, it was her turn to cook again, between them. That **hurt** , but Ranma figured that it was simply a backlash from her emotional moments the day before, and the day before that.

 _Remember what you said to her_ Ranma he said to himself, _she's trying to overcome a lifetime of indoctrination. They might call it training but it's indoctrination, don't forget that. And besides, why should it bother you if she put some distance between you like that. You're still friends. Isn't that all you want? Isn't it?_

"I think we shouldn't make any specific plans until we're on the ground," Shaak said without preamble. "Instead we should probably prepare for all eventualities and go with a very simple initial concept." Ranma nodded and she went on. "I think that I should somehow inveigle myself into one of the cartel's bases, while you check out the lay of the land of the rest of the trade center."

"Why not the other way around?" Ranma asked, cocking his head thoughtfully. "I mean, wouldn't a human male look more normal than a female Togrutan? Or a woman of any species I'd think."

"Throw that idea out right now Ranma," Shaak replied, shaking her head. "While the male to female ratio might not be anywhere near equal among slavers, it's a lot closer than you might think. I have met more than two dozen female space pirates or slavers on various missions, and most of them were worse than the men. They glorified in putting their own gender down, seeing it as proof that they were stronger than normal women, or even enjoying their pain."

"That's disgusting. But you didn't answer my question."

"I'm somewhat decent at acting Ranma, are you?" Ranma frowned, and Shaak went on quickly. "Worse, could you control yourself if you saw a slave being punished, or even ordered about? I know **I'd** have problems with the first, but you?"

"All right you have a point there." Ranma groused. Ranma loved freedom, the ability to act however he wanted. The idea of seeing someone chained up or abused like that… "Yeah, I'd react poorly to that."

"I know, as I said I will have problems with it too," Shaak said, somewhat commiseratingly. "However, I can also reach out and use the Force to find Aayla. I know her presence reasonably well, I doubt it's changed in a little a year to hide from me."

"What will her mind be like Shaak?" Ranma asked softly. "What will she be like?"

"I don't know…" Shaak replied, looking away. "Beyond my fears for what have been done to her physically, I, I can hope her mind is still her own…"

Ranma's voice remained soft as he asked, "Drugs?"

The idea of mind altering substances was one he had run into many times of course, but nothing to the level a slave could be put through. Ranma had never actually thought about it at the time, but he had realized that Cologne had never seriously chased him. If she had, Ranma had no doubt the Amazons had a lot of drugs and other things she could have used on him to bend him to their whims.

"That is what I fear yes," Shaak said, after a moment spent controlling herself. Ranma looked at her closely, but there didn't seem to be any flicker in her Force sense and he smiled faintly.

That smiled faded however as she went on. "There are drugs out there that can manipulate the mind to make a person docile, and they are routinely used on slaves particularly young ones. Even a Jedi is not immune to it if given enough doses. And there are other ways to deaden a person's ability to think. The Falleen's pheromones do that to the opposite sex, and I read about some kind of Force-based trick a Dark Jedi from a few hundred years ago used."

"In that case, I don't think you can rely on your Force powers." Ranma said slowly. Shaak blinked, talking her head to one side and he shrugged. "Well think about it, they might know she's a Jedi, and be forcing her to use her Force powers somehow, or can you say for certainty that her being a Jedi hasn't been ousted? Or that you Jedi have a monopoly on Force powers? I read about the witches of Dathomir.

"I know about them as well, but I don't think one of those would be involved in something like this. The Dathomiri have a certain code of conduct and would not be involved in enslaving a woman at the very least. Still, I can't argue with your other point, and indeed I wish I could bring to mind why I knew that about the Raiders, there's something about that report niggling at my senses but I can't."

While an expert at using the Force to enhance her ability to take in new information, it wasn't an automatic thing for Shaak. "So I can't use the Force to reach out to Aayla. Drat."

Ranma laughed, shaking his head. "Drat? Is that supposed ta be a curse?"

"Hmmf, unlike you I was raised properly rather than by a panda in waiting," Shaak said haughtily, glad for the moment of levity. Her eyebrows rose however as she saw Ranma was smile segueing into something that was far more predatory than his normal expression. "And what evil thought did you just have?"

"Well, I was just thinking normal Force powers can be sensed by other Force users if they are on guard, but can my ki space?"

"No, I never sensed its presence, not even when I was looking… for… it…" Shaak's voice trailed off, and suddenly her smile blossomed into an equally matching grin, all of her pointed teeth on display as the two of them stared at one another in sudden rapport. "I think we have an idea for the training for the next few days then."

Ranma nodded eagerly, and the two of them continue their discussion. They began to work on a disguise for Shaak, after all if she couldn't rely on the Force to search for Aayla then Shaak couldn't use it to mask her presence. For the next few hours the two of them played dress-up with Shaak, eventually coming up with a look that was different and distinct enough to be a completely separate person from Shaak Ti, Jedi Knight.

The akul headdress she wore around her forehead was wrapped three times around her wrist hanging slightly loose. Her lightsaber disappeared from its place at her side. It would eventually be put in her ki space, situated in the sleeve of the spacer's jacket that Ranma gave her from his own limited wardrobe. Instead Shaak wore a blaster hanging loose at her hip, one of the ones Ranma had gotten from the Mon Calamari.

Underneath the jacket, she wore a short crop top, leaving her midriff bare. Her regular, comfortable and loose pants were gone, replaced by a pair that appeared to have been grafted onto her, so tight did they hug Shaak's legs.

Looking at her in the near Ranma blushed. Normally Shaak exuded a sense of grace and humility or a sort of down to earth tomboyish sexiness. Now she looked like a vamp crossed with the kind of space pirate found in some of the hentai magazines DR. Tofu had given him.

Shaak noticed his blush, and had to fight an urge to either preen or try to rush off to her room, embarrassed for the first time she could ever remember. It was true she had been undercover before, but never dressed like this, and never in the presence of someone whose regard she was used to seeking out. But she controlled herself with difficulty, staring at her image in the mirror of the bathroom. "It needs a little something more. My face might be known now since all those interviews and public statements on Dac. The Hutts might keep tabs on Jedi appearing in the news, no matter how distance."

Ranma's blush faded and he grinned, holding up a small black object. "What is that?"

"An eyepatch."

With the eyepatch applied Shaak nodded at her reflection, satisfied, while Ranma chuckled. "Arh me hearties." Shaak cocked her head and Ranma laughed quietly "I'll tell you about it some other time."

From there the days spent travelling to Tatooine fell into a new routine. During the mornings Ranma would help Shaak get into character, acting like a mercenary, helping her develop an accent and perfect the way she carried herself. Shaak insisted that Ranma change into her female form at times, so that Shaak could look at the way Ranma moved.

Ranma had been confused by this at first, but Shaak explained "you have an **extremely** aggressive walk, it's this sort of arrogant, feline strut when you're looking for trouble, I'm not sure if I can explain it properly. But trust me it's both provocative and off-putting, precisely the sort of thing we want."

In the afternoons and early evenings, the two of them would practice meditating, working on Shaak's ability to create a ki space. Eventually she was able to do so, a small rather limited one but big enough to carry both her lightsaber and a holdout pistol with a bit of room to spare. Shaak's personal Living Force had grown quite a bit, as, surprisingly had her ability to channel the Force in its entirety, which had translated into her ability to create a ki space. And she had only blown herself up three more times trying it in the intervening months too.

While Shaak was doing that, Ranma watched, while also practicing his mechanical skills on the mysterious droid head. Tune would often help him since in hyperspace there wasn't much he needed to do besides monitor the ship, which he could do via a wireless connection now. However they didn't get very far. They could fix some of the exterior damage, if in a sort of haphazard manner. But the internal damage was beyond Ranma's mechanical skills mainly because it wasn't just mechanical but also electronic. It was the difference between installing a speaker and fixing a motherboard.

Realizing that Ranma gave that up on their third day out and started work on putting together the lightsaber construction table so he could get to work on his lightsaber staff. At one point Shaak came over to look at the design, as well as the parts Ranma had already laid out. This included the cortosis metal he had scavenged from the Yinchorri's control asteroid.

He had placed that through the artificer's portion of the table, which created several small plates of it. Ranma attached one of them to the armguard he had already installed the small communicator screen into, hidden underneath the leather of the guard. It would provide a nasty little surprise for any lightsaber wielder he had to fight. The rest however would be placed upon the staff's exterior casing at various points.

Behind him Shaak stretched slightly, coming out of her trance. Looking over at where Ranma was bent over the construction table she moved over to look at the design Ranma and Master Halcyon had created, smiling faintly. "I like this Ranma," she said, her hands on his shoulders for a moment as she stared over his shoulder. "It is deceptively artful, yet also frighteningly straightforward. Just like you."

Ranma laughed, turning somewhat around, to stare up at her, glad she had slowly begun to fall back into the closeness they had started to share back on Dac. "Was that a compliment oh great Jedi? I think I still work with a staff, we never really trained with it once Kit left, but you're right I think it will be a nice weapon."

Shaak nodded, but her fingers began to work into Ranma's neck, causing his eyes to close a little in pleasure. After a moment however Shaak seemed to realize she was doing it, and moved off, quickly picking up her reader and heading up to the cockpit. _This is going to be tougher than I thought._

Behind her Ranma turned watching Shaak walk off, a faint frown of hurt on his face. _Okay, so maybe it wasn't a reaction from the anger she'd felt back in the docks. Damn, wonder what's going on?_ After a moment's thought however, Ranma decided to leave it be for now. They had to concentrate on the mission first, there would be time enough to talk about what was bothering Shaak later.

 **OOOOOOO**

Centering himself in the Force Sidious smiled faintly, the expression an evil one on his face under his dark hood. Plagueis had, in a moment of pure brilliance that even Sidious was forced to acknowledge, come up with a way to subtly change the Veil of the Dark Side so that it could take advantage of the growing chaos around Ranma. Seeing the future remained extremely difficult, but they could see the present far more clearly than even Sidious had been able to since Ranma's appearance.

They still couldn't quite see what Ranma himself was up to, but they could see the shape of his presence moving through the Force. And even better, the Dark Side's influence spread across the Force like a thin veneer. So long as Sidious was using the Force himself at the time he would be able to detect any use of it of any appreciable size and see what was happening in places neither of them could have possibly reached on their own. And even influence those who used it subtly, so long as, again, Sidious was using the Force himself at the time.

The Veil was now nearly entirely in place, and would only grow in power, fed by the emotions of everyone in the universe, every dark deed and thought. It was moments like this, revelations like that, which made Sidious believe that not only was the Dark Side on their side, but the very Force itself.

 _The Light has had its time, it is now time for the Dark Side to begin its ascent. The Jedi harp on and on about balance never realizing what it truly means._ T _he Dark Side must have it's day too, and we will, oh yes. But ours will_ _ **never**_ _end! Our ascendancy is preordained!_

 _Even if this Chaotic Fulcrum is causing us to put in a little more work. Our catspaws are well in place, and the latest issue with the trade Federation will allow Maul to kill a few Jedi and force the vote against Valorum. Maul will be pleased with that. And the death of Qui-Gon can be used to weaken Dooku. I know now that he will not come willingly to the Dark Side, but he could possibly be made to fall through grief if nothing else._

 _He and the other Jedi might be pleased by their recent success, but do not realize how much political capital the Senators that routinely back them have lost, with only my own position remaining secure for various reasons. And I have come off as a moderate, an ally of the Jedi yet a believer in law and the Senate's centralized power._

 _And the chancellor's position is weaker by far. All it needs is the last little push, which the deaths of two Jedi and that uppity child Amidala will create. And he doesn't even realize it. For all his vaunted ability, for all the Valorum's long association with the position, the Chancellor has never been more than a middling amateur when it comes to wielding the power of politics._

Still smiling Sidious sent his mind out subtly, not wishing to take any chances just yet. But he needn't have bothered the Veil hid him with ease here in the center of his power. _The Dark Side is everywhere now, the miasma covering the Jedi's senses and they can't even realize the implications. I could wish that Yoda and those with him were still in place here on Coruscant where I can watch them more easily, but the fractures in the Order will serve our purpose._

 _The old fool must have sensed something while the chaotic fulcrum was here, something that warned him of what is coming. But not enough, nowhere near enough to save them. Indeed, his reforms to the Order will simply make shattering the Order's unity all the easier. And once separated, the Jedi are nothing._

After a moment however his smile faded. Pushing his senses towards Dac, he realized that the chaotic fulcrum was no longer focused there, he was in fact moving. With difficulty Sidious probed the future, trying to determine where Ranma was going. After a moment his eyes snapped open and his voice echoed around the empty room. **"No!** "

For some reason the chaotic fulcrum was heading towards Tatooine, where Maul was heading, chasing after Amidala and the two Jedi. _But if the chaotic focus comes into play that will derail that idea. Maul has proven that the training we came up with from watching the Jedi being tortured was efficacious, but is he up to dealing with the focus?_

After a moment's thought Sidious shook his head. _Possibly not alone, but a chance to eliminate the focus might be worthwhile. And there are other forces in play on Tatooine after all._

With a flick of his finger Sidious sent a small bit of Force out towards a nearby communicator, activating it on a specific dial. It opened to a powerbroker, the underworld functionary that Sidious used as a middleman to operate his slowly growing extremely well-hidden empire of underworld contacts. "I want a bulletin put out. I am sending you an image of two humans, male and female. I want it sent to Tatooine specifically: 6,000,000 credits in any currency to the person who is able to capture or kill this individual. 6,000,000 credits for capture, half that for proof of his or her death."

With another click the message ended, and another even more secure, link opened the hologram appearing in front of him. He watched as his apprentice bowed deeply. "What is your bidding my master?"

"You are chasing the Jedi and the Nabooan queen. I do not wish you to deviate from that, but be aware there might be more Force users in play on Tatooine than just your targets. Specifically the chaotic fulcrum whose training you have been going through."

He watched in something approximating amusement as Maul gnashed his teeth visibly. The training Sidious had developed after watching the fulcrums and the female Jedi had not been pleasant even in comparison to normal Sith training. Instead of using the rather low-tech concept that he had seen in the ongoing observation Sidious had created a high-tech equivalent, but that didn't mean it was any less painful.

For the training Maul was suspended in midair while dozens of repulsor beams were fired at him in increasing strength from every direction. Maul spent days on end like that, breaking every few hours to allow him to heal himself and deal with the pain. It had forced his pain threshold to rise exponentially along with his Force healing, despite the fact that healing like was normally not a Sith trait.

This speed training had not progressed as well, but the toughness training had proven its worth in several tests. While his new durability could still be broken through, even a lightsaber wouldn't cut through Maul's skin now, at least not quickly. And there didn't seem to be an upper limit to the training. His overall strength, speed, and ability to reach out to the Force and predict his enemies moves had also increased after Sidious had inputted several robotic training droids with the chaotic fulcrum' moves.

Sidious still desired to get a Force user close enough to analyze Ranma's abilities through the Force, primarily because their attempts to recreate his Force shields had not worked. They could create something similar, but it took a lot of concentration and wasn't stable like the fulcrum' version. Unfortunately for the Sith, none of his recorders had caught Ranma or Shaak talking about her Living Force reservoir or the difference between the internal Living force and the Unifying Force. Nor could they recreate the shattering technique, whatever it really was. That the female Jedi had done it once was a concern, but one Sidious knew an observer who could use the Force would solve.

Sidious' own training had been painful and sporadic as he was unable to get away for extended periods of time given his position in the Senate. But even they would prove efficacious in time.

After a moment's silence Sidious went on. "Kill any of them you can. However your survival is paramount. Further you are forbidden to use any of your Sith specific skills."

 _I want them focused inward, if Maul is seen at all I want them to think he is a Dark Jedi trained by one of the Fallen 19 perhaps, not a Sith. I want them paranoid, I want them reacting, I do not want them acting on their own._

The idea of retreating was anathema to Maul, yet his master's orders were absolute. "As you will it, my master."

"Good." Sidious said nodding his head. "I have high hopes for this Maul, do not fail me." With that he cut the connection and stood up from his seat. Now that Plagueis had finished work on the Veil, it was time for there to once again be only two Sith in existence…

It was done quickly, so quickly and so easily it was almost anticlimactic to Sidious despite having planned it out that way. His master died without even waking up from his sleep, never realizing his apprentice had betrayed him.

Flicking off his lightsaber Sidious stared down at Plagueis' body, smirking evilly at the neat hole in the Muun's chest straight through his heart. "You were never my master old fool, only my teacher. You've taught me everything I need to learn from you, and have finished all that the Force requires of you. Now go to your rest knowing that I will finish our great work when you never could have. It is time for the Sith to rise!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Tune's calculations of their trip had proven accurate, taking them a little over four days. Both of them were in the cockpit as they came out of hyperspace, just in case they ran into trouble immediately. Thankfully they didn't, and as their information it said they were not challenged as the _Wild Light_ slowly flew towards the planet and down into its atmosphere. They found a place several days journey from Mos Espa to put down, a small dip between two sand dunes, which immediately began to slither down onto the _Wild light_ 's wings, obscuring it's shape.

Despite this the two of them left Tune behind in the ship. Ranma turned as he stared up at the cockpit where the droid was. "Remember, first a verbal warning, then a warning shot, after that…" he shrugged. "Those quad lasers don't have a stun function, so you'll have to use your discretion."

From the exterior speaker's Tune's voice replied, a deep baritone male this time. Despite trying out thousands of different voices the droid had not decided on one just yet. He seemed to enjoy the process a little too much to want it to end. "I understand master, but I do not think I could bring myself to kill a sentient being. I am no combat droid, I am not programmed for taking life."

"I know I hope you don't have to and if you can, aim to disarm or injure. The protection of the ship is paramount, so any step ya need to take in the short term ta keep it safe is fine by me okay?" Ranma said. "We might need ta leave in a hurry after all."

"Affirmative master." Tune replied, sounding resigned but firm.

Ranma turned away from the ship, only realizing now that Shaak had remained silent during that conversation, which was rather unlike her. Ranma cocked his head at her. "Shaak, what's wrong?"

Shaak opened her eyes, rubbing at the patch she wore over her right eye in a move she had begun to do as part of her character. "There might be another Jedi here, possibly two beyond Aayla. I am not the best at sensing another person's presence, but I think there are at any rate. Ones I'm not overly familiar with, but they aren't trying to hide their presence if I can feel them out here."

"Could they have been sent to help Aayla like us?"

"Doubtful, or else we would've been told about them." She frowned and Ranma got it after a moment.

"You think Quinlan broke out?"

"I **really** don't want to think about that." She said shaking her head. "I don't know if I'd be as familiar with him to recognize Knight Vos though, so it could be. If we see several dozen scattered bodies decorating the streets of Mos Espa we'll have our answer to that one. I've heard that when he's angry subtlety goes out the window."

"I think you mean several dozen bodies scattered around don't you?"

"I know what I said Ranma," Shaak replied dryly.

Ranma nodded, reaching out to touch her shoulder gripping it tightly for a moment. "We'll handle this whatever happens, okay?"

"Ranma…" Shaak sighed then nodded, and reached up to gently remove his hand. This whole trying to keep a distance between them was very, **very** hard. And the hurt look that Ranma sent her way as she moved off wasn't helping matters. "Thank you, but we should get going."

The two of them quickly broke out into a run, racing over the desert landscape neither of them feeling the heat overmuch thanks to their training. If anyone had been in a position to observe them, both of them would've seemed like a blur, but thankfully no one was. The two crossed what would've taken someone in a land speeder several hours in a few minutes, and about two hours after leaving their ship behind Mos Espa was in sight.

They slowed down, allowing Shaak to slowly rein in her Force sense, pulling in anything that anyone else could find to tell them she was Jedi. This was a procedure that Ranma didn't quite understand, but then again he didn't quite understand why the Jedi were so interconnected with the Unifying Force in the first place.

"We should split up here while we're still out of sight of any of the locals," Shaak murmured, as they stopped behind a large new. "I'll head towards the Hutt's local fortresses immediately, where do you want to meet up?"

"Here's as good as any, or you can call me on our coms at sundown if the Hutts don't seem to be on guard." Ranma replied, frowning as he looked toward the port. "I don't see any exterior defenses, I'd have thought there would be if these Tusken are such an issue. Anyway, I'll be scouting the lay of the land, but are ya sure you'll be fine on your own?"

Shaak nodded, looking at him for a moment. She wanted to reach out, wanted to have a final moment of togetherness but she couldn't. _I am a Jedi, I cannot become attached to anyone, attachments lead to your judgment being impaired. I, I cannot allow these emotions between us to become any more powerful than they already are. No matter how much I want to._

"Good luck Ranma." she said instead. And without another word turned and moved over the dune. Yet even as she did, she felt Ranma's eyes on her, and the part of her that most wished to enjoy these newfound emotions between them took over her body for a moment. So when she moved, she walked with the hip-twitching, dangerous seeming stride of her cover identity, a sight which had caused Ranma to blush every time he saw her practice it from behind. The whimper she heard at the edge of her montral's range was music to Shaak's ears even as she berated herself for doing it at all.

Ranma watched her go, sighing faintly and shaking his head. _Yeah, after this is over Shaak and I are definitely gonna have to sit down and talk about what's going on with her._ He waited a few moments before moving off in a different direction, circling Mos Espa and coming in from one of the other sides, moving through a small shanty town built around what looked like some kind of water purifying plant.

To Ranma's surprise there really didn't seem much in the way of outer defenses. There were a few scattered blast walls, and entered two, but nothing major. _I would've thought this place would have an outer wall at least to defend itself from the Tusken Raiders, but I guess not. Wonder if that's because criminals are always tightfisted with cash, or they just don't care?_

The outer area of the port was like any other city. Small hovels housed the poor and the few slaves not kept in the Hutt's palaces, with some small shops scattered around. Beyond that was the main city, dominated by dozens of seedy looking bars, eateries, and larger shops. There were a few scattered houses for families and one building that looked like a hotel, but not nearly as many as there were bars, pawn shops, repair and parts shops. Given the fact this place was basically a port of various smugglers, pirates and slavers that made sense, though the number of parts shops was surprising.

Looking at the signs, Ranma once again reminded himself to thank Shaak for teaching him how to read over the last few months. Even out here Galactic Standard was used for signs, in smaller lettering true, but still there.

Ranma walked around for a time, noting the types of aliens that were scattered throughout the city. He also noticed that everyone and their mother seemed to be armed. And sadly for Ranma's plan of an armed rebellion there only seemed one slave for every four or five other persons here. Most of them seemed to be servants or workers, many of them seemed owned by the various shop owners, while others looked as if they were out on errands.

More than once though Ranma saw something that made his fists clench: a slave being tugged around by a chain or punished for some small infraction. But most of the people all around didn't even blink. _So an uprising might not be doable thanks to numbers alone,_ _ **damn it**_ _! And worse, the poor people, the farmers and what-not don't seem to care about the slaves. I know they probably're more concerned about themselves, but not even staring or reacting at all when the slaves are punished? Maybe a mass escape is a better idea then._

Eventually Ranma had a good enough lay of the land that he began to stop and listen in on random conversations, getting the feel of the people rather than the port itself. There definitely seemed to be a vast difference between the haves and have-nots here, which made Ranma rethink the idea of an uprising despite the lack of empathy shown to the slaves for a time before discarding it once again. The mercs and pirates seemed to rule the roost, with shopkeepers and shop owners below them, then 'dirt farmers' and slaves below them.

The independent spacers, which made up the majority of the people he saw coming out of the bars, were not part of this hierarchy, instead they seemed set to one side. But none of them were as well-armed as the Hutts' people, and most of them went around in small groups at best. The local thugs went around in far larger groups. And whenever they were around one another, it was the spacers, who made way to the locals.

For the most part anyway. Ranma watched a small confrontation between a group of locals and a large young man with red hair and a Corellian accent and his small crew, which included an odd feathered alien whose species Ranma had never seen before. The man lifted up his opposite number, another human, and hurled him into his fellows, shouting something Ranma couldn't hear from where he was standing down the street, then turned away laughing and heading into one of the bars. His crew followed, and Ranma noticed that they were all well-armed with blaster rifles and wearing body armor too.

Putting those thoughts aside for a moment He idly wondered why another Jedi there would be sent here. _I wonder if I would recognize them._ Ranma tried to think of any of the Jedi he knew that wouldn't stick out like sore thumbs on the planet like this, and only came up with a few names, mainly because in the desert at least the Jedi robes wouldn't look out of place.

His thoughts were interrupted as a small body barreled into him from out of an alleyway, bouncing off his leg. "Sorry Mistah" said a small voice as a young child of around 12 tried to scamper away. That scampering stopped when he realized his legs were moving but his body wasn't. Then he yelped as he was suddenly lifted into the air by the back of his ragged shirt.

Ranma held up the urchin to his head, shaking the young Sullustan, a species with mousy eyes, heavy flaps of skin on their cheeks. "Really?" He held out his other hand demandingly. "A bump an' dash? Is that the best you can do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Mistah! Yas better let me go or you'll be sorry!" The youngster shouted.

"I doubt it." Ranma said with a laugh, flicking his fingers lightly in a 'come on gesture'. "My wallet, please."

The urchin stared at him, crossing his arms defiantly. "I don't know what yer talkin' bout, spazzer."

"Spazzer? Guess that's slang for spacer right? Well, there's nothing in my wallet kid, trust me. It's either you give it to me, or I start playing bouncy ball with you."

"Bouncy ball?" the urchin said then he squeaked as Ranma flung him a few dozen feet into the air. The sound attracted some attention, but by the time he caught the urchin the few people in the street had turned away. Now utterly terrified of how strong this newcomer was the urchin quickly handed over his wallet.

Ranma opened it, and showed the urchin that there really was nothing inside. "Sorry, kiddo, I only keep it out in my pocket 'cause it's got my ID in it." Two ID's actually, one that the Jedi Order had given him along with the lightsaber construction table, as well as one he'd had made on Dac, with the second in front of the first.

"Besides," Ranma went on. "A bump an' dash is always chancy, if you don't perform it exactly right you're going to get caught. And I bet around here if you're caught by most of the locals you're screwed right?"

The urchin frowned but didn't reply and Ranma looked at him, taking in the kid's body for the first time. Despite the flaps on his checks he looked gaunt, as if he hadn't had a good meal in a long while, and his eyes were nearly sunken into his head. He was still standing there glaring proudly up at Ranma though, and Ranma liked that kind of spirit.

Suddenly Ranma smirked, motioning the kid to join him in the alleyway. "You probably have your ears to the ground around here right?"

"Might have." The urchin said looking shifty. "Depends on what yaz needs to know."

"Two things, one, have you spotted a blue-skinned Twi'lek slave around here?"

"Why, you looking to buy?" Urchin said now looking even more wary and as if he might spit at Ranma.

"No, I just want to know. Are you always so questioning to people holding you up by your shirt?"

The urchin frowned, then shook his head. "Don't know anything about the slaves. But a girl like that, she'd be kept at one of the palaces, and never let out around town. She'd be damn expensive too."

Ranma growled, the sound sending the urchin flinching slightly which caused him to stop. "Sorry, just a reaction to something you said. Anyway, that was my first question. The second, have you seen anyone else new around town, someone who doesn't quite look like the normal kind of 'spazzer' you get here?"

"Maybe," the urchin said, suddenly smirking himself, realizing Ranma wasn't actually going to hurt him. "what's it to you? And what's in it fer me ta answer."

"How about I teach you how to actually steal from someone, rather than having to rely on chance and your ability to get away before they can grab you?" Ranma said with a laugh. "Hell kid, I could teach you and your friends a few strategies if you've got friends, that is."

Several hours later a group of four urchins raced off from around Ranma, each of them holding some food or money they had stolen under his direction, gleefully chattering to one another. Behind them Ranma turned, making his way through the town towards a shop at one end, situated around what Ranma had taken to be a junkyard, but was in fact a local parts supplier.

He stared up at the name on the front feet, shaking his head. "Weird name, but I suppose that's par for the course here." The sign read. 'Watto's'.

 **OOOOOOO**

Padme Amidala, elected queen of Naboo circa three months ago, had not been having a good week. First, her planet was blockaded by the Trade Federation, her rule challenged and questioned for the first time since she had taken the throne several months ago. Then even the intercession of the Jedi had not aided them, and the TF had begun an actual invasion. With, according to Gunray the head of the Federation, the approval of the Senate!

It was only the timely arrival of the two Jedi that saved her from being imprisoned. When the two Jedi, her guards, and body doubles had tried to escape to take word to the Senate about the invasion their ship had been damaged, forced to come out of hyperspace randomly.

On top of all this the Jedi were not quite what she had envisioned. They were not as respectful, not as outgoing. Intelligent yes, and extremely capable, but not great believers in her dignity as Queen. Worse, just like her they were ignorant of the reason behind the Federation's invasion of her planet.

 _I would've gone stir crazy on that ship if I had let them leave me behind,_ she thought, shaking her head. This was much more fun, the junk here was at least something interesting to see whereas she would've been forced to deal with her overprotective guards back on the ship. Of course Sabe and the rest of her maids were nice enough to talk to, but there just wasn't enough back on the ship do to take her mind off the disaster facing her planet.

"Are you an angel?" said a voice from nearby. A young voice she thought as she turned, looking around one of the displays of various robotic parts to stare at a young human boy. He looked around ten or so, with the kind of darkish blond hair that looked like it would darken with age, intelligent brown eyes, and a decently well-fed look to him.

After looking around for the child's parents Padme knelt down to look the boy in the eyes. "No I'm not an angel. Who are you little boy?"

"I'm not little, I'm old enough to work, old enough to be a slave." He shot back, tapping the collar around his neck causing her to frown angrily. The sight of it reminded her of the discussion she had with the Jedi Master about that, and how he had destroyed a bit of her universe's view with the information that slavery was condoned even in the Republic. "Why aren't you an angel, you're certainly pretty enough for one."

She smiled faintly, and was about to reply politely if somewhat distantly, when a voice spoke up behind the two of them. "Wow puberty's hitting you really quick ain't it kiddo?"

Padme turned then flushed slightly. _Oh my_. Standing there was possibly the handsomest young man she had ever seen, certainly seen in the flesh. He was shorter than the two Jedi, around 5' 11" if she was any judge rather than 6' 3" or 6' 2". But his shoulders were just as broad, his face just as handsome as Obi-wan's, yet not as unemotional or aloof as Obi Wan's seemed to her. Rather this younger man's face was mobile and used to smiling.

Indeed right now it wore a smirk that set her pulse to racing a little for some reason she couldn't fathom. And he had the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen.

It certainly helped that his shirt was a tank top which hugged his upper body like a second skin, showing off a phenomenal body. _And I thought Obi-wan was handsome._

Like Shaak, Ranma had created an outfit for himself. His consisted of a tight shirt with a design on it that made it look as if the shirt was created by sewing green scales together, black pants, a blaster on one hip, and the communicator/vambrace on one arm. Of course with Ranma, the pistol was more camouflage than anything else. His hair however was still the same.

Nearby others had heard that voice, and Obi-wan groaned slightly, shaking his head even though he was smiling. "Oh no, not you."

Ranma deliberately did not look in the two Jedi's direction smirking at the young girl, she had to be fourteen or so he estimated. She didn't look like a local either, her skin was far too fair for that, and her long brown hair far too clean. She was pretty he supposed, in a young teen sort of way, he could see why the kid had hit on her.

What she was doing with the two Jedi was a mystery, but he sure was going to use it to his advantage to have a bit of fun. "Excuse me miss, have you seen two Jedi around here? One of them's got long hair which really shows off how gray he's going, and the other one acts like he's got a stick up his…"

"That's more than enough Ranma thank you." Obi-wan said, coming over to look at the younger man. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh hey Obi didn't see you there." Ranma said with a grin while the boy looked rather affronted at his attitude, or possibly irritated Ranma had butted in on his attempt to flirt with the older girl, if that was what he'd been trying to do. For her part however Padme had to hold in a chuckle at his irreverent attitude. Unlike the boy she realized that she was witnessing the reunion of at least two acquaintances, possibly friends.

"Why I'm here is something I'm not gonna talk about out in the open. Though before I forget, I gotta apologize to you for teasing you with my… other … issue. Seriously, it was kinda cruel of me. I had that sort of pointed out to me a few months back." _When I was the one being teased no matter how unwittingly_ , Ranma did not add aloud.

" **You're** apologizing?" Obi-wan said blankly, blinking rapidly his voice nearly monotone. "I didn't think, you, you apologize?! The universe is going to end…."

"You made quite an impression on my padawan my young friend. He's actually loosened up somewhat, indeed that is the second joke he's told this week alone!" said Qui-Gon, a faint smile on his face. "You're looking well. Might I ask however what brought you here?"

"Are you a Jedi too?" the young boy asked frowning as he stared up at Ranma. "You feel weird, not like the two of them, and you don't have a lightsaber."

Ranma's eyebrows rose in surprise, before he turned to the two Jedi who both shrugged their shoulders though Qui-Gon was looking at the boy with a distinct level of interest. "What is your name young one?"

"Anakin, Anakin Skywalker." Anakin replied. "Are you here to free us?"

"Who's us?" Ranma asked then smirked. "And by the way, Skywalker? Awesome name kiddo!"

Anakin's solemn air broke and he smiled at Ranma, forgetting for a moment his irritation at him for interrupting his talk with the angel. "My mother and I. I've always dreamed about Jedi, about Jedi coming to free us and becoming one myself, becoming a great Jedi who frees all the slaves."

"I'm afraid that is not why we're here young one." Obi Wan replied, trying to let the kid down gently.

"I think it is." Anakin said, now staring up at him calmly.

Qui-Gon looked down at him, his eyes lighting up with some interest, but then a small flying alien appeared, smacking Anakin upside the head. "Boy have you finished those repairs on the T-62 engine for Necrasis?"

"Yeah, I finished those this morning." The boy replied waving one hand at the back of the shop, then turning up to Qui-Gon. "But I think this man has something he wants to ask you."

They all stopped and turned however as another, tall, gangly looking amphibian sort of alien smashed into a display of droid parts. He wobbled upright, his long tongue lolling out. "Mesa sorry, it bes tighty in heres."

Ranma's cocked an eyebrow and shook his head murmuring to Obi. "Please don't tell me he's with you too?"

"Jar-Jar's been… somewhat useful…" Obi replied wanly.

"Yeah, this story is starting to sound even more interesting." Ranma mused.

"You do not know the half of it Ranma." Obi replied, and began to fill Ranma in on how he and his master had come to be here on Tatooine.

At the same time the two young men were talking, Qui-Gon had pulled out a small hologram device, showing the ship they had come in. He began to try and haggle with the man, while Anakin listened in avidly to both conversations.

After a few minutes of explanation Ranma blinked in shock jerking a thumb towards the young girl. "Are you telling me this little girl…"

"Excuse me!" Padme said incredulously, all her previous good feelings towards the older boy vanishing.

"Is supposed to be a body-double for the Queen of Naboo?" Ranma went on, ignoring her outburst. "That means the Queen is the same age right? A ruling queen, aged 14 or so? So… who actually makes the decisions for her government?""

"I make my own decisions thank you! I, I mean the Queen makes her own decisions thank you, she has advisors but that is all they do, advise." Padme stuttered, trying hard to cover her slip and staring angrily at the very handsome but equally rude boy.

"Sure, I'll believe that, **not**!" Ranma said with a laugh. "Now be quiet little girl the adults are talking."

Obi-wan suddenly smirked, "Ranma I think you need to cool off!"

"Oh no you-gahh!" Before Ranma could dodge Obi splashed him with a small bit from his canteen.

"Ignore him your highness," Obi went on, explicitly stating that both he and Qui-Gon had realized she was the Queen rather than her body double and ignoring the now female Ranma with only a hint of smugness. "He's merely testing you, he does that quite a lot I've noticed."

Anakin blinked in shock while Padme almost fainted, only Ranma's quick thinking grabbing her before she could fall saving her. "Why'd ya have to do that?" she growled irritably wiping her face as she stared at Obi angrily, then Ranma paused as she noticed Obi was concentrating on Ranma's eyes, his own not having strayed. "Huh, so your self-control's better I see."

"I was able to stay on Coruscant for a month before our next mission, and between a few old acquaintances and my meditations I have dealt with my over-reaction to your female form." Obi-Wan replied, omitting quite a bit.

What happened was that a few of his female friends, including a Jedi padawan named Siri Tachi, had heard about his reaction to a person who was male in mind if not in body. They had teased him endlessly in myriad ways whenever the masters were not around, and then actually helped walk him through why Obi had such a response in the first place.

Padme quickly pushed out of Ranma's arms, staring up at the redhead who, though older and chestier, was only a few inches taller than she was, whereas before the boy that had been standing there was a good foot and a bit taller. "Wh-what just happened!? Some, strange Force power, instant teleportation with another person?" To one side Jar Jar was staring at the canteen at Obi-Wan's belt in both shock and interest.

Anakin on the other hand stared up at Ranma then reached up hesitantly. "Those can't be…"

Ranma bonked him hard on the head, causing Anakin to cry out in pain and back away. "Hands off kid!" Ranma growled. "I blame this on you," she said pointing at Obi. "You can damn well explain!"

They were interrupted again as Qui-Gon came over with the shop owner. "Ranma, how exactly are you here? Notice I didn't ask why but **how** , or why you are a woman currently."

"Currently? I would say she's been a woman for a long time, yes?" The little flying alien said, flying around the redhead from all angles. "Now if you wished to trade this one for the engine, that might be…"

"I'm not for sale you little pervert!" Ranma growled, tempted to smash the alien out of the air, but not doing so because of what little she'd been able to glean about why Qui-Gon and the others were in this shop. _Besides, what'd an alien this size do with a human wo… yeah let's not go there…_

"Pity." Watto smirked. "Ah well, my offer still stands then Jedi. Look around, but you won't find any other shop that sells Nabooan manufacture." With that he flew off, still chuckling to himself.

Seeing the amphibian, the young girl and boy all still staring at her, Ranma shook his head and then launched into his normal spiel. "Okay, short answer, I have a Force curse, cold or even lukewarm water activates it, changes my body to that of a woman."

She ignored Jar-Jar's suddenly sad expression, going on with his explanation. "No, my mind doesn't change, no I wasn't born with this curse, I got it on a training journey because my old man, who was an excellent if crazy as hell trainer, was also an idiot. Yes my female form is fully functional, no I am not interested in guys. Any questions?"

"Millions, but none that matter currently." Padme murmured, trying hard not to stare too rudely at the other girl. Anakin was only a little better, wincing as he held his head, while Jar-Jar had lost interest and moved off only to stop as Qui-Gon grabbed his shoulder.

Obi handed Ranma his canteen and Ranma held it for a moment as the heat tab on it went to work, before pouring it over her head. This time Anakin was the one to gasp, his smile widening as he felt something, which Qui-Gon caught, making him look at the boy with even more interest before turning back to Ranma. "Ranma, answer my original question please."

"Heh, one track mind there bearded one. Anyways, my ship was finished a few days ago, and Shaak and I made our way here. Why?"

"My padawan has no doubt explained our predicament, surely you have enough room for us?"

"Er, he actually had only started to explain, but whatever. How many people are we talking about here?" Ranma asked.

"Eleven I think," said Qui-Gon, though he was looking reluctant, his eyes shifting over towards the young boy.

Ranma didn't notice, instead shaking his head. "No way, my ship doesn't have that much space. I could possibly put four or five of you up, maybe as many as nine if you're comfortable with sharing rooms and not being able to move around much. Any more than that and we wouldn't be able to move around and the atmospherics or whatever the air regulators wouldn't be able to handle it for a long trip. Besides which, I'm not leaving until the job Shaak and I are here to do is done."

"Whatever your job is my young friend it pales in comparison to ours." Qui-Gon said grimly. "The fate of an entire planet may well hang in the balance."

"I got that bit already at least, but that's your job, not ours." Ranma said with a shake of his head. "I'd like to help you, I really would. But our mission here is such that…" he stopped, frowning. "Look, I'm going to meet up with Shaak tonight, you can talk about all this with her then."

"Very well, in the meantime we'll need to think about other means of transportation just in case she agrees with you." While many Jedi Masters would have simply ordered Ranma and Knight Ti to aid them, Qui Gon wasn't like that. He also knew Ranma would not have been asked to go on a mission for the order if it wasn't a dire one. And that Ranma's response to being simply ordered about would have been pithy and vulgar.

He gestured in the direction the Toydarian had flown. "We don't have enough money on us in the local currency, and the exchange rate is not in our favor. Also unfortunately the only local who apparently sells the engine parts we need to repair our ship is a Toydarian, and they are immune to mind tricks."

Ranma frowned. "Right, so Jedi can go around messing with people's minds like that in the pursuit of their business?"

"It doesn't hurt them Ranma, just changes their minds for a moment." Qui Gon objected, though Padme was looking at him warily, and Obi-Wan was looking as if he agreed in principle.

"And what if that moment gets them in trouble with their bosses and gets them fired, or worse indentured out here?" Ranma asked, arching one eyebrow. "In a combat situation or anything that might lead to it I'd understand using that kind of thing, but not to simply save you a bit of inconvenience."

Qui-Gon who sighed faintly. "I understand your point of view, but this wasn't a 'bit of inconvenience'. This would have allowed us to get on our way within a few hours. Considering what might be happening to the citizens of Naboo right now it was a step I was prepared to take. But it didn't work, and now we need to think of some way to either make money very quickly or I am afraid you might be our only hope."

"You could bet on the pod races." Anakin piped up. "They're ziggered to the max! and Watto always enjoys betting on them."

"I know nothing about pod races." Qui-Gon objected, but he was looking at the youth speculatively now.

"Yeah, but I do!" Anakin said excitedly then went on to explain what the pod races were to a somewhat captive audience.

 **OOOOOOO**

As she had told Ranma she would Shaak made her way straight through the port, heading towards the two palaces. She found it odd that the two of them were so close together, _but then again,_ she reflected as she came within sight of them, _that might not be so surprising. Gardulla is supposed to be rather old, and her business ventures are more specialized. While Jabba is younger, and more of a Jack of all trades according to what the Order sent me._

The two forts were massive, sprawling complexes of the same stone that made up the rest of the city. One of them was built around one large building which looked several stories tall, connected along one side to another one story building that seemed to spread back and out beyond the main building. There were a few watch towers spread out on the roof of the buildings, but most of them seemed to face back from where the complex met the rest of Mos Espa.

The other castle seemed slightly larger in terms of area, the single large building built into a small caldera. That was all Shaak could tell from the outside about it, except for the fact that the name 'Jabba' was carved into the stone over the main entrance, an open gate made of stone that, like its counterpart on the other castle, was around two stories tall.

She was surprised however to see those gates were open, the guards lackadaisical, and a lot of traffic going on between and around the castles. It seemed that neither Hutt felt the need to have obvious defenses. That didn't mean they weren't defended of course, after all most of the people here worked for them, and there were no doubt automated defenses somewhere.

As planned Shaak mode of dress and aggressive walk made an impression, and the crowd made way for her almost automatically, with many of them murmuring and watching her, but none of them getting up the courage to approach her just yet. She fit in, but at the same time her manner made it clear that she was different from the regular rabble all around her, allowing her to bypass a lot of the normal issues any stranger would face.

In this manner she entered the first castle easily, finding the doors opening into a large hall full of people and noise. One wall leading away from the entrance housed a bar, while at the far end of the other was the entrance to the other building. Here and there the crowd seemed to gather in larger clumps, staring at something or other. It was only when she moved towards the bar that she could see past them to the pits they were congregating around. From within the pits came the sounds of combat.

Here and there throughout the crowd scantily dressed slaves of both genders moved through the crowd. Most of them were human, with two Twi'lek males and one little Chadra-Fan female, the last an obvious waitress. _Interesting that there are so many males among the slaves here, I wonder, gah, no don't wonder, ugh, bad thoughts…_ Shaking her head slightly Shaak moved over to the bar for now, still checking out the crowd and the slaves. It didn't look like Aayla was here however.

Sitting down, Shaak ordered a drink, her voice the carefully forged lisp that she and Ranma had created rather than her normal cultured tones. "Yas got Cafessi Firewhiskey?"

The barman, a wild looking Bothan nodded, and turned away. Before they had left the ship she had taken the precaution of taking a sobriety pill, which would allow her to imbibe drinks without being effected.

Before her drink arrived a voice a voice from behind her, cut through the general hubbub causing Shaak to turn slightly on her stool as it addressed her. "You are new here are you not?"

"I's am," she said, calmly, staring at the speaker, a elderly Rodian with one antenna missing. "Who wants ter know?"

"I am Licersca, I work for Gardulla the Hutt who's drinks you are currently enjoying. " The Rodian said calmly.

Shaak nodded agreeably. "Then maybes I's should be talkin' to you. I'm lookin' fer work. Yas got any place fer a merc?"

"There is always work on offer of course, but what kind are you looking for?" the man said, showing no surprise at the Togrutan's teeth.

"Names Calis Dumrao. As fer the type, anythin' and everythin' that's high-paying that won't take me back into the Core Worlds. I's just finished working for a Corporate Sector company." She spat to one side, shaking her head angrily. "Dey paid us for a bit of a dustup operation, big ol' smash'n burn, then decided ta shortchange us. The group I's was with tried ter argue the point, and they sent their own security forces after us. I's was able to escape, the other's didn't. But it took half my ready cash ta gets out of there to here, I's heard the Hutts're always hiring good guns."

The Rodian stroked his cheek thoughtfully, staring at Shaak who stared back, somewhat cockily, in keeping with her character but not so much as to come off as arrogant. If the Hutts had access to he'd be able to establish the event that Shaak was hinting at, because such an event had recently occurred in the Corporate World sector, not that it was at all a rare event.

The Corporate Worlds were a separate entity for the most part from the Republic, where corporations ruled and the bottom line was everything. What security forces that existed were just that, security forces that didn't obey any laws as Shaak understood the term but simply followed the orders of the companies. Companies there hired mercenary groups or individuals for jobs and then routinely refused to pay them the full amount, knowing that they really had no way to force the issue.

The Rodian opened his mouth to reply but a gravelly sort of voice interrupted their conversation first. "You, female, you're sitting on my seat."

Shaak calmly turned her head to glare at the alien, a species she hadn't met before backed by four others. He sneered as Shaak looked at him. "Didn't you hear me, I said yer in my seat."

"I's heard ya, I's was waiting for you to say something I's actually care about." Shaak said with a wave of her hand. "Fark off, we're talkin' business."

The big alien pushed the Rodian aside, though Shaak noted that he didn't do so hard enough to actually do more than move him aside. "Talk about your business somewhere else. Give me my seat or …" he leered at her, his eyes playing down Shaak's body from head to toe, "Pay for its use."

Shaak rolled her eyes, then without warning kicked out, catching the alien in the crotch. He doubled over in agony, then flew backwards from a punch that hurled him backwards into two of his fellows. Before the other goon could pull his weapon out, Shaak's blaster was in her hand. A single shot rang out, shattering the other fellow's blaster in its holster.

This caused the alien, a Aqualish to squeal, a sound that brought the crowd's attention to what was going on. The onlookers quickly made room, some of them even beginning to bet on the outcome.

The alien she'd already attacked was down for the count, but his two compatriots scrambled out from underneath him quickly while she dealt with their fellow, their blasters raised. Shaak however leaped off of the bench, rolling forward. Kicking out hard against one of them, she brought her elbow in conjunction with the other's nose. _Thank you Ranma for your hand to hand training!_

"GAHgh," her second target screamed, thrashing around on the ground and wailing. With him dealt with Shaak turned on the other, swiftly pressing her blaster into the side of his face. A blue stun bolt hit him and he slumped into unconsciousness.

Standing up she scowled at the two wounded aliens. "Get over yerselves, ya bunch o' weak kriffers. Grab yer friends and get outta here before I's change my mind and kills the lot of ya."

The Rodian had simply watched this all in silence, and as the quartet began to pick themselves up he nodded. "You're quite skilled," he said, making no attempt to hide that this had been a test. "But why didn't you kill any of them?"

"I's figured it was a test, but also figgered it'd be bad manners to farkle my prospective employers employees. Besides, I's might have to work with one of these fools in the future." She made a theatrical shudder, and the Rodian smiled.

He gestured at the barman, who put the drink Shaak had ordered on the bar. "Decently skilled and intelligent, excellent. Unfortunately, **my** employer is not hiring any more mercenaries at present. We recently hired an entire company of mercenaries so we have no need of more new blood." He went on gesturing to the aliens Shaak had stunned or otherwise beaten, who were now the butt of the crowd's jokes and comments. "This lot was some of the last remnants of a group we had hired previously."

"I's can be a good bodyguard too." Shaak said, though she now felt that Aayla wasn't anywhere in this complex. While there were a few female slaves scattered throughout the crowd they seemed few and far between. Male slaves there were aplenty, but most of them looked more like fighters than anything else, save for one or two that were very obviously pleasure slaves.

"No, I'm afraid even there my employer is not looking for any more aid. And you would not be the kind she would hire in any event." He gestured to one of the slaves that Shaak had thought was a pleasure slave.

"I's see." Shaak said scowling theatrically. "That's a pity. I's understand that Mos Espa ain't a good place to live if you're down on your luck. I's don't suppose Jabba's hiring? He'd not be my first choice, since I's know Jabba's reputation, but it's better than being poor, or trying my hand at honest work or stealing."

If you are caught at it stealing would mean your hands getting cut off if you stole from someone working for one of the Hutts." The Rodian said mildly. "However, you are in luck. Jabba is always hiring, and he very much prefers to higher single pirates or small groups unlike Gardulla. I will call over, and tell my opposite number that you have already gone through an initiation here. You might face something similar again despite this but such is the way of things."

Shaak nodded, making understanding noises as she lifted the drink in the Rodian's direction like a salute before downing half of it, ignoring the scalding spicy flavor. Afterwards she looked at the drink and shook it slightly. "In that case I's will finish my drink before I's go."

The Rodian laughed, then nodded and turned away, soon disappearing into the crowd. Shaak turned with her drink in hand, moving through the crowd of aliens. She closed with each of the scattered pits she had seen earlier, noting that in each a pair of slaves were in the process of smashing one another into pieces for the enjoyment of the crowd. It seemed normal here, and indeed the majority of the crowd of mercenaries didn't seem to even look in the direction of the fighting.

 _So, Gardulla really does specialize in a certain type of slave, along with information and gun running. Interesting, and if myself or Ranma can find out where the central control system is, we might be able to garner some support from the pit fighters here._

In keeping with that idea Shaak continued to move around the place, memorizing the layout, while dealing with a few wandering hands in the crowd, her elbows getting quite a workout. Even as her body dealt with these annoyances automatically, Shaak concentrated on other things, the fact there weren't very many automated defenses, the various guard positions, and the fact all the slaves had heavy collars on them, as their information had told them would be the case.

She also noted the number of slaves in comparison to the number of mercenaries, and smiled internally as she watched new gladiators come and go every few minutes. There was at least one slave for every three gangsters, a closer ratio than she had feared, and, given the number of heavy weapons Ranma had brought along, possibly enough.

 _On the other hand…_ Shaak concentrated her attention a time or two on the group of mercenaries that would no doubt be the main problem: a group of twenty Trandoshans dressed in a yellow and purple uniform that looked vaguely military. They moved around the place purposefully, and were obviously members of Sirixx's Mercenary Company, the group the Mon Calamari Information Bureau had noticed passing through a corner of their sectors several weeks ago.

 _That group could be a problem if we go that route. Luckily it seems as if they aren't all on station yet._ Desiring more information, Shaak angled her wandering toward that group and away a time or two, listening in on their conversation. This group was indeed the first of several dozen similarly sized groups to arrive, and numbered a total of fifty in total, with twenty on guard at all times with ten in reserve while the others rested or trained. The Company was apparently having trouble getting transportation, their space-arm having broken off from the rest of the group recently due to a contract dispute. _Good, that means we have a window of opportunity here._

After a final round around the room Shaak returned her drink to the bar, completely empty including the ice which here on Tatooine made up half the price of the drink. She nodded at the barman and left, heading over to Jabba's place.

Unlike Gardulla, Jabba had actual security around the place. First were four Gamorreans outside to either side of the large doors. Those doors were open, but the eight Gamorreans glared and prodded at anyone they didn't like the look of, which seemed to be every fifth person they saw. This included Shaak, but she, still keeping in character, glared right back, and the Gamorrean who had gone to prod her with his poleaxe backed away.

Inside, the place was slightly more crowded, not uncomfortably so but getting there. Also unlike Gardulla's place, the lighting in here was rather dim, and there was background music, loud and the sort of techno-pop that was so popular these days, unlike the music she preferred which was mostly vocal and orchestral. Although Tune and Ranma had opened her up to the music from his world on the trip here, needing the lyrics translated sort of killed her enjoyment of them.

Here and there were small platforms raised out of the floor, and these were the center of most of the crowd's attention. Because on them were poles, and around those poles were half naked female slaves dancing away. Shaak took the first few in at a glance, and saw two humans and one blue skinned alien whose species she only vaguely recognized, a sight that caused her teeth to grind, but she had been prepared for it.

Deeper into the cavern however were two more platforms and the sight of the dancers on them caused Shaak to clamp down on her emotions with all the hard-earned control she had. Even so for a moment her hands clenched hard at her sides, and she had to work hard to keep moving forward as if the sight didn't matter to her. A mantra began to work it's way through her head, _there is anger, but there is also justice, there is emotion, but also control._

Because on one platform was a Togrutan girl who looked a little younger than herself. She danced there, her face blank as if heavily drugged, yet her movements were fluid and alluring all the same. And in pride of place, the nearest place to Jabba's own raised dais was Aayla.

Aayla'secura was a Twi'lek Rutian girl of around eighteen with a gorgeous face, sleek skin and hazel eyes. She was tallish for her gender and race, coming up to Shaak's own height. She had a dancer's natural grace and body, honed throughout her life first by dancing lessons then by Jedi training and a more balanced diet than most of her species was able to see. Her breasts were a little over a size smaller than Shaak's, and her lekku slightly longer. Currently Aayla wore bangles here and there which shimmered as she moved, a tight pushup bra that barely covered her assets, and a t-back panty that again barely covered her privates, along with a collar around her neck.

The site of her friend dolled up like that almost made Shaak Ti break character, but she grabbed her emotions, her rage and fear for her friend and controlled them, letting them out in a slow, long hiss that went unnoticed by anyone around her. _Control, do not let it show do not allow it to effect your connection to the Force. Wait , remember the plan…. There will be_ _ **justice**_ _!_ After a moment Shaak began to move through the crowd staring first at one slave then in the other, summoning up a leer as she did so with difficulty, still following the plan she and Ranma had contrived for this part of the operation.

Her meander was interrupted by one of the aliens noticing her doing a double take and moving in her direction. "Hey darling, you up for some fun?"

Another alien from behind Shaak joined in at the same time by try8ing to drape an arm over her shoulders. "I saw her first, ya Druk! What's yer price baGKK!"

That question ended in a grunt of agony as Shaak's elbow shot backwards, catching that alien in the chest, followed by reaching back to grab him by the ear before throwing him in the direction of the first alien.

As the crowd surrounding them began to laugh, Shaak joined in shaking her head. "Sorry boys I's not be for sale, and if I's wanted to have fun you're not the ones I'd choose fer it. None of you have the parts I's be interested in."

With that she turned, looking at the dancers leering at each in turn. The crowd around her got the rather broad hint, and many of them began to shout ribald comments, but Shaak ignored them, allowed her leer to grow slightly, as if used to that reaction but truly uninterested in any of the watchers. After a few moments she moved on, having to deal yet again with a few wandering hands despite her earlier declaration.

At one point this became serious. Several aliens tried to pin her arms behind her while another alien went in for a squeeze of her chest. But Shaak pulled out her blaster and stunned one of the aliens before sending a second to the floor with a kick to the temple. When she left the third groaning in agony over a knee to the crotch the rest of the crowd got the idea to back off, instead once again laughing at their fellow's misfortune.

A few moments after that incident she had made her way halfway to where Aayla was dancing her meander was interrupted by a slightly overweight male Twi'lek with white skin. He was a particularly disreputable example of the race, his teeth were artificially sharpened beyond what a Twi'lek would normally have, his nails long and equally sharp, and one tentacle was wrapped around his neck, the other loose. He also looked as if he didn't bathe regularly.

"Licersrca called ahead about you Durac, you are here for a job?" The Twi'lek let his eyes wander Shaak's body from head to foot, and she controlled her initial reaction once again with difficulty.

It wasn't the first time she'd been leered at like that, but most politicians at least didn't make it so obvious, and her lightsaber warned off most people otherwise. Worse, there was just something about this man who made that act even more vile than it already was. But ironically the control she had been using to stop falling into the closeness she had shared with Ranma back on Dac came to play again here, and she simply gazed back, one eyebrow raised and one hand cocked on her blaster.

After a moment the man stopped his perusal and smirked. "You've the looks to work for Jabba, and if you passed the little test here and in Gardulla's I suppose you some skills as well."

"Unlike most of your mercs, I's actually worked for a living for the past few years," Shaak replied dryly. "I's don't suppose most of your gang members actually get much exercise out here what's with you and your friend's employer havin' ruled the nest fer so long. Putting down dirt farmer ain't tough after all."

"You'd be surprised." the alien replied dryly, gesturing her to follow him as he turned. "The Tusken raiders are always a problem, and are growing more so these days."

"I've heard about t'ose creepsters," Shaak replied with a shrug. "I's have ta see firsthand if they was as tough as they're supposed to be. Though obviously they'd have the terrain advantage. That can counts fer a lot."

"Indeed," the Twi'leksaid then bowed deeply to his master who looked up from smoking or something on a long pipe. The slug like alien lay on it's hover-sled, it's wide reptilian eyes set over an even wider mouth completing the image of a slug crossed with a snake with arms added in for good measure. Those arms were thick and strong, and Shaak knew the body was also deceptively strong, despite the species penchant for using hover sleds to get around.

Despite the danger the Hutt represented, it was all Shaak could do to keep her eyes on her prospective employer rather than on Aayla, who continued to dance on her pole to one side. At first Shaak thought that maybe Aayla hadn't recognized her, but this close, Aayla should have recognized Shaak whatever her disguise. It might've been a few months, but her appearance under the disguise hadn't changed that much.

With an effort Shaak kept her attention on Jabba as he leered at her, commenting on her beauty and what she could do for him to gain an immediate payment if she was in need, his words translated by a badly beaten up protocol droid. When she shot that down with the same line she used earlier on the two aliens who'd first opportuned her Jabba laughed a deep belly laugh, and gestured at Aayla. "I suppose then you've noticed my little collection?" The droid said in response to his master's Huttese.

"I's have, and I's be willing to do without pay fer two months to buys that little number off ya." She said, moving over to stand as close as she could to the platform where Aayla was dancing. She was so close that Aayla couldn't help but look at her, and Shaak stared back with her uncovered eye for a moment, looking for any sign of recognition there.

But there wasn't one, just a slack, strangely ecstatic look, much like the young Togrutan dancing elsewhere in the room. Again that mantra went through her mind. _There is anger, but there is also justice, there is emotion, but also control. Don't worry Aayla, I will rescue you, by the Force I swear it._

Jabba bellowed in laughter again, shaking his massive head. The interpreter replied, "That special one is not for sale. That one has already been sold, so unless you can meet the prospective buyer's initial payment, that will not happen."

"I's can see how special she is," Shaak said, adopting a leer once more as she watched Aayla's breasts move in her dance. This whole acting thing was far harder than she had hoped it would be, but she kept in character with difficulty. _I am so sorry Aayla, I know how much you hate being looked at like this, but don't worry, I'll make it up to you as quickly as possible. I just, I just hope that you haven't suffered as much as I fear you have… there is anger, but_ _ **justice**_ _, oh yes…_

Both of her listeners laughed at that, and then she and the Twi'lek began to haggle about her pay. Eventually they reached an agreement on a weekly pay of 3,000 local credits. Shaak felt she had haggled about it enough to remain in character, but she would have to report the next day to prove how good a sniper she was to get that full pay, which she had agreed to easily.

"You'll also of course have to find someplace for to stay for now, unless you wish to stay here in the barracks?" the Majordomo, whose name was Bib Fortuna, asked leering.

Shaak quickly shook her head. "I's will make my own arrangements fer now. No offense, but I's like to have my own place, and not needs ta sleep with a bomb set up by the door."

Jabba laughed again then waved a hand at her dismissing her. He said something in Huttese to his majordomo and Bib lien smiled his long thin tongue flickering out to wet his lips as he looked from Shaak to the dancers. "Feel free to stick around and take part in the entertainment. Just remember you can look but don't touch. That is reserved for my Master's favorites." Implied in his tone was that he was one of those favorite, and he looked over to Aayla with a leering proprietary air mixed with something like sadness.

Shaak hoped that meant that while he'd taken some liberties with the obviously drugged Jedi, he hadn't taken all the liberties he could. But she had no way of knowing whether that was the case or not, and feared that it was not. _There is anger, but there is also justice, there is emotion, but also_ _ **control**_ _, I am master of my body and emotions, I will not let them master me, nor will I let them impact the Force around me. I really hope that we have to go with the direct option here, and that you try to get in my way, you… you pestilential scumbag!_

"I's will take yas up on that." Shaak replied aloud even as those thoughts went through her head. She moved back over to the dais to watch Aayla, before making her way past her and moving over to one of the other dancers. But when she got there, Shaak turned in such a way that she could continue to look at Aayla past that dancer without being obvious about it.

 _Oh Aayla, what have they done to you?_ _No recognition, no sign of thought. She looks like she's in a sort of ecstasy fugue! I can't even imagine the amount of drugs it would take to overcome a Jedi's ability to purge such, so have they come up with a new drug that deadens Force powers, or did they just give her more than Aayla could successfully eliminate?_

She was tempted to try her luck with the Force for a moment but she didn't. Something warned her that it would be a bad idea, above and beyond Ranma's worries about it and her own roiling emotional state. A moment later she was very thankful for having followed that instinct because she noticed a woman working on a large sniper rifle in a corner.

The woman had pale green skin and red hair done up in a long topknot. She was somewhat attractive, in the same way that Shaak's current cover identity was, sharp, aggressive and wild seeming. Besides the rifle, she was armed with a blaster at either hip, and a large, heavily armed suitcase was laid out in a chair next to her.

She looked up as if she felt Shaak's eyes on her, and Shaak glared right back, two strong mercenary women acknowledging one another. After a moment Shaak nodded slowly, and the other woman nodded back before going back to her rifle pointedly as Shaak turned away, looking at the dancers and no longer concentrating on Aayla even surreptitiously just in case.

Because Shaak Ti recognized that woman. She wasn't just any mercenary, oh no, she was someone far more dangerous. _Aurra Sing, former padawan of the Shadow Lady, current Bounty Hunter, killer of at least three Jedi since she began to take bounties a year ago. This just became far more complicated._

 **OOOOOOO**

Aurra Sing frowned, looking at the Togrutan female out of the corner of her eye. The woman looked dangerous, and certainly recognized Aurra herself as such. Still, there was nothing else about her that stood out, and Aurra decided to ignore her for now. If the Togrutan wanted to challenge Aurra, that could be dealt with in time. Right now, she wanted to finish the repairs on her sniper scope, then maybe hunt down those rumors flying around about two Jedi in the city. The descriptions matched the two she had met on Kwannot that had beaten off her attack. If they were, well she might not be getting paid for them, but there was such a thing as personal satisfaction.

Just then her personal computer buzzed, and she opened it up, staring at the pad for a moment, her eyes widening slightly in shock. _3,000,000 of any denomination for confirmation of death!? That's as much as I'd charge for a kriffing senator! Huh, and it was sent here, which means whoever is willing to pay thinks one of these two are here… Screw the Jedi, I might have just found an even better target._

 **OOOOOOO**

After offering to put the angel and her companions up at his home for the night Anakin had jabbered on to Padme, talking about this or that project, while the idiot alien seemed to interject with his own comments here and there. Ranma ignored him on general principle, the guy sounded even stupider than Kuno and was even klutzier than Mousse at his blind worse.

But he and Qui-Gon had also exchanged stories in low tones, with the Jedi master expanding on the crisis facing Naboo and Ranma telling him about his and Shaak's mission here. "So you can see my young friend, while I would truly like to help you rescue Padawan Secura, I fear we might not have the time. Any frontal assault will result in the death of innocents, and we don't have time to waste on coming up with an elaborate plan. Every hour we spend here, the queen's planet is under the domination of the Trade Federation. Given how unlike them it is to act so openly and violently, I cannot begin to imagine what they will be doing with the citizens of Naboo."

Ranma allowed his eyes to flick over to a passing slave then tapped his neck thoughtfully, cocking an eyebrow at Qui-Gon. As he expected the older man got it immediately, and shrugged his shoulders. He spoke quietly so Padme, who was currently smiling politely at the boy's story, while still sneaking glances towards Ranma, couldn't overhear. "They probably wouldn't go that route right away, but given enough time… yes."

"That's a point in favor of my idea of taking out the slavers you know," Ranma mused, smirking at the older man, which caused Padme to turn away with a blush. Anakin saw this and he turned to glare a little at Ranma before grabbing Padme's attention once more with a story about a droid he was trying to repair.

"And what would happen after you left?" Qui-Gon asked. "Do you think these dirt farmers and various smugglers would be able to protect themselves from the Hutts' vengeance? Even if the spacers stayed around and decided to fight with them, which is very doubtful since there would be no profit in it for them, they wouldn't have the weapons or training to be any match for the mercenaries that the Hutts could hire to come in and regain control."

"Arming them wouldn't be a problem, not really." Ranma said shrugging his shoulders. "Willingness to fight with the slaves though, that's an issue. No, I can see that idea's not gonna fly. Shaak and I'll just have ta think about something else."

Both the Jedi looked at him quizzically, but Ranma had turned away, having overheard something interesting. "Hold on kid," he said tapping Anakin on the back of the head and interrupting his story to the princess.

Anakin looked up at him with a scowl, irritated at his interruption and the fact that he could tell that Padme was still looking at Ranma with interest despite the odd Force curse. "What?"

"You just said you're putting your own droid together right? That means you're pretty good with droids?" Anakin nodded puffing up his little chest for a moment. "I've got this ancient droid head I'd like to see repaired, if only to tell me how the heck he got so damaged in the first place."

Ranma made chopping and blasting motions with his hands, causing both Anakin and Padme to chuckle. "Someone **really** wanted it dead if you know what I mean. You think you can repair it?"

"What's in it for me?" The boy asked promptly.

Qui-Gon frowned. "That's actually a good question, besides, we have a plan going forward that will take up young Anakin's time in any event."

Anakin had convinced Qui-Gon, rather easily in Ranma's opinion, to bet on the boy in the pod race he'd been talking about when he told the Jedi he'd made his own pod. While that sounded fine to Ranma, he didn't like the fact the Jedi master had pressured Padme into waiting to at least see the pod before deciding what they should do. T _hey could have just taken my ship, I'd trust the two of them to look after it until they could get back here. But Qui-Gon's too interested in Anakin to just leave like that._

"What was the exchange-rate republic to whatever they use out here?" Ranma asked aloud. "You said it was bad, but not how bad."

"Five to one."

Ranma blinked. "Okay, that's really bad. Any reason why?"

"The Hutts don't want to encourage trade between the areas of space they control and everywhere else, it's as simple as that." Qui-Gon shrugged. "Besides, nearly their entire economy is based on illegal dealings elsewhere and slavery of all sorts, so even if the Republic wanted to it would be nearly impossible to set an exchange rate."

"hmm… well whatever, I can still probably pay ya for it kid. And since you're doing this on your own time, your owner can't argue about getting a cut." He suddenly held out the droid head from his ki space, causing the quartet with him to blink, wondering where the heck it had come from.

Pushing that mystery to the side Anakin enthusiastically nodded eager to get paid on his own for once.

Before Qui-Gon could question Ranma on where he had been hiding the droid head, Ranma's communicator buzzed slightly once, then again in quick succession. He smiled slightly, opening it up and moving into a nearby alleyway while the others waited. "Hey."

"Ranma they don't seem to be ready for anything, so I think we can assume we can communicate like this. Where are you?"

Ranma frowned slightly, detecting a tension in Shaak's voice he hadn't heard there before. _Damn, guess acting was harder than she expected, something I should've seen coming really._ "I'm heading out to the northeast section of town, furthest section. I'll be outside, probably nearest the desert. Oh, and I ran into those friends you thought might be in the area. But they might not be much help, because they need to leave as soon as possible."

"I understand I'll see you soon." With that Shaak disconnected, and Ranma and the others continued on their way.

They continued walking until they came around a small, well-cared for hovel and met a middle-aged woman waiting for them. She was a pleasant looking woman, pleasantly plain Ranma thought the expression was, with brown hair, brown eyes, tanned, slightly weathered skin, but with smile as well as frown lines around her mouth and she stood there as straight as she could despite the slave collar around her neck.

"Anakin! I expected you back an hour ago. What have you been doing, did Watto keep you overtime today? And who are these people?"

As Qui-Gon made introductions, Ranma moved around the place, noting the large amount of clutter, but the generally warm atmosphere of the place. _So neither Anakin or his mom've been beaten down by being slaves. Good for them, though I wonder if the mother was born into it or not?_

When Qui-Gon introduce him as 'Ranma, a friend of the Order,' he bowed politely, clapping his hands in front of him as he did so. "Gracious lady, may we enter this house?"

The woman blinked, then rather flustered bowed her head in turn. "Of, of course, please come inside."

Padme looked at Ranma, one eyebrow raised. "Perhaps I underestimated you, you **do** have some manners."

Ranma shrugged, smiling faintly. "She reminds me of a girl I knew back home, real homebody she was, but with a bit of steel in her too." He gestured to the mother who was now talking to Anakin, looking at the two Jedi. "To live this kind of life, yet still look as content as she does, that takes some steel. And look at her son, doesn't look as if he's gone hungry too often. As a slave with a kid, I bet that was damn hard."

Looking between the two slaves Padme bit her lip, noting that the woman did look a little thin to her eyes. But she stood there with something that could almost approach pride, unbowed, despite her lot in life. "I see," she said quietly.

She stood with Ranma, watching as Anakin raced inside, jabbering to his mother about being paid himself to fix the head, and the idea of the race and buying their freedom. The older woman looked a little overcome by it, but happy.

As Obi-Wan made to enter the hovel after his master and the Skywalkers however, Ranma reached out, grabbing his shoulder. "Not so fast my friend. You still owe me a bit of a spar for outing my secret in front of Watto and Inquisitive Hands boy."

Padme chuckled as Obi-wan blanched, looking at the younger man beseechingly. "Mercy?"

"Nope." Ranma laughed, and without another word lifted Obi up into the air by his grip on the padawan's shoulder, hurling him to the side before the padawan could react despite his own training. "Besides ya might learn something!"

Inside Shmi Skywalker and Qui Gon heard his padawan's yelp of pain, but when Shmi made to get up and see what was happening Qui-Gon stopped her. "Don't worry, this is simply boys being boys. They won't hurt eachother… much. Now, please, tell me about yourself, and about your son. Specifically, do you believe he can make good his promise about winning the race?"

Ranma and Obi began to spar with the padawan noticeably getting the worst of it, surprising Padme greatly. Obi wan didn't draw his lightsaber, mindful of his master's wish to try and keep a low profile as much as possible. Yet without it he found himself overmatched by Ranma, even though Ranma was only using one hand against him.

Worse was the planet's heat, overcoming his ability to regulate his body's temperature. Ten minutes in Obi was drenched in sweat and took his shirt off, tossing the sodden mass to one side.

Watching this, Padme was suddenly very grateful she had decided to stay outside. Her eyes went from Ranma, whose wet shirt clung to him even more now than it had when dry, to the shirtless Obi, whose body showed the results of a lifetime of Jedi training. He wasn't as sculpted as Ranma, but to her eyes it was a near-run thing. Moments like this, when she could be just a girl rather than a queen or official were incredibly rare, and this one was the best she'd had in years. _By the Force I am glad I decided to come with them! Wait until I tell Sabe and the others about this!_

They were still at it when Shaak showed up around forty minutes later. She came around the corner and stopped suddenly, staring. On top of her still roiling emotions an unusual feeling rose up in her as she saw a young human girl staring at Ranma's body as he flipped another young man around as if he weighed nothing. It wasn't anything that Shaak hadn't seen before, but the fact that some other girl was staring at Ranma bothered her for some reason she didn't understand.

That feeling faded however when Ranma caught sight of her, turning away from his opponent. Suddenly all of his attention was on her, and Shaak had to fight the urge to preen slightly as she saw his eyes rake down her form. Then that look faded into a softer one of concern and something else she had no words for as Ranma bounded towards her, cocking his head anxiously as he came within arm's reach. "Did you find Aayla?"

And with that Ranma both made Shaak's admiration for him rise and brought her mind back to what really mattered. "I did find Aayla thank you for your concern. I, I just…" she faltered, trying to come up with a way to describe what she had seen and the effect it had on her, and couldn't come up with anything to describe her day that didn't sound trite to her own ears. Even the mantra in her head sounded lame and weary.

It turned out she didn't have to. Ranma understood somehow and wordlessly pulled her into a hug, his arms going around her shoulders. Shaak Ti knew that it was most un-Jedi like conduct, she knew that she should be trying to retain some distance between them both physically and mentally, but after the day she'd had she didn't care. She welcomed Ranma's hug, putting her own arms around him in turn basking in his wordless reassurance and support. Her anger and sadness faded away, replaced by renewed strength and determination.

They stood there for a moment, before Shaak reluctantly backed away from the hug blinking as she noticed that the shirtless young man Ranma had been 'sparring' with was someone she vaguely recognized. Another older human gentleman that she had seen a few times in the Temple but never actually spoken to also came out of the shanty, one eyebrow raised quizzically. The young man's expression however looked almost censorious, frowning heavily.

But the older man simply said, "I take it you had a rough time today, Knight Ti?"

"One of the hardest in living memory Master Qui-Gon." She held up her hand in formal greeting. "Greetings. What brings you to this oh-so pleasant planet?"

"A mission of some importance, I'm afraid. Knight Ti, be known to Queen Padme Amidala of Naboo." Qui-Gon gestured to the young girl who had been watching the two young men exercise. "Her planet is currently being blockaded by the Trade Federation for reasons we have yet to discover."

Padme bowed, somewhat thrown by the older woman's appearance, though when she saw Shaak's face that faded somewhat, the expression on that face definitely did not match the rest of her outfit. There was a sense of calm determination there at odds with the aggressive, in-your-face nature of the rest of her outfit. _A disguise then?_ "Greetings Knight Ti."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, your highness, admittedly a dubious one given our current location. I take it there is a story there?" Shaak asked.

"Just like your own presence has a tale I'm told." Qui-Gon replied, gesturing to Shmi, who had come out of the house with Anakin behind him. The boy was staring at Shaak avidly though his eyes also strayed over to Padme a time or two. "Perhaps we should talk further inside however."

 **OOOOOOO**

If Qui-Gon had hoped to get under cover before they were observed, his hope was in vain. Several miles away Darth Maul closed the high powered binoculars frowning faintly. While he was more than confident of his ability to face any two Jedi at a time, only a fool would take on three Jedi and the chaotic fulcrum at the same time. No, he would need to wait until they separated.

It was obvious given her disguise that the Togrutan Jedi and the chaotic fulcrum were here for another purpose. And given the message his master had allowed to pass through the Trade Federation, the queen would be desperate to get to the Senate and force it to aid her planet. They would need to split up quickly, so he could lie in wait outside the city between it and where the Nabooan yacht had touched down. There he could ambush the two Jedi, kill them and the queen, then come back for the fulcrum and the other Jedi afterward.

 **OOOOOOO**

"I see," Qui-Gon said thoughtfully, tapping his fingers together, having listened to Shaak Ti explain further why the two of them were on Tatooine after he and his padawan had explained why they were here as well. They had been interrupted by a message from captain Panaka, who had passed on a message of distress from Naboo that had made Padme furious and even more determined to leave for Coruscant as soon as possible. The only thing keeping her here was her concern for leaving her retainers, particularly her hand maidens, behind.

"I had not heard of any such plan, but of course that means nothing. I hope that young Quinlan will be able to bounce back from his descent into the Dark side, but you know he has always had some issues with controlling his emotions." Qui-Gon watched Shaak's face, and did not miss the slight twitch of her purple lips turning downward.

"That would be something to be concerned of master, if any of us Jedi were actually told how to control our emotions, rather than ignore them." she replied tartly. "Ranma and I have had many discussions about the Jedi Code and the Order in general. I've won several arguments about experimenting with the Force, certain bits of knowledge and ideas, but he has mostly won that particular argument."

Ranma had also won the debate about attachments but that hadn't sunk into Shaak Ti's mind yet. Nor had she made the jump from admitting that to seeing how it had to impact her own life, hence the issues she had been having lately. But her indoctrinated resistance to that idea was fading fast.

"A Jedi must not allow his emotions to cloud his judgment, a Jedi must remain in control at all times, giving into your emotions leads to the dark side." Said Obi-wan as if quoting, but his eyes were far away, distant.

Ranma cocked an eyebrow at him, thinking that Obi-wan would've been one of those who should've been jumping on Shaak for feeling anything or at least for letting her emotions show so clearly as she had earlier. But it was obvious he was thinking of something else entirely. _Huh…_

"Yes, but that idea has been taken to extremes within the Order. We are not allowed to express our emotions, we are not allowed to **feel** them. Instead we are forced to put them to the side, to push them down without expression. I think Quinlan does have issues with anger you're right master Qui-Gon, but I think those issues could have been lessened if he had ever been taught how to truly control and direct them in the first place. Anger is a powerful emotion it's true, but it can be overcome just like fear and hate." Shaak said passionately.

After all, she'd just had an entire day of controlling and slowly allowing such emotions to dissipate without breaking her cover. While she still had major concerns about the emotions that she felt growing between her and Ranma, the Jedi emotional conditioning had proven false in many ways already. If it wasn't for Ranma's training in meditation and their discussions, plus her own master's softer ideas about emotions, she would have lost control of them quickly.

She was somewhat surprised however when Qui-Gon merely raised an eyebrow, not questioning her at the moment. "So," she said, switching the topic suddenly. "What are your plans going forward?"

Shaak listened silently as Qui-Gon told her what they were planning, and she frowned. "That seems roundabout, surely Ranma your money would be enough to…"

"Enough to buy it if he would take Republic credits, yeah." Ranma shrugged. "But the freaking overgrown fly won't. They're no good out here apparently, and the Hutts are the ones who set the exchange rate. What was it, 1 to 5?"

"Exactly yes." Qui-Gon said with a sigh. "Even with Ranma's money added to ours after we exchange it we wouldn't have enough."

"So you plan to wager on this young boy?" Shaak said, looking over to Anakin, who had been looking at them all, listening quietly for once. "That is rather putting all of your eggs in one den is it not?"

"Humans say all in one basket." Ranma said with a chuckle, "but your meaning still came through. She's right you know, you don't have a backup plan. What if he loses?"

"I won't lose!" Anakin said, jumping to his feet and pointing at Ranma. "I'm the best pod racer there is, I've got better reflexes than any of 'em, I'm small and light! I would've won the last time if not for someone cheating and messing with my pod's engines!"

"Okay, so follow that to the logical conclusion," Ranma said with a smirk. "What if someone cheats again?"

"Despite my astonishment that Ranma even knows what the word logic means, I am forced to agree with him," Shaak put in, ignoring Ranma's wounded expression with a small smirk. "While it might seem an elegant solution, and would work in many ways, what if it doesn't? You have no fallback plan."

"We do." Qui-Gon said, serenely. As if it wasn't a wager at all as if it was a certainty, his eyes locked on Anakin. There was something strange about the intense about that stare, but Ranma couldn't put his fingers on it. "If the wager doesn't succeed, we are no poorer off, and then we will take Ranma up on his offer of using his ship. We would admittedly be forced to leave most of the queen's retainers behind, but better that than waiting here any longer."

He looked over at Padme, who looked torn between her duty to her planet and to her retainers. Eventually however she just nodded, having come around to the Master's points however reluctantly. "I agree to that Master Qui-Gon. Loathe as I am to admit it, captain Panaka and the others could remain here for a few days. Indeed, I'm almost tempted to leave now as it is and would do so if we didn't have a plan that would allow us all to stay together."

Shaak frowned, stroking one of her tentacles thoughtfully. "While I was in Jabba's palace, I attempted to find out everything I could about Aayla. I don't **think** they have any idea she's a Jedi, but she has already been sold." Her jaw clenched visibly at that, but again Ranma didn't feel any of the backlash effect he was looking for when she felt that jolt of anger from the Force. "We have only two days to work with before the buyer arrives apparently, I got one of Jabba's retainers drunk enough to tell me that."

She sighed, shaking her head. "I, I also don't like what has been done to Aayla mentally." The distress of her friend not recognizing Shaak, of looking so ecstatically mindless bothered Shaak even after leaving the palace. "The sooner we get her someplace safe where we can wean her off whatever concoction she's on, the better. I assume it's a combination of drugs and something else, but it is that unknown factor that bothers me. So does Aurra Sing's presence."

"It should." Qui-Gon said grimly. "Bringing her to justice would be an excellent idea. But don't underestimate her combat skills. Obi-wan and I fought her on Kwannot and we were barely able to fend her off."

"I think in combat I can handle her," Shaak said with a faint smile, looking over to Ranma who gave her a thumbs up, even though his eyes were glittering darkly. He did not like murderers, especially hired murderers. "It's the rest of it that bothers me, my being unable to reach out to Aayla with the Force because of her presence, and the timing issue..."

Anakin spoke out from where he had gone back to working on Ranma's droid head. "You know, you might be able to wager for her. The Hutts might not like Republic credits being used around here, but they do take them themselves. And they're always known for betting on pod races."

"You want us to wager on you with them?" Ranma asked, one eyebrow cocked. "You got a really high opinion of yourself don't you kiddo?"

"I'm the best." Anakin said, smirking back at him. "Like I said, I would have won last time, if not for that dug cheating!"

"We need a backup plan if Jabba isn't willing to wager Aayla or if Anakin loses." Ranma said, shaking his head. "I know my idea of an uprising is out the door, but I don't want to just give up on the idea of freeing all the slaves."

"Nor do I." Shaak said with a nod, ignoring Qui-Gon's shock and Obi-wan's wide eyes. The two of them were astonished that she was speaking about something like that so calmly, when their jurisdiction out here was non-existent. Trying something like that would almost be a declaration of war against the Hutts.

But once more facing the reality of slavery had destroyed any lingering arguments Shaak Ti had against freeing the slaves by any means they could. There were still problems that had to be overcome first however. "Yet not only is Aayla's safety a major concern, but we also need to face facts: even if we free the slaves, the rest of the planet is still under the control of the Hutts. Both of them might be in attendance here for the pod races, but the majority of their forces are elsewhere on the planet in their main bases. We have to assume that whoever they left in charge out there will try to take the slaves back if we just leave them here."

"If your ship couldn't fit my retainers and us, there's no way you could transport the slaves!" Padme objected while Anakin's eyes had lit up with near hero worship, staring between Ranma, Shaak and the two human Jedi. "I understand your wish to aid their plight, and I sympathize, but is it possible?"

"And besides, what about the slave collars?" Obi said, gesturing to Anakin and Shmi's. "They will explode if they are too far from the master's controller."

"That is a major hurdle for the slaves like Anakin and Miss Shmi, but not as much of one for the Hutts. They all are controlled by a single relay transmitter. Take that out, and the collars won't respond to any of the master's commands. But while Gardulla's slaves might not need much incentive to try to break out, all of Jabba's slaves are seemingly drugged into docility or otherwise broken, they will need a lot of help to escape. But the major issue, as Padme said, is getting the slaves away once we break them out." Shaak replied.

"That and breaking them out in the first place," Qui-Gon objected, while Anakin listened avidly, his hands still moving over the droid head despite this.

"How many slaves are we talking about anyway?" Ranma asked.

"Around forty, maybe closer to fifty gladiator types. Gardulla apparently just sent off most of her 'stock'. Jabba has upwards of a hundred mostly newly acquired slaves here. His palace here in Mos Espa is just one of his holdings here on Tatooine, but it is also apparently his training and main trading center. The only slaves elsewhere are those he keeps rather than sells on to other buyers." Shaak replied.

Ranma frowned, thinking hard. He knew they couldn't' do anything for the slaves scattered around the planet. Even if they could find them it would take too long, and the Hutts would have time to respond and send forces in, if the locals didn't try to fight them in the first place. Slavery wasn't just condoned here, it was part of the local economy, even the poorest dirt farmer didn't seem to have much empathy for the slaves, and wouldn't stick their necks out for them.

 _For evil to win good people must do nothing, that's the phrase right? Well here at least evil's won long since!_ Despite this, he wasn't willing to just leave the slaves here in Mos Espa.

At last he shrugged. "Well, _Wild Light_ only needs a single pilot, I mean Tune can fly it easily enough. So we'll just have to hijack another ship and one of us can pilot it."

Obi and Qui-Gon both looked shocked at that, while Padme was appalled and Anakin frowning. He did not like how the idea of freeing the slaves seemed so complicated, or that to do so they'd have to steal a ship. After all, these were Jedi, they should be able to just do it using the Force! It was weird and irritating to hear them talk about all these reasons not to. _When I become a Jedi I'll always do the right thing no matter how hard it is or what it is!_

Shaak however merely nodded judiciously. "I think that might be the best idea yes. One of us will have to survey the various docks, find a ship that will be able to lift out all the slaves. The ship could also provide overhead cover."

"I don't know about that, Tune wasn't exactly happy about the idea of even hurting someone, let alone killing them. One of us'd need to be in the ship to fire the weapons. Especially since I'd think the Hutts would have some kind of space defense force. Didn't the data we looked at say something about a spacefighter squad?"

"Yes, it did. But…"

Shaak was interrupted by Anakin, holding up the ancient droid head Ranma had given him. "Done! I had to replace some of the long term memory storage, it was shot to pieces, and some of its emotional control center. It's vocorder needed several new parts too, the rest of the damage was mostly already fixed or cosmetic. This head was actually in more complete shape than the one I'd been putting together for my own droid."

He held it out to Ranma who under his direction pressed a small button at the back of the skull where it would meet its neck, once it had one anyway. For a moment nothing happened then the droid's eyes lit up, locking on Ranma's. "Bemused Interest: Oh dear, I wonder how long I have been out of it. Resigned Greeting: Hello master, I am HK-47, a hunter killer droid. Hopeful query: May I kill someone for you today?"

"Huh, so were a combat droid? I figured that given how much damage you'd taken. As for you killing anyone, what would you do, talk them into a coma?"

"Hurt response: Master, I am a most proficient combatant with any weapon you care to name! My voice, while an excellent medium to show off my vast intellect, is not my weapon of choice I would I… Bemused horror: Why are none of my limbs responding to commands?"

Laughing Anakin raced off, coming back with a small piece of polished metal while everyone else watched, bemused, horrified, or amused in turn. The droid looked at its reflection in the mirror and a loud wordless squeal of electronic shock came from it's voice box. "SXXZZZZZzzzzzz! Shocked Exclamation: Wh-what happened to my glorious form? My powerful arms, my magnificent legs, where!?"

"No idea HK, though maybe Anakin here can whip you up something given enough time." Ranma replied, laughing at the admittedly amusing responses from the droid.

"Bemused appreciation: I, thank you? That feels so strange. Yes, thank you master, that will be much appreciated. How am I supposed to stand by you in battle and flense your enemies if I have no hands?"

"I'm a little disturbed right now." Obi Wan muttered, while Shmi nodded beside him.

"As amusing as this has been, I think we should move on," Shaak said, shaking her head while Qu-Gon was frowning, staring at the head as he tried to bring something to mind.

"Hold on a minute. This guy is a combat droid right? What if we hooked it up to the Wild Light to man the guns? Ranma asked. "That'd free me to back you or these two up on the ground and provide us some overhead cover." Ranma said, pointing a thumb at the two Jedi.

"Exclaimed shock: Wait, what's this? My master has enemies **and** has thought up a way for me to aid in killing them even before regaining my body? Amazement: Master, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

Shaak shrugged. "That's not a bad idea actually. With Tune there, we could easily hook the head, HK I mean to the controls of the weapons station. We'd just have to be very clear about the rules of engagement and the targets." She frowned at the head. "And what not to target."

"If you are determined to do this I think we must help you as best we can. We might not even need to steal a ship you know, after all smugglers at least would be willing to be paid in Republic credits." Qui-Gon said, shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

"Master!" Obi-wan objected.

"They are right my padawan, the Order hasn't done enough in the last few centuries to curb the slave trade. This would not only save dozens of lives but would also send a sharp message to them about the reach of the Jedi and what lengths we are willing to go to protect the Republic's citizens."

"I, I must reluctantly agree." Padme said, shaking her head. "I don't like the idea of having to break the law ourselves, but it is the lesser of two evils. Yet I have to remind you that our own mission is one that will not wait Master Jedi. As we sit here my people suffer!"

"Agreed. I will aid you both in this for now, but when Anakin wins tomorrow, we will need to be on our way quickly." Qui-Gon replied, while Obi simply sighed.

He understood Padme and his master's opinions, he just didn't like it. Then again he felt they should be taking Ranma's ship to Coruscant now. He could understand Padme not wanting to leave her hand maidens behind here in particular, and Panaka and the few other guards with them hadn't impressed him. With Aurra Sing on the planet he even understood the need for both of them to stay here if anyone else was, especially if Ranma and Knight Ti were going to be busy.

 _I just wish I could convince myself that those logical reasons were behind this decision and not his interest in young Anakin._ Obi thought, looking at the older man and the young boy.

 **OOOOOOO**

Later that night, while Anakin was sleeping inside along with Obi-Wan and Padme and the two older adults were talking by candlelight, Ranma and Shaak were outside.

"All planets have a certain beauty to them, if you catch them in the right light." Shaak murmured, as the two sat on a dune right next to the house, staring out into the desert night, the last of the day's tension fading away. "Even here, even with the evil of the Hutts so prevalent, this planet still has a certain austere beauty."

"Yeah," Ranma said, his eyes actually more on Shaak than on the view around them. "The view is incredible."

Shaak turned, but by the time she did, Ranma was already looking away, a faint flush on his face as he realized what he had actually said aloud. Shaak frowned a little, thinking that she had missed something there but not knowing what.

Eventually Ranma asked, "So you think this Aurra Sing woman is going to be the major issue?"

"One of many. The sheer number of mercenaries here is a little off-putting, but we could deal with them. With the weaponry you're carrying around the gladiators will become a major help. But Sing and the Trandoshan mercenaries are a major obstacle to any kind of large scale rescue."

"Tell me more about this Aurra woman. Do you think she's involved with whatever's going on with Aayla?"

"I don't think so, it's not her style. Killing Aayla yes I can see that, even capturing her if the money was right. But drugging her and selling her off…" Shaak's fists clenched, and Ranma quickly reached down, taking one hand in his own and squeezing it.

Shaak nodded and squeezed back, not noticing that Ranma had actually been looking with her with his key sight as she became angry. What he saw there made him smile. Despite her anger, her Force connection was still the same. _Her self-control really is getting_ _ **very**_ _good!_

"Anything you can add to what Qui and Obi said…" Ranma paused as Qui-Gon came out of the house, a small datapad in one hand and something small and mechanical in the other.

He looked at Shaak who cocked her head thoughtfully. "A Midi-Chlorian counter. I take it Master Qui-Gon that you took a sample of young Anakin?"

"I did, you must admit that the boy is positively brimming with the Force." Qui-Gon replied, though he seemed somewhat reluctant to discuss this even as he moved over to join them.

"I suppose, he certainly does seem to have a way about him. But he is rather old. There have been other younglings brought in at his age to be sure, but he'll have a lot of catching up to do." Shaak replied. "And will the boy really wish to be parted from his mother? You know the Order will demand that, and the two of them are quite close. I can't remember any other older youngling that had such a strong familial connection, nor one who had lived as harsh a life."

Qui-Gon shrugged. "You didn't hear the boy earlier, he wants to be a Jedi, a 'great Jedi' he says. I think that tomorrow I will make a further deal with the Toydarian, he seems the greedy sort. If we put up the Nabooan yacht, then he'll have to put up something more than just the engine we need. That way Anakin can not only win us the parts but his and his mother's freedom as well."

"Not a bad idea, the little bastard seemed the greedy sort." Ranma said with a nod. "And Shmi might even be a help to us." Aayla looked at him and he shrugged. "If Aayla's been put through as much as we fear, having an older woman who might have gone through a similar nightmare when she was younger could be a major help."

Shaak nodded, while Qui-Gon simply looked quizzical and almost dismissive, his attention turning to his datapad as it beeped at him. What it showed made him smile slightly but somewhat worriedly, looking almost as if he had just been given a bit of news he had been searching, hoping to find for years. "I knew it… the boy is a vergence…"

"What's a vergence?" Ranma asked, as Shaak reared back in surprise.

"A vergence, a being created by the Force itself… His mother couldn't tell me anything about the boy's father, only saying she had not laid with anyone at the time, the Force itself used her womb to create life..."

Ranma was about say something about the woman maybe having been given some powerful drugs but Qui-Gon went on his voice sounding way too close to a fanatic's for Ranma's state of mind. "He is the Chosen One I knew it! The Force has told me for years that it would be up to me to find him, and I have. He is the chosen one destined to restore balance to the Force."

Hearing that, Ranma couldn't help but snort. "Fuck destiny."

"Why does that attitude not surprise me?" Shaak said, smiling faintly. She didn't believe in that prophecy either, but she knew that Jedi Seers had made accurate predictions in the past.

"I think we make our own fates, we have no one to blame but ourselves for our mistakes, and we have no one to thank for what we do except for us too. Your Force doesn't forge our destinies, we do." Ranma said, somewhat passionately, surprising Qui-Gon, but not Shaak. She understood how much Ranma valued his freedom, it was one of many things she admired about him.

"That is your interpretation my young friend, and no doubt it works for you. But we Jedi are servants of the Force. We have long felt the Dark Side gaining power, indeed lately it has started to get even worse. Our visions of the future are clouded, even the best of us can't see the future any longer. The worst part is that there doesn't seem to be any single event or individual behind it, it just seems as if the Force itself is becoming unbalanced, possibly because of all the recent conflicts."

"True, even I've felt that, although not nearly as powerfully since I've been around Ranma." Shaak murmured smiling slightly at him.

"Yes, Ranma's presence does seem to blow back the Dark Side of the Force, but that is a far cry from returning the balance to the Force Knight Ti." Qui-Gon replied almost dismissively. "The legend of the Chosen one says he will be a Jedi and he will return balance to the Force."

"Okay, two, no three points." Ranma said holding up his fingers. "One, balance in nature is all well and good, are you sure it'd be good in the Force? Doesn't that mean there would be as much Dark Side Force as Light?"

Ranma really didn't know why they were talking about this, prophecies and destiny and balance all of it was stupid as far as he was concerned. Destiny was for idiots who wanted to excuse their actions and the concept of balance, of yin and yang, was real but when you tried to expand it beyond your own body it tended to fall apart. And to his mind, most prophecies seemed to be self-fulfilling ones.

Shaak Ti stifled a laugh at that, never having been a great believer in the idea of a Chosen One, while Qui-Gon shook his head, as if Ranma had just said something that was patently ludicrous. To his mind the Jedi served the Force, not just the Light side, but the balance of the Force in its entirety. The Dark Side by its very nature overthrew that balance in large quantities such as what was occurring now.

But Ranma ignored this, holding up a second finger. "Two, I don't care if ya bring him with ya to the Order or whatever, but don't ever mention this Chosen One crap in front of him."

Qui-Gon made to protest, but Ranma held up a hand. "I'm sort of an expert on the kind of trouble being told and believing you are special can get a person into. Building up that kind of ego, that kind of arrogance in a Jedi, with your connection to the Unifying Force and it's weird magnifying effect is just asking for trouble."

Talking with Shaak and Master Halcyon about his time in Nerima, Ranma had been forced to realize that a lot of his issues had been started or made worse by his refusal to back down from a challenge and from his belief he was the best, almost as much as from his lack of social skills. He didn't like that, but he had been forced to face facts, his ego did get him into a lot of problems a bit of empathy or diplomacy could have gotten him out of.

"I agree." Shaak said softly but firmly. "Remember Master Qui-Gon, it often isn't the strength of the Jedi that make him or her great, but his ability with what strength he has, his insight, and his control." _There is passion but control…_ Shaak shook her head quickly, getting rid of the memory of Master Halcyon telling them about the Old Code. "No Jedi should start his training believing he is special in comparison to his fellow younglings, our history is replete with examples of why that is a bad idea."

"I suppose there is some merit in that, at least to start with. But eventually he'll have to be told about his mission." Qui-Gon replied, thoughtfully. _As his master it will be up to me to decide that moment I suppose._ "And your third point?"

"It's fully dark out, and I think we've all got jobs to do to prepare for tomorrow." Ranma smirked. "This ain't the time for this conversation, okay? Keep your minds on the task at hand."

Shaak chuckled, shaking her head and holding out her hand. Ranma nodded then pulled her robe out of his ki, space and HK's currently dormant head. Without another word, Shaak dressed and moved out into the desert beyond Mos Espa's poor quarter, disappearing into the distance quickly as she picked up speed, moving around the city toward where they had landed the _Wild Light_.

"My word, Knight Ti seems to have already improved greatly from your training Ranma." Qui-Gon said, blinking in shock.

"Heh, you don't know the half of it old man." Ranma said, slapping him on the shoulder. "I'm off too, remember, radio Shaak if you run into trouble, **not** me." With that he turned, leaping up onto the roof landing without a sound. He raced off, entering the Umi-Sen-Ken between one rooftop and the next, a feral grin on his face.

Qui-Gon chuckled lightly, then turned and moved off himself, sure that his padawan, who was asleep inside, would watch the house for them.

As he expected, Shaak's directions on the layout of Gardulla's fortress were spot on, and Ranma was able to make his way through the main building with relative ease. He still had to dodge several aliens that he knew had infrared, but now that he was aware of that weakness in his stealth technique, Ranma could make allowances for it His ability to cling to ceilings for example. Very few races looked up, particularly if they weren't expecting trouble.

He did have a few scary moments when he was almost spotted by an alien who could see into infrared, but quickly dropping down behind another person moving around in the main area allowed Ranma to throw off anyone who noticed him. The fact nearly everyone in the main room was drunk or otherwise preoccupied also helped.

Ranma kept on moving deeper into the fortress, bypassing the area with that was more heavily guarded, figuring that would be where Gardulla was, possibly sleeping or doing whatever it was that Hutts did at night. Ranma refused to even speculate on that score. He had enough worries wondering what had happened to Aayla under Jabba's direction, let alone anything else.

He soon found the collar control relay room. As Shaak and Tune had surmised, for the sheer number of slaves a single handheld device wouldn't do. It would do to convey orders, but it couldn't handle all of the signals there were needed to keep the collars running. This room also doubled as the security center for the few cameras set around the fortress.

Within, Ranma found an alien whose face vaguely resembled a spider's, fast asleep in a single central chair. Ranma made sure he stayed asleep by a swift jab to the back of the neck, knocking him out with a pressure point. With that done, he pushed the alien's chair back slightly, and began to look around for a place to place the bomb, this universe's equivalent of plastic explosive.

He found one in the space between the wall of the small cave and the back of the control device quickly, but it took a few minutes for him to set it up out of sight. Once that was done, he moved back to the alien, made certain that his attack hadn't left a bruise, and left quickly. With that guard unconscious for now, there was no one to watch the scattered cameras were guarding the two levels of the fortress devoted to the dungeons where the slaves were kept.

Still clinging to the roof Ranma made his way around the dungeons, trying to find someone who might work as a leader for any breakout. Near the back of the lowest level he spotted a group of 10 Wookies, all of them growling to one another, showing signs of abuse, their fur singed in places and three of them with broken arms. _They'll do_ he thought grimly, remembering how Wookies were apparently a favored slave race for the Hutts, given their strength, durability and skill with mechanics.

Coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken, he tapped the bars of their cage high up near where the bars met the ceiling. A few of them looked up, then all of them, and he quickly brought a finger up to his lips indicating they should quiet. A few of them growled at one another in low tones, but most of them remain silent, staring up at the human who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Can you all understand me?" Ranma whispered, pitching his voice so it wouldn't carry far beyond where he was currently hanging. "Is there anyone in the nearby cells we have to be concerned about warning your so-called owners?"

One of the Wookies stood forward, shaking his head and pointing several cells down, well out of hearing range, then bristling a little as he made a complicated gesture with his fingers. "That one's a plant, or a collaborator?"

The Wookie nodded in response to Ranma's observation, then cocked its head, trying to ask what Ranma was doing there.

"Listen, I work with the Jedi, and we've got a plan to break you and all of your fellows out of here. But, you're going to have to do your part. When the signal comes, your collars will stop working. After that it'll be up to you to get yourselves out of here. Another Jedi is securing the ship to get us off-planet, and a third's going to be busy over at Jabba's. But you'll be the ones that'll have to break out of this fortress and deal with anyone in your way."

The group of Wookies all looked at one another, gesturing quietly speaking in low tones before their spokesman nodded, then held up his hands as if holding a weapon before shaking his head. In response Ranma grinned, gesturing towards their bunks. "You think you can hide any?"

The Wookies all nodded, and one of them moved over to his bunk, lifting it up. The springs on it groaned slightly and everyone froze, but nothing happened and the Wookie, a young one if Ranma was any judge, moved aside still holding the bed aloft. This allowed Ranma to see what looked like a shallow pit dug out of the dirt and rock, its edges jagged and not very deep, but still enough to hide some weapons.

"Great, hold on a minute." With that, Ranma reached the bars of the cage. Luckily for Ranma they weren't electrocuted, but they were very strong metal, strong enough to keep even Wookies within their cage. But Ranma was something else entirely. Slowly, so that the metal didn't make any noise, he began to bend the bars apart until they were wide enough for him to stick his upper body through.

Once that was done, he reached into his ki space, pulling out one of the heavy SAWs. "Do you think any of the other prisoners can be trusted with the plan, and do you know if any of them have a hiding place like yours?

As he was doing this the Wookies had all fallen silent, staring at the impossible twice over. This question however pushed them out of it, and the Wookies looked at one another, gesturing and seeming to argue for a moment before their spokesman pointed several cages down. Ranma looked in that direction but couldn't figure out who was in it, simply nodding his head.

The next few moments he handed over weapons, another SAW, then eight other blasters, four rifles and four pistols while the Wookies as silently as they could stowed them away, chuffing all the while to themselves in low tones, sending almost gleeful. Ranma got the distinct impression that even if their plan failed this group at least would willingly take their chances. That kind of courage spoke to Ranma, and he resolved to look into the Wookie's culture once he was on their home planet.

Once the Wookies signaled that they had hidden all the weapons they could in their cage, Ranma nodded respectfully, which looked very odd considering he was still upside down. "Remember, wait until the LED light on your collar stops working, then let freedom ring!"

That line got some laughter, and all of the Wookies grinned, showing heavy teeth. The Wookie who had already gestured down away from the entrance to the slaves area gestured again, this time imperatively and Ranma nodded, waving at him before reaching forward bending the bars back to normal.

Ranma quickly made his way in that direction to find a group of seven aliens from yet another new species. They were tall as humans and generally built the same, but had dark purple skin and large slightly protruding eyes. Their fingers also looked like they were double-jointed. They all were the same kind of carapace armor, tan and darkish red, and they all had the air of soldiers to of them were sleeping, but one of them was up, sitting near the cage door staring out into the passage.

Coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken again at the top of the cave Ranma tapped the bar lightly, and the guard looked up sharply. He stared at Ranma for a moment before saying a single word in some kind of language Ranma hadn't heard before. An instant later all of the aliens in the cage were up and looking at Ranma, their eyes hard, but not saying anything.

"What are you lot in for?" Ranma said, then shook his head. "Never mind. You guys want to get out of here?"

"Is that a trick question?" asked one of them in equally soft tones, his voice a gravelly one like that of someone used to shouting. "Where'd you come from anyway boy?"

"Man." Ranma replied, flipping the speaker the finger. "I work with the Jedi…" That got an immediate response and they all looked at one another nodding stoically. "We have a plan to turn off the relay for your control collars, and I've got enough weapons for you all to hide away to wait for that moment."

The one in charge nodded his head sharply, and turned quickly gesturing to the others with finger movements. They quickly and silently lifted up one of their bunks to reveal a tunnel, one that was far deeper than the one the Wookies had made.

"Excellent, hold on a minute." Ranma reached forward and like he had done with the Wookies cage slowly bent two of the bars apart. The moment he started doing so all of the aliens, even those still holding the bunk up stared at him, whistling as one. _Note to self, mention this group to Shaak, they look like martial artists who just saw a new technique._

With that, he began to reach into his ki-space again, something that caused a small gasp to go around the group, and a curse from the leader. "Force trick?"

"Not exactly," Ranma smirked. "My trick I guess, and one I'm keeping to myself and my closest allies right now." He handed over a SAW and several rifles and other blasters, all of which were quickly examined, then placed in the tunnel. This went on for far longer than with the Wookies, with Ranma handing over all the weapons save for his own personal canon and the bomb for Jabba's fortress.

"Remember," he said as he finished, reaching forward to once again push the metal back into shape. "Wait for your collars to stop working before you start shooting."

"We'll give you till sundown tomorrow." said the leader. "If our collars haven't been turned off by then we'll take our chances. We refuse to be slaves to these weak fools!"

Ranma gestured down to the Wookie's cage. "You won't be alone, and believe me, those collars are gonna be a thing of the past soon."

The man nodded. "After we break out of the fortress, where're we going?"

"One of the other Jedi is securing an escape ship, another'll be over at Jabba's helping his slaves." The male alien's lips twisted sourly for a moment before he seemed to shrug, and Ranma wondered what that was about before going on. "The ship will hopefully be waiting right outside the fortress."

"This is a very broad scheme," the man said shaking his head.

"We're working with what we've got," Ranma said with a faint laugh. "Anyway, I'll see you all tomorrow."

 **OOOOOOO**

While Ranma was busy wand Shaak had headed out to tell Tune his part of the operation and plug in HK's head, Qui-Gon had gone around the different docks of Mos Espa, looking at the ships that were currently docked. Several of them had large cargo holds but most of those looked much too much like pirates for him to trust. Some of them were too small to carry the numbers of slaves that Ranma and Shaak were looking for free, and still others obviously were allied with one or the other Hutt. Indeed there were a group of ten Cloak Shape Fighters docked in one of the ports, and Qui-Gon had to suppose they reported to one Hutt or the other. He noted their location, and made a note to pass them on to Shaak. The _Wild Light_ might need to take them out before providing Over-watch for the rest of them.

Eventually he decided three ships looked like they both were large enough and their crews looked at least somewhat better than the out-and-out pirates. Overhearing conversations from the crews, he narrowed his choice down to one, a Corellian designed heavy hauler with the name _Starwayman_ painted on its right side. It looked as if it shields and weaponry had been overhauled recently, but from the conversation he heard from the guards by the ship's ramp this band of smugglers were no friends of either of the Hutts.

Under his Force Stealth Qui-Gon walked between the two guards and onto the ship, looking around for the Captain, finding him having a solitary drink in the cockpit. Silently Qui-Gon opened and closed the cockpit door, a sound which made the man turn far faster than a person his size should've been able to. "Who's there!?" He barked, a blaster already in one hand.

"Peace Captain." said Qui-Gon, slowly letting the stealth technique fall, holding his hands up peaceably.

The man glared at him, frowning angrily. He was a large, tall man, about seven feet taller than Qui-Gon but far wider in the shoulders. He was younger, late twenties or early thirties Qui-Gon thought, with brown hair and a strangely aggressive looking beard. "A Jedi?! I've not done anything to warrant a Jedi's attention, certainly not around here!"

"I'm not here to take you in Captain, I'm here to gain your help."

"Help, what sort of help?" the man asked. "And I prefer to know the names of the person I'm talking to."

"I do as well," Qui-Gon replied, smiling as he pushed back his hood. "I am Jedi master Qui-Gon, and you are?"

"Booster Terrik, of Corellia originally, this is my ship. Now, what kind of help does a Jedi need that would require you to sneak onto my ship like this in the middle of the night? On a planet outside Republic space I might add."

"The kind of help that Hutts would prefer you not to give me." said Qui-Gon obliquely.

"Rescuing a slave, or someone else?" Booster smirked, putting his blaster away and grabbing up his drink. "Tell me more."

Qui-Gon did so, outlining the plan as far as he knew, though it was really was just an outline of the plan. There were so many things that could go wrong, but Ranma and Shaak were both confident, and if even a bit of it worked then they would at least get Aayla out, as well as some of the other slaves.

Booster listened quietly. Then he shook his head. "You're right that my ship could hold that number. It would be crowded and uncomfortable, but it's better than remaining here. I don't know why, but the scuttlebutt is that the Hutts are both bringing in troops, then sending them out to their main fortresses. Something about the raiders've stirred them up or vice versa, I don't know. But if we spend too much time here, they'll call those troops in and we'll be overwhelmed. Even you Jedi can't face that kind of numbers."

"I suppose that would depend on the Jedi." Qui-Gon replied, thinking how Ranma would probably eat a regular army alive given what he had done to the Yinchorri.

Booster shrugged, looking at the older man shrewdly. "Yeah well, while I'd love to do something like this out of the goodness of my heart, I'm a businessman, and I need to make a profit.

"Would 70,000 Republic credits per rescued slave do you Captain? With a 100,000 down payment?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Republican credits? That'll do fine for a start I suppose." Booster said with a wry smile on his craggy expression. "But I was thinking more along the lines of favors."

Qui-Gon frowned slightly. "What kind of favors are we talking about?"

"Two get out of jail free cards for pissing two Hutts off." Booster replied promptly. "I won't be able to work out here in the Outer Rim any longer, even if both Hutts die during this uprising of yours some of their lieutenants are sure to survive, and their clans will look for someone to blame for this. That means I'll have to work in Republic space, and while I don't plan on getting caught, having a Jedi's get out of jail free cards would be a major help."

Qui-Gon frowned slightly. "For that, I'm afraid I would have to demand a little more on your part. You passing on any rumors and information you think the Order should know in the future for example, and your promise not to run drugs. I don't suppose I have to mention running slaves would be rather quixotic after this."

After a moment Booster nodded. "I've got no stomach for that kind of thing anyway, though I'll decide what information I pass on, and how."

Qui-Gon frowned but nodded. "Very well, I think we have an agreement." Qui-Gon held out his hand, and the two men shook on it firmly.

"I'll want that get out of jail free thing in writing before we part company by the way." Booster said, before releasing Qui-Gon's grip.

"Of course," Qui-Gon, replied, a faint smile on his face.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ironically Ranma had an easier time of it moving through Jabba's palace than Gardulla's because Jabba was still awake, and the party was still going on. He didn't even use the Umi-Sen-Ken for a bit, simply moving through the crowd silently, then disappearing from a far corner of the darkened room into his stealth technique when he saw Sing wasn't around.

Moving into the rest of the fortress found basically the same setup as Gardulla had with a main control area, but this one wasn't manned at all. There were a lot more cameras in the slave pens, but none of them faced this room. With a faint shrug, Ranma planted his second bomb, pushing it into a small area between the main computer console and the back of the small cavern.

With that done, Ranma checked on the slaves, noting that only twenty or so of the hundred plus women in their cages looked as if they weren't resigned to their fate. They were pacing restlessly, staring out into the tunnels, angrily muttering to one another. Most looked resigned or docile, like the six twi'leks he saw, slaves born into it who had never known anything but captivity. Four of them however wore the same sort of expression that Shaak had described from Aayla and the young Togrutan dancer, both of whom Ranma had seen on his way in still out there waiting on Jabba. _Ugh, I wonder how bad weaning them off whatever drug they were given is gonna be…_

Moments later Ranma began his exit, and almost immediately ran into a problem. "I tell you, I saw a human's heat shape moving in this direction." Said a Trandoshan to his human companion, the two of them leaving the main room and entering the tunnel connecting it to the slave's area.

"Look around ya, there's no sign that anyone's been walking on this corridor, and there was no alarm either." The human, a scarred and ugly character gestured to a camera set high up one of the walls. "Lord Jabba'd have noticed if anyone was in this area."

"We should still look around," the Trandoshan growled insistently, moving forward into the tunnel.

The human shrugged and followed, both of them passing directly below where Ranma clung to the ceiling. He waited until they were a few steps behind him, before turning slowly so as not to make noise keeping watch on them as they entered the control room.

A moment later the two of them exited, talking quietly. "Told you, there was nothing wrong there, and there's no sign anyone's been in the area."

"I know what I saw," the Trandoshan said angrily, shaking his head. The two of them continued walking, neither of them looking up, as Ranma followed them out of that area of the fortress and back into the main hall.

Once there, Ranma dropped down behind a human, undid his technique, and joined the crowd, moving towards the doorway and trying not to blush at the slaves dancing on their polls or Aayla and the younger Togrutan. Moment later he was outside, job done for the evening.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day dawned bright and cheery. Anakin and Obi-Wan left first, heading towards over to Anakin's race pod to make sure it was all right. Qui-Gon left to seek out the junk dealer and make the agreement. Shaak also left to head over to the Hutts, to prove her skill with a sniper rifle and join Jabba's protective detail for the day.

Ranma helped Shmi clean up then exited the house after promising her that her son would be all right. After checking in with Tune and HK via his wrist com, Ranma made his way over to the nearest area set up to watch the pod races.

Around Ranma some of the mercenaries paused looking at him then away before hurrying on. A few times, a group would look at him over their shoulder then down at a data pad, murmuring excitedly to one another. Three such groups got together quickly ahead of Ranma, moving through the city to find a good place to ambush the young human with the enormous bounty while two others trailed behind the target.

 _These guys aren't nearly as good at followin' someone as Gos was._ Ranma mused to himself, wondering if they really thought he hadn't noticed them. _Well whatever, guess I get to have some fun early._

A moment later he began to speed up until he was racing through the streets, dodging around people of all types and around hover sleds. Then he pushed off of one foot into an alleyway before jumping up onto a rooftop. The two mercenaries trailing him came to a stop below him gasping in air. "That kriffer, he, haa, he really moves when he wants ta. But where'd he go?"

"Kriff, he must've double backed at some point, or ducked under one of those sleds we passed. We lost hiGKK!"

The 'hiGKK' was caused by Ranma jumping down from his perch to land feet first on the speaker's shoulders, pushing him to the ground with enough force to knock him out when his jaw hit the earth. Before the first speaker, a human with short-cropped black hair and a furtive expression, could react he found himself being held a foot off the ground in one of Ranma's outstretched hands. "So, you probably know how this goes right? Tell me everything I want ta know, or else?"

Moments later Ranma was jumping over the rooftops, heading in the direction of the supposed ambush, leaving the human unconscious like his fellow behind him. He soon came to the ambush point, a small intersection for foot traffic that was empty at present, with clear lanes of fire from two directions onto the path Ranma had been following before this to head toward the starting line for the pod race.

Ranma moved in quickly over one of the rooftops, taking two of the shooters on that roof by surprise. A punch to the back of the head sent one into lala-land, while Ranma locked a chokehold around the other. He held him there for a moment until he stopped twitching then tossed him aside, grabbing up the rifles they had been using.

"Kriff, he's blown us! Rooftop leftmost!" Shouted a voice, and Ranma cursed, diving to one side as the would-be ambushers on the three other rooftops started to fire in his direction.

Even so, he was able to fire back, and Mos Espa's roofs didn't have any crenellations to hide behind. Several of his assailants fell to his return blasts, then Ranma rolled off the roof, aiming his fall towards the largest pack of attackers.

Not expecting him to come down so precipitously, none of them had time to fire on him. The building he had just fallen from also blocked the remaining shooters on the rooftops from ranging on him. Bodies flew in every direction as Ranma kicked and punched out, knocking out his would-be ambushers.

Ranma then grabbed up one of them, using his body as a shield to rush out into the open, jumping towards the next group as the body convulsed above him from the impacts of several bolts. Some of those bolts were stun bolts for some reason, causing Ranma's eyebrows to rise in surprise as he filed that away for the moment. Then he was in among the next group, hurling the body ahead of him to slam into several of them. None of them were able to get to their feet before he was on them.

"Kriff this I'm outta here, cred's ain't worth nothin' in the grave!" a voice shouted from one of the rooftops, and there was the sound of feet racing off, followed by silence. Ranma again grabbed up one of his attackers, sticking the alien, a Rutian he thought they were called, out into the open. When nothing happened he shrugged, dropping him and moving over to another mercenary.

Rummaging around he pulled out a datapad. It displayed in a language he couldn't understand, but he didn't need to know what it said to recognize his own picture in both forms, or the fact some kind of number was displayed underneath it. "Okay… something from when I busted up the Gran's slave ring maybe? Weird, but whatever…" Frowning he looked around, jumping up onto one of the roofs to get a better view. Not spotting anyone, he scowled, then moved off, wondering if he should bother with a disguise, or not. He hadn't yet made a decision on that when he met up with Qui-Gon and the others at the starting line.

Hidden several streets away Aurra Sing frowned, shaking her head as she put the binoculars she'd used to watch the action away. _Impressive. I might have to soften him up some. Luckily Mos Espa is lousy with cannon fodder. And I think I don't want them taken on in the city, he's too damn mobile here, way more mobile than any of the cannon fodder can be. We'd need to pin him in place without any cover._

 **OOOOOOO**

As Shaak had predicted, she was easily able to show how good a shot she was though to her surprise, she did not see Aurra Sing among the onlookers. Turning away from the range, Jabba grumbled something in Huttese, and the droid interpreter nodded at her. "My Masters says you may join him as part of his bodyguard to the pod race this afternoon."

Shaak allowed her face to lighten up for a moment. "Pod races, any chance of betting on t'ose?"

The Hutt laughed, slapping his chest with one hand. "Of course there is," said the interpreter. "What would you like to wager?"

"I's will tell you plain," said Shaak, jerking her head over to where Aayla was behind the Hutt, her collar connected now to a chain that came out of the back of the corpulent Hutt's hover sled. Shaak's inside's clenched angrily at the sight but she was in complete control now, it only served to harden her determination further. "I's have fallen for that blue skinned girl. How much fer her?"

The Hutt stopped laughing, tilting its head slightly, his eyes narrowed. When he spoke there was no joviality in his tone, and even the droid's monotone translation came off as more serious. "More than you have on you, 1,000,000 credits down payment with another 200,000 on pick up."

Inwardly Shaak gaped at that number, that was way more than any slave could be worth, trained or otherwise. _There is definitely something strange going on here._ Aloud she just laughed. "Someone's playin' yas for a fool Great Jabba" she said, shaking her head. "No slaves wort' that much, no matter how sexy."

"This one is."

"And you've been paid that already?" Shaak said still in character but still incredulous.

"No, we have only received half of the credits promised for the down payment." The droid reported.

"In dat case, I's will match that, plus two months free work." Shaak said, making a point of gazing at Aayla with a look that Jabba would take as lust. It wasn't, Shaak couldn't act that well, but it was caring, worried, and almost, though Shaak didn't know it, affectionate.

The Hutt looked at her then seemed to calculate the odds. He knew Shaak had arrived on Tatooine the day before, so she couldn't know anything about the pod races or about who was the best racer. "Very well," he said, as always translated through the droid. "I will wager on the top man, the dug Sebulba. Who will you back?"

"I's don't know yet." Shaak said with a shrug. "I's will tell you that when I's get a chance to look at the racers."

The Hutt laughed again, and said something in Huttese. "My master warns you that you seem to have allowed your desires to get ahead of you. Were he any other creature, he would be taking advantage of that wholeheartedly."

"As if he's all sugar and light!" Shaak said with a laugh, causing the Hutt to laugh in turn. "What can I's say, I's like blue skin, and I've always had a thing for Twi'leks."

The Hutt laughed again, and the droid didn't bother translating. Shaak shrugged, and moved over to join the guards escorting job up out of his palace, where they met up with a group escorting Gardulla. The two Hutts exchanged a few words, and Shaak noticed both of them looking in her direction exchanging a loud laugh, but she didn't mind. The idea of betting for Aayla was only one portion of the plan. If it worked fine, if it didn't, the slave breakout next door would hopefully give her some cover to get Aayla out of the danger zone.

Once they arrived at the special covered pavilions set up for the Hutts she received permission to leave her position for moment and went down to check out each of the racers. After spending a few minutes doing so she came back and told Jabba she was betting on Anakin Skywalker. "He's gots the best looking engines, and the lightest too. Plus, the dug yas wagered on seems concerned 'bout him more t'an the others."

To Jabba's other side Gardulla nodded, saying it was a shrewd move, while Jabba seemed undisturbed, something that came out when the droid translated his words. "The human brat has incredible instincts and reflexes it's true, but he lacks a true fighter's mentality. I'll take your wager. I'm looking forward to your money, and two months free service," plus he said pointing at Shaak. "And a night of your dancing for me."

Shaak growled, made to reach for her blaster but stopped herself. In keeping with her character she gnashed her teeth a little, but nodded. "Fine, so's long as ya's know not to try and touch."

Jabba laughed, gesturing towards where Aayla was still chained. "If she is still here tonight, I'll have her do the touching, while I watch you do the dancing." The droid translated loyally.

The very idea caused even more revulsion to ripple through Shaak's self-control, and it was all she could do for a moment to keep in character, all she could do to stop herself reaching out with the Force to push Jabba off of his hover sled to the ground below. After a moment she simply shrugged her shoulders. "We's will see."

With that she moved over, looking Aayla up and down again as if inspecting her future property before moving over to take up a position above the pavilions. Pulling out a blaster rifle she set it up on a tripod, staring out over the crowd like any other bodyguard.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma stood with the two Jedi and Padme, but all of them saw Shaak move around, then up towards the Hutts again, stopping once on a step when her handgun nearly snagged on a passerby's pants, a predetermined signal. "They took the bait," he murmured. "If you're boy wins, we can get Aayla out before the action starts. If not, things might get a little messier."

"Things are going to get messy anyway," Obi-Wan muttered shaking his head. "I can't believe the risk we're running here. I fully agree that the idea of slavery is a bad one, and I wouldn't quibble about rescuing the slaves, but this is going to pit the entire planet against us if we don't escape quickly."

"So we be quick." Ranma said with a shrug. "Sometimes doing the good things isn't easy Obi-Wan, and sometimes normality isn't exactly good either, this whole planet is an example of that." The apathy and lack of interest the free locals had towards the slaves bothered Ranma a lot.

"I said I wasn't concerned about rescuing the slaves and I meant it. What I'm most worried about is any innocents getting caught up in the crossfire, and Aayla. I don't know her very well, but there've been too many Jedi deaths lately."

"Speaking of that," Qui-Gon muttered, his eyes flickering all around the area, searching. "I don't see Sing anywhere which is worrisome. Are you positive that if she shows up Shaak can handle Sing before you rejoin her?"

"Positive." Ranma said with a nod. "Trust me, some of the training we've been going through is specifically designed to fight against people with blasters. And her skill with a lightsaber and the Force in general has gone up hugely over the past few months. I'd back her against most of the Masters I've met."

"Really?" Qui-Gon asked, slightly shocked at that level of endorsement from Ranma. Obi-Wan looked a little shocked as well, but after a moment he and Qui-Gon both remembered what Dooku had mentioned about Ranma's combat abilities, and nodded slowly.

"Yep. And if Anakin wins, I might even be able to drop by and pay for his mom's freedom before the actions starts." He watched Qui-Gon, and noticed the lack of interest in that with a little bit of worry. The man had made the bet with Watto as he had said he would but when the Toydarian refused to free both Skywalkers Qui-Gon hadn't even argued.

It wasn't as if Qui-Gon didn't care for the woman, yet he didn't seem to understand what an effect leaving her behind would have on Anakin. That was a worrying blind spot, and he idly wondered how many Jedi had it. Obi-Wan to didn't seem to think about that either, which also worried Ranma. _So it's not just the Masters to have that blind spot, even the younger set has it?_

"I still don't approve on us betting like this on Anakin. We're putting a lot of pressure on that young boy," said Padme shaking your head. "I know we have a backup plan, but still…"

"I believe it is the most elegant solution for our various issues your majesty." Qui-Gon said, bowing his head slightly to Padme who growled a little. She had not gotten over the fact that both of the Jedi had known she was the queen before they had even left the ship.

"Let's concentrate on other things right now." Obi-Wan said diplomatically. "I too am not happy that Sing's not around. Do you think she might have been behind that ambush you ran into Ranma?"

"Maybe, she could have used those idiots ta check out my skills I guess, though I didn't show much so it isn't going ta help her much." He looked at Obi's drawn face and over to Qui-Gon who looked almost serene, looking from Anakin then around the crowd. "I'd bet she'll try again at some point, maybe attack all of us if she can gather enough mercs ta help…"

The discussion was interrupted as a cheer went up, as the pods moved to their starting positions. An announcer came on the loudspeakers scattered around the area, a strange looking alien with two heads and forearms, it's heads distinctly different from one another. Ranma stared then shook his head. "I'm never going to get to the number of weird aliens here," he murmured shaking his head as the alien made some weird noise, his arm's stretched out to either side in seeming supplication while the crowd cheered the two Hutts. Ranma growled a little at that, shaking his head.

Moments later the race began.

 **OOOOOOO**

In the distance Maul could hear the sound of hundreds of race pods moving across the desert. He could also feel a disturbance in the Force, someone calling on it to a degree that was uncoordinated yet still to a very high degree. _Interesting, a powerful Force user in the race perhaps? Something to look into later._

Around Maul it was silent. Silent save for the rustling of scales over the desert ground, as the animal he had enthralled from a distance finally arrived in person. Maul stood up staring up at the giant Krayt dragon, and smiled.

 **OOOOOOO**

"So we're agreed? 3,000,000 split between us, or split between the survivors anyway, plus another 3,000,000 if we take this one alive," Aurra said, lying through her teeth. Still, she needed help, and this group represented the best help she could get.

The leader of the Trandoshan mercs who had already arrived on planet nodded his head. Earning that kind of reward before the rest of the company even arrived on Tatooine would earn him the captain's spot easily. "We are agreed female, but I warn you if you…."

Before the alien could speak a another word, Aurra was in his face, a blaster pressed up against the bottom of his chin. "Don't threaten me," she said, her smile that of a grinning skull. "You're tough, I get it, but don't push your luck with me. I've killed Jedi, Senators and Mandalorans. What've you done? Keep your attitudes to yourselves, and we'll get along just fine."

She backed away and the larger alien nodded, glaring at her balefully, but she turned away, patting one of the lightsabers hung at waist for a moment. That move caught the alien's attention, and he subsided, nodding at his fellows, who all turned to their hover bikes and moved out over the desert.

 **OOOOOOO**

From her position atop the Hutt's pavilion Shaak watched the race from beginning to end, cheering appropriately when possible, but for most part keeping a professional attitude, scanning the crowd for any threats to her 'employer'. More importantly, she kept an eye out for Aurra, but didn't see the green-skinned assassin, which worried her. Like Qui-Gon, Shaak wanted that woman where she could see her.

However she did cheer for real when Anakin came in first. _The boy did it, I can't believe it! His connection to the Force, I could feel it from here, he knows how to call upon the Force to that level at so young an age. I still don't believe he's the Chosen One because I don't believe in that prophecy, but he may become a fantastic Jedi eventually._

For a moment, Shaak acted both as her character would seem to and as she would personally. She moved over to where Aayla was chained, putting an arm around her middle as she hugged the younger woman to her. For just a split second Aayla seemed to lean into her, but her blank ecstatic expression didn't change. Shaak turned to stare up at Jabba. "I's believe I's won that bet Lord Jabba." she said, smirking.

Jabba seemed to take it in stride, slapping his hands down on the front of his hover sled and booming out laughter, pointing out down towards the winning circle and the video recorders which were continually replaying the portions of the race. The droid simply kept on saying "good race good race," as Jabba and Gardulla chattered to one another in their language.

Eventually there enjoyment of the spectacle faded, and they moved away from the edge of their platform, gesturing to their bodyguards to go before them. Jabba nodded to Shaak, and again the droid translated. "The bet was well won, you can take possession of her when we get back to my palace."

Shaak nodded, letting go of Aayla's waist, moving to take a position on the side of the cavalcade as it exited down the ramp and out into the streets of the port.

Despite Jabba's seeming good humor Shaak was of course on guard, her eyes flicking everywhere, watching all of her fellow mercenaries, still on the lookout for the female bounty hunter, but she didn't seem to be in the area. _On the one hand, that is possibly a good thing. On the other, that might mean she's going after Qui-Gon and the others._

At that moment her montrals picked up a snippet of conversation from back in the crowd, and she oriented on it slightly while her body continued to move forward. "Yeah, they ain't here. The Sing bitch apparently saw a major bounty in the city, **major** , one that even she needed help with."

"Are we talkin' 'bout the same person! That bitch is a stone cold killer, I'd back her against any number of us." Said a second voice sounding incredulous.

"Cross my heart," said the first mercenary. "But get this, 3,000,000 for death, 6,000,000 for capture!"

"That kind of money would set up someone for life." The mercenaries around the speaker murmured, shaking their heads in astonishment. "What is she going after, a team of Jedi?"

Hearing that Shaak frowned. _That's not good._ Then she thought about Aurra Sing running up against Ranma and smirked a little internally. _But possibly not for me. So long as Ranma is with them, I think he can see her off easily enough. Good, that means I can concentrate on my part of this._

It was near to midday by the time they returned to Jabba's palace. The two Hutts separated, their different groups sorting themselves out before entering the fortresses, where several of their workers had stayed behind, some partying some cleaning others on guard of course, like the Gammoreans on watch outside Jabba's palace.

Shaak of course kept following the group with Jabba, guarding his back until he was safely within the fortress, then continuing to follow him through until he was back on his raised dais near the back of the all, with Aayla once again chained to the poll she had occupied the night before.

Jabba turned to watch Shaak as the rest of the mercenaries spread out, leaving an open area around her. _Oh dear,_ she thought dryly _is someone about double-crossed me, oh no, whatever shall I do_. Jabba was still within reach of a Force-assisted jump, and Shaak still had her lightsaber hidden in her ki space. So she wasn't particularly concerned, wary but not worried. I _wonder how he's going to go about it._

Now that she knew that Sing wasn't within the fortress, Shaak allowed her Force senses to expand, mentally tagging all of the mercenaries around her, her body even though it looked like she was simply casually standing there staring at her so-called prize, tensed and ready. "Well master Jabba, can I's take my prize now?"

Suddenly the ground underneath Shaak gave way dumping her into a large three-story pit. It happened so quickly she didn't have time to jump clear. Instead she landed like a cat, frowning angrily as she looked around. "What is this!?"

"Your interest in Aayla was far too pointed; I have to wonder why a mercenary is so interested in a former Jedi! Did you think me a fool?" the droid said translating as Jabba spoke in clipped hard tones, waving his meaty hands.

"You're going back on your word!" Shaak growled, still in character for the moment.

"My dear, I only bet with equals." Jabba said through the droid, his own voice nearly impossible to discern through his deep, belly laughs. "You were never my equal. But you can at least entertain me for a few more moments."

Shaak turned at a grinding sound and stared at a large gate setting to the side of the deep pit. _I am getting a serious sense of déjà vu, although the last time, I wasn't actually in the pit. I don't need the Force to tell me what's going to happen next._ The gate opened, and out stepped a rancor, larger and far brown and green then the one that Ranma had faced on the city.

 _Now if I was Ranma, I would have to beat this rancor the old-fashioned way. But I am a Jedi, I have other abilities available._ Across from her the rancor roared before charging forward, and Shaak backed up, holding up one hand as she summoned up the Force.

She sent out a mental probe to the animal, and was relieved to feel that it was not crazy. It was angry, but it wasn't insane, it was somewhat lonely and hungry at the moment, but nowhere as insane as the beast that Ranma had faced. At her gentle mental urgings the beast's charge slowed, and Shaak stood up from her crouch, still holding up one hand.

"Saaa…So strong you are, so good, so powerful..." She began to croon softly, her voice no longer the garbled accent that she and Ranma had made up for her character. At the same time her Force probe into the beast's mind conveyed the thoughts directly into its mind along with feelings of comradeship, of shared purpose, of awe and pride. _Calm, why would you need to prove her strength against such a small enemy when all you wish is to be free? Friend, I am your friend. I will help you be free._

At the same time she was concentrating on the beast, one hand slipped into her ki pocket not pulling out her lightsaber but rather the command detonator for the two bombs Ranma had placed. She pressed it, and the dull 'thump' of an explosion echoed from deep within the fortress, coupled, though she couldn't hear it, with another from next-door.

The rancor went down to its knees in front of her, grumbling softly as she stroked its nose ridge, taking cover under its bulk as blaster bolts began to spang all around them, Jabba and his men having quickly realized something was wrong. The rancor roared, standing up abruptly and further guarding her from the attacks from below. As it did so, Shaak turned to the side of the cage, tapping her finger against the rock of the pit.

Ranma had challenged Shaak to multitask that first day of her toughness training but he hadn't actually expected her to learn the breaking point technique very quickly regardless of the speed with which she took to the toughness training. But she had and then she had made it a little better.

When using the Breaking Point Technique the user essentially sent out a burst of what Ranma called ki into the target rock or other formation at its weakest point. The ki would then overwhelm its structure, shattering it. With her ability to see the Force, Shaak saw this quite quickly, though she'd only managed to produce it a few times in the last month on Dac. Then however, she had gone on to perfect it.

Instead of simply shattering the stone, she could control its destruction somewhat, which she now did. With a faint touch, Shaak sent bolt of her Living Force into the rock in front of her, shattering it into a series of boulders, caving in a portion of the cavern above. "RAKKOooom!"

"AHHH!" Several of the mercenaries came down with it, a few crushed underneath the rocks, with more tumbling down into the pit. The raptor turned on them, stepping on some while smashing others into broken rags as it made its way up out of the pit over the new exit. The rest however quickly backed up and continued to try to bring the big beast down.

Shaak leapt up onto its shoulder, reaching into her ki space again and pulling out her lightsaber igniting it, shouting. "Release Aayla'secura and all of your other slaves Jabba, or die!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Shieevoooka was by dint of being the oldest the leader of the group of Wookies owned by Gardulla. They all came from different clans and families, but they were allied for now against their tormentors, which was the most important thing. Wookies hated captivity, and would rather die than submit to it, working alongside ancient clan-enemies or rivals was a small thing in comparison.

He was standing by the cage's doors, looking around at his fellow Wookies and wondering if they should try to break out now when the constant humming at the edge of their hearing abruptly stopped. "/I never believed the young human would pull it off!/" He growled, then ripped up the bed hiding the small escape tunnel they had begun to carve out of the rock and dirt with their bare paws. "/Arm yourselves, and fight!/"

Further along the same tunnel the group of aliens the Wookies had recognized as Ailon Nova Guard also armed themselves moving out of their cell swiftly and expertly. The advanced down the corridor in an organized fire and advance movement, four of them covering the others as they raced forward, handing out weapons to the slaves they deemed able to handle them. They also gunned down the two slaves known to try and curry favor with their so-called owner.

The slaves quickly ran into opposition, but the Wookies initial rush pushed the guards out of the tunnel and back away from the dungeons. By the time they had to stop, the rest of the gladiators were armed and coming up behind them. With the wight of fire behind them, the former gladiators broke out into the main hall.

As the mercenaries and pirates in the hall saw them and realized what was going on, a fire team of the humans broke off, heading into the other tunnel. Gardulla was nowhere in sight, but that only meant they had to search for her, which was fine by them.

 **OOOOOOO**

"I believe the signal has been given, I'm seeing a lot of new com traffic on emergency lines. Time to go." Tune said aloud, it's voice a booming sort of baritone at present. "Are you ready HK?"

HK would have shaken its head, if it actually had a neck to do the shaking. It didn't but it did perform the droid equivalent of rolling its eyes. "Irritated Response: Of course I am ready, just get us into the air already you moronic trashcan! Exultant: I have targets to kill!"

Tune said nothing in response to HK's reply, having learned quickly that trying to talk to the Hunter Killer droid only encouraged it. Instead Tune gunned _Wild Light_ 's engines, pushing it off the ground and away before responding verbally. Normally two droids wouldn't have needed to verbalize, but Tune had quickly learned that HK was a vulgar asshole in droid cant and Tune had no wish to hear his curses further. "Heading toward target one, flipping us over in three, two, one!"

The _Wild Light_ did a barrel roll in midair, which it had to do to allow its quad lasers, both of which were mounted on top of its wings, to fire down at its targets. Ranma and Shaak had both made it clear that they were only allowed to use the heavier weapons on any reinforcements coming in from other cities, and even then only if they could ensure they left no survivors.

A moment later they were over Mos Espa, zooming towards the docks set aside for the two squadrons of cloak shape fighters that served the Hutts as a space force. "Targets coming in sight now!" Like most of the other docks in the city, this was a small, circular construction of the local stone, open to the sky. Which proved the fighter's undoing now.

"Exultant: Firing!" HK shouted enthusiastically and a millisecond later the quad lasers blasted out, several dozen small flechettes of fire zooming downward.

Whatever his faults, and they were myriad, no one could fault HK for his aim or efficiency. His first attack destroyed the five cloak shapes that had already started off the ground. Two of them exploded as their engines were punctured, the other three crashed into the ground or their fellows as their cockpits, and the pilots within, were perforated by HK's fire.

 _Wild Light_ hovered over the hanger bay with Tune controlling it's movements and monitoring the local coms, while HK went to town on the remaining cloak shape fighters. Taken totally by surprise, none of them could get off the ground, and dozens of sentients died attempting to get to them, though after a bare minute most of the ground crews and pilots were more worried about getting away than saving their spacefighters. "Maniacal Overtone: BWAHAHA, fear me, for I have become death!"

"All targets destroyed, we have four freighters possibly allied with the huts trying to lift off. Moving to engage. Friendly freighter is also lifting, remember IFF protocols." Tune said, while mentally making a note that HK was enjoying this a little too much. _Must make a note to tell the master that._

"Sulky: Roger that." HK was silent for a second as _Wild Light_ moved swiftly to attack the new targets, then he spoke up again. "Professional Assessment: Take us in on the Huttese ship to the far right, it is most likely the best equipped. Keep us behind them, and even if they get their shields up they won't have many weapons which can range on us. Also keep flying upside down, in case we need to suppress ground fire."

"Understood and agreed." Tune replied, and the two very dissimilar droids continued their part of the plan.

 **OOOOOOO**

Even after the casualties already inflicted on them, there were more than 200 mercenaries in Jabba's main hallway and all of them were armed. They all began to fire frantically at the rancor and Shaak, who defended both herself and the head of the beast with her lightsaber. Only a few of them had heavy crew served weapons, and the handguns and rifles were not able to penetrate the Rancor's hide. It roared in pain but was in no danger just yet, and began to lash out and smashing mercenaries into broken wrecks.

That danger came from the automated defenses. Slow thanks to disuse and poor maintenance five quad lasers and a single turbolaser fell out of sconces in the ceiling of the main hall twisting to take the two of them under fire. The turbolaser could have taken out the rancor, but Shaak saw it moving out of its hiding place. Reaching out with the Force, she ripped the entire mechanism out of its pintle mount to crash down among the mercenaries below it.

As the two attackers drove into the mass of his men, Jabba was shouting at his mercenaries to get them and dragging Aayla away behind his hover sled. This was either to secure her, or to use her later as a bargaining chip if his troops couldn't kill her fast enough. Whatever the case, Shaak saw it, and knew she couldn't let the Hutt escape with Aayla.

Shaak pointed the rancor towards the door, using both her voice and the Force to convey the message: "That way, that way, freedom! Good luck to you beast!" Tapping it on the shoulder one last time she leaped off and away.

She paused a moment, then wrenched her hands in either direction, hurling out a massive blast of Force smashing which smashed into and threw dozens of mercenaries everywhere in a display of power that left many of their fellows gaping in shock.

They cleared the way towards the doorway where Jabba has since disappeared. But two of the quad lasers ignored the rancor, targeting her instead, forcing her to slow down to deflect their bolts. The deflections killed many of the mercenaries around her, but she had to use another Force Push to clear her path before the bolts sent straight back at the lasers destroyed them. She pushed forward, gaining the entranceway to the tunnel Jabba had fled down.

But just as Shaak did so a slightly smarter than normal mercenary lobbed a thermal detonator her way. Before she could hurl it away it went off, exploding near her feet.

Pushing herself into the corridor beyond the main hall with a desperate Force-assisted leap Shaak was able to avoid the worst of it, but her right calf and foot was still caught by two pieces of shrapnel. "GRaghh! Force take it!" She ground out between clenched teeth, then concentrated using the Force to deaden the pain with the ease of long practice, having perfected this particular mental exercise in the past few months. Then she began to heal the wounds, not enough to actually repair the damage, but enough to stop the bleeding at least, closing the skin over them after pulling out the pieces of metal.

Then she pushed herself to her feet, limping grimly on, deflecting blaster fire from two more automated defense turrets. They died under her deflected bolts quickly, and she pressed on as fast as her injured leg would allow, shaking her head to get rid of a faint ringing in her montrals from the explosion.

A few seconds later she sliced open a metal doorway at the end of that corridor. Stepping through Shaak stopped as something flashed towards her out of the darkened room. Raising her lightsaber she slashed it in two. But that turned out to be the worst thing she could have done.

The item in question was a large vial of made of glass around the same size as four hands together. For a moment Shaak feared that it was acid, and reached for the Force to push it away, but it wasn't, it was a gas which spread quickly and her Force push couldn't catch all of it. Before Shaak could hold her breath she had already inhaled some.

A moment later her body stiffened, the strange gas going to work on her mind and body. Shaak gasped, her body stiffening in place, staring straight ahead as the gas hit all of her pleasure centers at once, along with the portions of her mind that dealt with sexual attraction, overwhelming Shaak Ti.

It was a new invention of Jabba's made with the aid of his newest slave trainer, who stepped forward out of the dark, a curt command powering up the lights in the room. Once the lights were on, the man, a Falleen, stared at the extremely attractive Jedi. "I believe Lord Jabba, that this should prove the worth of our concoction without a doubt."

The gas in question was a mix of Falleen pheromones and several gas-based psychedelic drugs. It had the effect of taking a hammer to any male or female's brain exposed to it. They would be useless for anything requiring higher levels of thinking, but in pleasure slaves why would that matter?

The Hutt responded in his own language, and the Falleen laughed. "That was because she was tense and ready for such an attack, this one didn't even see it coming! Don't worry I don't believe we'll need a second helping. But even if we do," the Falleen said standing in front of Shaak holding up a syringe which contained the liquid version of the gas, "I have one on hand."

Jabba shouted something and the Falleen turned angrily. "I am not the one in charge of your rancor, I'm in charge of your slaves. You pay me to break your slaves, and I do it, I don't look after your animals. This one will be broken in moments. After that your mercenaries should be able to deal with your little pet."

As the two of them were arguing, Shaak Ti was trapped in her own mind, her body and even portions of her mind literally rebelling against her. All she could feel was lust, desire, the mindless urge to mate coursing through her, the fact that the man in front of her was her mate, her thoughts fading.

Desperately Shaak concentrated, bringing the Force to bear on her own mind, trying to push the effects of the drugs out, believing that once her mind was free of the drugs, she could overwhelm her body's response to the pheromones. But it was hard going. Her mind was being affected by her body, and she was slowly losing the fight.

Then she realized this must be what Aayla tried. _Aayla must have tried to clear her mind then her body as we Jedi are taught the mind must control the body first and foremost! But you can't do that, you need to tackle it with both at once!_ Frantically Shaak through her will into both battlefields, letting out a pained groan as the slaver began to touch her, her body aflame. _No, no!_

For some reason an odd thought darted through her mind you now, even with all of this going on in her head and body. The thought was _'that still doesn't feel as good as the massages Ranma used to give me'_. That thought, and the mental comparison of the Fallen male before her and Ranma filled her mind for just a second. _He loses badly in every signal category._

Those thoughts actually helped her center her mind again, and Shaak quickly built on it, gathering her willpower once again. I _will not be controlled, not by anyone else, not by my own body or emotions. I am a Jedi, I am a Jedi! My body and my mind are one, my body and my mind are one. My emotions are part of me, I acknowledge them, I will confront these feelings for Ranma and decide what to do with them, I will stop running from them, but right now I have other akul to hunt!_

With a wrench of Living Force Shaak shut down her ability to smell, cutting off the pheromones ability to continue to invade her mind and body, then began to purge the concoction from her mind and body, falling backwards against the door even as the slaver advanced confidently, laughing at her inability to combat his invention. He reached down to her lightsaber, deactivating it and pulling out of her slackened hand, while she continued to battle the mental and physical effects of the drug.

He gripped her chin, turning her face upwards, removing the eyepatch when he saw it was not needed. "How quaint," he said throwing it away. "You're much more beautiful without that my dear. But I think you would be even more beautiful on your knees before your masters…"

The anger at her friend's predicament, the determination to protect her, the memory of Ranma, his aid in gaining control of her emotions and the amount of living Force Shaak now had allowed her to push back the effects of the mixture she'd been exposed to. _I will not bow before you, or_ _ **anyone!**_

With that last word Shaak forwent specifically controlling the Living Force she had sent at the impacted areas of her body, now simply pouring as much as she could into it with one hand and reaching out to the Unifying Force with the other, giving of herself to a level she had never done before. And the Unifying Force responded. The effect of this was like the power of a gigantic river suddenly forced through a small stream. She howled shaking her head, and suddenly was free of the drug's effects.

The Fallen hurriedly backed away, suddenly wary as Shaak pushed herself forward, her eyes suddenly lucid once more. "How! How did you…"

"I am a Jedi! And you will **not** control me!" With that Shaak Ti reached out with the Force, pulling her lightsaber into her hands and swung it once, cutting the Falleen in two. As his body collapsed she jumped forward before Jabba could escape, bringing her lightsaber down cutting the Hutt straight down the middle before bringing her lightsaber up and around bisecting the chain that the Hutt had been using to pull Aayla along behind his hover sled.

With her enemies dead Shaak gasped, falling to her one knee and slowly reining in the Force, exhaling and letting air out her body in a slowly tortured breath as she pushed out the Unifying Force, feeling it's fierce exultation, its joy at their connection and even a little regret knowing she couldn't' sustain it. That had been the most debilitating mental challenge Shaak had ever run into, and if not for the exercises she'd had to do to keep her emotions in check Shaak knew she would have failed.

 _How odd, the self-control Ranma forced me to learn on my emotions and my own desire to keep a distance between us helped me build the mental control necessary to overcome that. The Force works in mysterious ways._

She looked over at Aayla, who simply stood there, as if she was waiting for the next order like a robot. "Don't worry Aayla, I'm getting you out of here, and then we're going to flush whatever they gave you out of your system. But first, I have a battle to finish." Shaak gently took her younger friend's hand, pulling her along behind her, wincing at the renewed pain in her leg.

Leaving Aayla hidden behind the doorway into the main hall Shaak charged out lightsaber raised and rejoined the battle cutting down any mercenary in her way. The rancor was still alive if barely, having been assaulted by several thermal detonators and most of Jabba's surviving men turned to engage Shaak.

Even with a wounded leg, Shaak was still a match for them. She spun, dove, leaped, lightsaber constantly redirecting any bolt that came toward her, Force pushes of immense power shattering any large group of mercenaries, flinging bodies every which way. With no one able to coordinate the surviving mercenaries, and with Shaak in among them, most of their attacks did more damage to the rest of them than her. A few bolts passed her defense, but her toughness training with Ranma had already borne fruit. The bolts were painful and did damage, searing her skin and clothing but they would have had to hit her dozens of time to do real damage.

Minutes after Shaak reentered the main hall, the mercenaries realized they were overmatched and, given the direction she came from, nothing to fight for. They began to flee, first in ones and twos then en-masse, towards the main gate.

Which was blasted open from the outside, and a moment later a dozen gladiators charged through the smoke of the explosion, taking the mercenaries by surprise. Seconds later the last of Jabba's men went down. Not a one was allowed to surrender, a ruthlessness that Shaak had some issues with, but she wasn't about to try and stop the gladiators from doing it.

As most of the gladiators looked in the direction of the rancor, she shook her head quickly. "Wait, let it be. The brave beast has won the right to die peacefully at the very least." Indeed, if she thought they could, Shaak would have attempted to heal it, then let the rancor loose out in the desert. But she was too weak to attempt that, and a rancor wasn't built for surviving in the desert in any event. Perhaps if they were near the mountains, but they weren't.

Wordlessly Shaak moved over to the massive beast, laying a soothing hand on its brow, noting the amount of damage the rancor had absorbed before falling, deadening the pain it was feeling with difficulty. But when she spoke, her voice was again a light croon. "Shhh, be still brave one, well done, well done. You've won your freedom at last. Sleep, and dream of jungles and hunting and your herd, sleep now…"

The rancor grumbled in soft tones, then fell silent, and a moment later its proud heart gave out at last the beast slipping peacefully into death. Sighing sadly, Shaak stood up then moved over to the gladiators, pointing at the Wookies then down another tunnel leading away from the main hall. "Jabba's slaves are down there, some of them at least will need to be directed where to go, start moving them out now."

As the Wookies, five of them she noted moved off, she turned to the other male alien who saluted her, then stood at attention. "Sergeant Grig Soliel Jedi, of the Nova Guard."

Shaak nodded, though she didn't recognize the name. "I am Knight Shaak Ti, Sergeant, well met. I want you to use your men and the other gladiators to set up a perimeter. Do not interfere with the slaves when they are led up, if I see anyone trying to take advantage of them I will execute that individual on the spot." Shaak allowed her eyes to rake over the former gladiators, a few of whom flinched under her gaze. "Load them onto the transport first, then board yourselves. I take it the _Starwayman_ has arrived?"

"Yes Master Jedi." The Sergeant said. "Our overhead cover took out the Hutt's space forces, but then flew off heading northward."

Shaak thought for a moment then nodded, wincing as the pain in her body began to burn through her ability to deal with it. There was another city in that direction, she couldn't remember the name of it, but it was only a few hours away. "For now, let's just do our parts Sergeant, we can let that to the _Wild Light_ I think."

As the Sergeant turned away to bellow orders to his men and the other gladiators, Shaak frowned, wondering how long this had taken. That led to her wondering where Aurra Sing was and where Ranma was too. _Surely Sing, even with the Trandoshan mercenaries, should not have taken him this long to deal with… Why do I suddenly feel I'm not going to like the answer to that?_

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma scowled irritably. He should be in a position right now to back up Shaak, but instead here he was, tracking over the desert to Padme's ship with her and the others. The fact that none of them had seen Sing or the Trandoshan mercenaries that Shaak had reported had spooked both Jedi. He could understand that Padme, Anakin and Ja-moron Binks were liabilities in a fight. The Gungan's intelligence in Ranma's opinion matched his clumsiness.

However, that didn't mean Ranma was happy about babysitting them like this when the operation against the Hutts had begun. At least judging by the explosions and the smoke they could see over Mos Espa it had. And was that someone cackling he heard in the distance?

He was also not happy about the fact that despite Anakin being emotionally torn about leaving his mother behind Qui-Gon had not gone out of his way to assure the boy that Ranma would be getting her out with the rest of the slaves. Instead it had fallen to Ranma to do so, and Ranma had actually caught a look of concern from the Jedi Master when he did. Ranma didn't like how much attention Qui-Gon was giving the boy, and could tell that Obi-Wan was a little worried about it as well. The two of them exchanged questioning glances a time or two as they walked through the desert, while in front of their group Anakin plied Qui-Gon with questions about the Jedi and the Order.

In the middle of their column Jar-Jar walked next to Padme, moaning about the heat, which at least seemed to have sapped his ability to be a klutz out of him. Padme didn't seem to notice either Jar-Jar's discomfort or the ongoing discussion ahead of her walking next to the hover sled carrying her ship's new engine silently, her thoughts elsewhere.

Ranma thought she was probably composing her speech to the Senate, though honestly what the Senate would do for Naboo was beyond him. Given what Shaak had said and the information he knew about the Trade Federation's influence in the Senate whatever she wanted wasn't going to happen fast. Indeed Padme would probably be better served appealing directly to the Jedi Order for further aid, but Ranma didn't know if the Order was in a position to actually give any. If they even would consider it without a Senatorial order.

Obi-Wan however was concentrated on something else, looking around them warily, his Force senses spread so much that Ranma could believe he felt a faint tingling on his skin from it. Ranma studied the other young man for a moment then asked quietly, "Who was it?"

Obi-Wan turned to them quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Who was it that you and Qui-Gon lost?" Ranma asked. "He mentioned the two of you had fought Aurra before but she's spooked you more than that should allow for given that whole Jedi composure thing."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to protest that, but then closed it. He wasn't frightened, but Ranma hadn't said he was, he was simply wary. "Her name was Mana Veridi and she died right in front of us." Obi-Wan shook his head, his eyes far away and not because of a good or even confusing memory this time. "She was a human Jedi, a knight, two at most three years older than I, a woman with orange hair and a pleasant expression. She had smiled, so relieved that we had arrived. I remember that, and that she had a cut across one cheek from some kind of shrapnel."

"She was still smiling that wan, weary smile when Aurra Sing ran her straight through with a lightsaber from behind. We never even saw or sensed Sing before she had already run Mana through. And despite our best efforts she escaped afterwards." Obi-Wan shook his head. "She wasn't the first person I had seen killed, yet that moment still appalls me."

"I understand, and if we run into her, trust me I'll put the bitch down." Ranma promised, his voice soft as he reached over to grip the twenty-something padawan's shoulder.

"I hope that we don't and the reason she isn't here is because the Hutts have sent this Sing woman off elsewhere." Padme said, and it was only then that the young men realized she had been close enough to overhear their conversation. "I further hope that the worst is behind us at the moment."

Ranma gaped at her then looked towards one of the dunes surrounding them as the noise of several bike engines reached his ears. Obi-Wan muttered something under his breath, activating his lightsaber as Ranma shook his head. "Why the hell did you say that? You never tempt fate like that, never!"

From over the dunes on either side came several bikes each of which road a Trandoshan, heavy blaster rifle in one hand. They immediately began to take the two Jedi and their friends under fire, forcing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to block them with their lightsabers. Before they had though, Anakin had turned barreling into Padme and taking her to the sand, while Ranma kicked out tripping Jar-Jar.

From behind the now circling bikes came more blaster fire, including one high-powered sniper rifle. The bolt from that actually pushed Qui-Gon off his stance for a moment when it impacted his lightsaber, jarring his grip. "Sing is out there! She must have seen us or heard about us somehow, and she's brought friends."

"Joy." Ranma muttered, dodging another blaster bolt, and pulling out his own heavy blaster, returning fire. The larger bolts of the former hover sled flashed out impacting the three forward most Trandoshans to the right and their bikes, blowing them to pieces. But now still more Trandoshans charged over the dunes to either side and from in front of Ranma and the others. A few others actually rose out of the desert itself, moving in quickly blasters flaring with stun light this time from a few of them while the others wielded vibro-blades or stun sticks.

The two Jedi moved backwards to to defend Padme and the other two from every direction, with Ranma jumping over the stun bolts sent his way landing in among the nearest mercenaries. Hands and feet lashed out, and at one point he used his weapon to slam a Trandoshan aside like it was a bat, throwing him into the air over the heads of several others to land several hundred feet away.

At the same time Padme pulled a small holdout blaster from somewhere and began to fire. Jar-Jar began to shout something, but Padme shouted, "Quiet Jar-Jar, we're busy right now! Anakin, deactivate the hover sled, get the engine down here with us!"

Anakin quickly complied, then scooted forward, grabbing a fallen blaster which had rolled to a stop by Qui-Gon's foot. He handed it back to Padme, then took her holdout in both of his hands, steadying it on the ground, firing past the Jedi's legs at their attackers. His aim was incredible, but he couldn't point the gun very far up without interfering with the arcs of the Jedi's lightsabers or the Jedi themselves. Padme had the same issue but between them, they took the legs out from under several of the Trandoshans on foot.

Two one side of the others Ranma grunted as a high powered bolt slammed into his shoulder, wincing a little at the sting of it, but it didn't penetrate his skin. And it gave him a direction towards the sniper. "Are you two all right here?" he asked shouting to be heard over the clamor of battle. Even as he did so he kicked out catching a Trandoshan in the chest, shattering his ribs and hurling him backwards while he finished choking another into unconsciousness.

"Go!" Qui-Gon shouted. "If you can keep her away from us, we can make for the ship through this lot!"

Ranma nodded, jumping over a pair of vibroblades, kicking out at their owners while he reached back and grabbed another Trandoshan's head. Flipping himself into the air, Ranma used that unfortunate's head as a post, kicking out in several directions, breaking necks and skulls with each kick, clearing the area around him and the Jedi of the last morons stupid enough to close with them. With that done Ranma pushed off, flipping through the air again to dodge another high-powered bolt, landing and running in that direction..

In the distance about a kilometer away Aurra cursed luridly. _That guy is_ _ **fast!**_ Faster than most Jedi she'd ever seen, and durable to boot.

Inside she was furious. The ambush should've happened without a hitch, but for some reason the biker squad had closed too quickly. Right before they had she had felt something, a surge of power in the Force, but it was nothing like a Jedi's touch, this was somehow angry, commanding and dark.

Frowning Sing grabbed her speeder bike, and pulled it around heading in another direction to set up someplace else. She didn't want to close with that one just yet, not until she had a better feel for his abilities. Sing was confident she could beat most Jedi in a lightsaber fight, but she wasn't about to bet her own life on that.

Ranma wasn't even out of sight from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan before the battle changed again. What everyone had taken as a low dune of sand to one side of the ambush suddenly stirred, and a giant dragon of some kind stood, shaking itself. Once the sand had fallen away from it the dragon roared a challenge before jumping towards Ranma. "ROOAR!"

"What the hell is that!?" Ranma shouted, even as he ducked and rolled to one side, pushing off the sand quickly to dodge a swipe from a surprisingly quick blow from a forearm.

"A Greater Krayt dragon!" Qui-Gon shouted. "What is it doing here!?"

"Um, trying to kill me?" Ranma said yelled sarcastically as he grabbed the horns the dragon had above its eyes, flipping himself over it for a moment only to curse as its tail came up smacking into him and sending Ranma flying off even though he had gotten his arms up in time to block it.

Ranma could have dealt with the momentum of that easily; he was a master of the Aerial style of Anything Goes after all. But as he began to do so **something** grabbed him hurling him even further through the air. It felt like a Force grab, but not quite, and it was strong too.

Quickly Ranma thrust out a burst of his Living Force, his ki, to break the hold, but the damage was done. He was now several dunes away from where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were being held and the great dragon had followed him. Furthermore, a dozen Trandoshans had yet to join the main battle, and turned aside racing towards him on their bikes.

Growling Ranma went to one knee, sighting along the barrel of his weapon, blasting out several controlled bursts, destroying four of their bikes before they could close then turning on the dragon. But even the heavy skimmer's weapon couldn't penetrate the dragon's armor. It shook off his bolts, closing quickly, it's maw gaping.

Ranma slipped the rifle back into his ki space before reaching out with both hands to grab the Dragon's jaws, holding it's mouth open as it tried to close on him. The thing was strong, strong enough to rip apart anything else of a similar size on this planet.

But Ranma was something else. Stepping backwards he continued to hold the dragon's jaws open until he was at full arms stretch, then let it go, allowing the jaws to close shut in front of him, before slapping his hands on either side of its jaw, holding the mouth closed now.

However, one of the thing's claws lashed out trying to catch Ranma. Ranma instead jumped over it, landing on it as it flew past before pushing off and getting some distance. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" He yelled at the thing, even as two Trandoshans tried to close from behind, leery of the krayt dragon but still wanting to close with Ranma with their stun sticks.

Ranma grabbed one of those stun sticks, ignoring the jolt and hurling it's owner at the dragon while he kicked out at the other, sending him flying backwards as another heavy blaster bolt slammed into his chest this time. It burnt away his shirt, but didn't do any damage.

Still sighting through her rifle's scope Aurra frowned angrily. _Maybe this is why someone wants this human captured instead of killed_. Knowing her weapon was almost useless Sing was tempted to close now, but decided to wait until the Krayt dragon either finished him off or was dealt with. _Hopefully the Trandoshans will at least hold the Jedi's attention on themselves for a bit._

Back with said Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had dealt with most of their attackers already, and had begun to move on their way, thinking to drop the engine and the others off at the Nabooan ship before coming back to help their friend. They had stopped however, when they were faced with someone else.

Out of the desert a jet black hover bike pulled up in front of them, its owner getting off unhurriedly. Garbed in black from head to toe this humanoid almost sizzled with danger in the Force a heavy Dark presence that both Jedi felt. " **Move**." Qui-Gon ordered Padme. "Take Anakin, Jar-Jar and the hover sled and go!"

"Who is he?" Padme asked even as she obeyed. Pushing the younger Anakin along as he gazed at the figure, his eyes wide as he sensed something she couldn't fathom. She had no Force sensitivity, but Padme could tell something was off about this person.

"I don't know, but it, or he is dangerous I don't want to have to defend the three of you as well as ourselves. **GO!** "

As Padme raced off skirting around the area the being in front of them held up a hand. In it was a matte black long-shafted lightsaber hilt. From the end of it suddenly glowed a red beam of plasma. Then from the other end a similar beam extended, and the being held the double bladed lightsaber out in a one-handed grip.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan wordlessly moved apart slightly, their own blades whirling into a ready position. For a moment the battlefield fell silent then suddenly the being across from them charged, the wind of his passing pushing his hood off to reveal a Zabrak, his face covered by red and black tattoos, his eyes malevolent yellow slits.

That was the last observation either Jedi had time for as the being closed with them, slashing out with speed and power that was almost beyond their ability to defend from. Qui-Gon quickly found himself on the defensive, while Obi-Wan fell into his favored style, Soresu, trying to negate the power of their opponent's offense with his defensively-oriented style. The two of them moved as one, more than ten years of working together serving them well as they seems to move as one person for a time, one defending the other attacking, trying to catch their assailant between them.

But his double bladed lightsaber defeated them every time. It was such a strange weapon, one they had never seen before or trained against. As the Zabrak used one end of it to attack, the other allowed him to defend, and his speed and ability to predict their moves was phenomenal.

When Jedi met Jedi, it often came down to who could use Battle Precognition to a greater degree, predicting his opponent's moves and use of the Force, searching for a weakness. Here, the Zabrak's skill in Battle Precognition negated the two Jedi's own, and his odd weapon and the sheer strength of his attacks pushed them further out of their mental equilibrium.

Qui-Gon was forced to defend himself at one point, and the strength of the blow actually lifted him off his feet, thrusting him backwards off balance. If it was not for his padawan, the next blow would've taken Qui-Gon in his side. Instead Obi-Wan's lightsaber turned it, and Obi-Wan turned himself, moving into an offensive strike that forced the Zabrak to use other half of the double-sided lightsaber to defend himself.

But Obi-Wan had to retreat in turn from a thrust which Qui-Gon barely deflected as he regained his balance. Throwing his all into the Force, he tried to predict his opponent's moves only to find his ability with it still unable to match his opponent's. Slowly the two Jedi were pressed back and further back, with Qui-Gon tiring quickly while Obi-Wan, with his skill in Soresu and his younger age was still at peak ability.

Their opponent suddenly flipped over them, thrusting downward several times, his lightsaber a twirl of red plasma, forcing the two Jedi apart as they defended themselves. When he came to rest on the ground Qui-Gon quickly tried to attack, lashing out first with a Force Push before charging in, only to find that his opponent was ready for him, thrusting out a hand, smashing Qui-Gon's Push aside easily. Qui-Gon bore down, centering himself in the Force and trying to hold himself still against the sand beneath him, but was unable to stop himself by being smashed back by the blast of Force power.

Obi-Wan found himself therefore alone facing the assailant's charge. But Soresu seemed to frustrate the alien. Soresu relied on economy of motion, keeping up constant blade-movement to build up momentum, a strong defensive technique which could outlast an opponent, using their attacks and aggression to power the user's defense. Now it allowed Obi-Wan to survive until his master regained his footing.

Suddenly however the assailant thrust downwards into the sand, hefting the sand up into a whirlwind that caught Obi-Wan by surprise, blinding him for a moment. His stance faltered, and he desperately tried to correct, his inner balance as broken as his stance.

But too late. The double-bladed lightsaber came around, aimed at Obi-Wan's legs. A desperate Force thrust of his own into the ground pushing Obi-Wan off into the air saved him from being bisected, but one of his legs was cut off at the thigh.

'GAHHHHH!" Obi-Wan yelled in agony, but even so he thrust downwards with his lightsaber, forcing the next blow of the Zabrak's double-bladed lightsaber to be turned into a block rather than a thrust into his chest as he flew backwards from the power of his desperate last minute dodge.

"No!" bellowed Qui-Gon as he charged, hacking and slashing, thrusting and stabbing, moving here there and everywhere in a show of Ataru that would have overcome many a fellow Jedi, desperate to get the assailant's attention off of his padawan. His padawan fell to the sand, gasping in agony and staring at the stump of his leg before his eyes flicked over to the ongoing battle.

Ranma heard Obi-Wan's scream of agony from where he was standing a few dunes away, directly underneath the dragon's snout, trying to get close enough to knock the beastie out. But its armor was such that most of his blows simply bounced off, indeed even the Amiguriken speed merely made his fists hurt, rather than penetrated the tough hide of the dragon with enough power to do any internal damage.

"Damn it!" Realizing that he couldn't keep fighting this beast Ranma shook his head sadly, ducking underneath a chomp from the thing's jaw and slamming both of his hands into its the side of its exposed stomach. A Moko Takabasha slammed out into thing's stomach at point blank range, penetrating its outer scales and almost blasting entirely through in a welter of gore.

Ranma jumped back quickly, but still was splattered from it, and nearly blinded. The sniper took the opportunity quickly and another bolt slammed into his chest, with a second nearly impacting his head. But Ranma had already rolled away, dodging that bolt entirely.

"You're gonna get yours soon ya…rrhhh" Snarling Ranma pushed himself to his feet, and noticed that the few other Trandoshans had either been killed by the Krayt dragon, or had already been slain earlier on. The desert was now littered with bodies, and he frowned angrily.

Snarling he pulled out his communicator even as he raced back towards where the battle had begun, only now hearing the sounds of lightsaber combat. _Who the hell are the Jedi fighting then? Or is the sniper someone else and Sing closed with them?_ "Tune, HK, where are you!?"

"We are nearly finished destroying the Hutt's space forces in Mos Espa master, and are moving in to provide overhead defense for the slaves. However our scanners indicate that there is at least one group already moving in from the closest cities. Do you wish us to move against them?"

Ranma frowned angrily, calculating the odds then nodded. "Do it, but do it quick! Then get back here, and provide cover for Padme's ship!"

As he said that, he topped the last dune between him and where the fight had started, and he raced on, seeing the double bladed lightsaber wielder pressing Qui-Gon hard, while Obi-Wan was on the sand, one of his legs sliced off, moaning in pain but otherwise in one piece. "Belay that, destroy the nearest one only if it has enough numbers to be a threat, then get back here, we'll need more air support!"

"Gleeful tones: Yes master! For I am become death! The destroyer of all things squishy!"

"Going to have to get that droid looked at." Ranma muttered, even as he closed, entering the Umi-Sen-Ken as is did.

Qui-Gon was barely holding on now his use of Ataru and his advanced age had exhausted him. Each attack was becoming closer, and he was desperately using the Force to keep ahead of his opponent, but even that was failing now. Every time he tried to back away the assailant pressed him even harder, and the Zabrak's maneuverability was unaffected by the battle thus far.

A sudden Force pull at one of his legs caught Qui-Gon by surprise, pulling him off balance. Even so his Force senses allowed him to redirect his attacker's thrust, so that instead of impaling him straight through the chest, it only caught him in the left side.

"Gah…" he gasped, pinned there by the plasma of the Zabrak's lightsaber as the Zabrak sliced out of his body to the left. Qui-Gon went to his knees, dropping his lightsaber and grabbing at the wound, starring up at his killer, knowing the Zabrak had only swung his lightsaber out like that so he could take pleasure in this final blow.

But before that blow could land the Zabrak grunted in agony as a foot slammed into his head from out of nowhere sending him skidding away. He turned back quickly only to find Ranma standing in front of the Jedi Master protectively. "Tag out Qui-Gon."

Qui-Gon slumped to the ground, incense it from the wound in his side and Ranma jumped forward, his hands and forearms covered in his ki shield. This turned out to be a very good thing.

Despite his speed his opponent was able to keep up with him with his own speed and Battle Precognition helping him. Several of Ranma's blows got through, and they were enough to make Ranma's eyes narrow. T _his guy's gone through the toughening technique!_

Even as he thought that Ranma had to dodge a slash to his chest, bringing his hand around to land a blow that took the man backwards slightly, then using his another hand to push up off another slash from the other end of the Zabrak's double-bladed lightsaber. _Well, let's try a bit of banter see if I can rattle him._ "Ya got a name, or should I just call ya clown face? Honestly dude, who did your makeup, it looks like yer wearing more than the entire Senate!"

"I am your death!" The man growled. Then Ranma felt himself grabbed like he had been after the dragon had caught him with its tail,and jerked down to the ground.

"Not much of a talker are ya!?" even as he bantered Ranma grimaced, smashing the Zabrak's attacks back and away, returning some of his own. _All right, time ta up the ante._

He suddenly moved even faster, thrusting out even stronger, his entire body moving with Amiguriken speed, overwhelming the Zabrak for a moment. Punches landed that the Zabrak should've been able to block, but his Force Perception was in up to this speed.

A rip cracked, his jaw held, but two teeth were knocked loose even as Ranma's fists began to bleed from pounding on the Zabrak's amazingly durable body. But his healing ability came to the fore, healing his hands even as they were blasted open, and he pressed the Zabrak back and further back from the two injured Jedi, the two of them leaping around, but Ranma was unwilling to let the Zabrak open the range further.

The tattooed Zabrak did try but when he did he used the Force to push Ranma back, Ranma used the momentum and somehow turned it around, coming back down onto him, and the spike-headed alien seemed to have also seen enough of Ranma's style to know he was at his most dangerous in the air. After two attempts the Zabrak stopped trying to use the Force like that, instead using it to keep Ranma on the ground.

A few times the Zabrak also tried to use his free hand or feet, but these attacks were a mistake, allowing Ranma to use their momentum to push himself into the air despite the Zabrak's Force powers trying to keep him on the ground. When he nearly lost his head to a series of Amiguriken speed kicks the Zabrak fell back on his lightsaber and Force powers alone, knowing he was slowly wearing Ranma's Living Force reserves down every time he had to use a shield against the lightsaber's blades.

While the two were seemingly stalemated Aurra decided to press your luck, firing her rifle even as she closed, forcing Ranma to back away from his assailant. She shouted aloud as she moved forward on her bike "I want the bounty! If you just want to kill him, fine by me!"

The Zabrak barely grunted at her, thrusting his lightsaber forward. Ranma let one of his ki shields fade as if he was being overwhelmed. When the next attack came, he turned that hand slightly so that the inner portion of his vambrace was facing outward, catching the slash on the cortosis armor plate hidden inside the metal.

The Zabrak's exclamation of shock as his lightsaber's blade faded after slicing through the leather of his vambrace was everything Ranma could hope for. He kicked into the Zabrak's chest at Amiguriken speed causing the bones in his leg to grind a bit from the impacts but shattering four ribs in the Sabrak's chest cracking under the punishment, feeling them shatter under his foot.

The tattooed alien flew backwards, with a grunt of agony but righted himself in midair. Bringing his hand forward, he thrust out a telekinetic blow that lifted Rama into the air and sent him flying backwards in turn.

At that Aurra closed, dropping her rifle to pulling out one of her lightsabers, quickly slashing at Ranma as he tried to free himself from his opponent's force hold. Ranma grunting in agony at the blow to his back but thankfully his own body's toughness was up to the task of stopping her lightsaber blade for a moment. It left a nasty burn, but nothing else.

Sing pressed in now while the Zabrak did the same. They weren't working together, that would've been too much for Ranma to match at the moment, injured and tired as he was by this point. But he was able to keep up with them for a time. Then the Zabrak made a mistake, he got too clever.

Having turned Ranma around so that his back was facing towards the two wounded Jedi, the Zabrak slowed his assault, letting the bounty hunter press the attack. Instead the tattooed alien reached out with the Force, grabbing the two Jedi's lightsabers where they had fallen an pulling them towards Ranma's back.

Ranma felt them coming and, with the Zabrak's attention on that and his desultory offensive, waited. When the lightsabers came close, he leaped up and backwards, hands lashing out to catch the lightsaber's handles. Landing he launched his own assault, forcing Sing to backpedal.

Now Ranma pushed forward, pressing her and her erstwhile ally back for the first time. He even took a moment to wink at the black-clad alien. "Thanks my man, I needed these."

For the first time in the fight the Zabrak seemed to lose control of the tightly coiled fury that seemed to be driving him on better than any berserker Ranma had ever met, better than Ryoga with his depression or anger, better than Akane because he was far more trained and controlled. The three of them continued to trade blows, dancing, jumping continually moving around in an athletic display of lightsaber skills that would have caused any onlooker to gape. But the Zabrak's fury at Ranma's initial taunt made him commit another mistake when he ignored his supposed ally for a moment, almost slicing her in two with a backswing.

Sing blocked it with her lightsaber shrieking "What the kark!"

Ranma swiftly dropped one lightsaber ducking instead of backing away from the Zabrak's attack, a Moko Takabasha slamming into the ground directly underneath Sing's feet. She saw it coming through the Force, and pushed off with a Force jump, but this allowed Ranma to turn quickly, his leg lashing out in a scythe to take The Zabrak's legs out from under him while his remaining lightsaber guided one end of the Zabrak's into the ground when he tried to stab Ranma where he was crouching.

In response the Zabrak jumped into the air hacking downwards with his lightsaber's other end, one while the other end extinguished itself to allow him a shorter reach. But Ranma had fainted with the kick, pushing off himself with his other leg into the air, throwing his second lightsaber at Sing, his fists flashing forward. The Zabrak's eyes flew wide as he realized that he had fallen into Ranma's trap. Ranma's fists met right at the emitter portion of one end of his double-bladed lightsaber, crushing it between them. The lightsaber blade shorted out.

The Zabrak quickly tried to ignite the other half, twirling it in his hands to try and catch Ranma with an upswing, but Ranma dodge to one side, a kick lashing out and catching The Zabrak in the side despite The Zabrak dropping one of his arms to block it. "RAAAHHH!" Ranma roared, pushing his leg to move faster than even the Amiguriken could allow.

A sound like a thousand thunderclaps echoed across the desert, and Ranma's own bones screamed in protest, but the damage to his enemy was worse, despite his body's unnatural toughness. The blow did so much damage some of the bones in his arm almost exploded outward piercing his skin, the entire arm now looking more like a hunk of badly mauled meat than an arm. Even as his arm shattered however, The Zabrak hit back, his lightsaber twisting and catching Ranma in the side himself, burning through a ki shield hastily raised there to slice open Ranma's side, burning his skin severely, but not penetrating.

The Zabrak fell back but Ranma moved forward despite his wounds, grabbing his opponent's broken forearm in one hand, hammering several thousand blows into the Zabrak's chest and upper body. Every time the now single-bladed lightsaber came towards him in a desperate swing, Ranma would bat it wide using his ki shield sparingly before going back to pummeling the Zabrak's body everywhere he could reach.

The Zabrak tried to force Ranma's hand to release his grip, twisting, using the Force, pushing Ranma away, but Ranma clung grimly, pulling the berserker away from Sing. His opponent's speed and ability with battle Precognition stopped him from landing more than a hundred Amiguriken blows in any one spot, but the black-clad alien's body was beginning to give out, and both of them knew it.

Desperately the Zabrak reared back, head-butting Ranma with all the Force assisted strength and momentum that as he could, actually pushing against the back of his head with the Force to heighten the impact. Ranma's head flew back, his enemy's horns opening up several deep furrows in Ranma's forehead despite his toughness, and Ranma saw stars. Several bolts from a heavy blaster impacted the side of skull too, and he staggered, at last letting go of the Zabrak but not before a final flurry of blows into the Zabrak's chest overcame the assailant's defenses, hurling him away with still more cracked ribs, and something had also burst inside the alien's body, Ranma had felt it go.

Despite the past few months of preparation, despite his Sith abilities, despite training and hoping for this moment, Maul knew when he was beaten and backed away hurriedly. He had overcome both of the Jedi, but he could not overcome the chaotic fulcrum. Ranma was reeling, battered, bloody, and burned, but he was still standing, still coming towards Maul. Whereas, like Ranma, Maul knew something inside had ruptured in that last attack, he could feel weakness seeping into his body, and he had shattered two of his horns to that desperate headbutt, the pain of that nearly equal to whatever was broken inside of him or his mangled arm.

Cradling his shattered arm to his chest, Maul reached down and placed his lightsaber on his belt with his other hand, flicking the emergency recall switch on his belt buckle. His hover bike quickly came towards him from where he had halted it several dozen yards away. Luckily Maul had the foresight to keep the battle away from it, and he grunted in agony as he pulled himself onto the hover bike's back, pushing the recall button on it that would take him back to his ship.

"Oh hell no," Ranma muttered, his eyes blinking rapidly, a blaze of pain going through his head as he staggered forward. "You're not getting away!" He gathered the dregs of his Living Force again in his hands. "No, you're no-gah!"

At that point Aurra came back into the attack, knowing he was injured, she hoped to finish this possibly gene-engineered warrior off. Her lightsaber swung in at Ranma's back, and he fell forward desperately to dodge it. What should've been a roll became a tumble thanks to his concussion and injuries, but even so he dodged her blow, coming up quickly and thrusting backwards with a full body check that smashed into Sing. She moved with it rolling then bringing her lightsaber around in a blow that should have bisected Ranma.

Yet even as battered as Ranma was, he was able to dodge to one side, and a hand came up in a single punch, catching her arm on the upswing. Aurra was prepared for that punch to hurt, she wasn't prepared for it to shatter her forearm. Unlike the Zabrak Aurra didn't have any durability training nor had she seen the Amiguriken attacks for what they were.

Her lightsaber fell from her nerveless hand as she screamed, yet Sing was able to overcome the pain, her other hand falling to her waist, ripping out her secondary lightsaber and bringing it around in an underhand blow, the saber held in a reverse grip.

Ranma saw it coming, and, having grabbed her falling lightsaber out of the air, he whirled around her attack, his lightsaber flicking out, in his own attack. Aurra barely had a moment to gape before her own weapon, the lightsaber of the first Jedi she had killed, sliced her head clean off her body.

As the headless corpse collapsed to the sand, Ranma let the lightsaber go, falling to his knees woozily the pain in his head getting to him. He knelt there for a moment, his body soar beyond belief, his mind barely able to function given its concussion.

It was a minute before he wearily pushed himself to his feet and made his way over to Obi-Wan, who had, surprisingly, been conscious throughout the fight, having watched it with wide eyes. But he waved Ranma off, trying to crawl across the ground. The pain from his leg was interfering with Obi-Wan's ability to use the Force, and he couldn't reach out to his master. "Check Master Qui-Gon!"

Wearily Ranma did so, while in the distance he saw the queen's sleek spaceship coming towards them, while above it the _Wild Light_ through over patrol. He quickly grabbed his communicator from his belt, then grimaced as it fell apart in his hands, having caught some of the blaster bolts from Aurra or someone else early in the fight. "Shoddy bloody thing…"

Ranma slowly limped over to Qui-Gon, then went down on his knees next to the older man, feeling for a pulse. "He is alive, barely." He reported shouting over his shoulder, shaking his head at the massive wound in the Jedi's side, thankful for once that the Jedi and whoever that had been used lightsabers, since they cauterized the wounds they caused. He reached forward, lifting up one eyelid and staring at the eye behind it. "I think he's in some kind of healing trance, not quite sure."

Obi-Wan nodded then collapsed forward onto the sand, all of his energy spent. Ranma pushed himself to his feet still looking around the battlefield, his eyes almost refusing to focus. "D, d'you want your leg Obi?"

After a moment of silence Ranma shrugged, dragging himself over in that direction as both of the ships landed. He shouted aloud. "Tune, don't land just yet, stay in the air. In fact move around us, if you see anything taking off from out in the dunes, **nail** it!"

Even as he said so however, a ominous looking black ship boosted off the ground in the distance, barely visible from where Ranma was standing, swiftly soaring up in and out into space. "Excited, yet wary query: Do you wish us to pursue master?"

Ranma stared up at the where the Zabrak's spaceship was even now disappearing, his thoughts awhirl. Not just with what the fight had told him about his enemy or his head injury, but what the enemy's skills had told him about what must have happened **before** this fight. "No," he said finally. "Did you leave any survivors in any of your other attacks on the slave's reinforcements?"

"Belligerent statement: Of course not master! There were no survivors on any of the attacks on the column coming towards Mos Espa and the light quad lasers dealt with the parked Cloak Shapes easily. Thoughtful tone: However fun this was however, I've decided I much prefer close combat violence. It was fun to see the peons running around like non-sentients on fire, but there wasn't nearly enough blood."

"Um, good, generally speaking anyway." Ranma said nodding his head then holding it in agony as it threatened to fall off. "Agh, anyway, having some hidden aces up our sleeves might prove necessary in the future." He turned and watched as the Princess and several others raced towards them from where their ship had put down, carrying several hover sleds.

Ranma waved them towards the two Jedi, as Anakin, who was in the lead skidded to a stop looking around in awe at the battlefield. "Wow, you guys look as if you fought a battalion!"

"Pretty much." Ranma said shaking his head. "Condensed, but yeah, pretty much."

Ranma waved Anakin aside, moving towards his ship as he ordered Tune to land. He could barely move he was in so much agony, but he was worried about what Shaak might've run into, the idea that this might've been some kind of trap going through his battered brain for a moment before he discounted it. For some reason Ranma figured that whoever had set this up hadn't really anticipated that all three of them would be together, and had tried to improvise something to separate them.

It had failed, and so had the ambush. Still, both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon would be down for the count for a while, and Ranma wasn't exactly 100% other. Still, Ranma knew his own healing ability well enough to realize he'd be right as rain in a few days max, the Jedi would take a lot longer.

As that thought percolated through his brain he stopped, staring at the two young girls and the middle-aged black skinned man who were helping the Jedi Master. "Will Qui-Gon live?" he asked looking over at that group around the older Jedi.

"He's not lost anything vital," said the man authoritatively. "Against any other weapon he might've bled out but lightsabers don't allow for that. The pain knocked him out I think, or something. We can keep him alive until we reach a hospital at least."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I, I have no idea where that being came from, but if not for you Ranma he would've beaten us both!"

Anakin gaped at that admission, shaking his head. Jedi weren't supposed to admit that kind of thing, they were supposed to be unstoppable warriors of good! The last day and a bit had not been good for his concept of the universe.

"There are a lot of question about this whole episode frankly." Ranma said. "Questions Shaak and I are going to have to think long and hard about. But speaking of that, I need to get going." He moved towards his ship, every step a weariness, and knew he wasn't up for any more face-to-face confrontations. "HK, Tune, make sure those quad lasers are still powered up, we might have some more activity today and it'll probably be up to you two if we do."

"Gleeful anticipation: Oh happy day master!"

Anakin looked up at Ranma quizzically. "You sure you want me to give that android a body?"

"Meh, I can handle him." Ranma said with a shrug. "He's already proven useful, and he might prove more so in the future."

Padme ran up to them, looking over at the Jedi who are being helped onto her ship. "Do you want any help?"

"Unless your ship has some weapons, no. Speaking of, is your ship repaired?"

"No, but the repairs themselves will take only a bare half hour or so given the number of astromech droids we have, and Anakin's help I hope." Anakin nodded, looking at her eagerly.

"Good, once it's done wait up in orbit for us, we'll be along."

"And who exactly are you to be giving us orders?" the older black-skinned man asked stepping forward into Ranma's path. "You aren't one of the Jedi we came here with, and I've not been impressed by their planning anyway."

"Captain Panaka, move out of his way **now**." Padme ordered, her voice cold and commanding. "This young man saved our lives this afternoon, and is the only reason we aren't mourning the deaths of two Jedi. We will follow his requests for now."

Ranma nodded, then paused and stared at the man until he backed away, rather grudgingly for a man just given a direct order by his queen. He turned, and grabbed Anakin's shoulder. "Kid, ya see that green skinned woman over there, see if ya can find her head, and show it ta Obi for me, will ya."

Anakin nodded, but tugged at his arm, pulling back as Ranma winced, only just then realizing he had broken his fingers during the fight, and they hadn't started healing again yet. "What about my mom?"

"Kid, I'm going to get your mom out one way or the other, okay?" Ranma said grimly, before continuing on his weary way.

As Ranma entered his ship, he stopped suddenly looking over the dunes separating where the fight had ended from the body of the Krayt dragon. "Anakin, what's that thing shining in that big old beastie?" He shouted.

Anakin turned from where he had just picked up Aurra Sing's head by the ponytail, torn between a grimace and grin. Racing over he dropped the head in front of Obi, who stared down at it, a grim smile breaking out on his face.

Racing over to look at what Ranma was talking about the boy gasped at the sight of the Greater Krayt Dragon's corpse. "That's a Krayt dragon pearl! They're really rare. You could use that to pay for my mom's freedom and then some!"

"Kiddo, I killed the dragon, I get ta keep it's treasure. I want ta get somethin' out of this fight besides bruises. Don't worry about your mom, she's gonna be coming with us, I promise." Ranma muttered, moving over in that direction and reaching into the charred remains of the creature's stomach to pull out the glittering pearl. He pocketed it in his ki space before moving back over towards the _Wild Light_.

 **OOOOOOO**

The roar of the _Wild Light_ 's engines interrupted the loading process outside the two castles, and Shaak turned wearily, staring up at it. It landed quickly, and Ranma came walked down the ramp, looking as if he had been put through the ringer even worse than she had.

Shaak limped toward him, gently pulling Aayla behind her until Ranma reached her, lifting the blue skinned Twi'lek into his arms and moving with her back towards the ship. "So, even with prior planning, we can still have piss poor performance." He quipped, wincing as carrying Aayla pulled something. The fact the girl automatically tried to kiss him was also irritating, but thankfully when he dodged her attempt she stopped simply hanging in his arms like a mindless doll.

"I take it you ran into Aurra and the Trandoshans?" Shaak asked, helping him along despite the fact that he didn't seem to need it. There was something about his glassy expression that worried Shaak however. Even worse his movements seemed forced rather than his normal fluid manner. Reaching up to his forehead she sent a brief pulse of Force into his body, trying to activate his own healing only to find it already working overtime to heal a… _fractured skull!?_ "Ranma!"

"I know I have a concussion," Ranma said with a nod. "We ran into something beyond Aurra, some spiky headed bastard of a Zabrak, had major tattoos covering his face, all red and black, like an evil clown. He beat both Qui-Gon and Obi while I was trying to close with Aurra, but I was being stopped by this local dragon thing."

He shook his head, wincing and letting out a pained hiss that did nothing to mitigate Shaak's worries. "We **have** to talk about that further, but not here." He whispered into one of her montrals. "The bastard knew some of my toughness techniques. He even knew about my personal style, at least some of it."

Shaak gasped. "But, but the only ones who know about those things are members of the Order, unless could we have been watched while on Dac?" she shivered, feeling a little as if she had been violated, which after the day she just had, wasn't exactly a far stretch for her imagination.

"I don't know, but we'll have to be aware of it in the future. It's something we'll have talk to Yoda about when we see him." By that point they had entered the _Wild Light_ , and Ranma laid Aayla down on the sofa gently. Even so she didn't respond, her eyes simply staring straight ahead waiting for the next order. "Will she be all right?"

Shaak smiled at Ranma's caring tone, laying a hand on his shoulder gently, but her smile faded as she turned to regard her young friend. "I don't know. We'll do our best and once we flush the drugs out of her system hopefully her mental acuity will come back, but I don't know, I just, I ran into what she did, and it was nearly my end too, the long term effects of it are beyond my ability to predict.

Turning away slightly she faced Ranma, while one hand gently stroked Aayla's forehead. "How bad were Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan injured?"

Ranma shook his head grimly, ignoring the pain the move caused as he walked back to the ramp. Shaak followed them, while outside the last of the freed slaves were being escorted onto Booster's ship. "Qui-Gon's missing a chunk of his side, but he didn't bleed out so that's something, the Nabooans think they can keep him alive until we get him to a proper hospital. Obi-Wan lost a leg from mid-thigh."

"By the Force!" Shaak murmured, shaking her head in dismay. "Was this all a trap?"

"I don't think so, if it was the actual ambush was pretty damn amateurish, none of our attackers worked together, and Sing didn't even seem to know the clown. I think this was just an attack of opportunity, but again it's something to tell the little froggy,"

Shaak nodded, and moved over to help some of the female slaves enter the ship, glad again that the Wookies were there. If any of the escaped male slaves tried to do anything, the Wookies would stop them. She stopped for a moment, looking at the human soldiers, and wondered why or rather how they had been captured and made into gladiators for Gardulla. _A mystery for another day,_ she thought, watching as Ranma left, entering one of the castles.

He came back a few minutes later, arms loaded with jewelry and other things from inside. "For Shmi?"

Ranma nodded, and pointed out that the _Wild Light_. "I don't like the idea ya can buy a person, but Watto's had a bad enough day already. Still, why don't you follow along? If that little toy tries to argue the point, I want ta to have an overwhelming argument on hand."

The moment Ranma entered the shop, Watto flew up to him angrily pointing at him then out over the city. "Are you part of this!? You Jedi, you come in and you enforce your own idea of order, I'm just a simple businessman, I want no part of this! You have the boy and your engine, that is enough! Get ouakkk?"

Ranma growled, and quicker than the little creature could move his hand lashed out grabbing him by the throat. "Listen here little man," he said, as he dropped the load of jewelry and other things on the floor. "You can take this payment, and you can give me the **correct** command to unlock Shmi's control collar. Or you can't, and I can kill you, and take it! Slavery is one of the worst crimes in the galaxy in my opinion, and even if you didn't enslave Shmi yerself, yer still culpable! At least this way you'll profit."

The Toydarian's eyes darted down to the bits and pieces of jewelry, then up to Ranma's face. "You took those from one of the Hutts! I can't take them, their clan's will find out and think I was part of this!"

"Not if you sell them off quickly enough or hide them, I don't care. You probably have a lot more experience with that kind of thing than I do. The command code." Ranma demanded.

Watto grumbled a little, but looking at the pile of jewelry below Ranma's feet, he knew that they could buy him at least five or six slaves just like Anakin or his mother, maybe more. It was easily the equivalent of the shop itself if not the goods within. "Very well," he grumbled, moving over and handing Ranma the controller. "Touch that to her neck, and input the code 22673, and the collar will unlock itself."

"Good, but just in case, my ship is going to stay hovering over your shop for a little while. If anything happens while I'm inputting the command, you'll be the first to know about it."

Watto gulped but nodded. "It's the real code what would I gain by trying to trick you now?"

"Let's just say it's been a long day and leave it at that 'k?" With that Ranma nodded, and exited the shop quickly, leaving Watto behind. For a moment the Toydarian merchant simply hovered the, staring after him, then he darted down to the jewelry, grabbing up as much of it as he could carry before zooming off.

Ranma found Shmi outside of her home, staring towards the direction where Ranma had met their mystery assailant and Aurra Sing. Then she had turned to stare over the city, and back, along with many of her neighbors.

Ranma limped through the small crowd, and she gasped. "Ranma! Are you all right?"

'Why does everyone ask that when they can already see the answer? Whatever," Ranma muttered, brining up a hand to his head when another stab of pain shot through it "Ahh, anyway, come here for a sec."

Shmi did so, quickly moving to his side as if to help him along moving back towards her house. "I don't have many healing balms, but I can do something for the burns at least." She said, looking at the injuries on his back and side, along with one of his forearms, which was also badly burned even as she tired to make light of things. "You wouldn't **believe** the amount of times Anakin's hurt himself working on projects for Watto."

"I don't need those, I'll heal all my own, that ain't what I'm here for. Ya remember I said even if the Jedi's wouldn't be able for you, I would?"

Shmi paused looking uncertain. "Ranma, I, I trust you to try, but Watto won't let me go so soon after losing Anakin, he needs help running the shop."

In response Ranma wordlessly held the controller to her neck and inputted the command Watto had given him. Then as the collar fell from her neck Ranma caught it before it hit the ground tossing it aside. "You're free." he said, smiling faintly while one of his eyes closed with pain. His head was **really** throbbing now. "Now come on, it's time to blow this ice cream stand."

The older woman stared at him then at the collar in his hand, then at her home, tears welling up in her eyes for a moment before she put her arms around Ranma in a gentle hug. "Thank you," she said through her tears.

And then she moved to help them, trying to take some of his weight on her, failing miserably as Ranma stoically refused her help. They limped out into the desert, where _Wild Light_ touched down seconds later. Shmi moved over to Aayla without even being told, checking her forehead and pulse rate frowning as she touched her lekku lightly. She looked over at Shaak, then blinked at how injured Shaak looked, before repeating the silliest question in the universe. "Master Ti, are you all right?"

"I've already taken as much medicine as I can," Shaak said, gesturing to the bandages scattered over her, especially on her leg. Pain killers help. "Should we start her on purgatives right away do you think?"

"So long as you think you can handle any withdrawal symptoms she might have yes," Shmi said quickly. "I've never seen a face like that, her pulse rate is too quick to be healthy, and she seems to be sweating from her lekku, though I'm unclear why or what could cause that. Regardless we need to get it out of her system quickly." Shmi had seen hundreds of drug addicts coming off their poison of choice, and had helped dozens of them, both before and after Gardulla lost her to Watto in a bet.

"I think that Ranma should stay away regardless of her state when she wakes up, at least in his male form." Shmi said a moment later after gently forcing several small but powerful purging medicines down Aayla's throat. These particular pills would make Aayla sweat most of the drugs out of her system, with some incontinence too unfortunately. The next stage would have her throwing up everything else.

To her surprise Ranma didn't argue. He simply nodded moving forward and lifting Aayla in his arms moving towards the bedrooms. "Put her in with me," Shaak ordered, gesturing towards her bedroom on the right. Ranma nodded then faltered a little between one step in another. God his head was hurting!

Ranma slowly moved through this ship, while at Shaak's command Tune brought the ship up into a slow climb out of the atmosphere. Above them the Nabooan yacht and the _Starwayman_ waited. "I'll watch her for now," Shmi said.

Carrying a change of clothes and a pair of medical underwear Shaak gave her she pushed Ranma out of the room gently but firmly. While she was very worried about what she'd do in the long term, this at least was something Shmi knew about. "I'll call for you when she wakes up."

Shaak nodded then looked between herself and Ranma. "Tune, open communications with the other ships. Tell them to set course for Kashyyyk. If Padme tries to protest, tell her that it's on the way to Coruscant anyway, going there will allow us to use hyperspace trade routes for more of the trip."

"I have done so mistress," Tune said after a moment, while Ranma moved towards the kitchen, grabbing a small bulb of water and pouring it over his head wincing at the pain of the change which never normally hurt. But changing like this did aggravate wounds most of the time. And this time, when it was mostly pulled muscles, compacted or bruised bones, plus of course his head injury, it was almost the worst he'd ever had.

Shaak looked at Ranma, shaking her head before she moved forward, helping the redhead onto the sofa, leaning down to press a gentle hand against his forehead. "Rest," she ordered. Ranma nodded wearily and closed her eyes.

With that done she moved towards the front cockpit, sitting down with relief. "Did you input the coordinates Kashyyyk?" Tune Replied in the affirmative, while HK made some comment about how they should carpet bomb the planet before leaving. Shaak Ti ignored him, leaning back and closing her own eyes. "Then get us out of here. If I see another desert it'll be too soon."

 **End chapter**

* * *

Woot. Hope you all enjoyed this, and the unadulterated violence! For those of you wondering, no Hiryu Shoten Ha because the Jedi were still in the area, too spread out to rescue them from the tornado. You can also see that Ranma isn't really used to using weapons even when he has them at all, since he made a few mistakes in this fight because of that.

Aurra Sing's death - she won against a lot of Jedi because she was good at ambushing them. Against Ranma? No chance in hell. Maul of course was a much tougher challenge, and the hi-tech version of the toughness training is actually far better than Ranma's old version.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

In other news, the next chapter of Semblance will be out by the end of the month. While Game Changer actually won this month's poll, I asked my patrons over at and they voted overwhelmingly for Semblance of Hope, and thanks to all your response to my last chapter, of this story, I could not turn my muse away from it. I might try for a chapter of Game Changer, but don't get your hopes up.

Speaking of Semblance of Hope, anyone with knowledge of Greek or Chinese - language, lifestyle, curse words, and honorifics, please get in touch with me.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Star Wars or Ranma. Wah.

Yeah, I know it's not my best title, but the only other one I could think of was simply about Kashyyyk, it's hard to come up with one liner's to describe this entire chapter. I also realize my Yoda speech in this chapter is all over the place. If someone wishes to help me out with that in the future I would gladly send him or her the Yoda scenes/speaking moments to go over via email, but for now, it's just me, and my beta isn't a real SW fact man.

Thanks go to MilandaAnza for her help in the romance sections, and to ultimaflare0 for his help as beta. As always if you see mistakes, feel free to PM me with them and I will go back and correct them when I can.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Jumping In Feet First Into Many Things**

Sidious snarled almost losing control of his Force power for a moment, clenching his hands on the armrests of his throne in the hidden room overlooking the Jedi Temple. He had been busy for several hours today already with the Senate and had hoped to take a few moments to reach out through the Force to see what was going on Tatooine. When he did, Sidious discovered that not only could he not feel the deaths of any Jedi, but that both the Jedi and the Chaotic Focus were once again on the move. And that his apprentice felt barely this side of alive, so weak it took him a few moments to actually find his presence at all.

 _How,_ he thought coldly. _How did all three of the Jedi on that planet survive? Maul should've killed at least one, possibly two even if he was forced to retreat because of the Chaotic Focus! Perhaps I have overestimated my assassin's abilities?!_

It took Sidious a moment to rein in his anger enough to concentrate, but when he did, he sent his thoughts flashing out through the Force, entering Maul's mind from thousands of light-years away. It was a trick that very few Jedi could've matched, and none of them could've over that distance even from one master to another. The ability to send their actual thoughts rather than their senses that far out through the Force was lost to the Order, but not the Sith, made easier thanks to the Veil. Sidious still needed an anchor at the other end, but his apprentice's mind served for that.

" _What happened apprentice!?"_ Sidious sent out, the thoughts thundering into Maul's head like an invading army. Even as he sent that thought out, Sidious became aware that Maul was barely cognizant, his eyes opened but unseeing. He was floating in the Scimitar's bacta tank, one of many such advanced items the heavily modified ship had been given to aid Maul's job as Sidious' agent of death.

Feeling his apprentice's wounds through their mental connection, Sidious realized that it was only because the bacta that he was using wasn't normal that he was awaken at all. One of his former teacher's skills had been Sith Alchemy, and thanks to his alchemical ingredients the bacta the Sith used was many times more potent than the normal variety. The side effects of this heightened the pain the user felt during the process, keeping the user awake. After all pain was always the best teacher.

Angry at his complete failure Sidious used his Force powers to send a jolt of agony through Maul's mind, heightening the pain he was going through even as Sidious began to catalog the number of wounds he had taken. The sheer number of them actually got through his anger enough so that he stopped after only a few moments, astonished that the strengthening technique had worked to keep Maul alive from wounds that would've killed even a Force user at least twice over.

" _M,my maassster…."_ his apprentices voice's mental voice replied, the words almost slurring _"taaake myyyy memories maaasttter… I cannot…"_

" _I do not need your permission apprentice!"_ Sidious replied coldly, before once again pushing almost all of his mental focus into his Maul's mind, ripping the memories in question. He was not gentle, but ignored his apprentice's spasms of agony, as he delved into the fight from Mauls perspective, watching through his apprentice's eyes the ambush. Watching the beginning of the ambush he n came away with a bit of approval for the planning behind it. With another burst of Force power Sidious shut down Maul's pain receptors for now, allowing him a moment of peace.

" _Your plan seemed sound, and the use of the Greater Krayt Dragon was somewhat inspired. The rest of your tools let you down, unable to keep the Chaotic Focus' attention away from you until you had dealt with the Jedi. But despite that you did as well as could be expected. This will set us back, be certain of that, but you did one thing even better than the battle itself: You used none of our Sith abilities against them. Though the Chaotic Focus must have noticed that you had the strengthening technique, contingencies are already in place to lead the Jedi down the wrong path there anyway."_

Pulling back slightly from his apprentice's mind, Sidious allowed Maul enough mental acuity to start forming his own thoughts once again. _"Do you have anything beyond that battle you wish to add?"_

Maul pulled his scattered thoughts together with difficulty, but this wasn't the first time his mind had been subjected to such tortures. They were after all a normal part of Sith conditioning, anything that didn't kill you made you stronger. _"Twwo points master: The speed techniques of the Chaotic Focus were able to offset and even overcome the strengthening technique. But my own mastery of that technique was at a far higher level than his. Buuuut he is incredibly adaptable in combat, that is a d-daaangerous ability."_

" _True,"_ Sidious mused, actually allowing a bit of approval to enter his mental voice. Jedi and Sith were not very adaptable in battle. Yes, most of the forms could be adapted to different styles of combat, but the ability to change complete styles midstream in a combat situation? Very few Jedi could do that, or would even be able to realize the need for it. _"Anything else?"_

" _Not connected to the battle but a minor mystery master, an immensely powerful Force youth!"_ This time it was Maul who pushed his memories towards his master mental presence. It was the start of the battle when he initially got off his bike, specifically the image of the young boy with the Jedi.

Even in the memory the boy glowed with the Force to a level that Sidious had never seen before. It was obvious the boy was monstrously talented in the Force, if untrained. _Could he be the vergence Plagueis created? His age seems to match up from what I can see, and the power of him! I need to find out more about him! Such a power in the Force, whatever his other abilities, he will be important in the future._

" _That is interesting,"_ he sent, _"Very well. That is enough, heal yourself and get back to Coruscant. We will need to think carefully about our next move. Make no mistake, this was a setback!"_ he said, allowing his apprentice once again to feel the pain from the special bacta for just a moment before shutting his pain sensors down again and letting them that way. _"Jedi should've died here, they should've died against the Yinchorri but they have not. We will need to address this."_

 _Ahh,_ _ **Revenge,**_ _one of the oldest and most powerful motivators,_ he thought as he felt Maul's rage and fury redouble while Maul focused down with all the power and control of the Sith. _"Yes apprentice, you will have your of red revenge, possibly sooner than later. For now, heal yourself up."_ With that Sidious left Maul's mind, but not before turning Maul's pain receptors back on.

Once again in his physical body Sidious shook his head, breathing heavily as one hand rose to massage his forehead for a moment, a sign of irritation, even exhaustion that he would let no one see. Even for Sidious reaching out that far a distance for that long was a strain, and if not for the Veil of the Dark Side would've been impossible.

But Sidious wasn't done working on this problem just yet. His breathing evening out once again, he sent his thoughts out into the stream of the future. Could he in some way turn Maul's failure to his advantage, perhaps use it to center Jedi interest inward?

 _No_ , he decided, considering the ramifications of that thought carefully. _It is too soon with all the other changes I've made to the Grand Plan lately to make the Jedi paranoid about interior threats just yet. My plans there must have time to ripen, along with the tools I've chosen for that task._

 _The Weequay's interest is plain but interest in the Dark Side is a far cry from being worthy of becoming a Sith. I can already influence the alien, and through him others. I can even reach out to a few others disaffected with the recent changes Yoda has pushed, but the Jedi must_ _ **not**_ _become aware that the Sith have returned just yet, at least not in force. Damn Maul!_

For a moment Sidious seethed quietly, before once more regaining control of his anger. _A pity, their paranoia about it would have served my purposes in alienating them farther from both one another and from the universe of large. But it would be counterproductive now, uniting them rather than dividing them when so much else is already doing that task._

 _On the other hand, Maul's use is quickly coming to an end_ Sidious thought coldly. _The Zabrak must be sacrificed. But that will need to wait until he is on Coruscant once more, where I can implant a few memories to further cover my tracks just in case, force him to drop a name or two. I will still stymie any and all efforts to bring in Republic forces to help against the Trade Federation, that remains the best chance to start cutting down the Jedi's numbers._

 _I will also still push Amidala to go to the Jedi for aid, as well as propose the vote of no-confidence. That plan thankfully is unchanged, and as Chancellor, my ability to influence events will increase dramatically. Perhaps another little push on my secondary plans there as well, but I have a few days to set that up._

 _Sacrifice Maul, allow the Jedi to find the trail that I had already prepared just in case his strengthening technique was found out, and one more. That will do to protect the secret of the Sith's return for now, but I will need a new apprentice in the interim before the Weequay is ripe enough to be plucked. And if my new pawn can be used to further my information on the Chaotic Focus' abilities..._

With that thought he sent out a flick of Force power, activating one of his many communication devices. It opened to one of his underworld contacts who answered promptly of course. "Has there been any change on the bounty I posted several weeks ago?"

"Yes sir," said the voice on the other end. That voice's owner did not know Sidious of course, he just knew him as a powerful underworld boss, and that was enough. "The bounty Hunter Jango Fett has taken up the challenge, and is already on planet with the target."

Sidious actually smiled for a moment, a feeling almost like pleasure going through him. "Excellent! He is aware I want the target alive, yes?"

"Of course sir."

"Good." With that Sidious cut the connection, thinking about the bounty in question. He had plans for Jango Fett, who had first appeared on his radar during the Mandalorean Debacle a few years ago, and this would serve as an excellent test of his skills. If the bounty Hunter passed, Sidious knew great things were in order for him.

 _Yes, the plan is still sound, the Jedi still vulnerable despite Yoda's attempts at an interior reformation. This was a setback nothing more_ Sidious thought, his thoughts and anger once again centered, and he pushed himself out of his throne, heading towards the changing area where he would once again become the benign Senator many of his tools knew him as.

 _The future still belongs to me, despite the Chaotic Focus. But we must start doing more directly against that one and it's influence, a problem to address after the Nabooian problem has been squeezed for all its worth. For now, I have pawns whose egos need soothing, and other plots that need to be set in motion._

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma woke up in pain, her thoughts a jumble, her eyes, when she tried to open them, bleary, unable to focus. Despite that however, she was aware that someone was gently touching her forehead, and a soothing, welcome voice was speaking beside him. "Ranma, can you hear me?"

"Shaak?" Ranma groaned, trying to open her eyes only stopping when the hand on her forehead moved down to cover her eyes. "Can hear you, but, but my head…"

"The injury to your head is healing slowly, but your body seems to be trying to heal all of your wounds equally, that's slowing it rather badly I'm afraid. With the amount of pain you're in, are you able to direct your healing ability?"

"Doesn't work quite like that…" Ranma muttered, visibly stopping herself from shaking her head. That would be **bad** right now.

Shaak nodded her head slowly, castigating herself for not realizing that Ranma shouldn't have been allowed to sleep after getting a concussion, it was often a very bad idea. The head trauma that Ranma had gone through seemed to be impacting her body's ability to heal as well, almost as much as her body's desire to heal all its wounds at the same time.

And the redhead's ki reserves were nonexistent, the last of it tied into maintaining her ki space. Shaak had forced some emergency rations down her throat, military rations that were supposed to give the body all it needed routine but she couldn't sense any real response yet. That led her to one way to speed up Ranma's healing, at least the damage to her head and brain anyway. She didn't really think the later was needed, but head trauma was tricky. "I can help you but you have to let me in."

"Do, don't understand." Ranma muttered.

"I can't connect my Living Force reserves to yours Ranma, I don't know how. But I can use the Unifying Force to connect us, which will let me guide the Force to heal you. But you know with your odd abilities, you're not connected to the Unifying Force as we Jedi always are. So it has to be a conscious decision on your part to let that in."

It took a few moments for Ranma's scattered thoughts to come together enough to understand her, but she nodded, reaching out with her ki senses to the Unifying Force, vaguely feeling Shaak do the same. The Unifying Force connected the two of them for a moment, and Shaak immediately went to work, directing the Force through that connection into Ranma empowering her healing ability and directing it to her cracked cranium.

Ranma felt cool relief hit her almost immediately, her scattered thoughts becoming clearer as the seconds ticked by. She also felt an aching hunger that she had rarely felt before intruding on her thoughts. _My body must've used all of my available ki to start the healing process, but I must've nearly run out before we began this. Damn I'm hungry, almost as much as when I arrived in this universe!_

The growling of her stomach served as an exclamation mark to that thought, causing Shaak to chuckle quietly. Ranma didn't even have the energy to chuckle though, shaking her head very slightly. The damage wasn't completely healed, but her concussion was gone at least, and Ranma knew that the crack in her skull was almost gone as well. "Thanks, Shaak. That helped a lot," she muttered.

So saying Ranma tried to sit up only to fall back when Shaak gently pushed the redhead back down with a gentle hand on her chest. "Don't. I'll get you some food." Ranma nodded, closing her eyes for a few moments, opening them when Shaak returned.

She looked at the Togrutan noticing her slight smile. "Now, say aahhh…"

Ranma gave Shaak her best deadpan expression, but opened her mouth obediently. The food wasn't much, more ship rations, not any of the food that would take actual cooking to prepare, but nutritious all the same. "Thanks again Shaak," she muttered between bites.

Shaak laughed quietly. "Consider it my way of repaying those massages of yours. Above and beyond helping my fellow Jedi on Tatooine anyway."

"No way, Shaak." Ranma said with a smile, now feeling slightly better. Her stomach was still glued to her ribs, but she felt more human than she had a few moments ago. "Ya still owe me at least one massage of my own at some point."

"I can see you're feeling better." Shaak chuckled again shaking her head lightly.

"What about your own injuries?"

"You just worry about yours Ranma." Shaak replied very firmly. "My own are healing as they can, but that concussion of yours and the crack to your cranium worried me. They're mostly healed now, but the rest of your wounds will require more time." She sighed, taking one of Ranma's hands in her own, squeezing it. "Just, get yourself better all right?"

Her mouth currently full with her next bite Ranma replied by gripping Shaak's hand, but could barely put any energy into it. The two of them settled into a companionable silence, which strangely didn't feel awkward despite the nature of Ranma's injury and Shaak still feeding Ranma.

Shaak smiled watching Ranma's eyes close slowly as the redheaded human female fell asleep again, setting the food to one side. Shaak laid a gentle hand on Ranma's forehead, smiling slightly. Even with Ranma once again disconnected from the Unifying Force she could sense that her wounds were healing now. Ranma would still be hungry for some time, but Ranma would be on her feet far faster after such wounds than any Jedi would have.

"Mistress," Tune said, breaking into her thoughts, "We are coming up on our first hyperspace way-point, and the Queen sent a message just before our jump that she wished to speak to you."

"Very well, I'll be in the cockpit in a moment Tune." Shaak said, dropping off the remains of food in the kitchenette, before sticking her head into her room to check on Shmi and Aayla. Shmi was asleep in a chair next to the bed, and Aayla was twitching slightly in her sleep, but that was all. Shaak frowned slightly noticing that Shmi had rigged up some straps to hold her fellow Jedi down, and resolved to ask her about that later, but figured it was a good precaution against the danger of Aayla hurting herself as she came off whatever had been given her.

Moments later Shaak sat down in the cockpit. Looking to one side she noticed HK, or at least the head that was currently the entirety of HK, was still plugged into the weapons systems. The droid looked at her its eye pieces glowing. "Interrogative Query: Mistress, how long will we remain in hyperspace? I wish to search out my body or an acceptable alternative as soon as possible."

"I don't know HK, for now try to research your own memories, see if you can find a clue there as to what could have happened to it. If you can't find anything shut down for now." Shaak replied, sitting down. "This ship might have a hyperspace relay, but I don't want to use it continuously, not until we are in the Core at least, away from Hutt influence." She sighed faintly, shaking her head. "I also have to use it to send an initial report to the Jedi Council in both my and Master Qui-Gon's name."

Moments later the ship came out of hyperspace, and Shaak ordered Tune to open communications with the Nabooan yacht, which did not have a Hypercom relay. They were rather rare on non-military ships after all. "Can I help you your highness?" She asked as the queen's image came up on the screen.

"Why are we going to Kashyyyk?" Padme asked bluntly. "My astromech droid informs me it takes us at least two days out of our way, which doesn't consider how long we might be there for."

"We are going there because Master Yoda is there, and he has asked Ranma and I to join him there while also getting Aayla the aid she needs. Some of the slaves are also Wookies, and all of the slaves will be welcome there. I cannot anticipate the response of our showing up on Coruscant with this cavalcade, but you should know it would get in the way of your own reason for going there in the first place."

She shook her head. "Further, going to Kashyyyk does not take us that far out of your way. You will be allowed to use a hyperspace route from Kashyyyk the Jedi know about which will allow you to connect to a Trade Route which in turn will take you straight to Coruscant."

"You made this decision without consulting me." Padme said coldly. "Have you forgotten that my planet is under the boot of the Trade Federation, that time is of the essence!?"

"I have not forgotten your highness, but going to Kashyyyk does not take you that far out of your way," Shaak reiterated, before adding. "And you might find more certain allies there than on Coruscant."

"I must speak to the Senate! They must act against the Trade Federation!" Padme insisted.

 _If the Senate were going to, they would've done so already,_ Shaak thought to herself but did not say aloud. She wasn't a counselor, thank the heavens, she didn't need to deal with those 'illustrious fellows', she just had to keep up with Ranma, which while being difficult at least had a noticeable upside. _And is rather enjoyable on many levels…_

Shaking that thought off Shaak turned her attention back to the young royal. "Your highness, have you considered whether or not the attack on Qui-Gon and Obi-wan was simply a way to separate them from you? Are you willing to sacrifice your life and the lives of those with you if the warrior who ambushed you with the mercenaries on Tatooine was not acting alone? How far is the Trade Federation willing to go? This whole incident is beyond the norm for them, how much further will they go?"

Padme paused, frowning for a moment, but eventually nodding reluctantly. "Your arguments make sense, but realize I do not approve of this. If not for the fact my ship doesn't have its own weapons, we would breaking off now."

"You do not have to approve my actions are highness, you simply have to agree they are prudent." Shaak said bluntly, tired and in no mind to be diplomatic right now. "Now, how are Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan?"

The younger woman frowned again at the Jedi's tone but nodded, and went along with the topic change. "Qui-Gon is still in danger, but we can keep him alive until we reach Kashyyyk. Obi-Wan is surprisingly already awake and meditating, the painkillers we've given him and the bacta patch on his wound seems to have done wonders."

"I can only pray that you are correct and that going to Kashyyyk does not set my addressing the Senate back too far." Padme sighed, before going on softly. "I don't mean to sound callous, freeing the slaves of was an incredibly good deed. But I have an entire planet's well-being to consider. All of this has slowed my reaching the Senate and with every hour that passes my people suffer!"

"I realize that your highness," Shaak said equally softly, smiling at young woman, no the young girl really. A girl her age would be barely ready for the first round of Padawan testing, let alone be put in a position of power in the Order. "And your dedication to them does you credit. But passion and fire will not serve you on Coruscant, allies will. Believe me when I say that Grandmaster Yoda and the Council will stand with you."

Padme nodded, and made to cut the connection, but Anakin's head appeared pushing into the pickup. "Master Jedi, is my mother all right?"

Shaak's lips twitched slightly, shaking her head internally at the boy. _Master Qui-Gon might think Anakin will is the Chosen one and will be a great Jedi, but I am uncertain if the rest of the Order will react similarly._ "Don't worry Ani, we got her out all right, she's currently helping Aayla. As a former slave I am sure you know about drug addicts and addictions correct?"

Anakin sobered, nodding his head. "That's going to suck," he said bluntly.

"Trust me we figured that one out ourselves," Shaak replied dryly. _That boy is going to need a lot of discipline and understanding, and no coddling at all._ "For now, I need to call Terrik and make certain his crew are helping the other slaves which might be suffering similarly."

Padme and Anakin both nodded, and the connection ended.

"Snide tone: It is a sign of immaturity to believe that any politician will do anything but that which will allow him to rake in the most monetary gain. The entire subculture is good for nothing more than being used as fertilizer or emergency rations. And even at those tasks they perform poorly. Amused Statement: This one at least seems able to learn, indeed uou didn't even need to threaten the girl, such a pity."

"HK, not now." Shaak said firmly, thankful the psychopathic droid hadn't spoken up during their actual discussion.

"Amused statement: That is not a rebuttal mistress."

Shaak stared at the droid head for a moment, but whatever she was going to say, if anything, was interrupted when Tune opened up a link with Booster's ship. He responded promptly, telling her the Wookies had taken over caring for the slaves in conjunction with several of the slaves themselves, those who hadn't been born into it or drugged. He would however need medical supplies, his ship's reserves were not up to the task.

In response Shaak manually transferred over 2/3's of their medical supplies to the grateful former slaves. Dealing with their gratitude took longer than transferring the supplies, but eventually it was done and the ships parted. Shaak took a moment then to send a brief message to the council, telling them of the mission being accomplished that they had wounded and were heading to Kashyyyk before signing off, citing a worry they might be followed.

After the _Wild Light_ jumped to hyperspace on its second leg of this journey Shaak sighed, leaning back in the pilot's chair and looking over at HK. "Shut down for now HK, I don't think we're going to need you for a while."

"Irritated response: Of course it's always shut down when we don't need you HK, it's always violence this violence that, don't speak up when we're having irritating conversations. Joyful announcement: I wouldn't have it any other way of course. Signing off."

"We are definitely going to have that head examined," Shaak murmured to herself. Shaking her head, she leaned back and closed her eyes eager to get some more rest, her mind going back to the same problem as it had hours earlier. _While it actually makes some sense for that warrior to be after Padme, I have to wonder how that attacker knew Ranma's strengthening technique?_

Shaak was not the only one wondering that. Despite having his eyes closed Ranma hadn't fallen asleep right away. _I got lucky a time or two in that fight,_ he thought grimly. _If that bastard was able to incorporate more of my techniques into his own, that battle could have gone the other way easy._ _I made a lot of mistakes, my being unused to using weapons, and my overall training nearly got me killed. And with me Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan._

 _Can't let that happen again. Need to step up my training with a staff, get so used to it that it's not just part of my style but my combat instincts. Then start adding in other weapons including lightsabers. Could've ended that fight if I was able to better incorporate them into my instincts._

 _How in the hell did the bastard observe us anyway? The when_ _is_ _easy, and I guess with the tech in this universe the how is also easy, but how'd he get the tech in place without us noticing? Don't the Jedi have ways to feel if they're being spied on?_

 _And besides that, what was the tattooed asshole after? Was he after the Jedi, me, or the Padme? He didn't actually go after Padme, but he had that ship. He could've ambushed her any time after finishing off the Jedi. Oh, and then there's the big question, where the hell did Mister Angry come from!? How did he know enough about me to actually spy on Shaak and I in the first place!?_

After several hours stewing on them, since she couldn't figure out the answers to any of those questions, put them aside with a bit of difficulty. It was only when she thought about the way that his head was feeling much better that he left those questions entirely, a smile quirking her lips upwards.

 _It looks as if the distance between Shaak and I is gone now, though I can't believe I actually made a joke out of the massages! I'd never've been that forward back in Nerima. Gaah… just the idea of having Shaak's hands on me instead of the other way around…_ That thought should've sent Ranma to blushing, but frankly his body didn't have enough energy for that. Ranma fell asleep still thinking about Shaak, her touch on his forehead, the tender expression she wore as she helped heal him, and a wide smile appeared on his face even as he fell asleep.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next time Ranma woke up wasn't nearly so pleasant. Rather than a cool touch to her forehead it was screaming that woke her this time. The screams went through his head like a nail through cardboard waking Ranma up with a jolt. Pushing herself up out of the sofa, Ranma fell back when Shaak moved past her, coming from the cockpit where they had just left hyperspace once more. Moving through the sitting room Shaak pushed the redhead back with an almost absent-minded Force Push to the chest, the sort that Ranma wouldn't even feel if she wasn't so weak.

With that done Shaak moved swiftly into her room, where Aayla had woken up. She was shivering and shaking, screaming at the top of her lungs, while Shmi held her down, pushing at her shoulders, having difficulty despite the constraints. Shmi turned to Shaak, shaking her head wildly. "She seems to be in the throes of some kind of nightmare. She's not awake, and it's not a response to coming off the drugs either. On the one hand that's good, but on the other…" she shrugged.

Shaak nodded, moving forward to take her friends hand, one her other hand moving to gently stroke the girls tentacles. Her voice was soft as she spoke. "Aayla, you're safe, safe. You're among friends, and Jabba is dead. We'll get you through this and whatever help you need, you will get, I promise."

As she was speaking Shaak had sent a small tendril of friendship and kindness out into the Force, hoping that it got through Aayla's natural mental defenses. Either her words or the feelings got through Shaak couldn't tell but Aayla's jerking and screaming subsided. Her eyes opened, locking on Shaak for one moment and she smiled faintly murmuring, "Safe," before falling back into sleep.

Shaak sighed leaning back from her friend to look over at Shmi. "Can you tell me how Aayla is doing physically?"

"I've never dealt with anything quite like this. I can say that the purgative's are working, and I'm very grateful that you thought ahead and brought along that medical diaper," Shmi said trying to lighten the mood. The medical diaper in question was a formfitting device that connected to a small reservoir which accumulated the purgative before burning it away. It kept the smell and the mess down. Putting it on had been tough, but well worth it.

"She's sweating as well, but not as much as a human would given she's a Twi'lek." Twi'leks could not afford to lose mh water on their home planet that was an evolutionary necessity on such a hot, dry world. "We need to keep her body heat up, keep her body sweating whatever this is out of her system. Frankly it's going better than I thought it would physically."

Shmi looked up now and saw the looks of respect and the questions in Ranma's face, who hadn't actually processed before this that Shmi was acting as a nurse thanks to his concussion. She snorted. "Did you think the life of a slave was all work around the shop and pod races? Even after a slave's somehow gained freedom or been pawned off from the Hutts no one wants anything to do with us, we slaves have to take care of ourselves."

She ignored the redhead's sudden frown at that, since it was just the way the universe worked on Tatooine, turning her attention back to the Jedi with a shrug. "I can handle her physical issues, her mental ones, which I note you didn't ask about…" Shmi shrugged. "That area I can't help you with. If a slave was broken in the head, there was very little any of us could do to bring her out of it."

"Hopefully there will be Masters on Kashyyyk that will be able to since I'm no mind healer either. All I can do is offer support." Shaak sighed, touching her young friend's lekku gently, running a finger up and down them lightly.

"Probably the best thing you can do at this point." Ranma's voice replied from the doorway. The redhead was leaning against it, and obviously still very weak, but game. "How long do you think this should go on for Ms. Shmi?"

"Given her body weight and the strength of drugs we've given, whatever she was given should be out of her system in another day. But I am not a trained physician, I don't know if there's going to be any long term lasting effects from what she was given, or the process of taking her off it, I'm just going by what I've seen from helping slaves off other drugs."

Shaak suddenly felt guilty as she remembered something. "Shmi, I have to ask you to talk to Booster when we next come out of hyperspace. The Wookies and whoever else had taken over looking after the former slaves might not know how to handle this as well as you do. I already gave them some of our supplies, but between you and the other former slaves you might also be able to think up ways to make them last longer. I should have thought of that as I was making the transfer, since now you'll have to wait for our next stopover."

"I'll be happy to, but right now, I would like something to eat and to wash up. Could you two watch Ms. Secura while I'm gone?"

Shaak and Ranma both nodded, and Shmi left the room. As she did Ranma wearily slid down the wall of Shaak's room, resting against it for a moment on the floor. She looked at Shaak sitting in the single chair next to the bed. "I gotta say with four people it's kinda crowded in here, I didn't really think ahead there."

"I rather like it," Shaak said shrugged. "It's homey, but then again my race has always enjoyed closeness." For a moment the two of them were silent then Shaak began speaking again. "I, I am sorry Ranma, the distance between us before we arrived on Tatooine, my trying to keep away from you physically at times, it was, it is nothing that you did, Just my… well I suppose I had a revelation that made the reasons behind my wanting to keep that distance seem foolish."

"I am still thinking about both sides of that, but I want you to know it is nothing that you did that caused my actions, at least not in a bad way." Shaak paused, her purple lips twisted into a wry grimace. "That sounded much more intelligible in my mind to be honest."

"I understood anyway," Ranma laughed, shaking her head slightly. "It hurt, I'm not going to lie, but I figured it was a Jedi indoctrination thing." Shaak winced at how accurate that guess was as well as Ranma's word choice, but thankfully Ranma went on to another topic. "Besides, we've got a lot more important things to worry about right now. I can't even remember what I already told you, my memory after that fight's kind of jumbled and blurry, but here's what Qui-Gon Obi-Wan and I ran into…"

From there Ranma went into an account of the battle against the tattooed Zabrak, Aura and the Trandoshans. Shaak smiled slightly, feeling a sense of justice long overdue at the bounty hunter's death. She in turn described in greater detail the fights she had getting the slaves out. But then the two of them turned to them real problem, the fact they had been observed, and that the mysterious Zabrak had somehow been able to recreate the toughness training and a goodly portion of Ranma's personal style.

"You haven't exactly made a secret of your greater than normal abilities Ranma, but even so it shouldn't have spread beyond the Jedi Order and perhaps a few observant members of the navies sent against the Yinchorri. This Zabrak's techniques and his Force abilities also concern me greatly."

"Concerns me too." Ranma said dryly.

"No you don't understand. While his skill with your techniques is worrisome, it is where he **came from** which concerns me the most. His appearance, the yellow eyes you mentioned, the skills, the anger and hatred you felt, even the lightsaber's color. All of it feels like I just stepped into one of master Halcyon's history lessons."

It took a moment for Ranma to understand and then she nodded. "The Sith, I hadn't made that connection. But what about his appearance told you that?"

"Giving in to the Dark Side impacts you physically, yellow eyes like that are certain sign of that, the more hate, fear and anger you feel the greater the impact to your body. And the Sith are the only ones who ever used artificial crystals, which always make red lightsabers blades." Shaak frowned. "If a Force user found some cache of Sith knowledge, he would have been tainted without even knowing it. Such a being could do incalculable harm before he is stopped."

"Should've figured that," Ranma muttered, shaking her head. "Anger ki and depression do the same in a limited way, bet fear and hatred would too. But still, what worries me the most is he was able to record us without either of us noticing."

"True, I didn't think we'd have to worry about such a thing on Dac, neither the Quarren nor the Mon Calamari are exactly known for their duplicity. But even without being on guard I would have felt it if anyone was actually watching us, even if they were watching us from hidden camcorders or sound devices. So the observation was completely automated. That's worrisome, and a weakness that I think all Jedi will need to address going forward, regardless of what type of mission we are on."

"Shaak…His strengthening technique was better than mine." Ranma said softly. "If not for my speed technique, he could've beaten me. I've overlooked something since coming to this universe, technology. The whole smashing you against rocks thing has nostalgic value…" the redhead smirked while Shaak growled playfully at her jabbing Ranma lightly with her toe. "But we need to figure out a way to both shorten the training time for that, and heighten the effect."

"I've already had a few ideas along those lines since you first told me about it." Shaak replied with a nod, pulling back her foot slowly. "It's not something we'd be able to do on the _Wild Light_ , not unless we want to re-task one of the rooms." She blushed slightly, her red skin lightening somewhat around the cheeks as she looked away. Ranma did the same since that would mean they would be actually sleeping in the same room. Not that the idea didn't have some appeal, but neither one of them wanted to deal with that and the issues involved right now.

Quickly getting back to the topic on hand Ranma said, "That's good, but I need to step up my work on my staff. Blocking lightsabers with ki shields takes a lot out of me, and…" he sighed. "I need to figure out this whole Living Force, Unifying Force thing. I still don't like it, I still don't like giving up that kind of control, but that limits my ability to recover too much. Just figuring out a way to let some of it in for a few moments would be a step in the right direction."

Shaak rolled her eyes lightly understanding where Ranma was coming from and indeed acknowledging that in battle he had a point. But his ability to heal was still far greater than any Jedi's and far faster too when he had enough Living Force to call upon.

"We're going to step up your training too." Ranma went on. "More speed techniques, more strengthening, and we need to build up your Living Force reservoir."

As Ranma continued to speak about their training Shaak allowed his her words to wash over her, wondering about something else entirely. Because she knew that this Sith or whatever he turned out to be should not been able to find out about Ranma's abilities. That pointed to something far larger, at the very least a web of contacts beyond anything some mad Dark Side User should have had, which was very worrisome indeed, and something the Jedi needed to follow up on.

The next few days of their journey fell into a bit of a routine. Ranma would wake up, eat an entire day's worth of food at one sitting, which his body turned into fuel as he slept, pushing his healing process along as he slept. Shaak watched over the ship, helped Shmi and Aayla, and sat with her whenever she could, taking the rest of her time to heal herself, or to train under Ranma and master Halcyon's teaching whenever Ranma was up.

She would often sit and watch Ranma sleeping, watching the Living Force within Ranma heal her wounds. It was an amazing sight honestly, far different from Jedi healing, far faster and more uniform. Doing so forced Shaak to once again face her changing, or rather growing thoughts about Ranma. the fact he was in his female body at present had made it somewhat easier to ignore, but she couldn't do so entirely.

 _What am I going to do? I, I think I know what I am feeling now, but what to do about it? The Order says attachment is forbidden, yet Master Halcyon says that was not always the case. I know the Order will react badly to even the hint of a, a relationship between us. Can, am I_ _ **willing**_ _to deal with that? I refuse to hide it, and if what Master Halcyon says is true, than I can argue against it intellectually, but in a battle between intellect and tradition, the outcome is impossible to predict._

 _Am I really ready for this? Not just the Order's reaction, but, but what it would mean for Ranma and I? Can I… how does one even act, or begin or_ _ **anything**_ _in a romantic relationship!? I've seen such of course, but that is a far cry from knowing the nuts and bolts of it. Does, does he feel the same way? I've seen some of his looks at me, but am I reading too much into this?_

Shaak's mind sort of went into a loop like this for a time, and she turned away from the sleeping redhead, absently noting that her shirt, a tight black thing he'd bought on Dac, had ridden up showing her stomach. The redhead had an actual six-pack, something few women could boast, but Ranma was so fit it carried over. The sight made Shaak smile for a reason she couldn't quite grasp, but her thoughts turned once again to the problem facing her.

 _What should I do?_ She thought again, this time sending the words out into the Force at the same time. She closed her eyes, sending out her senses further following up on that initial thought as she looked to the Unifying Force for an answer. And she got one, but one whose interpretation simply bounced the question right back to her.

All she got in return were disjointed images, a series of what Shaak's senses told her were 'what if' images of possible futures. Her ability to read the future not enough to discern which images were certainties and which weren't even with Ranma's small pillar Light (it had shrunk as his ki had, but was growing back towards its original point now) nearby diffusing the Dark Side's growing influence.

She saw what she knew would have been the scene of her death if Ranma had not come into her life. A young man with black hair and a cru cut his lightsaber flashing through her body over some kind of pit, the background that of a jungle world.

She saw herself and a young Zabrak girl training together, then standing against a tide of some kind of enemies, their numbers and faces obscured on the steps of the Jedi temple.

She saw her and Ranma, laughing aloud as they shared a joke, leaping through the branches on a jungle world along with some strange, small furry primitives.

She saw herself on the council, staring out of the windows, before turning back to some discussion or other, a faint smile on her face replacing some other emotion Shaak could not discern.

She saw the two of them standing alone saying words that did not come through the image. They stood on a mangled, battered vehicle of some kind, the background that of a massive battlefield as they went back to back, pulling out their weapons.

She saw the two of them locked in an embrace, the image so clear it made her blush.

She saw the two of them at the head of several others, their relationship unclear, just that the younglings in front of them were listening to their words carefully.

Shaak came back to her body, shaking her head. The images might not have had much of a background, but they were clear enough in their intent: whatever she chose, her future had already changed dramatically from what it might have been and whatever she chose now, she would be serving the Light side. So… _So I just need to make my decision based on what will make me happiest?_

That fact actually made Shaak smile lightly, and she shook her head slowly, dispelling the self-doubts, the indecision, the hesitancy. The serenity and calm that was at the center of her being came to Shaak Ti once more as she made her decision. _I am a Jedi, but that does not mean I must remain apart. So be it. I will, we will face what comes together._

Shaak went to sleep later that evening with a far lighter heart, though she was still wondering how to broach the subject with Ranma, and when too. Those thoughts left her mind as Shmi informed her Aayla was beginning to wake up. Shaak quickly joined the two of them, along with a now healed Ranma.

"Knight Ti, I understand that I have you to thank for rescuing me?" Aayla said, her face and voice composed even as her lekku twitched violently, showing a far greater range of movement than Shaak's own could. The Twi'lek's had developed an entire language around the movement of their lekku, and how they wore them, but this was not an actual word or statement, rather a simple sign of internal distress that Aayla could not control.

"Shaak please Aayla, you know we're close enough to use first names." Shaak replied, smiling slightly even as she frowned internally. "And yes, Ranma and I were sent in once it was discovered you were out of contact."

"May I ask what happened? I was supposed to have another Jedi close by at all times, but that obviously did not take place." Aayla asked, her voice still a controlled monotone, utterly unlike her normal voice, something which made Shaak even more worried.

Shaak filled her in on what had happened, and watched Aayla's face, which remained stern and almost aloof, controlled. Shaak didn't have the skill to see what Aayla was thinking, but some of her feelings and emotions came through, and it worried Shaak even more than her young friend's tone. The feelings were being suppressed, pushed to the side or down, just like the Jedi Order taught them to do, but that wasn't the way something this extreme should be handled.

"I see. Well at least it's over now, though with Jabba dead most of the information I have is obsolete. Still, I know a lot of captain's names, and several of his contacts on Ryloth that can help the Order help shut down some of the illegal slave trade. I even overheard talk about a Senator Jabba had in his pocket, though the name was never mentioned." Aayla said musingly.

"Aayla, do, do you want, that is do you want to talk about what you went through?" Shaak asked hesitantly. She had never been very inclined toward the higher level healing arts, and didn't know much psychology either. But she could see the bomb waiting to go off behind Aayla's eyes.

"No." Ayla said sharply, shuddering and looking away, her lekku twitching even more violently. After a moment however she calmed down, looking back at Shaak then over her shoulder at Ranma. Her voice was noticeably more like her normal self as she went on, but it still sounded forced to Shaak. "No, I just want to put it behind me, just forget it happened. I'm much more interested in the redhead behind you. Ranma was it? I don't remember you from the Jedi Temple."

"Yeah well ya wouldn't considerin' you were sent on this mission before I even came to this dimension." Ranma replied with a shrug. "Me and Master Dooku met up during a… altercation I suppose and he and I eventually came to an understanding."

"Dimension?" Aayla asked weakly, before looking at Shaak. "Is she alright in the head?"

 _Oh Irony you are a bitch._ "That is debatable, but Ranma is actually telling the truth. He and the High Council think he indeed came from a separate dimension, where the Force doesn't work as it does here." Thinking to lighten the mood, Shaak turned to Ranma. "And altercation? You mean after you instigated a fight with one of the five best duelists in the Order, which only stopped after your curse surprised him?"

"Meh, the old guy enjoyed it, don't doubt it. Besides it's not like your Order hasn't already profited from it." Ranma teased back.

"I seem to be missing something here." Aayla said, looking between the two of them. "And, curse?"

"Ranma's abilities all center around using the Living Force alone, not the Living and Unifying Force in conjunction as we Jedi do. They are also more based around combat and strengthening the body rather than altering the universe around us, well beyond even the Force Warrior sect and in a very different manner. Ranma and I have experimented over the last few months, and there are also distinct differences in how what he calls ki and chi act in comparison to the Force in this dimension, but the Living Force has enough in common with ki that his teachings can carry over."

Shaak's purple lips twitched as she looked at the redhead and Ranma had to fight a sudden desire to see what those lips would taste like, pulling her eyes off them with difficulty as Shaak went on. "As for **his** curse, you're looking at it."

Aayla tensed for just a second at the word 'his' something not lost on any of the three in the room, before relaxing as she stared at Ranma then Shaak. "Unless things in his dimension are different in a far more fundamental way, Ranma's not a male." She said, her tone making it clear she thought they were making fun of her, even as she fought off a yawn.

"You'll see what I mean eventually, and in this case seeing is the only way to believe, trust me." Shaak soothed, one hand touching Aayla's hand lightly. "For now, rest my friend, regain your strength. We're heading to Kashyyyk, and you will be back among the Order soon."

Aayla nodded, but her eyes were already drooping shut as she did. Shmi moved forward, helping Aayla to lay back down, sharing a look with Shaak and Ranma who shook their heads in turn. They left the room, picking up the remains of the meal Shmi had fed Aayla before their conversation, placing it in the washing machine before moving to prepare a meal of their own.

They were silent for a moment as they did so, until Ranma spoke up slowly. "…So, that wasn't normal right?"

"No. I'm not a mind healer or a psychologist Ranma, I can try to force her to talk about her ordeal, but I can't even tell you if that would be the right thing. Her attempt to just, just ignore her experiences bothers me, but how to get her to confront and overcome them without falling into despair or rage is beyond my power.

"Remember the backlash effect Ranma. Even if she tries, it's all too easy to see Aayla falling into the Dark Side and losing herself. I could try to establish a mental link between us, but I don't think I could get through to her even so."

Ranma nodded. "I wish I could help, but besides the happy effect of my curse I don't have any idea how to help her. The problems she's dealin' with is way beyond anything I've ever dealt with outside a few nightmares." _And none of the books Tofu gave me have anything about dealing with trauma or anything like that._

The two of them fell silent, both of them wondering if or even could they help Aayla. They remained quiet until after the meal, one of the frozen steaks from Coruscant, was finished, and they were cleaning up once more.

This time though it was Shaak Ti who broke the silence. She took Ranma's hand as the redhead was about to turn away, halting her in place for a moment. "Ranma, I have to apologize. I, I have been dealing with a lot of ideas and concepts, and feelings, that I was not prepared for. I responded by trying to push those feelings, and you away, but that wasn't the right way to deal with them nor was it fair to you, and for that I apologize."

Ranma took Shaak's hand in both of her slightly smaller ones, squeezing gently even as she flushed, stuttering over her words, using all her willpower to keep eye contact with the beautiful Togrutan. "I figured it was somethin' like that, though I wondered what'd caused it. And um…did, did ya reach any kind of conclusion?"

They were interrupted then as Shmi came out of Aayla's room, shaking her head. "She's back asleep, there were a few bad moments there right after she fell asleep, but I gave her something to really knock her out after that. Her body's still very weak, and I really don't like how she is trying to… Is something wrong?"

Shaak and Ranma had jumped away from one another, with Ranma nearly slamming face first into the entrance to the door to the fresher station, and Shaak squishing her back lekku against the far wall of the kitchenette. "Nothing!" They both said then stared at one another before laughing. Shmi just looked at them for a moment, then shook her head, moving to prepare some food of her own.

Shaak and Ranma looked at one another then exited the kitchenette into the sitting room. "We'll finish this after we reach Kashyyyk." Ranma said softly. "I get the feelin' we should wait until we help Aayla and everythin' else is over with before we move on to more, um personal, things."

"I'll agree to that, and I do, have things I want to say to you Ranma. But you're right, now is not the time." Shaak said, sighing faintly, then she let out a little squeak as Ranma pulled her into a quick hug before turning away to enter the fresher station.

The next two days fell into a routine. While Tune controlled the ship, Shaak and Ranma would wake up, talk with Aayla or Shmi, then exercise. The room on the _Wild Light_ was at a premium of course, so they couldn't go all out, but it was enough for now.

Aayla continued to ignore or reject any attempt to get her to talk about her experiences, retreating further into a cracked semblance of the normal Jedi unemotional attitude. Ranma got a little closer to the girl, bringing her out with a few tales from his time in his home dimension, but even while laughing she didn't let her rigid control go.

So time passed, until they came out into Kashyyyk's system to a reception none of them had expected.

 **OOOOOOO**

Hyperspace communication was quick, and Hypercom relays were not a technology limited solely to the Republic. The Hutts had them as well, and while their local employers might be dead, both Jabba and Gardulla had servants who knew they could be paid by the rest of their clans for new about them. It was mere hours before the news of Jabba's and Gardulla's death reached the rest of their clans back in Hutt space on Nal Hutta.

Gardulla's death was seen as not really important. Yes she was influential, but her power base waned and waxed because she was such an inveterate and horrible gambler. Moreover she had never been a power in and of herself, rather her influence was in information and being a middle-female between clans and other crime syndicates. She had also provided excellent gladiators for those who couldn't provide their own security.

But Jabba was different. He was young, ambitious, and ruthless, an up-and-comer who had built his own power base with little in the way of aid from his clan. He had practically made Tatooine an offshoot of Hutt space despite being separated from it by several thousand parsecs. He had more men, money, and was the center of a growing crime and smuggling operation that was extremely profitable.

So Jabba's death was one his clan had to address lest they be seen as weak and be torn down by the other clans. A message also had to be sent to these Jedi, but the Council of Clans was leery of targeting the Jedi as a whole, knowing that would lead to further reprisals, possibly open war which would not be profitable for anyone. Instead they would target the specific Jedi involved, the Twi'lek slave with a connection to the Order, the Togrutan knight and the unknown human male seen leaving Tatooine. The slaves too could be targeted, for recovery or death at this point it was more important that others slaves didn't get an idea to turn on the matters.

Since there were Wookies involved, the Hutt in charge of this reprisal could figure out where the culprits might show up. And money always talked however far you had to reach…

 **OOOOOOO**

Like many planetary systems Kashyyyk had places where they wanted incoming traffic to come in from, though in their case it was more because the Wookies were rather standoffish when it came to people living on Kashyyyk other than themselves than anything else. This wasn't because they weren't friendly, most of them were. It was just that living on their planet tended to kill other people rather quickly because it had a set of dangers and demanded a skill set most species couldn't deal with.

Because of the direction they had jumped in from, the _Wild Light_ and its fellows were well away from these normal shipping lanes. Nonetheless, there were ships in the area but their presence was not exactly friendly. Not two minutes out of hyperspace Shaak, at a tingling from her Force sense, grabbed the controls and juked the ship twice in rapid succession, dodging incoming turbolaser fire. "We seem to be under attack."

"That whole Jedi calm thing you've got going can be really rather overdone y'know." Ranma muttered, pulling up the targeting systems for the quad lasers and powering them up quickly, her hands flashing over the controls. They'd practiced this very maneuver several times after the _Wild Light_ had commissioned, and he/she was always a quick Padawan when it came to physical things. She looked at the scanner array, shaking her head, and powering up HK. "HK wake up and tell me what you can see." She ordered. "Label the ships firing' on us order of threat."

"Doleful response: Of course master. Irritated mutter: Of course the master would take the fun job for him, er herself, ergh, that is going to override my logic centers, I just know it. Professional tone: We have ten ships, nine of which appear to be Cloak Shape fighters. Heavily modified, some of them at least have targeting computers, possible concussion or proton torpedoes. The seventh seems to be a freighter of a design I don't have in my memory banks, but there are signs of heavy retrofitting. It's shields read as nowhere near as good as ours, and my word are ours quite good for our size master, but it's throw weight might be better. More data incoming now."

The 'more data' that was incoming was actually incoming fire from the freighter, which was to the port and slightly down from where they had come out of hyperspace. Four turbolaser batteries fired all at once, enough concentrated fire to rip most small freighters to pieces. But Shaak wasn't exactly new to this game, and she'd already begun the random walk that was a starfighter pilot's best friend.

Only one turbolaser blast actually caught the ship, and it didn't even make the shields of the _Wild Light_ dim. "Good shields…" Ranma muttered, absentmindedly passing the controls. "Good shields." Then she concentrated on her own sensors, locking up one of the starfighters with the left wing quad laser, opening fire.

The shields of the enemy starfighter held, but wavered dramatically, forcing that fighter out of its attack run. Two others tried to line up similar runs, but Ranma stitched the space around them with quad laser fire, throwing off their attack.

"Master," Tune said, "We are being hailed by Kashyyyk Sky-Watch, I am informing them of what is going on as well as our reasons for our abrupt arrival. Is that agreeable?"

"Fine. Open up a channel after you're done with them to Booster and the Queen." Ranma replied, glad she had buckled in when Shaak took them around in an abrupt turn, nearly lining up another starfighter with two of the enemy starfighters. "Then when you're done with that, find a file on the music I downloaded into you, play something from the file fight songs."

"No Ranma, no theme music." Shaak said, even though her lips quirked upwards.

"Even if it's about dogfighting?"

"Hmm… while appropriate, still no."

"Spoilsport."

"Irritated tone: Agreed."

Both the yacht and the _Starwayman_ had begun to break off from the _Wild Light_ the moment it became clear that the Mon-Cal built ship was the main target for this group with the Queen's yacht shooting forward at a pretty damn good sprint, pulling away from even the Cloak Shape starfighters trying to follow it.

"The Nabooians make very good ships. A little too specialized, and they should've at least put some weapons on the Queen's **personal** yacht, but this isn't the time for that." Shaak muttered, pulling back on the stick once more. "Target incoming."

Ranma quickly took the shot that Shaak had so obligingly set up, both quad guns depressed is much as they could go then tracking the Cloak Shape fighter as Shaak followed whatever the other pilot could do. A few seconds of sustained fire shattered the ship's shield and riddled it with quad laser blasts. A second later a small explosion occurred in space, and the _Wild Light_ fell off immediately, dodging further turbolaser fire from the main enemy ship.

"Any idea who these jokers are?" Ranma growled, now switching her attention from one gun to the other, trying to block out the knowledge that she had once again taken a life. "Incoming missiles! HK, take one of the quad guns controls, see if you can fire on the Cloak Shapes that haven't launched their missiles yet. I'll take out the missiles."

The Cloak Shape fighters had launched their concussion missiles from just a little too far away, and Ranma nailed three of the four missiles before they could impact his ship. The fourth smashed into the _Wild Light_ shields, which noticeably dimmed but thanks to the Mon Calamari style of shielding that was all.

"Keep us away from that turbolaser fire, let our shields recover." Ranma ordered. The overlapping nature of the shields meant that even if one shield segment failed others took up the slack, but it was better to let them recover when you could.

Shaak nodded doing pulling further away from the retrofitted freighter asking, "Open up with our hidden weapons?"

"Not yet." Ranma shook his head. "Those are one ace in the hole I want to keep until we run into capital ships. If I'm reading the shielding of that ship right we can break through with just the quad lasers if we have to."

"Disappointed Wheedle: Master, I realize the strategy behind that move is sound, but couldn't you find it in your heart to let me at least try them out here? I promise I won't leave any survivors."

"No HK, besides, I'd quite like some survivors. I want to know what's behind this."

"Impressed tone: Ah, that makes sense master, it's always nice to know where the head of any operation is, makes it all the easier to slice them off at need."

During this interplay Shaak and Ranma had worked together to take out two more Cloak Shape fighters, while HK killed third without taking any more fire themselves. Two of the remaining starfighters however had not engaged the _Wild Light_ at all, racing after _Starwayman_ and the Queen's yacht.

That was a mistake. Not only were they not even going to come close to catching the Queen's yacht, but Booster's ship wasn't exactly unarmed. And he had a short way with pirates. He lured them both in close, slowing down as if something in his engines had failed, then suddenly slammed on the brakes of his ship, so that the torpedoes the other Cloak Shape fighters launched passed right by him, followed quickly by the ships themselves. His forward mounting guns took them both under fire one after another blowing through their shielding and shattering both ships with ease.

"This is Booster, you need any help? I don't want to have to tangle with those turbolasers, my shields aren't as good as yours but the Cloak Shapes are fair game." Came Booster's Corellian accented voice over the radio.

"Negative!" Shaak replied sharply. "You have too few combatants aboard your ship Booster, get out of here."

"Roger that. Helps on the way too, check out your long range scanners."

Shaak Ti smiled. As a Jedi she could concentrate both on her piloting and her Force ability, and could feel the minds of the approaching warships from deeper within the system. All of them were of course Wookies, and they were angry. An attack like this right on their doorstep would infuriate anyone, and the Wookies are not exactly the most pleasant sort of people to deal with if you had any connection at all with the slave trade or bounty hunting considering their hatred of the Trandoshans.

"Warning tone: Incoming fighters from five o'clock hard! Unknown type." HK declared.

Shaak quickly pulled the _Wild Light_ around and down, then up in a hard arc. The _Wild Light_ wasn't a fast ship in a straight line, but it was incredibly maneuverable. This move seemed to take the newcomers by surprise, as well as throwing off the targeting systems of the last two Cloak Shape fighters.

Because of that Shaak took a brief moment to glance at what the scanner array told them about the incoming fighters. "Four Z-headhunters, decent ships, okay shielding proton torpedoes rather than concussion missiles. The others look like cobbled together Uglies. No telling what kind of weapons they have, could be good could be very bad in every sense of the words. From their trajectory they came out of hyperspace on a predetermined coordinate at some kind of signal, typical pirate trick."

"Oh lovely." Ranma grunted. "Will they stick around once our new friends get here?"

"Doubtful, this entire attack is a well-executed ambush, and very few intelligent people want to stay around angry Wookies. Especially after ambushing their guests like this."

"Master, mistress, we are being hailed from the planet by Grandmaster Yoda." Tune broke in.

"Tell the little frog we're busy right now and why." Ranma said, taking out an Ugly with a very well-planned and aimed bit of quad fire when Shaak flipped the ship, forcing the incoming Ugly to face not the unprotected bottom of the ship as he had thought but the armed top. That Shaak was chuckling as she did this took nothing away from the neatness of the maneuver.

Shaak continued her barrel roll at the same time slewing the ship around, allowing Ranma to take potshots at several other ships, forcing them away from their own attack runs. A tone ran through the cockpit as she did, but stopped abruptly as she added power to the engines pushing them forward faster than before, breaking whatever weapons lock it been on them. Two proton torpedoes sped through the space they had just occupied, homing in on them quickly.

"Second verse same as the first." Ranma muttered. "HK you got one of the quad lasers, do something about the rest of those Headhunters, they seem better armed and piloted so keep them off us while I deal with the torpedoes!"

"Exultant voice: Roger that master. This is oh so much fun and I haven't even gotten my body back!"

"Yeah whatever." Ranma nailed both proton torpedoes, and then watched as HK was able to scare off the ships who fired them, even nailing a third. The Headhunter's shields held for a bit, then faded before the quad lasers struck its leftmost wing, shearing it off. The starfighter began an uncoordinated tumble through space, falling out of the battle zone quickly.

"The remaining ships are all breaking off," Shaak reported suddenly as the Headhunters and Uglies on Ranma's screen abruptly veered off, followed by the heretofore ineffective freighter with its turbolasers. "Our friends are getting close and our opponents no longer wish to play, but I think I want some answers."

Ranma nodded grimly understanding what Shaak wanted to do, and giving her consent. "Follow the big ship, get us close enough and I'll do the rest."

A few of the starfighters seemed to realize what their former targets were trying to do and turned back into the fight, while others continued on their courses. A few went to hyperspace quickly, avoiding the oncoming Wookie patrol ships unwilling to engage them, while others simply ran, their computers needing more time to compute the same jump. Two of the Uglies came apart suddenly, the ships unable to put up with the stress on their cobbled-together frames.

Others had turned away from their target only to run into the closing Wookie patrol ships. Though small, they were well armed, and their crews were very angry indeed at this attack in their own yard. None of the ships who hadn't already jumped would be getting away from them.

For their part Ranma and Shaak grimly stayed on the freighter's heels, dodging what fire they could from its few defenders and the freighter itself without losing any ground on it but simply taking the rest of the fire with their far heavier than normal shields. The Mon-Calamari design proved itself again, allowing them to weather the storm even as HK and Ranma killed three more starfighters before they were able the line up on the freighter.

Shaak was riding the Force as much as possible, aiding her ability to pilot and anticipate her enemies moves far beyond the normal scope of any but the best pilots. Because of this she was aware when the freighter suddenly tried to stop its headlong flight, slewing around slightly to bring its broadside to bear. And just as it did, all of its forward momentum stopping for a moment, she lit off the engines dropping the ship out and around the enemy ship, dodging the turbolaser fire before coming back underneath that ship even as it tried to roll to keep the _Wild Light_ within the arc of its weapons.

Once again no words were needed, and Ranma took the shots swiftly, stitching up the aft section of the freighter with both quad lasers, taking down its shields in a few concentrated blasts and then blowing out its engines. What had been a controlled roll to keep the _Wild Light_ within range of its weapons become an uncontrolled one, though the turbolasers were still dangerous.

The last of the Uglies still in-system blew up from sustained long-range fire at that point, the patrol ships of the Wookies having far better systems then anything currently in the battle save the _Wild Light_ itself.

With their backs now secure Shaak and Ranma broughtthe _Wild Light_ close to the larger freighter, pouring in quad laser fire to take out its turbolasers from the side one after another with controlled bursts of fire. They wanted the people inside alive to answer questions. When the last turbolaser fell silent Shaak smiled faintly, leaning back from the controls. "Tune, could you please find me the local commander, I think we're going to want to board that ship. Ask if he has any individuals who wish to join us."

"Angry lament: If only I had my body! This would be a perfect opportunity to get some close-in violence! All this ship-based warfare is nice, but it isn't as much fun as the unadulterated violence of close combat!"

"I believe we are well-cared for in that area." Shaak murmured, looking over at Ranma who gave her a thumbs up, pushing to her feet. It took a bit of control, but eventually the two ships were close enough for the _Wild Light_ 's airlock to link with that of the freighter. Ranma and Shaak waited in the interior of their airlock, until the cycle told them they the two airlocks had mated it correctly.

They then nodded to one another, and as soon as that door opened Ranma leaped into the air, bouncing off the interior bulkhead of the small entryway, dodging the incoming fire from the defenders, who'd had several minutes to set up. At the same time Shaak calmly activated her lightsaber, mostly deflecting the bits of compressed gas straight back at the incoming fighters.

Two of them tried to aim their guns up toward Ranma, but were far too slow to stop him bouncing off the roof and into them. Several punches and kicks laid them out, and Shaak charged forward, cutting down another three as they turned to try and fire at Ranma.

The attackers were mixed races, one human, one Trandoshan, and several different aliens that Ranma hadn't seen before, stocky sorts who seemed wider than they were tall with gray skin and blank expressions, another lizard looking alien, and a tall willowy creature which looked to be part tree. Shaak frowned, concentrating for a moment and pointing her finger in one direction, and the two of them raced off, with Ranma taking the lead. "We want prisoners, remember that."

"Agreed." Shaak nodded, knowing to let Ranma take the lead from now on.

When the next ambush occurred Shaak simply blocked the blaster bolts coming toward her with her lightsaber rather than attack, using Force pushes to smash or otherwise knockout the crewmen, while Ranma used his fists and feet to do the same.

The bridge was the only place that really put up stiff resistance, the captain and his bridge crew had the most time to set up and the most people. Seven crewmen were waiting with heavy weapons, along with ten others armed with blasters and vibro-weapons.

Shaak gestured peremptorily to Ranma stepping forward to block the incoming shots with her lightsaber with ease. "Surrender! You have no chance of escaping this system, the only hope you have for clemency is to throw yourselves on Jedi justice! Or would you rather face the Wookies?"

For a moment the fire faltered, the beings facing them looking at one another. Then one of them, a Weequay standing slightly beyond the defensive line, turned his blaster on one of his comrades shouting, "I'll have no cowards in my crew! Fight or die!"

One of the others turned to him, about to say something but the apparent captain of the ship blew his head off with a single blaster bolt.

Seeing that, Ranma and Shaak quickly closed, with Ranma crossing the intervening distance before any of the attackers facing them could blink. Ranma was in the captain's face immediately, a hard blow taking the man in the jaw shattering it and throwing him back to crash into the far wall with enough force to break bones.

The others tried to raise their weapons, but from right behind them where they had turned to face Ranma, Shaak gently wove a small circle in the air with her lightsaber letting the hum of it grab their attentions but not doing anything else with it. "Surrender?"

That at last broke the final courage of the remaining pirates. All of them threw down their weapons, before holding their hands above their heads.

Ranma and Shaak were still there a few minutes later when they were joined by several Wookies. Ranma looked on rather jealously as Shaak talked to them, easily understanding the Wookie language thanks to a Force trick she had described at one point, a slight mental connection Jedi could use to enable him or her to understand them. She gestured around, and it was obvious from the Wookie's body language though they weren't exactly happy. An attack like this in their own star system pissed them off royally, but they at least understood her point that live prisoners could better answer questions then dead bodies. They weren't gentle with prisoners, but that at least was better than what their former captain would've done.

By that point however Shaak had gotten a lot of information out of the prisoners already, since many of the Jedi's abilities dealt with ferreting out the truth and information. From them she learned that there was a bounty placed by an anonymous person on Ranma in both forms and that the Hutts had already learned about their involvement in Gardulla and Jabba's deaths.

The combined amount had been too much for this group, a pirate band called the Plasma Element for some reason, to pass up. To say the survivors were rethinking that decision was putting it mildly.

Walking back through the ship to the airlock Ranma smirked, nudging Shaak with an elbow, utterly unconcerned with the news the Hutts had marked him out for death. "Well, that was an amusing way to arrive, I wonder what else is going to happen here?"

"You get entirely too much joy out of chaos like this." Shaak replied repressively, but her dark purple lips were twitching even so, equally unconcerned. It wasn't the first time a crime lord had thought to set an illegal bounty on her after all. And after the past few days of going around in mental circles on where the mysterious Dark Side user had come from and what he could mean, having an opponent they could face physically had been a relief.

Leaving the ships and the prisoners to the Wookies, the two of them made their way back to the _Wild Light_ , disconnecting from the freighter and rejoining Booster and his ship. Shaak made to transfer control of the ship to Ranma, but she waved Shaak off. "You can keep the controls for now, I want to look something up. Tune we're connected to the local net right, which is connected to the galactic one? I want to see if I can find the Hypercom equivalent of a phone number."

After a few moments of skimming through the information available on the Hyper-Net Ranma had a phone number, and within moments was calling it on the _Wild Light_ 's Hypercom relay.

"What are you up to Ranma?" Shaak murmured, staring at him, noticing that one seat was out of the pickup for the other for the first time. Ranma waved her to silence, a smirk on his face that both set her pulse to racing and made her very nervous for some reason.

If he was going to reply Ranma didn't get the chance as the other side of the line chose that moment to respond. The screen flashed some kind of logo for a moment then switched to showing a remarkably clean office, if rather a cookie-cutter sort of place, the kind of office that would seem right at home for either a high level functionary or a low level accountant. A second later it zoomed in on the face of the room's occupant.

The person sitting at the desk was the same type of alien as Master Tiin, an Ikotchi, and he looked almost bored as he replied. "Yes this is the Bounty Hunter's guild, local chapter, what can I do…"

His voice trailed off as he actually looked at Ranma, then down at a screen just barely visible as a piece of glass at the bottom of the pickup. "If this is about the multiple bounties on you human, you should know that this call being traced and that we take direct threats against the guild poorly. Further we never divulge the name of the individual who posts a bounty. We are a legitimate business allowed by the Republic Senate, the Hapes Consortium, the Corporate sector and the Hutt Cartels. Whatever you have done or why someone wants you dead or captured is no…"

Ranma interrupted the man before he could get further into what was obviously a practiced spiel. "I'm not calling' about that, I figured you wouldn't know the name of the real person behind that first bounty anyway. Nah, what I want is, is there any way to make certain that not every moron with a blaster and a compass can come after me? I only want your most dangerous and deadly bounty hunters to come after me. That way I might learnsomething."

"What?" The alien asked blankly, his face going entirely slack for a moment. "I, I don't, what?"

"I know you idiots are goin' to keep coming after me, but if I have to fight for my life or watch over my shoulder all the time I'd like to make certain that any attempt on me is at least interesting." It wasn't like that would be any different from life in Nerima after all, just with more ranged weapons. "I mean, Aura Sing seemed to have a bit of a reputation, but she really wasn't any real threat, nor were the Trandoshans with her except in numbers and not even then really. As for the last crew, the Plasma Element, they were even more pathetic, couldn't even scratch the paint on my ship!"

"Those, the Trandoshans who you met on Tatooine were certainly not part of the guild, no large band of Trandoshans is currently registered with us or any of our affiliates." The Ikotchi sputtered, sounding indignant for some reason. "As for the Plasma Element, they are a known pirate gang! You can't compare bottom-feeding mercenaries or pirates to our profession Bounty Hunters, we run a discrete, legitimate business here, none of that flashy, collateral damage nonsense."

"As to your claim to have killed Aura Sing so easily, that sounds like mere boasting to me. She's slain Jedi before after all, and is one of our up and coming members. You probably killed someone claiming to be her." The Ikotchi finished, now back under control.

"Heh, potato, potato man, as for Aura: short-ish, green skin, red hair done up in a ponytail, weird antenna thing coming out the top of her head, decent sniper skills, some okay lightsaber skills, wears a vest? Last known location Tatooine working for Jabba the Hutt, whose death apparently earned me and my associates a second bounty?" Ranma asked sardonically.

The Ikotchi fell silent, looking down at the second screen on his desk. He punched some buttons for a moment before he looked up, his eyes now even wider than they had been.

Ranma smirked at him. "So if you could make certain that any bounty hunters you send after me are worth my time, that'd be great, thanks." She reached forward and was about to cut the connection but stopped, her blue eyes hardening noticeably. "Oh, and if any of yer Hunters hurt any bystanders when they try to take me down, I'm gonna start doing some hunting of my own. Just a word to the wise, 'k?"

HK was the first to speak after Ranma ended the call. "Amused Awe: Master, you seem to have actually made an art form out of creating enemies, marvelous!"

Shaak stared at Ranma for a moment after she hung up then began to giggle uncontrollably, shaking her head as she laughed her lekku twitching. Yes, this would no doubt put the both of them in danger, but by the Force that had been hilarious, and though it went against the Jedi Code to hold grudges it felt **good** to see the Bounty Hunter's Guild taken down a peg. "Ranma, that was, that was just…!"

With Shaak seemingly unable to keep piloting, Ranma took the controls of the ship for a time, while Shaak after recovering her self-control began to translate the direction they were getting from the Planetary Space Control. They were quickly directed towards an orbit around the planet's equator, where they met up with the queen's yacht.

The three ships were then directed downwards into the atmosphere, blue and white as was normal on most life bearing planets, but with a hint of purple here and there in the upper clouds. It was when they broke out from the cloud cover that Ranma began to see what made Kashyyyk unique.

At first he didn't understand what he was seeing. All he saw was foliage as far as the eye could see, okay fine, simply a large forest with what looked like an ocean to one side and mountains on the other. Then they got closer, and certain details began to register. "Holy crap, those are trees! How big are those things!?"

"Big enough that a fully grown Wroshyr tree is large enough to house an entire clan of Wookies." Shaak replied smiling happily as the feeling of the Living Force of the planet washed over her. Shaak Ti had always felt a connection to nature and plants in particular, so feeling the Force of this planet after Tatooine was like night and day. Indeed, there were few planets that had such an abundance of Living Force energy as this one.

"They're nearly as big as mountains." Ranma murmured, the three ships slowing as they began to come closer to the top of the massive trees, entering a small break in the canopy, following a series of specific instructions as they dipped deeper. Now the cockpit's forward viewport actually came in handy, allowing Shaak and Ranma to see where they were going.

Green foliage as far as the eye could see, coupled with giant branches that looked wider than the ship, dominated the view. Here and there the trees had formed small pools of rain water, holding the water as easily as rock. Other places you could tell other plants were using the Worshyr trees as ground, dozens, perhaps hundreds of bushes and berry trees scattered through the tree's upper foliage in some kind of symbiotic relationship.

Animals too there were aplenty, all of them seemingly evolved to make the most of the arboreal environment. Much to HK's disgust Ranma and Shaak made a game of spotting them, and between them noticed several dozen bird and animal species. One of them looked like a fat flying squirrel with a tail that looked like a rattler's, and Shaak pointed out another which looked like an ape with green fur, elven ears and the legs of a kangaroo. She also spotted a group of birds which belonged to the first of two species she could actually name, calling them flarions, a name which made Ranma nearly perform a spittake.

Ranma also noticed a big beast that looked like a land dragon in shape, but with fur instead of scale's and an ape's face, and one other species that looked so much like a cat that it nearly freaked him out before he noticed it's tale looked like a cross between a rattle and a honeycomb. His favorite though was the second species Shaak could name, the ikov. It looked like a cross between an otter and a badger and seemed almost fearless as it moved through the top of the trees, flipping and cavorting and generally having fun despite apparently not being one of the top predators up here. It's attitude appealed to Ranma.

Some of the uppermost branches looked as if they had been cultivated in a specific way, marked here and there with scanner equipment. Several upward facing branches were dotted with what were definitely antiair weapons. Another further down held what looked like a control tower carved into the side of it, a few bits of equipment sticking out here and there, with a massive radar dish on the top. Around it were gun emplacements, so well hidden Shaak and Ranma could barely spot them despite Shaak's Force senses.

The deeper they went the more branches and larger there were, but beyond even the branches were the massive trunks of the trees themselves. They were so wide Ranma estimated you could stick a fair-sized town into them lengthwise, without considering height at all.

Finally was the most surprising of all: one gigantic branch, easily 12 times as wide as the _Wild Light_ was jutting out from a tree that dwarfed it in size. The top of it had been smoothed out, with guardrails carved out of the sides, and even lights embedded into the wood. A large dividing line was left over from when the branch had been smoothed right in the middle of the span.

"Are you serious?" Ranma asked, shaking his head. "It's wood, won't it burn from our engine thrusters or something?"

"These are wroshyr trees, they are tough beyond belief. There has been more than one Wookie Jedi master that used the wood from these trees to make their lightsaber hilts. It is tough, durable and nearly fireproof once treated with a local compound of some kind." Shaak replied. "Don't worry Ranma even turbolaser fire would have trouble setting treated wroshyr wood on fire."

Ranma nodded, watching as Shaak finished the landing preparations, before turning off the main engines and switching over to the repulsor fields on the bottom of the ship. They settled in for a gentle landing, as Ranma shook his head, his fingers twitching with his desire to explore this magnificent world. _It's like the entire world is a tree house, how freaking cool is that!?_ "We're going to have to make time to explore, you know that right?"

Shaak laughed quietly at his expression, sending him a warm smile which he returned. Watching Ranma's love of exploration and seeing new things had awakened similar feelings in her, for all that Shaak Ti had seen hundreds of worlds in her time already. "I suspected yes. Whether or not we will have time is debatable, but we shall see. For now," she said her smile widening slightly as she stood up gathering her Jedi robes around her. "We should go and greet the welcoming committee."

It was only then that Ranma was able to turn his attention away from the setting to the relatively large group of people waiting for them at the far end of the exotic landing pad. Besides several Wookies, stood several Jedi Masters, and at the head of the cavalcade stood Master Yoda, looking even more diminutive than normal next to one of the locals, who Ranma estimated must be at least six times Yoda's height at the shoulders. That Wookie was the first with gray fur Ranma had seen, which probably meant he was important in some way.

The ship came to a stop, and began to power down before opening its landing ramp as the other ships did the same, slightly faster in the yacht's case, and slightly slower in Booster's. The Wookie next to Yoda moved forward, along with one of the other locals. To one side of them stood several others, medical personnel and organizers by what they were carrying. Wookies didn't seem to believe much in clothing or uniforms, and considering their pelts that made sense to Ranma.

Shaak and Ranma exited the cockpit, followed quickly by Tune, though they left HK behind. This was a time for discourse and even HK admitted he had little talent in that area. "Factual statement: It is a sad fact that many sentient beings refuse to admit when they are intellectually outmatched, master. Interrogative tone: Besides, I can put this time to use by trying to find my body parts, or something equivalent."

"Have fun, just remember yer body isn't our main priority just yet." Ranma shrugged.

Shmi met them in the main room with Aayla standing next to her. She looked composed as always, the same front that she had been using since first waking up, though her lekkus' twitching had greatly subsided over the past few days, and she even smiled naturally at Shaak and Ranma.

Aayla was an Empath, she could sense the emotions of those around her through the Force, not their thoughts, but their emotions, to a level that few Jedi Masters could match. She was used to feeling those thoughts from everyone around her, something Aayla couldn't actually stop, which had added to her problems several times despite her teacher's aid in controlling it, especially on this last mission.

On the ship she had tried to shut it out occasionally, a habit she had gotten into on the mission to save her sanity. But occasionally her control slipped, when she was waking up or falling asleep, and in those moments the emotions of the three other people aboard the ship reached her. And those feelings, of friendship, affection, care, had helped Aayla begin to heal despite herself.

Nonetheless, both Ranma and Shaak moved to stand between Aayla and the other ships arriving with them, as they too disembarked their passengers and crews. Given how Aayla twitched, and stiffened up as the male slaves came into view this was a good move.

Despite this, Ranma had to hold back a smile as he saw several kids hanging off a few of the Wookies. Leaning over toward Shaak he asked, "I didn't think there were any kids among the Hutt's slaves?"

"Booster mentioned them once, apparently the contraceptives Jabba's slaves were fed sometimes failed, and there were even a few slave-guard families." Shaak replied, her purple lips quirking slightly. "I admit it did not occur to me at the time, but I'm happy it did to the ex-slaves in question."

"And I bet the kids got a kick out of the Wookies." Aayla said, speaking up for the first time in what Shaak thought was the closest to her normal town Shaak had heard from her since Aayla first woke up.

Ranma laughed grinning at the Rutian Twi'lek, who replied with a faint smile of her own, the biggest she'd shown since that first time she had realized she was among friends. "You better believe it, what kid wouldn't like having a big, furry friend? Or is it only humans who like teddy-bears?"

"What's a teddy-bear?" Both Jedi asked, cocking their heads to one side in almost eerie unison.

"Nevermind…" Ranma groaned.

Booster moved forward at the head of his crew, bowing grandly to the Queen as he did before taking up a position beside Captain Panaka, following Amidala as she made her way forward. Her entourage spread out, with one of the guards leading the medical gurney over to two Jedi Masters who had moved ahead of the welcoming party.

The sight of one of those worthies in particular made Shaak smile. "Excellent," she said breathing a sigh of relief. "Either someone thought ahead, or the Force truly is with us." Aayla too seemed to lock her eyes on the Jedi in question for a moment, but then looked away, her mask still in place unbroken.

Ranma cocked an eyebrow at Shaak, and she shrugged in a way that suggested she would explain later, to which he nodded before moving forward with the others. Yoda met them with the lead Wookie, and he gestured at the larger creature to speak first. "Formalities get out of the way we must."

The grey-furred Wookie wore an intricately jeweled harness around his chest, along with a heavy belt made of some kind of plant. He stood forward, roaring something his own language, addressing the Wookie prisoners one after another, who all nodded, and seemed to gesture at the prisoners behind them. Gently removing the children they had been carrying, each former prisoner clasped forearms with the elder one after another.

Shaak began to translate for Ranma quickly. "Wookie clans often don't get along, Wookies hold a grudge like no one's business, and they've often got old feuds and hatreds flaring up between family or clan groups. But being captured like this one of the few things that will allow the captured to honorably postpone such conflict. The Wookie speaking is named Kashkyyrro. He's the leader of the capital and he's demanding that they give over their feuds for a time, until they're well outside the city. The capital is a neutral territory for the clans and family's so no conflict is allowed here."

The Wookie continued, looking towards the non-Wookie slaves, speaking to them in a warmer, far friendlier tone. "He just now gave the slaves formal welcome to Rwoookrrorro, that's the name of this city, it's the capital of the planet. Given that hospitality is **very** important among Wookies that's the same as saying Kashyyyk's government has given them asylum for now. Kashkyyrro promised to either repatriate the prisoners, or see that they are given housing here if they have any skills or can be taught any. It won't be free or easy, but it will certainly be better than slavery."

"Wouldn't take much." Ranma muttered, but nodded his head nonetheless, even as he spotted Anakin at the back of the group of the yacht fidgeting in place, looking torn between staring at where Padme stood and his mother, who was standing quietly behind Ranma and the others. "I doubt many of them want to stay here though, at least the ones that weren't born into captivity."

"True, but there were more who had been born into it than I had anticipated among Jabba's slaves. I had not thought that the slave trade was so widespread in the Mid-Rim Territories. Outer territories yes, but the Mid Rim?" She shook her head, glancing sideways at Aayla whose lekku had twitched violently at that before going on, Shaak's lips twisting into something just this side of a snarl. "The idea of making war on the slave trade is looking better and better to me, even if we don't actually have the resources."

Shaak paused as she noticed the group of alien soldiers marching up to Master Yoda, bowing their heads formally. For a moment Yoda simply stared at them then nodded his head speaking in a language Shaak hadn't heard before. It wasn't common, there was much more clicking and hard vowel sounds in it than most languages she knew. There was also a certain aggressive, martial air to it.

"Evidently the Nova Guard might be more important than I thought," she murmured to the others. "It appears they have a tale to tell, and one they wish to tell the Council before heading home. They also asked master Yoda rather bluntly if they would have Jedi aid if the Nova Guard, whatever that actually is, I'm getting the impression of a large military force, were to start war on the Hutts…"

She trailed off slightly, shaking her head. "I just don't have enough information to guess if that's a literal translation of what I'm seeing in their surface thoughts, a figurative one or just a wish and not something they can really promise."

"There was also a bit about you and your skills and there, something about the Jedi having held back, but they didn't actually speak those thoughts aloud." Shaak murmured even quieter than before, her voice not even carrying back to Shmi now. She frowned thoughtfully looking at Ranma, and Ranma knew what she was thinking. Unlike Jedi Force techniques, many of his skill set could be learned by a mundane, but it was a worrying idea for that to spread.

Ranma quickly put Shaak at ease shaking her head tapping her hand lightly against Shaak's. "No chance. I won't share anything with someone who doesn't earn my trust first, and just helping to break out the rest of the slaves isn't enough for that."

"You might actually grow some common sense eventually Ranma," Shaak smiled at him slightly, shaking her head mock-sadly. "Of course this is coming immediately after you pulled that stunt with Bounty hunters Guild, so I would put it down as a work in progress."

"That hurts right here." Ranma said tapping his stomach. She laughed shaking your head at the joke while Aayla looked at them both, her brows furrowed. Shaak then turned her eyes to the soldiers once again before they were led off by two more Wookies heading towards some kind of temporary habitation or perhaps communication gear, or both.

With the slaves taken care of, the wounded being seen to by an elderly human male Jedi and a few of the others, it had become time for Yoda to turn his attention to the true issue at hand. He waved the Queen forward, nodding his head to her. "Queen Amidala, welcome you are. Aid and protection you will have here." He said before going on to translate for her what Kashkyyrro was saying to her.

"Thanks you have from him for helping in freeing his people. Thanks to your aid of our Jedi do I add from the Jedi Order. Protect you they were supposed to, aid in return always welcomed."

Padme and Yoda exchanged a few more words, though Ranma wasn't listening any further, he was looking at Aayla, who was in turn twitching slightly, though seemed to calm down now that all of the prisoners had been let off, and the only men close were the locals and Yoda. They were soon joined by two other Masters, peeling off from the small group transporting the wounded. Ranma recognized both of them from the Jedi Council, and he suddenly wondered what Yoda and the two of them were doing here.

With a few more parting words to Booster and Padme, let them move off, leaving behind Anakin who quickly joined his mother. One of the locals made to stop him, but stopped at a gesture from Padme, who smiled at Anakin, bowed her head and turned away without another word. Ranma noticed Anakin's eyes lingering on her for a time, before turning to regard the Jedi, his young face serious.

Kashkyyrro turned to Ranma and Shaak, bowing deeply from his waist and thanking them for freeing his people and striking a blow against the slavers. "More should be done about them Republic-wide, but too many hands are tied by too many rules, the call of personal arrogance, ego and other things." Shaak translated. "It is good to see that such will not stop good people from stepping up to fill the breach."

At this point Anakin seemed to have enough waiting around, and he moved forward, staring first at Yoda then at the other Jedi. "Are you all Jedi too? You feel more like Obi-wan and Qui-Gon than Ranma, what is he, er she anyway?"

"Oy!" Ranma growled, thumping him lightly on the top of the head. "I ain't a what kid, I'm just me."

Anakin scowled at the redhead rubbing at the top of his head for a moment, then looked back at Yoda. "Well?"

"Master Yoda, this is Anakin Skywalker and his mother Shmi. Master Qui-Gon befriended the pair on Tatooine. Anakin was the reason they were able to acquire the parts needed to repair the Queen's yacht." Shaak supplied her lips quirking slightly at Ranma and Anakin's antics before going on delicately, not wanting the boy to get a swelled head. "Master Qui-Gon felt the boy had the potential to be a Jedi, his Medichlorian count is respectable for someone his age."

"Hrhrhm…" Yoda said thoughtfully, knowing there was more behind this than what Shaak was willing to say. Staring at the precocious youngling, Yoda felt the Force potential in the youth but was unhappy with his age and obvious connection with the woman at his side who had previously been standing with Ranma and Shaak. _Still, changing times these are, talk with Qui-Gon I will once healed, full story I will get._

"Tested, the boy shall be. Decision made then. Follow Master Sr'kesh you will now." He gestured at one of the masters behind him, an older looking human male with wide shoulders and a short cropped beard.

"I will be a Jedi." Anakin said, his face serious and his tone certain. "I have seen it."

Yoda didn't reply, watching as the boy was led off with his mother before at last turning his full attention on Aayla who had waited patiently beside Ranma and Shaak. He took a few tottering steps forward, until he was standing directly in front of her staring up at her, his eyes deep and calm. "Padawan Aayla, much you have suffered. Much we have, the Order have, the Council have, to apologize for. Failed you the Order has, failed you **I** did."

Aayla made to speak, but Yoda's strangely powerful voice stopped her, as he went on. "Grandmaster I am, know of your mission I should have, know the Council should have entire. Suffered you have in our service, suffered far more than could be asked. Apologies never enough will be, but aid you will have, time you will have. Patience you will have. Recover you will from this, vow it I do."

The ancient grandmaster held Aayla's eyes, and the facade of control and Jedi dispassion that Aayla had kept up for the past few days collapsed with the suddenness of an avalanche. She dropped to her knees, sobbing as she flung her arms around the ancient Grandmaster. Huge racking sobs shook Aayla's body from lekku tip to foot as the emotions, the fears and the memories of her ordeal overcame her compulsive, self-destructive control at last.

Her hug/tackle should have knocked over the ancient Jedi master. But Yoda didn't even move. It was as if he was an oak stump, immovable, absorbing all of her emotions and tears simply letting her get it all out. Ranma smiled faintly, looking at Shaak, who nodded her head, thankful beyond words that Yoda had been able to find the right words to get through Aayla's self-control.

The two other Council members both looked uncomfortable at this outpouring of emotion, but the short one looked like he at least understood. Indeed, he looked almost grief-stricken himself, his ears were literally drooping, his aura of assurance and self-possession badly eroded from what they had been when Ranma had seen him before. Ranma wondered why, but decided to wait and see.

Next to that one, whose name Ranma couldn't remember, Koth, or the asshole as Ranma remembered him, simply looked uncomfortable. Not censorious, which at least told Ranma that someone had made him open up a thesaurus and maybe watch the local news, but still uncomfortable with the emotion of the moment.

Given how weak she still was from purging the drug she'd been given Aayla couldn't sustain this outpouring of emotions for long, and it wasn't more than a few moments before she simply fell into a deep sleep slumping against Yoda's small shoulder as if it was the most sturdy of mountains. Looking over the young Padawan's shoulders at Shaak and Ranma the Grandmaster nodded slowly. "Now healing, begin it can."

He gestured, and Aayla was suddenly lifted off his shoulders hovering there in the air from moment as the Jedi master whose presence had so pleased Shaak moved forward, placing a small gurney underneath Aayla allowing Yoda to gently lower her down.

"Luminara, I am pleased to find you here. If anyone can help Aayla you can." Shaak said, stepping forward with a smile on her face holding out her arms.

The other woman clasped them, smiling at Shaak in a slightly warmer than normal way from a Jedi. "Hello Knight Ti, I am glad to see you."

Ranma stepped back slightly, cocking his head as he took in this new Jedi Master's appearance. She had dark, dusty green skin blue eyes black lips and an odd tattoo consisting of black dots on her chin but other than that seemed human in appearance. Besides a set of robes that looked a bit more formal than the normal Jedi sort she wore some kind of high headdress that added half a foot to her height, which was nearly as tall as Shaak Ti, covering the back of her head and falling to either side of her face. She was thin and looked like she was built for agility.

"We will do what we can for Aayla. I **personally** will do what I can for her. Master Yoda was correct; the Order has wronged young Secura far too much for any efforts to be stinted in this, if ever we would have in the first place. Can you tell me what her symptoms were?"

Ranma and Shaak exchanged a glance before shrugging. "We can tell you some of it, but the person you should really speak to is Shmi, Anakin's mother. She was the one that helped Aayla through the worst of her moments of coming off whatever it was Jabba gave her. None of us could do anything about her mental faculties, but we think she's on the mend physically. I can give you some details about how I fought off the same substance, but I don't know if that will help you in healing Aayla's mind or body further."

Luminara nodded slightly, with none of the condescension that some Jedi felt towards anyone trying to heal one of their own. "I see. In that case I shall leave you here and talk to Shmi now. Although I do want to talk to you later, Shaak." Luminara's black lips quirked into a serene smile which carried up into her blue eyes. "I've heard about your adventures both on Coruscant and Dac. And about this one," she said flicking a few fingers to the redhead. "I have to say what I've heard about your Force curse sounds fascinating Ranma. When was the last time you had a checkup though? I can't imagine changing forms like that is easy on the body, if only at the cellular level."

"Less than two days before I arrived in this dimension." Ranma replied dryly. "And you can question me about it all you like, provided you do so while I'm exploring this amazing planet." he nodded to the Wookie, who chuffed, smirking and nodding his head. "Kashyyyk looks phenomenal, and I can't wait to explore." Ranma sighed. "But I suppose we have to go and talk to the old fuddy-duddies about what we've seen first."

She hung her head and looking so much like an errant teenager that Shaak chuckled, while Luminara merely raised an amused eyebrow. "Ranma's sense of humor is sort of an acquired taste I'll admit," the Togrutan replied with a smile, to which Luminara nodded, leaving the scene with Aayla, heading in one direction, while Yoda motioned Shaak and Ranma to follow him in a slightly different one. It turned out later they were going to the same destination, but Yoda, knowing about Ranma's desire to explore, took the two of them and many of the others the scenic route this time.

As he and Shaak were led through the city, Ranma could not stop from looking around her in awe. In some ways it looked like a regular, if small, city with streets thorough fairs, walkways and buildings of varying heights. It was only when you realized that all of that was carved into the sides and interior of gigantic trees, and that said tree's branches connected to other branches to make the ground that your perspective changed. Indeed, Ranma stopped and looked at the floor occasionally, noticing that it looked as if the limbs from the different trees merged, melding together. The basic ground of the city also had artificial parts created by wooden slats, but those bits didn't seem to be the majority.

The style of the city also looked primitive at first, after all wood wasn't exactly an advanced construction material. Yet some of the houses or buildings were very beautiful. One in particular grabbed Ranma's attention, a large bar or meeting place with several tears of varying size, all of it painted in splashes of green and blue while also letting the natural tree color through in places.

The Wookies were quite at home with technology too. Many of the large Wookie-made sections had repulsors built into them just in case, many of the houses had receiver arrays sticking out of the top of them, and there were also some small hover-trucks moving through the city.

Everywhere he looked Ranma saw Wookies moving around, climbing one tree, climbing down from another, walking to and fro, coming up from small or large holes set into the wood of the walkway from deeper down in the city. Ranma could tell that the city might not cover as much area, but it was probably far larger both in depth and height than most. This would have stopped most offworlders, who would have had to use the rail cars Ranma saw in places or the hover trucks.

Jedi however could make their way just as easily through the foliage as the Wookies could. They came to the end of the city serving the landing zone, and hopped out onto a small branch, then up to another, then a third hopping up and out towards another, slightly smaller Wroshyr tree that was only connected to this one by a small roadway well below the level they were currently on.

Ranma followed the others, laughing at the sight of Yoda hopping through the trees with an alacrity and ease that belied his age. "Damn now you really do look like a giant frog, hoppin' round like that."

Yoda suddenly flipped himself around, coming back fast towards where Ranma was trailing after the others, his glimmer stick flashing. Ranma ducked where the blow was coming toward her, changing her direction between one jump and the next with the ease of a master of the Saotome Aerial Style. However Yoda was a past master of Force Precognition, and had taken it to a level even Dooku could not match despite his greater physical abilities.

He also cheated outrageously, using the Force to change his avenue of attack midair faster than Ranma could, intercepting Ranma before she could change her direction a second time. Yoda's glimmer stick smashed into Ranma's forehead with enough force to flip Ranma around midair, and smashing the tip off the stick.

"Ow, ya damn midget, that freaking hurt!" Ranma groused, even as she grabbed a nearby vine, flipping herself up and back onto a branch. She turned and glared at a small monkey-mouse thing which was sitting on the same branch, making chuckling noises before jumping away as Ranma narrowed his eyes at her.

The closest Jedi all stopped and stared, some with surprise or shock, some with amusement like Shaak Ti who chuckled, shaking her head as she jumped back toward the redhead. Yoda ignored her landing on a nearby shaking his aged head. "Respect, you have not learned yet. Frog I am not, though amphibian my ancestors might have been."

"Midget, an insult also is not. Short aliens many there are, great things in small packages proven they have. A new insult you must find." Yoda went on then looked at his warped glimmer stick. Though it had been a reinforced stick rather than simple wood, it had bent badly under the impact with Ranma's forehead. "As must, a new gimmer stick I must find."

"Oh my heart freaking weeps you… you…" Ranma paused, scowling. "Yeah I got nothing that ya wouldn't need some cultural background to get. Damn."

"Poor baby," Shaak cooed, shaking her head as she looked at the small red bump on Ranma's forehead, though she was semi-serious as she went on. "And master Yoda, if you're going to hit him, please don't aim for the head. Given the concussion and cracked cranium he got on Tatooine even Ranma's amazing healing ability might not be able to repair anymore damage there for a few weeks."

"Humph, manners, sometimes must be drilled into the young." Yoda retorted but not taking his eyes off his wrecked glimmer stick until he turned away, rejoining the other Jedi.

"Nice ta know ya care there Shaak." Ranma said, shaking her head, though her eyes told Shaak the redhead had caught her real concern hidden under the joke.

The two shared a brief smile before Shaak shook her head. "I do care Ranma, and you know you asked for it. In fact if I didn't know better I'd say you goad Master Yoda on purpose."

"Not telling." Ranma replied now smirking as she looked from Shaak to Yoda. "Though I will say that Yoda's probably had more exercise since he met me than in the last two decades."

Shaak turned away with a chuckle, and Ranma waited until she had leaped away to follow. As she did, Ranma couldn't tear his eyes off her back and rear moving under her Jedi robes. Shaak paused two branches away, and she looked over her shoulder, a small, if somewhat embarrassed smile on her face before she turned away, leaping off even faster. Ranma blushed hotly at being caught then she shook her head and followed quickly.

About twelve minutes into their walk/climb, the climb began to be much easier, the group having apparently come to another small living zone. Ranma also began to see more aliens, that is non-locals, and all of them looked to be Jedi. There was a group of about a dozen younglings, very young children ranging from age 10 and down. going through some calisthenics exercises along one very thick branch about the size of a large gym.

To one side and on a slightly higher, far narrower branch was a slightly older group being shown something by a Wookie, some kind of plant or something Ranma couldn't tell from where they were walking by. The Wookie had a translator next to him (Ranma had no idea how to tell genders among the Wookies so just went with him) a human female Jedi with long black hair and the robes and lightsaber of a Jedi Knight.

Ahead of Ranma Shaak landed on the main thorough fair branch a far longer branch than the other two. She stopped for a moment, cocking her head thoughtfully to one side as she stared at one of the youngest younglings, a Togrutan girl who could only be four or five years old at best.

"Shaak?" Ranma asked, nudging her side lightly. It was only then that he realized that the girl had turned away from the instructor to stare at Shaak.

Shaak smiled at the girl, bowing from the waist with her hands together before winking and turning away. Ranma glanced at her and then at Yoda, who chuckled. "Start of a master-padawan bond you have seen," he said a warm smile on his face. "Young Ahsoka Tano is, but a note of it make I will."

"Thank you Master Yoda." Shaak said solemnly, bowing her head with extreme formality towards the Grandmaster as she made a note of the name. "May I ask though, who brought her in? Ahsoka wasn't in the Temple before Ranma and I left for our mission on Dac."

"She was not, no." Master Koth said, also smiling slightly for some reason. "Master Koon brought her in a few months ago. He apparently began teaching her some meditation exercises right away because she is quite strong in the Force and apparently needed it. Plo also put in a notice that if no one else felt a bond towards her, he would be pleased to take Tano so long as when she reaches the age to be chosen he doesn't already have a padawan."

Ranma smiled, easily bringing Master Koon to mind, one of the Jedi Masters who had apparently begun to question the way the Order ran things before Ranma turned up. "I liked Plo a very subtle sense of humor at times, but very open and…" he fumbled further right words. "Friendly I suppose is the closest I can get to a single word."

"Master Plo Koon friendly is, also observant." Yoda replied dryly. "Much behind that mask going on there is. Worthy addition to the Council he has proven. But that in your mind, main question it is not."

Ranma and Shaak exchanged another glance then Ranma shrugged lightly, indicating she should talk while he continued to look around. They entered the interior of the wroshyr tree, and Ranma realized was a tower carved out of the interior of the tree.

"I believe we are both wondering what is going on here master Yoda." Shaak said smoothly, smiling slightly as she saw Knight Luminara join them from a side passage. Her friend quickly moved to walk with her, bowing her head slightly. "This number of younglings, padawans, Knights and Masters all being off of Coruscant at once?"

"Experiment this is in a way." Yoda said, walking forward, scowling at his bent glimmer stick as he tapped it on the floor. "Decided it was Jedi spread from Coruscant, we would. Open on various worlds, new temples we will. Kashyyyk first it will be. Dac, third. Corellia, second, Alderaan, fourth. Already agreed all but Corellia have. Jedi there, help locals, connect to the common people we will."

There were other planets in consideration, many of them in the Mid Rim Territories rather than the Inner worlds. Yoda and the others who had understood the need for this wanted the Jedi to spread their influence and numbers as far as possible without weakening them so much they could be destroyed in detail. The Dark Side was still rising, the future still unreadable more than a few days into the future with any certainty. But the idea of having several smaller, self-sufficient temples rather than a single temple made sense to a majority of the High Council after Yoda had shared the vision he'd had while following Ranma on Coruscant.

That wasn't to say everyone was happy about it. There was a great deal of resentment from the Council of Relocation and Knowledge about the new path the Order was taking, and many teachers in the main Temple also were not pleased on how much more emphasis there was on actual combat skills rather than meditation and becoming one with the Force.

Master Giiett was also facing quite a bit of passive aggressive opposition in trying to redesign the teaching curricula and how emotions were seen both by the younglings and by the Order in general. It was most definitely an uphill battle, and frankly one that wasn't really gaining any ground yet. The Order was very slow to change despite Yoda and his allies' best efforts and even the rumors of the vision which had forced his hand.

"I have to say you picked one hell of a planet start the project on." Ranma said, closing her eyes for a moment and stopping in place. The rest of the Jedi turned to the redhead as they felt the massive font of Living Force that was Ranma reaching out to the Living Force all around them. She seemed to be soaking it in as much as she was giving of himself, and they felt the echoes to their senses, a bright joy going either way.

Chuckling Yoda slapped his ruined glimmer stick lightly against Ranma's leg. "Time enough for experimentation later, yes? Questions we have for you and for Knight Ti."

"Yeah." Ranma said shaking her head in coming out of it, smirking at the diminutive alien for a moment. "Yeah I figured you all would. Doesn't mean it's going to be fun answering them though."

"Wisdom gained, often painful it is. Know this well you do already." Yoda said with a nod, staring into Ranma's blue eyes with his own, causing Ranma to reevaluate **again** how much the old Grandmaster could tell about him/her even without being directly told. Dooku had figured out the same thing, but it had taken him several days of interaction, while Yoda had done the same thing in a few brief interactions.

After a moment Yoda broke their locked gazes and moved on, stopping only once to grab a cup of hot water for Ranma to change his form. Every Jedi in the temple and many of the younglings looked up as they felt the chuckling laughter of the Force as Ranma changed back to the body he had been born with after spending the last four plus days in his female body. Some of the younglings even giggled as the feeling washed over them, others simply grinned.

Ranma grinned too, stretching his arms above his head, his shirt riding up slightly, cracking his neck explosively. "I know it's all in my mind, but whenever I spend a lot of time in my girl form I always feel like I need ta stretch when I return to my real body." He looked to the side noticing Shaak had glanced at his bare stomach for a moment before looking away.

The masters and knights around them who hadn't previously seen Ranma's curse in action had all stopped what they were doing and were now staring at Ranma. Even Koth and Piell were looking at him, shaking their heads at both the sight and the feelings of the change.

On the other hand Yoda simply chuckled for a moment before once again leading the way through the rest of the Temple, or perhaps would-be Temple. As they ascended through the temple they saw more knights and Masters spread out everywhere. Most of them seemed to be moving furniture either through the Force or by hand, working on the electronics with some of the locals or doing other things to make the tower more livable. All told there seem to be around 100 or so, maybe a little more mixed between padawans, younglings, knights and Masters, and Ranma knew that there would be more he couldn't see.

There was obviously still quite a bit of work to do here, but many of the Jedi who would live here were all in place already. Ranma watched Yoda stop occasionally to exchange work words with some of the locals and he smiled faintly shaking his head. "Is it just me, or do the locals respect the little gremlin more than normal for you Jedi?"

Shaak's rolled her eyes, while some of the others looked slightly insulted at Ranma's flippant manner. "You really do go out of your way to antagonize him don't you? And no, it's not just you. Master Yoda was the sector Jedi for this area of space for, what was it, 120 years or so?"

"Something like that." Luminara said, cocking her head as she stared between her friend and Ranma for a moment, before turning away. "It made this planet an obvious choice to be the first recipient of the new outreach program. The esteem master Yoda is personally held in, as well as the general respect and even affection towards the Jedi Order that the Wookies have made it an obvious choice."

Ranma chuckled, remembering how the kids back on the landing strip had acted with the Wookies. "Yeah, I can see that."

Moments later they entered a small circular area that looked as if it was being made into a counsel room like that on Coruscant. There were seats literally carved out of the walls of the large branch which was an offshoot of the main temple. In the center of the room was a communications device which seemed to have several hologram projectors connected to it, which would project in every direction towards the seats all around it.

Yoda moved towards one seat, clambering up into it before gesturing the others into their own with Ranma, Shaak, and surprisingly Knight Luminara sitting in one area facing the rest of the Council present on Kashyyyk. They were quickly joined by Obi-Wan, who was using a crutch to get around. A few seconds after they sat down, the center device activated, projecting holograms out from each of its small apertures, filling in the missing spots quickly with those Masters that had remained on Coruscant, along with a few others, though they were also missing Giiett and Plo-Koon. Ranma figured they were out on missions or something like that.

He was happy to see master Dooku among those present and quickly stood up, bowing his head to the older man who replied in the same gesture. Shaak however smiled slightly at another master, an older human male but still slightly younger than Master Dooku in appearance, with dark eyes and black hair slowly changing to gray. "Master Tholme."

"Knight Ti," the hologram replied, the man in it bowing his head formally. "If my former padawan was here, he would no doubt thank you for defending his padawan. As it is I will do so in his stead."

"Understand we do unusual things, on Tatooine occurred." Yoda began without preamble. "Knight Ti, a report you did send. Much questions we have, about this individual you faced. Questions about Padawan Aayla we also have."

Ranma and Shaak exchanged a glance, and Shaak stood up quickly, placing her hands together in her long-sleeved robes as she gathered herself. She quickly outlined the operation against the two Hutts confirming that both of them had died, Jabba to her lightsaber, and Gardullato a group of her own gladiators. She outlined the battle from beginning to end.

When Shaak mentioned Booster's aid and how Qui-Gon secured it, there were some grumbles from her audience before Tholme spoke up in favor of it, telling the other masters that Booster was a good source of information and not someone likely to do anything too far beyond the law in any event. Shaak went on from there, mentioning the fact that while they had spotted her before the battle, Sing hadn't been involved on Shaak's side of things and then going in to what had occurred to her personally, describing the effects of the aerosol-based drug that the Falleen had tried to use on her.

There she was questioned by Luminara and two of the other Jedi Masters not in the Council, who Shaak recognized as being among the most learned when it came to healing. Surprisingly Master Tholme also questioned her then looked towards the others in particular Luminara, though he didn't say anything just yet.

For a moment after Shaak stopped speaking, they were all silent, simply contemplating what had been told then Yoda turned to master Tholme. "How likely is it, see more of this substance will we?"

"Not very," Tholme replied promptly. "It sounds as if it was still in the product testing stage, though I will head to Tatooine myself to make certain there were no plans for any kind of mass production in the works. Jabba was venal, not stupid. But without a Falleen to actually help the process it's unlikely to get very far even if they are trying to mass-produce it. If they do, we may see further successful slave raids in the Mid Rim."

At a gesture from master Tholme a hologram of the known galaxy popped up, and he quickly outlined all that was known of the slave trade, both the so-called legal trade which included the Hapes cluster, the Hutt worlds, and the Corporate Sector. Then he began to outline another layer, the illegal or large scale kidnapping and slave-taking and trading. Here Ranma leaned forward, noting how little information there was about this one in relation to the other, but also the similarities between them, and the planets where it was known even this second slave trade operated almost openly.

"I would recommend that we at least station a permanent presence on Ryloth." Tholme finished, gesturing to the most prominent planet among those Ranma had noticed. "I would ask for a larger military presence if I could get away with it but I talked to master Gallia before this meeting and I was told that the Senate would probably not allow such a thing."

"You have talked to me and several other Consulars about it several times." Gallia said, but there was no censure in her tone, simply resignation and weariness.

She exchanged a glance with some of the Masters who'd stayed behind on Coruscant and Master Poof took up the tale. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Ryloth Sector Senator hasn't even noticed the uptick in illegal slaving, remember that slavery is legal on Ryloth for a given value, since the planet really doesn't have any other trade goods."

Here Windu broke in before Ranma, who had visibly swelled, could blow up on them. "Ryloth also doesn't have the infrastructure needed to base a large military presence there. And far too many senators have dealings with the various criminal gangs that have station there."

That didn't make Ranma any happier, but he subsided for now.

"While the legal loopholes exist, there is little we can do." Master Poof said. "But I agree that we should have a larger Jedi presence there. We cannot make war on slavery itself, but the slavers, them we can target I think. By which I mean the transportation and acquisition of slaves rather than the actual owners. If we make it too expensive to acquire slaves then at least the Hapans, the Corporations, and yes, even those senators who have 'legal' slaves, will no longer wish to do business with the trade. We could even continue the media blitz against slavery that Senator Antilles began after you and young Ranma broke up that Malastaran pirate ring. The Hutts are another matter, since their entire economy is based off illegal activities elsewhere and slavery at home."

Ranma tuned them out for a moment, still unhappy with what he was hearing but admitting that given the sheer size of the Republic and how few Jedi there really were, they couldn't do everything. He tuned back in however when master Ranicisis spoke up. "Actually, we might be able to do more. You mentioned a group of slaves which were former soldiers of the Ailon Nova Guard?"

"That was what they called themselves," Shaak said with a nod. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that organization."

"No reason you should be, the Jedi do not have many dealings with their home system and as far as I know none of their race has ever had Force ability. But the Alioni are an incredibly militant race, almost on the level of the Mandalorians, but not quite up to their skill level, nor have they ever had the Mandalorians numbers or expansionistic attitude. Yet they have been around for thousands of years, and their military is very good."

Ranma smiled faintly. This wasn't the first time he'd heard of the Mandalorians, Dooku had spoken of them and Ranma looked up what he could about them. Their current pacifist leader was a bit of an off-putting to Ranma frankly, since that was like fighting their entire culture without trying to create the popular aid you'd need for it. Still, they sounded like an interesting group.

"I would urge one of you to question them closely on how they came to be gladiators under Gardulla, that could be an interesting tale. And if it was through dishonor on Gardulla's part, I would think that the entire Nova Guard might take **offense** at it. They have about 52 regiments as a standing army, along with two large armadas, though few true capital ships. Not enough to invade Hutt space, but certainly enough to do the Hutts a lot of damage if they decide to become obstreperous about what happened to their people. But they follow the idea that the strongest should rule, which might mean if we ask for help, they won't give it and will instead either sit out, or join the Hutts if the Hutts declare open season on us in some fashion."

Shaak chuckled quietly shaking her head. "Masters I don't think you need to worry about that." She gestured to Ranma and herself. "The Nova Guard members seemed rather taken with Ranma's skills and my own abilities. For example they joined the battle in Jabba's palace and saw a few blaster bolt hit me and not do anything, despite my not trying to shield myself in any way. Ranma's toughening technique does indeed work for Jedi."

There were some murmurs of shock at that, and more than one master set up, looking intently between Shaak and Ranma, but master Ranicisis merely nodded, glancing at Dooku who smiled thinly. Ranma caught that, and smirked at the older man, who smirked right back.

But Ranicisis was still concentrating on the main issue. "Good, in that case I will contact them personally. If we can have a transport ready to take the former prisoners among the Nova Guard to Coruscant, they and I can transfer from there to their home world, where we can learn what they will plan in the future."

Yoda nodded, and for a moment the Council fell silent as they all waited for someone to speak up or ask questions about that what they had learned so far. When it was clear that no one would, Yoda turned his old eyes upon Ranma and Obi-wan, in his hover chair. "Of this dark stranger, the ambush on you, tell us you will."

Ranma nodded exchanging a glance with Obi who nodded firmly and began to explain the ambush from his perspective. e first described the rest of the ambush then went into the 'dark stranger' specifically, trailing off for a moment before giving a brief account of his fight with him.

There Ranma took up the tale, his words blunt but heartfelt. "Wherever he came from, whatever his reason for attacking us, the clown lookin' Zabrak was something else. He was tough as hell, stronger, faster than he had any right to be. He knew about some of my tricks, especially the toughening technique, and had mastered it to a level I frankly didn't think was possible."

Many of the master sat up abruptly at that, all of their attention suddenly on Ranma rather than what Shaak had said before. He nodded at them all grimly. "I wasn't able to hit him with a lightsaber for long, but I'd bet that I'd have to hold the damn thing in place to burn through his armored skin. The bones in my hands began to break before I could do much damage on him, it was only my own speed techniques and healing factor that allowed me to do much damage."

More than one Jedi master began to knead their foreheads or perform their species' version of the sign of irritation.

"Masters," Obi-Wan spoke again, nodding to Ranma as he once more took up the tale. "I do not know if Ranma could tell, but our assailant had a grasp of Battle Precognition that was simply phenomenal, well beyond anything I've faced in spars with other padawans or even my own master. His double bladed lightsaber was an impressive weapon as well, and very hard to counter. My master and I were not able to hit him, his Battle Precognition allowed the Zabrak to keep one step ahead of us. If not for my training in Soresu, we would've lost before Ranma could come to our aid. His style was aggressive, yet also made to use his opponent's aggression against them, and his endurance was simply phenomenal."

"I didn't know you used Form 3," said one of the Masters on Coruscant, frowning thoughtfully not in condemnation but as if he was taking in the padawan's words carefully.

He fried a few questions about Obi's style at him as well as how it had changed the dynamic of the battle which Obi-Wan fielded easily. He ended with, "I had begun to learn it with Master Qui-Gon's approval after I began to believe it matched my personal combat style better than Ataru. We had begun to mold our combat styles into a synergistic whole, but even so our assailant overcame us. And… masters, he was **completely** given over to the Dark Side."

Ranma nodded. "He was like a berserker, he was so insanely **angry** and filled with hate it reverberated in the 'Force' around him." He smirked lightly at Shaak as he used the word Force, but she simply made a 'get on with it' gesture and he did so, his voice and face serious once more. "He was so filled to the brim with it, but he was also in near total control over himself. It had even changed his appearance, gave him yellow eyes. That and the red twin lightsaber, when I described that Shaak thought he sounded like a Sith. We shared his description with the holocron's Master Halcyon, and he agreed."

"His powers, describe them you will," Yoda ordered. His eyes were closed, but it was obvious he was listening intently, stretching his senses out almost as if he was trying to picture the events in his mind as he listened to Ranma and Obi-Wan.

Ranma cocked his head thoughtfully, counting on his fingers. "Force telekinetics, Battle Precognition, insane speed and durability, and I think he might've had something to do with influencing a Greater Krayt dragon that tried ta eat me."

"That's about right," Obi-Wan said with a nod. "It was his ability to use Force telekinetics without gestures that caught my master off guard, and allowed him to concentrate on me for that brief moment when I lost my leg. After that, the Zabrak's style, which resembled a personalized style somewhere between Makashi and Ataru designed around his double bladed lightsaber, overcame my master's use of Ataru. I do not mean to imply any criticism," he added hastily, "but it seemed as if the Dark Side user had problems facing a Soresu user."

"Too much aggression against defensive style, known it is to cause issues," Yaddle's hologram replied dryly. "Turning his attacks against himself that style is known for. Further Ataru, debilitating form it is, long battles, turn against the user they do."

Shaak glanced at both of the young men, and spoke up. "Masters, I don't have any idea why he would attack Obi-Wan and Master Qui-Gon, but could this Zabrak be a Sith? I realize he didn't use any true Dark Side powers, but the eyes, the focused hate, the control over his anger, the red lightsaber blades, only the Sith have ever have made use of replicated crystals like that, and only a person lost entirely to the Dark Side would have yellow eyes."

"I do not believe the Sith could grow again without us knowing about it." Mace replied from Coruscant, shaking his head.

Most of the others seem to agree with him, and given that the Dark Side user didn't use any Sith powers, it did seem a little far-fetched to the ones on Kashyyyk as well. Yoda was worried, but he was more worried about how this mysterious Zabrak was able to learn about Ranma and further Ranma stuffiness technique than anything else.

"No, I think that this Dark Side user is connected with one of the Lost 19. One of them might have fallen to the Dark Side, or possibly have found a cache of Dark Side knowledge and been tainted with it against their will before taking on this Zabrak as an apprentice." Mace went on. "We will have to get in contact with them all, or hunt down their last known locations to make certain."

"But what was he after? It doesn't make sense that he would've simply randomly targeted the two of you young padawan" Ranicisis said looking at Obi-Wan before looking at Ranma. "This ambush from what you described it was well-planned and well executed, but obviously came from two different minds: one person planned it, while this Zabrak simply took advantage of it. So why you two? Especially why while Ranma was around if he knew about Ranma's capabilities?"

"Ranma," Dooku said slowly. "…Do you think you could've won against him if he had concentrated on you right away?"

"Definitely," Ranma said with a firm nod. "Without Aura's stepping in, I could've handled him much easier," Ranma went on, having thought about that point himself.

"So he wasn't there for Ranma, instead using the Trandoshans, Sing and the animal to separate him from the others. Could he have been hired to attack Amidala? The Queen was with you when he began to engage you two correct?" Obi-wan nodded and Dooku nodded in return. "Then he could have simply been sidetracked against you Obi-Wan and your master, even the most controlled Dark Side user can be blinded by his own hate."

"It's possible…" Obi-Wan said nodding his head slightly as he went over those first few moments of the attack. "He could have assumed that there were more Trandoshans in the area to keep Padme in position. But I'm afraid I can't tell you his motivations master. Only that he seemed to hate us in particular." Obi-wan finished, trying to subtly say they should not be trying to figure out the attackers motivations, rather where he came from.

"Not enough information we have," Yoda grumbled. "Cover all bases we must. Personal this could be, but safe enough Qui-Gon will be here. Guards we will send with queen Amidala."

"Masters…" Obi-Wan said slowly, "I would like to be on that detail if I may. I realize I won't be able to get back to 100% for a time, but I feel that my master would like one of us at least to see the mission through regardless of our injuries."

"Talk upon this we will, plans going forward we must make now. Master Koth," Yoda began, turning to thatworthy. "This duty fall upon you it will. Another Jedi Knight you may appropriate, go to Coruscant with the Queen you will. Speak to the Senate she will, aid her we will."

"I'm almost hoping this Zabrak fellow will try for her again." said Dooku thoughtfully one hand caressing the top of his lightsaber. Looking at that Ranma realized the old man must've really been stressed with all the political crap he'd been dealing with lately. "If he does, obviously she was his target all along. If not, he could simply disappear again. Tracking a single individual, especially with no starting point is next to impossible even for us."

Yoda snorted at his former apprentice, but did not comment, pointing his stick at Master Poof. "The Senate aiding Naboo, likelihood tell us you will."

"The mood in the Senate is becoming more and more argumentative, deadlocked and unwilling to act on anything as a whole. It is not this issue alone, but others as well, including several undercurrents that are hard to pin down. Among them is a murmur of out and out racism growing between human-kind and other races, something I've reported before this." Poof said, his flat oval face creasing in worry.

Gallia nodded, sharing a glance with her fellow Consular before taking up the tale. "We can say with certainty that the Trade Federation owns too many senators for any unilateral action to be taken against them quickly. They will simply say that they are well within their rights to enforce the trade treaties with the Mid Rim planets that look to them for trade. Senator Palpatine is well known and respected, and he has been trying to gain ground on this issue ever since the invasion was reported to us, but has not made much headway. Worse is Valorum's eroding popularity. I'm afraid we just cannot say that the Senate will step in."

For a moment the Jedi Knights and Masters were silent, more than one of them shaking their heads. It was a sad day when the Republic's ruling body would not act to curtail the power of one of its constituents to save another.

"If the Senate will not step in, what recourse do we have?" Obi-Wan asked, unwilling to do nothing to aid the queen, who had impressed him in many ways, or her people.

"Jedi aid will be sent." Yoda said affirmatively. "Further allies we might seek." He exchanged a glance with master Ranicisis and another one of the Masters who Ranma hadn't met, a short blue skinned alien that he hadn't been introduced to and who wasn't on the Council as far as he knew not having been among one of those he'd seen before.

Both of those worthies nodded and Yoda went on. "Take this chance, we might curtail the Trade Federation's military powers. Backlash that might cause, but worth it, it would be. But arrive on Coruscant the Queen must be as soon as possible. Leave you will now master Koth, along with Obi-Wan and your chosen knight."

"Master…" Obi-Wan said, seeming even more hesitant to speak up now. "I am pleased that you acceded to my possibly selfish request, but nevertheless I have to bring up something that I know my master would want me to. The young boy Anakin, who helped us on Tatooine and spoke up on the runway: my master promised that he would be taken in as a Jedi, and from what I was able to sense, he certainly has enough power for it. Master Qui-Gon called him, he believes the boy to be the Chosen One, he was certain of it in fact."

Yoda nodded slowly as did the other Masters who had been present when the prisoners and the rest of the cavalcade arrived, while several of them frowned or showed other signs of shock at that idea. "Young Anakin tested he will be, remain here he will for that."

Master Koth however shook his head. "The boy is too old, and far too connected to his mother, it will be hard very hard to wean him off that."

"If you think you have to at all, there's something wrong with you," Ranma muttered shaking his head.

Dooku seemed to think the same. "I was old when I was taken in, and not to seem too egotistical, but I think I've turned out all right." He said mildly, causing Koth to look away along with a few of the others. "It will be hard, but it will also possibly be rewarding, so long as no special reservations are made for him."

He hesitated and shook his head. "I do not like the emphasis you put on my former Padawan thinking that this young boy is the chosen one, then again I have never subscribed to that belief. Certainly that belief cannot be allowed to effect how he is treated by the Order. It should be kept both from the boy personally and his peers, less it effect their interaction and his own ego."

Yoda nodded. "Another master, chosen for him when it becomes time probably should. But another matter, talk about now we must. Knight Luminara?"

TheMiralian knight stepped forward lightly, bowing her head to all present. "Shmi and I have talked Masters, and I have conducted an initial physical of Aayla. Shmi did very well weaning her physically off whatever she was given. Mentally however is a different story entirely. It will take time a lot of effort and a lot of care to help Aayla regain her mental equilibrium. And I must emphasize this: she needs to be kept away from any and all males of whatever species for now."

More than one master there nodded slowly, and Yoda's eyes closed in sorrow. So did master Piell, his ears drooping even more and looking as if he had just taken a body blow. And when he spoke, for the first time during this council his voice was far more hesitant than normal. "S, so she was…"

"Oh yes, even after a few days of healing from the drug the signs are still there of the physical and mental tortures Aayla was put through." Knight Luminara replied grimly. "I have never dealt with a Jedi who has gone through such things before, but I've worked in hospitals to aid extreme examples of such. Until I am certain that she is on her way to recovery, I will **not** let a single male in her presence."

"Except for possibly Ranma in his female form," she said, actually smiling slightly over the young man, who shrugged his shoulders. Like all the other Jedi in the temple she had felt the feeling of laughing joy in the Force when Ranma had changed back to his male body, and had found it utterly fascinating.

Master Tholme sighed faintly. "My former padawan will not be happy."

"If she recovers she wouldn't be assigned back to him in any case," said master Gallia softly. "While the Council and in particular the Council of Relocation was wrong in separating them, Quinlan Voss has shown that he has severe angerissues. Master Bulq kept him from becoming a murderer, but he needs to be retrained, and despite the fact there was no basis in fact to the original rumor, I think Aayla would react poorly to any male, unless you believe her master's presence could help her recovery?"

Knight Luminara quickly shook her head. "It might on the surface seem like a good idea, but simply being close to any male now… I'm afraid not. I will do everything I can to help Aayla, no matter how long it takes." She then smiled slightly. "Besides, there is a youngling here that I have my eyes on in any event."

"When the lights went off on the ship seemed to be the worst times for Aayla, if she woke up while they were off I mean. And you probably should give her an outlet for her anger, it ain't like she don't have a good reason to be angry." Ranma said sadly.

He looked at Shaak who shrugged, a silent communication built up over the months the two of them had lived together. Stepping forward, she once again folded her hands in her Jedi robe, looking at each master of the council in turn before speaking, her voice calm, yet at the same time intense. "Masters, as this council asked me to I have been learning from Ranma, as well as teaching him in turn about our Order, the Republic and history. The holocron Master Yoda gave us of Master Halcyon has been helpful in that task, as well as aiding our training."

"But the training was actually secondary to the way Master Halcyon helped our intellectual pursuits. It has helped both show us how the Order has changed over time, why it might have changed, and, in particular, acted as the mediator in debates the two of us have had on why the Order has the rules and Oaths it does today. I regret that I did not win many of those debates."

All around her the council members stiffened, staring at her and Ranma sharply. Most of those looks were condemning, though Yoda, Windu and a few others looked calmer simply taking her words in. One of the masters Ranma didn't know, possibly a representative from one of the other councils who had questioned Shaak closely about her part in the battle on Tatooine and Obi-Wan about his part of the battle against the Dark Side user, spoke up now, her voice sharp. "I warned you that it was a bad idea to give newly inducted knight the task of watching the Chaotic Focus! She has obviously been contaminated by his way of thinking."

"Or perhaps in an intellectual debate I could not defend the Order's position," Shaak replied calmly, her face still serene, her presence in the Force echoing that serenity.

"It is not your place to say if you could or could not defend the Order's, as you put it, position." Another master said, one from Coruscant that Ranma recognized but had never been introduced to by name. "The Order's laws, the Oath, they are the way they are because they must be that way. The Sith Wars taught us how easy it is to fall to the Dark Side, and if we might have lost some knowledge, then it is a price we must pay not only for the Order but for the universe as a whole."

"The Ruusan Reformation was not about stopping Jedi from falling to the Dark Side Master, it was about disbanding the Army of Light, and returning power to the Senate after the Sith were dealt with. Recall masters that many of the rules we follow from that Reformation were placed upon us by the Senate. The High Council might have agreed, but do not delude yourselves into believing it was a unanimous decision among all the Jedi." Shaak's voice was still calm, her lips actually quirking upwards in a slight smile, as if she was enjoying this somehow.

Led by Koth other masters clambered in to argue against the idea that the Order could ever be wrong. But it was the ones who didn't speak up which was telling, Ranma thought. Gallia looked troubled, but wasn't saying anything, Piell also looked worried but unwilling to speak up. Ranicisis was silent, as was Windu, though he looked very troubled, so Ranma figured that was a matter of not wanting to speak up from his position as Master of the Order rather than wanting to truly stay out of the debate. But Yoda too was silent, and Yaddle, who had opened her mouth to speak, subsided when she too noticed that.

Staring at the young knight with his Force senses, Yoda could only smile slightly. Shaak Ti had always been centered in the Force, her calm control and understanding of the Force one of the best of her age. Now looking at her, the deep well of calm had expanded into a pond, its depths even deeper, yet there was movement in the water, more individual power and emotions. Despite that, despite her Living Force having grown tremendously, it was obvious that she was still in control, still connected to the Force as a whole, letting it guide her actions and abilities, but not effecting her mind and emotions.

Looking at her Yoda could tell Shaak Ti had taken in what Ranma had taught her, yet had not been changed, for at her heart she was still a Jedi, still a servant of the Light Side of the Force. "Hrhrhrm, Debates you did have, context of them, tell us you will." He ordered, his quiet tone cutting through the ongoing attack on Shaak's initial statement.

Shaak did so, going through each debate they'd had while on Dac, describing their points one by one on either side. At times one of the masters or the other would interrupt, but most of those present could tell they were simply reiterating the points Shaak had brought up at the time. This didn't mean they were happy about it, or were willing to concede they were wrong of course.

From there Shaak expounded on the experiments they had done with Ranma's connection to the Force, as well as his techniques, and Shaak's own growing use of the Living Force within her rather than reaching through it to the Unifying Force for everything. Ranma joined in here, giving his side of things, along with what he felt during the experiments. Neither of them went into detail on anything, unwilling to trust the Holonet connection with Coruscant to be secure after they had been spied on while on Dac.

Despite that lack of detail, they dropped on of the biggest bombs they possibly could have. "Wait," Gallia said, holding up a hand. "What do you mean reverb effect?"

"You Jedi are so connected to the Force as a whole you are so connected to the Force your emotions effect it and vice versa. But it doesn't quite work like that. The Force multiplies the feeling back at you." Ranma explained. "But when Shaak began to grow her own Living Force, she could concentrate on that connection. When she did, the Force could no longer influence her emotions, and she had a much easier time of controlling them."

There were some mutters about that, the idea of controlling rather than abstaining still anathema to many, particularly a few of the non-human masters who didn't come from races which had a similar mentality to humans. But for the most part that news simply astonished those hearing it. Focusing inward like that was so different from what the Jedi had always done before that it had simply never occurred to any of them that the Living Force within them was so important. Even Master Halcyon had never heard of that, or many of the things Ranma could do, so it wasn't that surprising.

The implications however, on top of what Giiett had been saying for years and Shaak's earlier statements, were huge. Many of those present were simply stunned, and when they got over it would reject what Ranma told them out of hand. They would refuse to believe the Order could have missed something so fundamental, refusing to believe it as they did Giiett's psychological arguments against the Oath. It was simply a reactionary response to the idea of change.

For now however their silence allowed Yoda to dominate the meeting without interruption. "Implications, this has, too large to discuss in one sitting, research we must do, careful about it we must be. Moving away from the topic we have been, a reason you had to bring this up now."

"I felt that perhaps the new methods of mediation Ranma and I came up with to concentrate internally could help Aayla from being effected by the reverb effect."

Luminara had remained silent throughout the debate, feeling it was at a level she really didn't have enough experience to involve herself in. Now she spoke up, her voice soft but somewhat excited. "With Padawan Secura's current mental state it might not only be an aid but a necessity. With what she has gone through, simply telling her to avoid being angry or to not hate those who tortured and abused her won't work, I've studied enough psychology to know that much."

There were some mutters about that, and more than one master there frowned, not believing that mere psychology had a place within the Jedi Order even now with Giiett pushing for it to become mandatory learning. Luminara ignored them with all the disdain of a healer talking about her patient. "And with the reverb effect you describe allowing Aayla to simply act it out even for a short time in a controlled setting, would be a horrible idea."

"In your hand, we will leave this matter young knight." Yoda declared. "Anything more to add does anyone?" His tone made it clear this was not an invitation to continue the previous discussion. Yoda knew they would be talking about that and its implications for years, if not longer, but they had things they needed to discuss now, in particular the Dark Side user, whose presence Shaak and Ranma's bombshell had rather taken his fellow's minds off.

Again Ranma and Shaak exchanged a silent glance but this time it was Ranma who spoke up. "With the chance of the Dark Side user not having been there only for the Jedi, but Padme, I, we that is, volunteer to join whatever kind of aid is sent to Naboo." Shaak smiled as Ranma corrected himself, but did not interrupt. "I think he'll show up, and if he does, ya might need me."

Dooku nodded, speaking up before anyone else could. "Agreed, it does seem more logical that this Zabrak was there for the queen as well as the Jedi, and simply got sidetracked due to his emotions getting the better of him. As for Naboo, if the Senate fails in its mandate to defend the Republic's citizens, then it falls to the Jedi to do so, as it always has, and far too frequently of late."

There were some looks of concern at that open attack on the Senate, but with the Consulars earlier testimony, it did indeed look as if that would be the case here. Yoda nodded, suddenly looking all of his 900 plus years as he waved his glimmer stick slightly. "Enough discussion for now, quarters set aside for you there have been. Young Padawan outside, guide you he will. Talk more we will."

With that the meeting broke up, with Obi-Wan and Koth exiting first, eager to get on their way as soon as possible, with Koth already contacting Queen Amidala and informing her they would be ready to leave soon. Ranma too exited quickly, eager to find something to eat and get away from more discussion. The holograms cut off, while most of the masters left on Ranma's heels, eager to return to their rooms and meditate about what Ranma and Shaak Ti had told them still shocked and disbelieving.

Ranma paused though when he noticed Shaak hadn't moved. She waved him off though, indicating with a glance she wanted to talk to Yoda for a moment alone. Ranma nodded, and left the room.

Moving once more into the center of the room, Shaak knelt there, waiting silently as the council room emptied. As did Yoda and the two other masters who had remained, though Yoda had to wave his stick a few times to make the others keep going when they noticed Shaak was staying behind. One of the two remaining was a human male Healer who had remained silent throughout the discussion save for questioning Shaak about her experiences with the aerosol drug. The other was Piell, who had been far more silent than normal in these discussions, speaking up only the once.

At last they were left alone and Yoda spoke up, his voice gravelly and stern. "More to say you have young Knight. Through the Force, feel it I do, changed have you, decision reached, hrhrhrm? Question, what this decision about is?"

"Masters, as I said, I found myself unable to logically or even via historical records defend the Oath the Order has used since the Ruusan Reformation. I looked closely at the oath, and found it wanting, not just intellectually, but emotionally. I, I also have begun, begun to feel things towards Ranma that, that I should not allow myself to feel if I follow the rules laid down by that Reformation and the oath."

Shaak blushed at finally admitting that aloud, her red skin paling over her checks even as the skin around her eyes darkened. Worse she was doing this in front of the Grandmaster of the Order, a Jedi who had been in the order for nearly the entire thousand years since the Reformation had been made into law.

Nonetheless she plowed on, looking from one master to the other before concentrating on Yoda. "I can bring myself to ignore much of the Reformation, seeing it as an exterior attempt to limit and control the Jedi. But I cannot in good conscience ignore the fact it is also against the Oath I have sworn as a Jedi. Therefore I would like to retake my Oath in the Old Way."

Piell now looked very uncomfortable for a moment then his face solidified as if he had just made a decision of his own. Yoda's eyes twitched to him, then over to the still silent human master, who bowed his head slightly, making no move to say anything even now.

After a moment of very awkward silence Yoda finally spoke. "Hohm… grave issue this is, admit you have to making an attachment, becoming emotionally connected to another person. By the Oath, and the rules, expel you we should. Yet times, changing they are. Points you made, well-thought out, and understandable it is. Micah, pushing for this very thing he has been."

He suddenly chuckled, shaking his head. "Herherhermm, understand I do not, attachments or romance, my species do not have these things. Upfront you have been, hiding you are not."

He stared at Shaak Ti, who suddenly felt like Ranma had earlier, that Yoda could see a **lot** more of her than what was on the surface though whether that was Yoda's ability with the Force or simply his experience, she couldn't tell. After a long even more awkward silence he finally nodded. "Emotions, sense them I do, anger, hatred, even fear I do not. Allow this I will, as an extension of the 'Ranma experiment'."

The solemnity of the moment broke for a moment as Shaak chuckled. "That last should really be capitalized, possibly even trade-marketed master."

Yoda chuckled too, as did the still-unintroduced human master. Piell's voice however cut through the moment of levity. "I however have severe reservations about this."

The others turned to the Lannik master, and he frowned down at Shaak. "Yoda says times are changing, and I will say they are, and indeed they must given the vision of the future he shared when the Chaotic Focus was on Coruscant. But I have made no bones about how uneasy I am about many of those changes, and this, this attacks the very root of what I consider one of the foundations of the Order. But… I have been wrong before."

He sighed, his eyes closing for a moment before he opened them to stare hard at Shaak. "That is why I was so silent during this council and before. You see Knight Ti, it was I who signed off on Padawan Secura's mission among the slavers. It was I who agreed that Knight Vos was too close to his Padawan, and the two needed to be separated."

Shaak stared hard at the Lannik, her eyes darkening noticeably as she frowned, before taking a deep, shuddering breath. When she spoke, her voice was still serene, still calm even as her fingers and the tips of her lekku twitched lightly in reaction to her inner turmoil. An inner turmoil that she did not allow to impact her connection to the Force. "May I ask how and why that came about master Piell?"

Piell stared into Shaak's eyes set into the white marks that dominated her face above the jawline, the dark of the iris a stark contrast to the whiteness of the markings, yet still surprisingly calm even now. "I had worked alongside knight Vos and Master Tholme some time ago, and knew the severity of the slaver's depredation in the Outer Rim. When the mission was proposed to me I signed off on it not thinking of what could occur, not even reading much of the details after I saw what the mission was supposed to address."

"And when the idea to separate the two of them was proposed, I too thought it a good idea, as again I had worked with them both, and felt them too close, I have never been happy with Vos's ascension to knighthood, feeling he was not ready for it, that there was too much darkness in him from his past among the Kiffar, and did not want him to pass to his Padawan. It never occurred to me that without Knight Vos nearby, that would leave Padawan Secura without anyone nearby to help her should the mission or her be compromised."

Piell sighed, his expressive ears drooping for a moment as he finally looked away from Shaak. "A combination of unwitting disinterest, unfounded worry and simple arrogance led me into agreeing to a decision that could have cost us the life of Padawan Secura or worse. It is something I must atone for, and will do so in the coming days. It is something I will also apologize to Padawan Secura for when knight Unduli says she is ready to hear it."

"I see." Shaak said softly before sighing. "I will not absolve you of your guilt over this master. It was not me, my body or mind that suffered through your decision. But I will say that I feel no hatred towards you myself. You might have signed off on the mission, but it was not you who proposed it, and there is a fast difference between signing off on such without actually reading through the mission in detail out of disinterest and writing a mission to send a young woman into a situation where she will be abused through ignorance and arrogance."

Piell stared at Shaak for a few silent moments then looked over at Yoda. Not once had he felt the Force responding to Shaak's anger, and indeed even that anger had faded quickly. The control the Togrutan had on her emotions was obvious, and he nodded formally. "Despite my reservations I will lodge no objection to extending the Ranma Experiment further in this manner."

"Hrhrhm…" Yoda grumbled, nodding in return, thought he too was rather surprised at how well Shaak had responded to that little ambush. Shaak Ti truly had absorbed everything Ranma had taught her yet retained the inner serenity that had been a part of her for so long. "Very well, recite the Old Oath you will."

Shaak nodded, closing her eyes and letting her Force senses flow not just outward, but inward, touching both the Unifying Force and the Living Force within herself. As she opened her eyes Shaak Ti smiled and began. "There is emotion, yet peace." _I acknowledge and internalize my emotions, I will not run from what they show me, but nor will I let them control me._

"Ignorance, yet knowledge." _I know there is still a lot to learn not only from Ranma but together with him about the Force itself. I will continue to learn, continue to grow but with open eyes so that the knowledge does not lead me astray._

"Passion, yet serenity." _I recognize my growing feelings toward Ranma both physical and emotional, but I will not let them affect my duty to the Order or how I serve the Light Side of the Force._

"Chaos, yet harmony." _I have no idea where the future will lead, but whatever happens I will accept it, face it, and stay true to myself, the Light, and to my ideals._

"Death, yet the Force." _I am a Jedi, a servant of the light, yet also an individual. I accept both that I may die, and that I am a small blade of grass in the grand universe, yet I will still strive to be all I can._

As Shaak finished the Oath, the Force once more shifted, a bright pealing note of Light rippling outward as once more the future changed. Yoda, his Force senses stretched to the max, tried to ride it as he could but even so learned a master could not get anything specific out of the change. After giving the young knight his blessing, Yoda waved off his two fellow masters, sinking deep into the Force as far as he could, but even so learned nothing specific, those changes still uncertain as the Dark Side flooded back in.

The only thing he could say for certain, the feeling filling him like water would a cup, was that the Light Side felt it was good indeed, which erased the last of his own reservations about this rather easily. The rest of the Order might reply negatively to this once it got out, but here and now, Yoda knew that he had done the right thing.

 **OOOOOOO**

Yoda wasn't the only one who felt the future shift of course. Deep in discussion with one of his servants, it was all Sidious could do to not break off the discussion precipitously. By the time he was finished with Pestage and his political spies and once more in his hidden sanctum the ripples had finished, spreading out to join the ever growing chaos of the future centered on the Chaotic Locus.

All Sidious could tell was that his task, the Great Plan, had just become noticeably harder. It was still viable, and the Dark Side was still rising, the Veil still in place, his power base increasing. But even so…

"Force curse the Chaotic Locus!" Sidious snarled, before activating his lightsaber. He normally could control his anger, his hate for the Jedi and all they stood for so much he didn't need to let it out, feeling that doing so diluted the power of it. But right now, he desperately needed to cut something.

 **OOOOOOO**

Later that night Ranma was wondering the temple area alone. Shaak was busy talking to Luminara about Aayla, as well as transcribing for the Miralian and the other healers the memory of what she had gone through in cleansing her body of the drug used on Aayla and her. That the two women were also taking this moment to catch up and gossip was understood without having to be stated.

Ranma wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just taking in the sights, unable to sleep just yet. Even so he was somehow unsurprised to hear Yoda's voice hailing him from nearby. "Troubled young one you are." The ancient Grandmaster said, hobbling up to him and staring up at Ranma with his ancient, intelligent eyes. "Come, talk we will."

Ranma nodded and followed the green gremlin through the temple. They mounted the stairs higher and higher until they came out on to an unfinished observation area set on top of the temple. The top and sides had been paned, but it didn't have any electronics yet. Nonetheless, it afforded an excellent view of the area around the small temple, with both the city and the wilds of Kashyyyk visible.

Looking out over the vistas, Ranma waited in silence for a few moments as Yoda set up a small portable device of some kind, him grunting and muttering to himself smacking it occasionally with his glimmer stick. A glimmer stick which Ranma was amused to see was seemingly brand new, a replacement for the one Yoda had wrecked smacking Ranma on the head.

"Ya want some help with that I don't think yer new stick'll be enough to beat that thing inta submission."

"Humph, Grandmaster I have been for more years, hot meals than you have had." The old grandmaster replied grumpily. "Technology eventually obey it will."

"You got that old curmudgeon act down pat don't you?" Chuckling Ranma set down on his haunches, staring out into the vista beyond the temple, narrowing his eyes after a moment.

During the day the Wookies had been moving everywhere in sight singly or in small groups, the planet alive with noises of various birds and beasties. Now that it was dark, the lights of the city was visible through the canopy, and there was some movement there, but that was all. There was little to no noise out there, and Ranma couldn't detect much movement outside of the city either. _Interesting, so on this planet civilized doesn't mean safe huh?_

"This," he said gesturing with one hand, "This was an amazing idea, though I gotta wonder why it occurred to you. I don't think anything I said to you or the Council could be taken as a suggestion to this kind of idea."

"Your words alone, enough to cause this they were not. A factor your point, not being connected to the common man." He looked up from his work for a moment, his eyes hardening slightly. "Other half, old saying is. Put all eggs in one basket do not, yes?"

Ranma frowned, looking down at the temple under his feet then at Yoda and nodded slowly. "You saw something in the future, some danger through your Unifying Force."

"Tough to read the future always is. But the Dark Side, rising it is. Your arrival, combating that it is, future always changing, but still Dark Side rising it is."

"I see," Ranma said frowning faintly. He didn't like the idea of being part of some grand plan now any more than he had when Dooku stated he was here to answer Dooku's questions about his path. But he had to admit he didn't like the idea of the Dark Side any more than then either.

He fell silent again, staring out over the forest of tree branches and bits of other diverse foliage sticking out from the Wroshyr trees that covered Kashyyyk seemingly from one end to the other. He turned away when Yoda made a triumphant noise, and a light buzzing sound caught his attention. A moment later the hologram of Master Dooku appeared, standing beside Yoda who sat down across from Ranma on the ground as Dooku's image did the same. "Troubled you are," Yoda said, "Hrmhrm listen we will."

Ranma looked at them then nodded slowly. "I screwed up on Tatooine. I didn't take Sing seriously enough from the get go, didn't think she could get others to help her ambush Obi-wan and the others. And when the Dark Side user appeared, even there I made mistakes. I didn't go for the kill right away, I thought I could handle him like I did all my old rivals, with kid gloves. Going over the battle I can remember several times I could've ended it if I was more ruthless. And that bothers me, it bothers me that Zabrak'll continue to be a threat to other people because I couldn't end him and it bothers me that if I had dealt with Sing and the dragon quicker, I could've saved Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon before they got injured."

"Hindsight always 20-20 it is." Yoda said sharply, smacking Ranma's foot with his glimmer stick hard enough to leave a bruise on most, but only enough to send a brief tingle through his hands and cause Ranma to wince slightly. "Hrhrhrm, youthful folly it is to believe perfect you are. Did well enough you did, two Jedi lives saved, murderous assassin dead. Safer place the galaxy you have made, for Jedi and for all."

"I can understand where you're coming from Ranma." Dooku said, not disagreeing with his master, but he had fought Ranma several times, he understood the true worry here. "You're martial arts style is based upon the use of nonlethal force, and I can understand that sometimes your training will get in the way during one on one battles and you do need to get better at realizing when that is. You also need to start incorporating lightsaber weapons into your personal repertoire. Though I doubt I have to tell you that." Dooku said smiling faintly.

Ranma nodded his head. "I'd already figured that, and've stepped up my lightsaber construction and my training with a staff though I need a few more crystals ta finish my design. Now that we're on planet again, Shaak and I will be sparring as often as possible to get me used to using that weapon and thinking about it."

"Good." After replying Dooku fell silent for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "Ranma, I approve and actually respect that your styles emphasizes the preservation of life rather than taking it. But here comes a time when you have to realize going into battle that you need to set that aside. You did that during the battle against the Yinchorri and even, though you don't seem to think you did it soon enough, on Tatooine. I trust, we trust that you can do so and not be changed by it."

Dooku shook his head. "Ranma, I have no doubt that you and this Zabrak will meet again, that is unless he crosses my path before that." He smirked, and Ranma answered with his own before the older man went on more seriously. "He does not seem the type to give up his mission whatever that might have been, and I know you will seek him out if you can. And when you do meet him again", only one will come out. Make certain it is you."

"Inside, warrior you are," said Yoda quietly. "Warriors in the coming days, needed will be. Gentleness, set aside in battle it must be, pick it up again after you will. Kindness, need to defend, the fuel to your strength, they are. Guide you the Force cannot, only your own heart, but guide you true, it has, and will."

With that statement silence once again descended on the rooftop for a moment before Ranma nodded his head slowly, and turned away, heading down to bed, some of his worries dispelled, replaced by resolve.

 **OOOOOOO**

While going to Kashyyyk took Padme's ship well out of their way from a straight run between Tatooine and Coruscant thanks to the hyperspace trade routes nearby Shaak's prediction of it only being a few hours out of the Padme's way had proven accurate. So while Ranma and the others went to sleep, the Nabooian royal yacht moved on to Coruscant, finishing the journey by around midday Kashyyyk-time. On Coruscant it was about morning as they made their way down from orbit into the senatorial sector of Coruscant, alighting on the Jedi Temple's own landing pad.

With Padme once again hidden among her maid/body doubles and her friend Sabe taking her place, the whole entourage moved forward. At the end of the landing ramp Master Koth moved ahead of them with the two Jedi Knights he had brought with him moving to either side. Obi-wan followed them all in his hover chair, but his lightsaber was in his hand, and he was scanning the area all around them with both his natural and Force senses.

Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Masters waiting for them. He made to bow his head formally, the move nearly overbalancing him despite the days he'd had to get used to his missing legs. But Master Dooku waved him back in pushing him upward with a gentle Force Push. "A sense of propriety is all well and good young padawan, but so is a certain amount of self-preservation. Please, follow healer Savine, she will have you out and about as soon as possible, then you can once more take on the task of protecting Queen Amidala."

"Of course Master Dooku," Obi-Wan bowed, then bowed to the Master standing silently next to Dooku, master Poof. The long-necked master bobbed his head, a very elaborate act coming from a Quermian, and he sent Obi-Wan on his way with a wave of his hand.

To one side of these Jedi greetings there was a political one taking place. "Your Majesty, I am overjoyed to see you alive and well," Sheev Palpatine said coming forward and clasping Sabe's hands warmly between his own, shaking his head, a warm smile on his aged, almost grandfatherly face. "When I had heard that your ship had been damaged trying to run the blockade on our world, I'd feared the worst." He sobered quickly however. "Would you like a report on the political situation here now, or do you require a few hours rest from your journey?"

"Our people have waited long enough for aid already Senator," Sabe replied, her eyes not even flicking over to where Padme and the other body doubles followed her. "But this is not the setting for such a discussion. Take us to our quarters, and we will discuss things there."

"Of course," Palpatine replied. "Follow me. Master Jedi?" He asked, cocking his eyebrows at the Masters who had come out to meet the ship with them.

Dooku nodded crisply. "Master Poof and myself will join you for the entirety of the journey, Master Koth, Knight Gla'cie I believe you can show the good Captain and his fellows to their quarters in the senatorial areas? Knight Ba'ren, remain with the ship. I presume you have also left a guard inside?"

"Of course Master Jedi," the captain replied, sounding somewhat affronted at what he saw as an attack on his prerogatives. Moments later the cavalcade was on the move again, leaving the Jedi Temple and entering the senatorial district proper, moving out in the open for a few moments before entering one of the massive mega-spires that covered the entire planet.

The group talked among themselves as they walked but for the most part not touching on any serious subjects as they entered the building, moving through it and towards the elevators that would take them higher into the building and to the senatorial suites assigned to Naboo and other Mid Rim planets and the suite of rooms that had been set aside for Padme. They were next to his own, Sheev told her, part of the group of rooms that he used for delegates from other planets within their sector, but as none of them were on planet right now, they were free for her use.

About halfway to the elevator master Dooku stopped, holding up his hand quickly his lightsaber appearing in his other hand as if by magic activating swiftly. Master Poof was quite a bit slower, but master Koth and knight Gla'cie hadn't broken off yet with the captain and his men, and both of them were much more on the ball, their lightsabers activating and moving to take positions at the back of the group as fast as Dooku. "I sense hostility," he said calmly, "we…"

That was as far as he got before the elevator opened at the far end of the hall and seven gunmen dressed in black from head to toe opened fire on them with blasters the moment the doors were open. At the same time from the way they had come four droidekas, battered looking and with heavy modifications rolled their way out of the doorways they passed, taking Koth and Gla'cie under fire. "Stay behind us!"

Padme quickly pulled out her holdout blaster, lining up a shot even as Dooku swiftly pushed ahead, knocking the blaster bolts back into their attackers, moving with speed and fluidity she had never seen in a Jedi before this. Only the speed with which Ranma had seemed to move at times came close, but this was a far more elegant style than Ranma's. "Hmm… rather more overt than I had expected," Dooku mused calmly, stepping ahead of Master Poof and their charges.

Four of the gunmen in the elevator were down already because of their own blasts being returned to them, and one of them made a break for it down an intervening hallway away from the elevator and the Hall they were taking towards it. The other two held their ground grimly, until Dooku, while still blocking their blasts lifted up a small pottery plant set along the walkway for a bit of color. It smashed into one man's head, sending him careening into his fellow. "Now captain!"

Captain Tanaka needed no urging, and three of his men who had been right behind the Jedi master raced forward, stun bolts blasting out the moment they cleared his defense. "Master Poof," Dooku went on, "come with me, the rest of you cover Master Koth and Gla'cie."

At the back Koth charged forward, trying to get in among the droidekas, but halted, swinging his lightsaber this way and that, blocking their heavier blasters to protect himself as the droidekas moved in an elaborate dance around one another covering each other. This gave their shields seconds to recover on a planned rotation. Gla'cie raced past him, ducking under his lightsaber, rolling forward, his lightsaber coming up in a slash. "Wait Gla'cie no!"

Gla'cie's lightsaber impacted the droidekas' personal shield with a sizzling sound. It held there for a moment, the knight too surprised to use the momentum of the block to turn away. The second and third droidekas turned their weapons on him, only getting off a single shot before having to put more power to their shields to deflect the blaster fire from Panaka's men.

That single shot caught the young knight in the pectoral, burning clean through. He gasped, but twisted around, cutting at the droideka that was taking the brunt of the incoming fire. It's shield failed, a brief flash accompanying it's disappearance, and the incoming fire smashed the killer droid into pieces. Gla'cie had to dodge away from more fire, but then the shields on the remaining droids started to fail.

"Take the left one!" Koth ordered, pushing forward into the droid's fire, deflecting more bolts at first one then the other. The droids, now with one of their number down, and the two Jedi so close, could no longer switch off to guard themselves from the amount of incoming fire. Their shields failed, and Koth downed them one after another within a few seconds.

The two of masters at the front moved down the corridor, now looking into every room they passed, many of which were opening as senatorial aides, delegates and various hangers-on opened doors to gabble in thousands of different languages asking what was going on. Coming down from his adrenaline rush, Poof began to reach out to calm himself with the Force, shaking his head. It had been years since he'd had even a brush with combat.

It had not been pleasant in many ways with Dooku leaving him behind so easily, reacting faster and better than Poof had, on top of the entire event. _I need to start retraining myself. Even Consulars need some skill with their lightsabers and combat. Dark days indeed._

Poof barely had time to squawk before his senses warned him to step back rapidly from the door he was approaching. It exploded outwards, and it was only a hasty Force push that flung the doorway which might have smashed into him away. For a moment it was all he could do to block the next few blaster bolts that came his way, but he was pushed into the side of the corridor off-balance and unable to get between the attackers and Padme and her group.

Dooku had gone down the other corridor but turned rapidly, moving through the now crowded corridor towards the attackers, but Koth and Gla'cie were well out of position, and then taken out of the equation for a moment as several more attackers charged out of two more rooms.

For a moment Panaka and his men held the line against strange knife wielding attackers clad in black. Padme gunned down two of them herself, and Senator Palpatine of all people grabbing up a blaster of his own killing another two with well-placed shots. But Panaka and his men had to meet the charge head on.

Shaking his head at the screaming, shouting bystanders blocking him from the action, Dooku Force Jumped over the heads of the crowd bouncing off the ceiling as he thought, _Ranma would be rather amused by me at this point. Or perhaps demanding some compensation for stealing his moves_.

A second later he landed between the guards and the charging group of knife wielders. He smiled thinly, bringing his lightsaber up into an en-garde position, before dancing forward, his lightsabers flashing in, out, around, faster and faster slicing into and through the attackers, cutting apart limbs, heads and weapons with equal ease.

This explosion of violence on top of the recent actual explosions at last cleared the corridor of all of the gawking onlookers, but Dooku ignored them, forcing his way towards the beleaguered master Poof who had taken position in a small doorway, holding it against another group of blaster wielding fellows. With the two of them now working in concert, they cut these last attackers down as well.

For a moment the corridor was silent save for the groaning of the wounded and a distant alarm sounding off as the security of the tower belatedly began to realize that there had been an attack in its environs.

Warily Palpatine stood from where he had crouched behind the body of one of Captain Tanaka's men, a smart move Dooku thought, if rather cold, nodding his head at his friend. Sheev nodded back and looked down his gun, convulsively dropping it after a second shaking his head and wringing his hands together. "Attacked, attacked here in the Senatorial Sector? Does the Trade Federation truly have that long an arm?"

"That large a purse certainly Senator," Padme said, moving forward now placing an arm around her body double, who had also taken up a blaster. Sabe smiled at her, hugging her friend close for a moment before regaining her 'royal pose'.

Sheev Palpatine stared at them both, then laughed quietly and nodding his head. "An excellent ruse your Majesty, keep it up I believe it will become necessary more than once in your tenure." He said quietly.

Padme nodded her head at the old senator before moving away from Sabe quickly. They all looked at Master Dooku, who had stopped by one of the attackers pulling off his mask to reveal a Devaronian, his face heavily marked by tattoos. Tattoos which Dooku had seen before. "Death cultists," he said distastefully, looking over to where Panaka was securing two prisoners. "Do they all have the same marks?"

The dark-skinned Captain nodded grimly, staring at the numbers of dead. Four of his guard was dead and two wounded, most of them lost in that final push. "Your highness," he said looking at first Sabe and then the senator. "Senator, I cannot guarantee your safety if this is but the first of such attacks here on Coruscant. I'd dearly love to start trying to get to the bottom of this and everything else, but I don't have the men to spare to do that and guard you."

Palpatine turned to the Jedi. "Master Dooku, can we prevail upon you to do the investigating?"

"Certainly, this it did happen while the Queen was under our protection after all, and such a blatant assault needs to be looked into anyway." Dooku thought for a moment then frowned slightly. "I'm afraid your highness that we neglected one thing when we made up this guard detail: none of my fellow Jedi are female. I will send Knight Gla'cie back to the Jedi Temple to get his arm looked at and to a request a female Jedi to join you in your quarters this evening. She will stay with you for the rest of your time here. With that, and Captain Panaka guarding your doors along with master Koth, I believe that myself and master Poof will be free to get to the bottom of this assault."

"I'll head back to the temple with Gla'cie and start getting on whatever kind of paper trail we can find using the faces of these people." Poof said, moving from one to another of the bodies taking pictures of their faces for later use on his dataslate. He was still shaken somewhat, but as a Jedi he wasn't showing it and was quickly centering himself becoming more determined to look into retraining his skills. He had been next to useless in this fight, and that didn't sit well with them.

"Wait until you and master Koth see the Queen and her fellows to their rooms." Dooku said sternly. "Another attack on the way isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility, and I don't trust senatorial security any longer."

"Indeed not," Sheev cut in grimly, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at a group of Senatorial guards clad in their traditional blue armor with the tall helmets making their way down the corridor towards them. "Either someone was doing something with the intercoms, or another someone was bought off. They're not supposed to be able to be bribable, but…"

Padme smiled gently, nodding at Sabe who touched the older man's shoulder. "I'll leave that bit of the investigation to you shall we?"

"You're highness is most gracious," Palpatine said, smiling lightly and patting Sabe's hand. "But for now we need to get you to your rooms."

Master Poof moved to deal with the officious fellows as the rest moved into the elevator. Dooku remained standing there for a moment, staring at the prisoners before he waved a hand at them, causing them to lift into the air and hover behind him for a moment, then following him in that same direction.

Moments later Palpatine closed the suite's door behind him then turned to the real Amidala, smiling slightly as he looked at the young woman. She had impressed him somewhat today. Women were naturally weaker than men and lacking in fortitude, but still she had performed well enough under fire. And there was something about her, not the Force, there was no hint of Force Sense in her, but something.

This had gone almost as well as he could've hoped. The two prisoners would of course be an issue for the splinter cell he used for this operation, but there were so many layers between that and even his underworld contacts that Palpatine was secure. He'd also seen firsthand how good Dooku was, and had walked away with a great deal of respect for the other man. It was obvious that he too had trained with Ranma, though Dooku had recreated the speed techniques rather than the body toughening ones. He would be a major threat going forward, but one that could be dealt with, after being used for the Great Plan's purposes of course.

 _And this and the paper trail will lead not just to the Trade Federation but to a splinter group within it which will muddy the waters further, which is precisely what I want at this time._ "I do not know about you your highness, but I could do with a drink," he said aloud, moving towards a tray where several different carafes stood.

Amidala settled into one of the sofas, while Sabe moved quickly into the other room intent on taking off her garments. They were necessary for her 'queenly status', but they weren't exactly comfortable. Padme's real bodyguards all moved around the room, securing each access point, and running scanning devices over all of the different areas of the room.

Again Palpatine was impressed. He had thought them all flighty handmaids, a more decorous version of the whores the last king had kept around him. But it appeared as if Amidala had done quite a bit more recruiting than he had anticipated she could in a few months she'd been Queen. _She might become a formidable tool in time, good._

Across from him Padme took the drink offered her, sipping slowly, staring at Palpatine all the while. "Now that this latest bit of excitement is dealt with Senator, please tell me about the mood in the Senate."

Palpatine sighed theatrically, shaking his head. "Not good." From there Sheev described the various factions all working at loggerheads here, with no clear impetus one way or another.

"The Chancellor could order a unilateral move by the Navy, but I am afraid Chancellor Valorum's position is not very secure. Too many things have blown up in his face recently, the scandal for corruption a few weeks before this all began, the entire reason why the Trade Federation was allowed to build its army in the first place, the terrorist attacks in the Mid Rim and even Inner Systems. And of course there are several planets blaming the damages they took to the Yinchorri on Valorum's slow response to their threat. And the fact that it was the Jedi who brokered an agreement to deal with the Yinchorri also made him seem weak. He has allies of course, and I do like the man but…" he shrugged.

Amidala had stayed silent throughout his explanation. Now she began to ask questions about this or that specific faction, Senator and group, impressing Palpatine once again with her acumen. All of 14, she had drive and a certain level of experience which was easily seen here. Not enough to know when she was being played of course, but since Senators many times Amidala's age couldn't tell when that occurred, it was hardly a mark against her.

That Amidala was unhappy with what he was saying was also obvious, and sent a small shiver of a thrill through him. He was careful to keep it out of his face of course. It wouldn't do to let anyone realize how much they were puppets dancing to his designs.

"I do not like this Senator," the young girl said coldly. "We are part of the Republic, because our ancestors thought that the Republic could serve the best interests of our planet. And now when we are invaded by another Republic power the Senate is unable or unwilling to do anything about it? What good is power if you cannot use it?"

"The Trade Federation has been allowed too much leeway in the Outer Rim sectors. Their military strength has grown it is true but it is their monetary power that makes the Senate unable, or, it is said, without the will to really fight them. We have allies your highness and perhaps if we could provide certain proof that their invasion is a bloody affair we could force the Senate to do something. But I am afraid nothing is getting out of Naboo at this point."

He paused, looking towards the door. " There is one way we could gain some aid. Chancellor Valorum is as I said rather a bit of a lame duck at this point. He lacks the will to act on his own, and indeed the influence to do so. But the chancellorship is still a meaningful position. We could call for a vote of no-confidence on him, the entire Senate would need to vote on it of course, and the debates for who would take his place would take days. But after which the new Chancellor would act decisively, no matter who he was. He would have to be seen to be a decisive individual, and thus would act in our favor."

"How can you be so certain of that?" Amidala asked though it was obvious she was already thinking about the merits of Palpatine's proposal.

"Because Naboo will get sympathetic votes swiftly your highness if you are the one to push for it. Especially with this," he said tapping the small disk she had handed to him during their walk. "Proof of the Trade Federation's actual invasion? Their proponents might challenge it and the naysayers and the anti-human faction of course will still look down their noses at it. But even so it will be enough to sway the new Chancellor in our direction whoever he is."

Palpatine sighed sadly. "Frankly whoever he is he will have to be in a stronger position than Valorum at this point. I still believe he is a good man, a good friend, but his will has been sapped by events of late. He lacks the willpower to continue in his office or even to bow out gracefully. He may even thank us in a few years for ridding him of the burden."

Amidala waved that off. "I do not care about the feelings of the current Chancellor or indeed any Senator save yourself. How long would it take until a new Chancellor is chosen?"

"I wish I could tell you, it could take as few as an hour or three, or as long as several days. Or even longer perhaps."

"In which time our people suffer!" Amidala snapped, slamming her glass down hard enough to crack the delicate glassware on the metal table. "I refuse to think that waiting is our best option!"

Palpatine sighed, shaking his head. "I understand, and I too wish we could act faster. But if we are to look at the Senate for aid, it will take time, effort, and a lot of political capital."

Palpatine watched, as the young female stood up abruptly, pacing around the room as she thought. It probably wasn't something she did normally he judged, but having been cooped up on a ship for so many days and the current crisis could do this to one. _I wonder when it will occur to her to ask for the Jedi's aid? Will it occur now or later? Either way, the Jedi will be placed in a position where some of them may die._

He watched as the young female suddenly paused, staring out past the door to where Jedi master Koth was guarding the doorway to the suite. "If the Senate cannot be trusted to aid us," she said softly "then maybe some others can."

Palpatine cocked his head looking confused while inside he allowed himself a smile. _Like puppets on strings…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma woke up the next morning and exited the quarters he'd been assigned, stopping by the commissary heading out into the training area as he watched the classes go through their exercises and meditations. _Yeah I don't think I could've ever been a Jedi, sitting still for that long? Just not for me._

He noticed a few of the younglings seemed to be having similar issues staying still, but most of them were remarkably good at it which he supposed was because of years of practice. Regardless, he stopped in to the commissary for a moment, grabbed some food and then went back outside wondering where Shaak was. It felt…odd being away from her.

She had become so important to him as a friend, as a companion, and maybe something more that not having her around bothered Ranma. He knew that despite their discussion a few days ago there were a lot of issues still between them, but that discussion they had the morning Aayla first woke up showed that maybe, just maybe there could be something more between them than friendship. If there could be, Ranma was eager to see where it led. He had no idea if what he felt was love, but he did know whatever it was, it was more than he'd felt for Akane at any point back in Nerima.

Moving around the temple towards the far side of it which faced away from Rwoookrrorro he found several Jedi going through a series of exercises that he recognized as being one of those taught in Shaak's own lightsaber style. Shaak was there but not taking part in the actual exercises, simply meditating to one side. Her eyes opened when Ranma rounded the Wroshyr tree, turning to face him with a faint smile, who answered with his own, his blue eyes locking on hers.

Her smile widened however when she broke their locked gazes and saw Ranma carried a staff with him. Moving over to an unused training area she bowed lightly towards him. "I take it you wish to start integrating a staff into your style further now?"

"Yeah, I also want to get you used to training and someone who uses an unusual weapon. We've done well enough so far with that kind of idea, but with that Dark Side user still out there…" Ranma shrugged.

Shaak nodded, unclipping her lightsaber from her belt powering it down slightly to the training level before activating it. That's wasn't something her lightsaber had originally, but she had added it last night while talking with Knight Luminara about Aayla. And admittedly answering a lot of her friends questions about Ranma himself.

Though Shaak hadn't noticed, she had begun to radiate in the Living Force, not just the Unifying Force like most Jedi. It was a startling change, even though Shaak's general mannerisms haven't changed overmuch. She was slightly quicker to smile, but that sense of deep serenity and calm that was at the center of her being was still there.

It was however Shaak's comments at the meeting the evening before and both her and Ranma's explanation of what they had discovered about the feedback effect of emotions that Luminara truly was interested in. While she had no wish to go through the hardship training that Shaak had to build up her Living Force enough to allow her to actually separate her mentality from the unifying Force, it was still a fascinating concept, and one that could have a major impact on Aayla's treatment.

Across from Shaak Ranma followed suit, one end of the short staff he carried lighting up with a lightsaber blade around the same size as a shoto's, its color bright green. Looking at the weapon Shaak cocked her head thoughtfully. "That is not your design, is it?"

"Master Yoda brought along several **hundred** different weapon types apparently." Ranma said with a shrug. "Little midget seems able ta somehow anticipate small things like that even if the whole 'see the future' mumbo jumbo of yours is being blocked. I just grabbed this from the mass of them since the size almost matches my design. 'Course, it doesn't have any of the little tricks I'm buildin' into my own staff…"

With no warning Ranma took to quick steps forward, thrusting out before whirling away into a slash at waist height. Then when those didn't work he used the end of his light pike to balance himself as he kicked out rapidly.

Shaak bent her body practically backwards to dodge Ranma's initial thrust then helped his slash on its way, her lightsaber pushing lightly against his to add to his momentum, before matching his kick with one of her own. The both of them kicked off hard against the other's lower leg, flipping themselves in midair to land once again facing one another. Now it was Shaak's turn to charging, and she feinted as Ranma had, moving to jump up, but instead using a Force Push to push Ranma off-balance when he tried to respond, closing quickly with her lightsaber.

Ranma wasn't fooled by her attempts, knowing Shaak wasn't stupid enough to challenge him in midair combat. Her Push did take him off balance, but he responded quickly, flashing his ki lightly to break her push, bringing up his staff to smack her lightsaber aside. From there the two settled into a series of exchanges, dancing around one another in an intricate display of combat.

It even incorporated kicks and punches at times. Though Shaak was noticeably not using them as often as Ranma, and almost never using kicks. Her Jedi robes made kicking incredibly tough after all, nor did she have his ki shield, which flared up occasionally when he used it to block her lightsaber. The sight at first didn't register with the Jedi and learners around them but it did eventually, and soon they had gathered an audience. Not that either of them noticed.

For several moments neither of them could gain the upper edge, with Ranma matching Shaak's battle precognition with his natural speed and leaving his strength at a low level for now, after all this was just a spar, mostly to train his mind to incorporate the pike into his style. Shaak in turn replied with several attempts at Force grabs with her free hand, trying to unbalance or otherwise trick Ranma into making a mistake but none of her tricks succeeded. Brute assaults worked occasionally, but not for very long given Ranma's endurance and durability.

Their blades locked, with Shaak holding her lightsaber with both of her hands for a moment, before releasing one to launch a punch towards Ranma's face which he blocked with his hand, grabbing her wrist and twisting lightly. A focused Force Push allowed Shaak to regain control of that hand and release herself, swinging away and back quickly.

Ranma laughed, blocking the blow smiling at Shaak. "That was new!"

"I'm trying to incorporate different types of strikes into my style Ranma you should know that by now," Shaak replied almost absentmindedly, concentrating on the exchange then blinking slightly. "Oh, you mean breaking your grip with a Force Push, again trying to keep up with you forces one to adapt. I'm glad it worked."

"It did, just happy to see you pushing the envelope there." Ranma said then his own hand flashed out. Shaak blocked it with the bottom of her lightsaber, pushing it to one side and responding with a hand chop of her own which Ranma ducked under, but this allowed Shaak to almost catch him with a knee to the face. He blocked that, pushing off and into the air before launching his own attack, which halted when Shaak used the Force to hurl him backwards not allowing him to take advantage of being in midair and within range of her.

He rolled as he landed, but Shaak didn't close this time instead circling warily. Then as Ranma settled into a stance she moved forward into her own series of stabs, slashes and whirling attacks, incorporating both unarmed combat and moves from Makashi, Ataru and even a few ripostes from Soresu this time. Ranma blocked, dodged, or riposted each in turn.

Changing his own style suddenly, the end of his lightsaber staff came up intending to slam into Shaak's stomach in a move taken from Dooku's variant of Makashi. But used to his ability to change to different styles Shaak saw it coming with her Force Precognition and batted it aside with one hand, coming up with a kick that caught him in the side of the chest, her Jedi robe flashing upward. Though Ranma replied by smacking her visible thigh several times with his other fist even as he was sent aside, their blades negating each other for a moment.

Shaak winced a little, backing away slightly and rubbing at her thigh with her free hand while twirling her lightsaber in front of her in a defensive maneuver, not trusting Ranma to try to press the advantage. Ranma backed away too letting her look her injury over for a moment before charging in again.

Neither of them had noticed their audience before this. By now every knight, more than a few of the masters and even the few advanced students nearby had stopped what they were doing or come out of the temple to stare at the spar that looked all too real to them. Luminara, Piell and Yoda were there as well as several others.

All of them stared, surprised and some were even awed by the martial display the two of them were putting on. Shaak was known as one of the up-and-coming knights but even so, this looked more like one would expect from an experienced master. And Ranma's skills, while having been rumored about in the Order were not well known yet beyond a few of his techniques.

Yoda chuckled as he watched the display, his eyes sharp as he analyzed Ranma's skills and speed. After a few moments he decided that in an all-out fight Yoda could possibly beat him, his small stature and speed along with Battle Precognition could give him a slight edge. But it certainly wouldn't be enough of one for him to get complacent, and damaging Ranma in any significant fashion would be difficult in the extreme whereas Yoda would have to be careful with every one of his blows. He could use the Force to slow or even dampen the impact, as he had done in their brief exchange when Ranma first appeared on Coruscant.

But eventually even a single series of blows or even one full power blow could put Yoda out of action. And if the fight wore on for too long, Yoda's endurance would also begin to fade while Ranma would still be good to go. If not for the weakness of using his own 'ki' to power his 'ki' shields, Ranma's endurance would match any four Jedi. And even as the spar went on Yoda saw Ranma changing his style, dodging and using his light pike more instead of his ki shield.

Others were not nearly so analytical in their appreciation. Knight Luminara for example was astonished at the amount of skill her friend was showing. A decent blade herself, Luminara knew such a display was beyond her. _Shaak was telling the truth about Ranma's training making her better, it's an amazing display. I might have to look into getting some training under Ranma myself._

The two combatants paused for a moment, leaping away from one another to stand at either side of the training area. The onlookers took this moment to slowly clap appreciatively. Shaak and Ranma both looked at one another then away rather embarrassed that they hadn't noticed everyone looking at them then Ranma suddenly smirked realizing where he was in relation to the edge of the temple area.

He looked over the edge of the large branch they had been fighting on staring down and further down. He couldn't see anything below them but more Wroshyr branches and leaves, ranging in size from normal sized to gargantuan, and he smiled. "Catch me if you can!" With that he turned off his light pike, turned and literally **dived** over the edge with a loud whoop.

"…Well, that was random." Knight Luminara said, staring. "Good grief, Ranma is rather…" Luminara trailed off, words failing her as she looked from between the spot Ranma had disappeared and Yoda, who had begun to chuckle wildly.

Shaak stood still for a moment, staring at where Ranma had been then laughed, shaking her head. "Of course, Aerial style I should have figured he was a height junkie. I suppose I really did do him a favor smashing him through that shower wall, hehe."

Moving towards the edge, Shaak suddenly pulled off her Jedi robe, leaving her in her tight training shift. The shift consisted of a single piece of brown cloth which fell below her waist in a single piece before splitting above her waist to head up her body in two wide bands to cover her breasts, tied below them with one of the pieces of string. Those bands continued over her shoulders, meeting up again and going back down in a single piece near the middle of her back, her lekku covering up where that joining occurred. Here and there along it's length the shift was tied down by rope.

The entire outfit was designed to cover up what had to be but also to emphasize the minimalist nature the Jedi Order pushed on its member, not understanding, or perhaps refusing to acknowledge that even if the cloth was made of the meanest cotton the body underneath was on display, and that body mattered more than the clothing. Suffice to say that despite having seen her in similar outfits before it would have still stunned Ranma enough so that Shaak may have beaten him in their spar.

Not acknowledging the shocked, blushing (mostly from the younglings and padawans around her), or stunned looks she was getting Shaak turned, bowing formally to Yoda. "With your permission Master Yoda?"

Yoda however couldn't reply, chuckling too hard. The only words anyone could get out from that was "chaos lives up to, his name it does."

With no answer of forthcoming from the ancient Grandmaster or from any of the others Shaak laughed again before hopping over the edge herself waving cheerily at Luminara and the other Jedi before she disappeared from view.

 **OOOOOOO**

"…my people cannot wait that long! If this establishment cannot do what needs to be done, then perhaps it is time for a change! I call for a vote of no-confidence on Chancellor Valorum!"

 **OOOOOOO**

With Shaak in hot pursuit Ranma fell through the Wroshyr trees, bouncing off branches and even leaves occasionally. Now that it was day once more the Wookies were out in force throughout the area even around the temple, and they both bounced or fell through bits and pieces of traffic. Ranma once stopped entirely, grabbing a nearby vine to pull himself out of the way of an oncoming group of Wookies who climbing up the side of one of the Wroshyr he had been skidding down.

He waved at them, and several of them pulled their clawed hands away from the tree for a moment to wave back, huffing in laughter at the crazy human. A second later he proved their point letting go of the vine and simply falling straight down for a moment before grabbing a small branch to flip himself in an entirely different direction for a moment when Shaak dropped down right onto his previous position.

Shaak nearly caught up to him a few times, and was right on his heels several minutes when they began to see signs that they had begun to leave the inhabited areas behind. Down at this level there were fewer habitations, plus a generally darker atmosphere with the massive leaves and branches of the Wroshyr trees above them starting to obscure the sun. On an unspoken agreement they stopped on one of the largest, calling it a branch was not doing it justice, massive wooden bridge was better, between one even larger even more massive Wroshyr tree limb and the next, staring further down.

"We're still in the second level of the planet," Shaak said, moving to stand close to Ranma as they looked around. "The topmost two levels have a somewhat intermixed ecosystem, but the planet has several nearly distinct ecosystems, each separated into levels according to Wookie lore. Each level is more dangerous than the one above it."

Shaak pointed at one group of Wookies who were marking something out on a tree, seemingly arguing with one another about it, then down and around them. "The Wookies tend to keep to the upper two levels, with hunters routinely going down into the four and fifth for delicacies, medical ingredients and other reasons. I think there's also some kind of rite of passage where pre-adult Wookies challenge themselves to go as deep as they can or something similar. Very few go below what they term to be the sixth, and they are highly honored for their courage and skill as hunters. The last level, the seventh, is called the Shadowlands, and no one goes down that far save near the shores, where it isn't nearly as dangerous."

"This is all so awesome," Ranma muttered, looking around then then down before turning, cocking his eyebrow at Shaak.

At his unspoken question she shrugged, smiling faintly. "Where every we go is fine with me Ranma, the feeling of this planet is just… I can't describe it."

"Don't think you have to," Ranma replied sighing as his senses told him what they could of this planet and its chi, or its Living Force. It was incredible, so much chi in one place, the power of living things was so **concentrated** on this planet it was almost like it had been designed to be perfect antithesis of Coruscant.

When he spoke that thought aloud Shaak laughed shaking her head. "Your way of describing the energy of the universe is certainly different than ours, yet I can't say it's inaccurate or wrong. But it is still your choice where we go from here."

Ranma shrugged again then jumped once more over the edge, bouncing off the tree limbs below still heading downwards, stopping occasionally, his fingers digging into the wroshyr trees as if they were claws so he could look around. Above him Shaak laughed and followed him.

Their descent continued until the light from the sun was barely visible through the trees, with Ranma stopping himself by bouncing off a nearly rubber leaf sideways onto a medium-sized wroshyr branch connecting two trees. Shaak halted above Ranma, twirling herself around and around one of the smaller tree branches to slow her forward momentum until she could stop, using the Force to balance lightly on it for a moment. All around them was green and verdant growth, the sound of distant animals, a rustle here or there closer but no sign of any of the locals as far as they could see. That wasn't far down here of course, the foliage was dense the extreme but even so it was obvious they were alone down here.

"What level are we on now do you think?"

"If I had to guess right at the intersection between the fourth and fifth, any deeper and we'll start to lose any light at all, the sixth and seventh are entirely shrouded in darkness." Shaak replied. "We should be on the lookout for dangerous animals on this level."

Ranma turned, staring up at her, trying hard not to stare at Shaak's legs toned stomach or the rise of her breasts above that, which from this angle was even more difficult than normal. Shaak's comment however made it easier and after only a brief look Ranma shook his head. "Why'd you have to tempt fate like that?"

Before Shaak could question Ranma on that comment she felt a sudden spike of intent through the Force from behind her. A split-second Force assisted jump saved her from a mass of green scales barreling through the place Shaak had been standing a second ago. Ranma too dove aside, watching as the biggest damn snake he had ever seen lunged toward him in turn.

"See! Fate is like a freaking magpie reacting to something shiny whenever someone uses phrases like that around me." Ranma interrupted himself for a moment grunting as his Light Pike flashed forward, only to penetrate a few of the outer scales before stopping. "Word to the wise, if ya ever say 'this can't get any worse', 'or the worse is over now', I will spank you!"

"… I honestly have no reply to that." Shaak muttered, activating her lightsaber, the green of it casting odd shadows in this world of brief sunlight and green foliage. She reached out in the Force trying to touch the beasts mind, only to frown as she pulled away. "I can't influence it, it's mind is shut down to anything but the desire to eat us, and it's using both scent and our body heat to hunt us, I can't do anything about confusing those, not without something else nearby to use."

"Great, just great." Ranma groaned, dodging to one side, his fist flashing out this time to hammer into the thing's side. Even as he did though, the thing thrashed sideways, pushing against the blow while rearing up to attack Shaak. She dodged once again, watching as Ranma was sent flying by a full-body shrug. And still the thing kept undulating out of the surrounding foliage, more and more of it appearing as whatever camouflage it used gave way under its movement.

It was a giant snake of some kind, its head wedge-shaped, with a slightly over-slung jaw, large fangs but not so large they were visible with its mouth closed. The thing had two eyes guarded by massive eye ridges, it's scales were not smooth at all, rather they were ridged and some of them even had what looked like sharp edges to them. The wound Ranma had given it showed on its side as a small cut, the equivalent of a paper cut on something its size.

Shaak leaped forward, using the Force to then pull her out of the way of the thing's return lunge, her lightsaber flashing out at a series of lightly colored scales right behind the neck. The thing twisted out of the way showing a remarkable amount of self-preservation, its tail, a tail which looked like it had spikes popping out of it, came up with amazing quickness, aiming for her.

Those spikes were not lightsaber proof, and even as Shaak slashed three of them away she pulled herself backwards and out of the range of the main blow. Then Ranma came in, leaping up onto the thing's back, his light pike flashing out to either side, scoring blows while he raced up its length. "Keep distracting it Ranma, I think I found a weak spot!"

"Irritated Tone, yes mistress!" Ranma shouted back snarkily, while the thing coiled back along its body's length, its jaw open and snapping. The snake thing surprised him however by spitting out something at him. He quickly jumped out of the way of the spit, only to bring his light pike around to try and impact the thing's snout. The scales on its nose blackened and bled lightly, but the snout came on bettering forward, smashing into Ranma's lower body.

Flipping with the blow, Ranma placed a single hand on the back of the thing's head, pushing up and around to try and land on the thing's back once again. But instead of coming back into the attack it kept going, slithering away to the right. At the same time, it spat once more along its' length looking over its body while continuing forward.

This forced Ranma to change his direction so he landed on the wroshyr branch rather than its back. He turned watching as Shaak nearly met the thing's spit herself, before it was away, slithering around the branch the fight had started, its body once more hidden in the surrounding foliage. Shaak joined Ranma quickly, a single Force Jump bringing her to his side. "I thought you said it would keep hunting us? Did that last hit put it off?"

"No I can still feel it's intent on us, but the snake, whatever it is, is quite a bit smarter than I thought. If only I had noticed it, I could have influenced it before it concentrated on us so much, but," Shaak paused as the intent of the beast spiked again and she brought her lightsaber up. "Here it comes!"

From out of the foliage directly behind them came dozens of small, spear-like spikes, the same spikes which Shaak had noticed coming out of the snake's tail. Human and Togrutan turned as one, lightsaber and light pike flashing. Neither were the most defense minded of combatants, but that didn't seem to matter for the moment. Their blades flashed as one, slicing around in an intricate dance of destruction, cutting or smashing aside the spikes which looked to be of bone and scales slightly less tough than the snake's outer layer.

The dance continued for a few seconds until the rain of projectiles ended. Another spike of intent, came, and Ranma and Shaak leaped upwards as the snake came up over the edge of the wroshyr branch, it's head coming from one direction, its tail, now devoid of spikes, smacking out from the other.

A Force Push flung the spit of the beast to one side as Shaak jumped forward, her lightsaber flashing out in a thrust toward the things eye, causing it to veer off for a second before it convulsed in agony, making a low hissing sound, the first noise it had made since it attacked them.

Behind Shaak Ranma had used one hand to flip himself just above the slap coming from the snake's tail, before his light pike flashed down and around in a slash aimed at the softer looking tissue which had previously held the spikes. Blood and ichor flew, and Ranma pushed himself off in a different direction, leaping up to another, smaller branch before flipping himself back down toward the snake's wedge-like head as agile as a Wookie.

Shaak too was moving, coming up and around the thing's head, instinctively knowing Ranma would attack it from above. He did, and the snake turned, not to get away or hide once more, but to attack the prey thing which had wounded it so. It hissed once more, pushing itself up and into a lunge towards Ranma.

Who watched as several long, heavy vines nearby suddenly twitched sideways, catching it in a noose which hampered its upward lunge. This opened its neck to Shaak, who let her free hand fall before moving quickly, slashing forward. The snakes scale's directly below its head were not as strong as the others, and they gave way, parting under the lightsaber's plasma like steel would have, slowly and with quite a bit of bubbling, but surely.

At the same time, Ranma adjusted his course to land on the snake's snout. Stabbing forward, he caught it in one eye, plunging his light pike deep into its' eye.

The snake spasmed, throwing Ranma away despite the vines still encircling its body, breaking Ranma's grip on his light pike and nearly flattening Shaak, who dodged up and away, another nearby almost seeming to reach out and pull her to safety . She quickly joined Ranma on his wroshyr branch, staring down at the snake in its death spasms.

The two of them stood watching for a moment, with Shaak breathing deeply, stretching her Force senses to the max to make certain there were no other predators around. Luckily there didn't seem to be any predators dangerous to humans, no other large predator having wished to share the same territory of the giant snake creature.

At the same time Shaak realized this Ranma shook his head ruefully. "Damn that thing was tougher than it looked, and smarter too."

"Indeed. Pity though." Ranma looked at Shaak at that and she shrugged. "Not only do I dislike killing animals when I can help it, but I wanted to use that little trick of mine with the plants on you at some point in our spars." She pouted slightly, shaking her head, a ray of light through the trees catching the akul tooth headdress on her forehead twinkling off the small pearl at its center. "Now you'll be on guard for the little tricks I can pull with plants."

"Heh, true I suppose, though it was a bit of a shock to see here." With that he jumped down, landing on top of the large corpse, examining it closely, peeling off small scales to examine it closer.

Shaak joined him, kneeling directly next to him, their arms brushing against one another causing him to flush slightly and almost move away but since she didn't, he remained where he was. Shaak smiled at him, then down at the snake. "These are supposed to be very good eating now. And it does make a certain poetic justice…"

Ranma laughed. "If you can rustle up some kind of sauce or garnish to add to it I'm all for that! I'll do the actual cooking if find the ingredients t the sauces and side dish." Ranma said with a faint smile, and Shaak nodded, all her lekku twitching in eagerness at the thought of fresh meat.

 **OOOOOOO**

"You appear to be almost entirely healed, good." Sidious said to his apprentice, staring as the Zabrak moved through a series of exercises, his jaw bunching slightly when his wounds pained him. He had only been let out of the bacta tank a few hours ago after all. But the pain was fueling his fury, which would in turn fuel his abilities in the Force which was good.

As was the fact that while he was unconscious in the bacta tank, Sidious had done what he had to prep Maul for his coming sacrifice. Now if the Zabrak died, it would lead back to the Night Sisters or one of the Lost 19 whichever clue the Jedi found. Ironically it would lead to the same lost Jedi master, Siolo Ur Manka, who had forced Maul to create his double-bladed lightsaber.

"Yes my master, I am nearly back to my previous strength. I will be ready to serve you once more whenever you wish it." Maul replied aloud, using more words in a single statement than he had normally would in a week.

"Good. I have set events in motion again, the Senate will not act in time for the Queen. She is young, headstrong, and foolish, a malleable tool. She has gone to the Jedi for aid, and they have agreed to send it. Count Dooku himself will lead the mission, along with twelve others. Their plans matter not, though I will send on what I know when it becomes time."

Maul nodded his head part acknowledgement part submission and Sidious went on. "You however need to leave for Naboo immediately. I want you in place as soon as possible. You will relate my orders to the Trade Federation's Viceroy. The blockade is nothing, he and his fellows need to be shown how strong their military is but that is all. And Jedi **must** die."

"Do not fail me again." Sidious finished, and suddenly a small bolt of Sith Lightning arced from one of his hands impacting Maul, causing him to bend forwards grunting a little, but not screaming. He knew his master would take that as a sign of weakness and redouble his punishment. "Understand?"

With that word the lightning cut off, and Maul bent his head forward even further, even going down to one knee as he had not under the assault. "I will not fail you my master. The Jedi will die."

"Good. And to help you along in that endeavor, I'm going to be sending these with you…" Sidious said, opening the far door with a Force gesture. Beyond the doorway, several shadows moved and red lights glinted in the darkness accompanied by faint whirring sounds.

 **OOOOOOO**

It had taken only about half an hour for the two of them to create an impromptu meal. It turned out that once you peeled away the outer scales, a light pike could be used to fillet the snake's actual body quite easily. By the time Shaak returned, Ranma had set up a small heater, stuck several large slices of snake meat over it with thin branches, and was turning the spits slowly as she arrived, jumping down from another large branch.

Something about the two of them being alone with the nearest sentient being several kilometers away (straight up) made Ranma almost painfully aware of Shaak's body. He watched nearly mesmerized as the lithe Togrutan landed, her long, perfectly muscled legs shifting as she walked, his gaze trailing up her body before locking on her eyes. Only then did Ranma notice that Shaak had noticed him looking, and was both pleased and embarrassed with his regard, just as she had been the day before.

When she spoke her voice was slightly deeper than normal, and her purple lips twitched into a faint, nervous yet warm smile. "I found several different plants known to make meat sauces, though I recommend we only use this one," she said, holding up a plant that looked like an elongated garlic pod in shape but which was violet in color. "It is supposed to dampen down the spiciness inherent in most of the meat found on Kashyyyk. I've heard tell that a lot of Wookie dishes are so hot that they could actually damage our palates."

"Gotcha. And the rest?" Ranma asked, taking the plant from her and crushing it quickly with a stone into a fine paste before slathering it on the meat with a wroshyr leaf.

"Different types of edible berries. They are supposed to be very good, and I know one of them is used to sweeten local children's medicines. They should offset the spiciness of the snake easily."

Ranma nodded, then reached into his ki space, pulling out a canteen of water. "We can share this too. Your slab of snake stake should be done in a few moments, rare right?"

Shaak nodded with a laugh, sitting down next to him. After a moment of silence she almost hesitantly began to lean against Ranma's side. He in turn blushed, stiffening slightly, but did not pull away. Indeed, after another moment he put an arm around her waist, leaning back against the massive bulk of the larger wroshyr branch behind him. "S, so, as um, well, this is nice, ya know? How many days do you think we'll have to explore the rest of this planet, 'cause this was a great start. A fight, exploration, food, a-and, the company is great."

Though hesitant, Ranma's words and the emotions behind them were clear enough and Shaak smiled, blushing a little as she did. "I don't know how many days we'll be here for I think that will be determined by how long it takes Padme to either get the Senate to send a military mission to her planet, or for her to realize it won't happen. Anything from two days to a week I imagine. But, but you're right, the company on this trip is wonderful. It has been since we first met."

Both of them were flushing now, looking away from one another. Ranma reached forward, pulling the first skewer away from the fire before holding it out to Shaak. She bit into hit, her sharp teeth digging in as he watched, her purple lips baring her teeth for a moment that caught his attention for some reason.

He broke off staring to grab a handful of the berries she had found, popping them into his mouth one by one while listening as Shaak made a pleased humming noise at the meat. "Very spicy, but quite tasty, I think you'll like it too Ranma."

Ranma nodded, tossing a berry into her open mouth, smirking as she chewed automatically. "Those are good too, nice find Shaak."

He waited a few minutes more until his bit of snake steak could be termed medium rather than full on rare before pulling it off the flame. To call it very spicy was a bit of an understatement. It was so hot even with the sauce smeared on it Ranma had to blink water from his eyes despite all his previous experiences with Akane's cooking and various eating contests. But it was also very tasty and for a few moments the two of them concentrated on eating, occasionally exchanging bits of snake or berries and leaning into one another in a moment of intimacy that needed no words.

Eventually Shaak set aside her last skewer, leaning slightly away from Ranma now as he ate the last one. Licking her lips not to get the last bit of sauce but because of nerves, she grabbed her courage and began to speak. "I, I told you the day Aayla woke up that first time that I had tried to keep a distance between us because I was, was wrestling with certain ideas and feelings I was ill-prepared for. That I had tried to keep a distance between us as a reaction to that."

Ranma gulped, flushing nervously as he set the last of the meat aside to look at Shaak, staring into her eyes. "I remember, I, I also remember asking if you'd … come to a decision."

"I could no longer follow the Code as it is today, not after learning from you, from Master Halcyon and the way the Order had been in the past. I, I decided not to, to run from my…" Shaak paused her courage failing her.

But Ranma stepped into the void reaching forward to take Shaak's hands in his one, squeezing. "The feelings growing between us Shaak? Or is that just my own feeling's speaking to me?"

"No, it is not just you." Shaak said, smiling and squeezing his hands back. "I do not know if I love you Ranma, I do not know if I could tell the difference between love and a mix of affection and, and lust. But I do know I feel closer to you, more comfortable around you, than I have ever felt around anyone else, even my closest friends in the Order, even my old master!"

"Me too." Ranma said, nodding his head. "I mean, I'm not an expert on love Shaak, ya know that, I told you about everything that happened to me in my old dimension. But I feel closer to you than I have to anyone before. I've, er, been aware for a while that I'm attracted to ya. Those massages I gave you were pure torture sometimes!"

Shaak surprised herself by laughing aloud, squeezing Ranma's hands while shaking her head as she mentally promised to return the favor for those as soon as she could. But before she could verbalize that thought Ranma went on. "And, and I, I like having you around, I mean, you make everything more fun, more interesting, and being around you, I just I just seem to enjoy everything more when you're a part of it."

At those words Shaak blushed brightly, her normally red cheeks turning nearly pink as she looked away shyly. Ranma did the same, and the two of them were silent for a moment, trying to get over the emotional moment. They both busied themselves cleaning up the area, dousing the fire and erasing most of their presence from their impromptu picnic area.

By the time they were done the embarrassment had faded, and Ranma frowned, turning to look at Shaak. "Shaak, are you sure about this? I mean, we talked about how hiding their relationships might've contributed to a few Dark Jedi becoming Dark, and I know the Oath doesn't allow any sort of attachment, let alone, let alone an actual relationship, which is what this is about. Right?"

"It is Ranma, and that is why I was loathe to bring this all up before we arrived on Kashyyyk, I needed to talk to Master Yoda and admit my feelings toward you to him. I refuse to hide this, hide what we are now?" The words ended on a question but Shaak laughed aloud as Ranma bobbed his head so fast it looked like a blur.

"I retook my oath but this time in the Old style, which allows for relationships. Yoda also gave his blessing, if in a very backwards sort of way." She made no mention of Piell or what he told her. Ranma didn't have her self-control, and his putting the Lannik master into traction would serve no one.

Ranma raised an interrogative eyebrow, and Shaak shrugged. "He gave me special dispensation as part of the ongoing 'Ranma Experiment'. Added to that is that Master Giiett is apparently still pushing for more psychology and 'mental health' to be allowed for in the Order rather than the rigid Code."

"Get that name trademarked," Ranma said seriously, those his lips were twisting into a grin as he said it, and he sighed happily. "Okay, that's fantastic. I mean, I'd prefer the Order to've already had an allowance in its present Oath for relationships, but, but it's good to know that, that this is a real thing. So from here on, whatever we do, we do together?"

"Yes," Shaak said softly, moving to stand in front of him. For a moment they were both quiet. Ranma knew what he wanted to do, but had no idea how to actually start the ball rolling, never having instigated one before. While all Shaak knew was that she wanted something else to happen, something to signify both the end of their impromptu date and the start of this new phase of their relationship. But eventually Ranma just decided to go for it, and leaned forward.

The kiss was hesitant at first. Ranma had a few kisses before this, but he had never actually instigated one. Shaak had never kissed anyone, at least not on the lips like this. A peck on the cheek shared with her friends when she was a younglind did **not** count. But having seen people kiss occasionally Shaak knew she had to lean slightly to one side so that their noses wouldn't bump into one another at least.

It was a hesitant kiss yet it was an incredibly meaningful one too. Their lips touched, first brushing, then pushing against one another as the two of them began to get a feel for it. At the same time Ranma put his arms around Shaak, one hand on the small of her back. The other gently touched her back lekku lightly, rubbing up and down its length, causing a shiver to go up her spine.

This was one of the most intimate touches a Togrutan woman could allow in public or even in moments like this, anything to do with lekkus was, and Shaak had stiffened when she first felt his hand on it. But Ranma's touch was so gentle, so tender, it took her breath away. Indeed Shaak had to stop herself from moaning as his hand rubbed the lekku tip and up from there, but thankfully for Shaak's self-control her back lekku wasn't nearly as responsive as her front lekku.

In return Shaak place one hand similar to his own on the small of his back, while the other road up his neck before tangling in his hair. Doing so once more brought to mind that Ranma was human rather than Togrutan, which for many would have been a wakeup call. But Shaak had fallen for more than Ranma's body, and the feel of his hair in her fingers the silky smoothness of it coupled with the almost tickling sensation of the hairs, the otherness of it added to the emotional connection was sent a small thrill through her.

After a few seconds they pulled back momentarily, looking into one another's eyes. Ranma's eyes sparkled as he stared into Shaak's otherworldly but beautiful face, the marks of white around her eyes, the purple lips, the sides of her banded montrals,. As he did, he thought about all they had already done together, all they had seen, the jokes they had shared, the training, the tender moments. All of those moments combined to bring them to this moment. She was wholly different from any woman in his past, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, and all of it had conspired to make Ranma fall for her.

Shaak was doing the same, noting his mussed up hair, his slightly pink lips his high cheek bones, those bright blue eyes, so expressive and so warm right now. She too thought of their months together, their debates, their fights, the tender moments, and when she had begun to realize her feelings towards Ranma were changing. He was so unlike anyone she had ever met before, so open and free, and that, his mind and everything they had shared had brought Shaak to this moment. She still didn't know if she could use the word love for what was going on between them, but right now it was really hard to convince herself of that.

Their foreheads leaning against one another, the two of them stared into one another's eyes, breathing deeply as they tried to communicate the depths of their emotions to one another without words. The moment was too emotionally charged to last. Shaak made the first move, closing her eyes and moving across the scant inch that separated their lips, kissing him.

The kiss went on for a few moments before they pulled back. The break didn't last as long this time before Ranma leaned down to initiate another kiss. They broke off after a second, before leaning in to kiss again, and again. Each kiss was longer in duration, deeper, more forceful. Until Ranma, acting on an instinct he didn't know he had, just that he wanted more, lightly opened his mouth. His tongue flicked out, hesitantly tapping against Shaak's lips, asking, begging for admittance.

At the feel of his tongue against her lips Shaak gasped lightly through her nose then after a second opened her mouth. As she did, her own tongue flicked slowly to rub against his, her body now on full autopilot.

The two mouths remained joined as their tongues began the oldest dance in the universe.

Ranma's tongue ran along Shaak's teeth, which were all pointed. He also could feel her tongue was slightly tougher seeming then his and slightly thinner too. Despite the meal of snake meat they had just eaten she tasted of lemonand some other kind of spice, wholly foreign to his senses yet intoxicating as was the feel of her body against his, her tongue against his. He couldn't stop a low moan escaping and he hugged her closer, their kiss deepening.

Shaak too found herself exploring Ranma's mouth with her tongue. The feel of his molars and teeth brought to mind once again that Ranma was human rather than Togrutan. His tongue was slightly more dexterous than hers too. The feel of his tongue on hers, rubbing against one another sent shivers up and down her body. It awakened desires that Shaak had only previously been able to conceptualize intellectually, but now she felt them at a far more visceral level, both emotional and physical.

The two clung to one another, pulling one another's body tighter as their mouths continued to kiss deeper and deeper for a moment before they had to break for air. They pulled back, with Shaak leaning her forehead gently against Ranma's as they both gasped in air. Once more Shaak stared into his eyes as her lips, now a slightly darker purple than normal due to a slight bruising, quirked upwards into a faint but warm smile. Ranma's face mirrored hers, and they stood there for a moment staring into one another's eyes, neither wanting to take this further right now but also unwilling to walk away just yet.

The rest of the universe would eventually intrude, they had their friends and acquaintances, responsibilities, ambitions, enemies to deal with, dreams to follow. But for right now, in that small glade on the Kashyyyk none of that was important. They were together now, and that was the only thing that mattered.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

So not a lot of meaningful combat, and i know tactically speaking it seems that Ranma and the Jedi are having it all their own way but um... lets say this is the call before the storm ok? heh.

I am not really happy with the Jedi discussion section, but am also uncertain how to make Shaak's big reveal go any better without it dominating the entire chapter, which I didn't want. Frankly the need for such philosophical discussions is the only drawback to writing in this universe, i love everything else.

Hope you liked the romance - I am going for a slow burn to the relationship in this work, i think that makes a lot of sense given where the two of them are coming from. As to the old question of adding more girls to the relationship, I am still debating it in my mind, but it probably won't be Aayla. Luminara is a possibility, but that's all. And regardless, I would want Ranma and Shaak to have at least two or three adventures by themselves before adding more characters to their group.

Oh, and yes, HK and Tune are my story's Artoo and Threepio, i think my version is a lot more amusing. If Threepio appears at all he will be mentioned only in passing.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, and as always please review and check out next month's poll.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Star Wars, if I did I would at least have tried to work with the community that had developed around the world I created. Nor do I own Ranma for far too many reasons to list here.

I mention an asteroid field in this chapter. I know they are not nearly as packed or as large as they appear in the movies, but this is the SW universe. I am not the first to break reality here.

LET's GET READY TO RUMBLE! - the second part of this chapter anyway.

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Violence Trumps Diplomacy**

"The vote for Chancellor will come up soon." Sheev Palpatine leaned back slightly as he looked at the three Jedi who had been sent to talk to him about his Queen's maneuver earlier that day. They were obviously concerned about such a huge upheaval in the Senate's power structure, or at least two of the three were unhappy about it. The third's opinion was rather unreadable, but then again Sora Bulq wasn't known as a political analyst.

Master Poof and Master Gallia exchanged glances. "We are not happy with the amount of disruption this will cause Senator, and we have to wonder where Queen Amidala got the idea that this was a smart or even necessary move."

"It was a sound tactic to possibly receive aid for Naboo since Valorum was obviously not in a position to send any," Palpatine said mildly, but even so both Jedi nodded their heads acknowledging the point. "And a little disruption now could allow us to regain control of the Senate and make it an actual governing body rather than a forum for arguing special interest groups. Surely you've noticed that the former chancellor had lost much of his political capital in the past six months? The corruption investigation started after the aborted trade summit on Eriadu cost him a large amount of his moral power, even if the charges were never linked to him."

"Chancellor Valorum was and remains a friend of the Jedi Order. We realize that his position had been badly eroded of late, but he could've regained his political power base given time." Gallia said stiffly.

"Time that Naboo did not have." said Sora Bulq. Both of the other Jedi looked to at him, but nodded their heads acknowledging that point and he went on placatingly. "We agree that this was a good move, in the short term, but it is a Jedi's job to look at the long term view."

"Of course, just as it is a politician's. However my queen is young, and only answers to Naboo's constituents, not even our sectors, let alone the Republic at large. She is concerned with this crisis, not the next one or several years from now." Sheev tapped a finger against his mouth thinking for a moment. "I believe that whoever the next chancellor is will still be willing to work with the Jedi, so you need have no fear there. If you move to support whoever he is quickly then the chaos of the changeover will be minimized."

"Do you have any idea who is going to be nominated yet?" Master Poof asked.

"Surprisingly my own name has come up in the discussion," Palpatine said with a self-deprecating shrug. "I'm uncertain why, though it must be said that very few of my fellow senators have not been investigated at one point or another for corruption charges. Myself, Senator Antilles, and the Trade Federation's choice, Senator Sethend of Muun are the names most talked about. Two other names have been mentioned, but I don't think that they are truly in the running. One is too young, a newly inducted senator from the planet ofBrentaal. She's popular, but doesn't have the backing or the experience necessary. The other is the Senator of Sullust, but not enough people will back him. He's a known egotist, and has recently come out with some very harsh words against humans meddling in the affairs of other races."

Palpatine watched as the Jedi all exchanged looks, smirking internally but keeping it out of his face with the ease of a lifetime's practice. He was almost tempted to reach out with the Force to gently guide their thoughts, the Jedi thought themselves so certain in their Force powers but the Veil of the Dark Side allowed him to influence some Jedi's thoughts if he was careful about it.

But he pulled back, knowing it would be a foolish move and an unnecessary one here. He had studied every Jedi Master, he knew their strengths, he knew their weaknesses he knew how to guide them. These three were no different.

Changing the subject abruptly Palpatine asked, "Speaking about changes, I have heard some rumblings in the Senate about recent internal Jedi Order matters. I realize that the Jedi Order is ostensibly a separate unit, but you still answer to the Senate, and none of the recent changes were authorized by the Senate."

"Those were indeed **internal** matters, simply organizational changes," Bulq replied, his deep-set eyes narrowing slightly. "We had no reason to come to the Senate for approval for them."

Palpatine nodded. "Of course and I understand your ire at that type of oversight, but the laws governing the Order and its place in the Republic are not so clear-cut about such things that they are not open to individual interpretation. Many in the Senate have come to see the Jedi as either a threat to their power base or simply an extension of the Senate itself in recent years. Both sides of that credit chip are disturbed, for different reasons of course, by the recent changes."

"I could put a good word in a few ears if I knew the reason behind those changes." he said after pausing for a moment. "If they were seen as proper and good, then some of the whispers might stop. You have to understand from the Senate's perspective you are changing something that doesn't need to be changed by moving yourselves away from the position of power here after 1000 years of a symbiotic relationship that has worked for both the Order and the Republic."

"Why, look at the good the Order has done working with the Senate!" he said, before listing a few of the latest examples of the Jedi diplomatic corps, as well as Count Dooku and his recent actions. "The recent issues with Naboo and indeed the Trade Federation and the Yinchorri have shown that it is the Senate needs to change, not the Order. The Order should be like a bedrock, always there for us while we try to get over our petty squabbles."

Palpatine watched his words sink in, watched their spines stiffen slightly or the species equivalent, and knew the seed had been planted. The changes in the Jedi Order, which were already moving slowly, would slow to a crawl now. At least here in the main temple itself which would hasten the fracturing of the Order with those on Coruscant seeing themselves at odds with those stationed or trained elsewhere, just like in the Sith Wars. Even the disparate councils might come to be at odds.

It would not come soon, Jedi did not turn on one another easily, nor were they quick to act if they could help it. He estimated five perhaps six years before the Jedi began to truly fracture, but they would be weakened by that internal strife when the external blows began to fall.

It was Master Poof who took it upon himself to answer Palpatine verbally. "Those changes were organized by Grand Master Yoda, and for reasons we are not at liberty to discuss. They made sense to him, and to many of the Council, so they will continue regardless of the Senate's worries. We will do our best to quiet those concerns, but we cannot stop them."

"…Do you have any idea how many senators are worried about the changes?" Gallia asked after a moment.

Palpatine paused thoughtfully, leaning his head back as he seemed to think for a moment. Of course he could bring the number to mind immediately, but that wouldn't do. "I would say around two-thirds of the Senate are concerned one way or the other, though I think many are simply following along, not truly understanding the reasons for that concern."

That sent a look of shock between the three of them, obviously even the political analysts that specialized in watching the Senate hadn't noticed that much unrest. But they would in the next few days see that he was actually understating things. The rumble wasn't very loud, nor would it get that way for several years, but it would be ready when Palpatine needed it.

After that the conversation died down and the Jedi began bowing their way out of Palpatine's room, but he held up a hand when Sora Bulq was about to leave. "Master Bulq, I had a quick question. Nothing important of course, just about Weequay teas. I recently was given a few as a belated birthday present from a friend who just returned from his planet out in the Outer Rim and I was wondering if you could tell me anything about them? I hadn't even realized Sirluur had teas like this, I thought its export trade was focused solely on gems and other minerals."

"Ah, most species do not know about our teas, they are something of a secret hidden in plain sight as it were." Sora Bulq nodded equably, moving over to the table with Palpatine as the other two exited the room.

He spent several minutes pointing to each type of tea for a moment telling Palpatine about how they would taste and how to prepare them. Palpatine nodded, listening closely to his description of how to prepare each in turn then asked, "By the way, I understand that the Jedi will be sending a force to Naboo soon. I have to agree and applaud the move. Are you among those being sent?"

Bulq seemed to stiffen for a moment at the question, and Palpatine hid a faint smile as he went on smoothly. "I understand that Master Dooku was chosen to lead the intervention expedition."

"I was not chosen because it was felt my leaving my students here in the temple would not be wise at this time." Bulq replied. In fact Palpatine had discovered that Sora Bulq had been given the task of retraining a Jedi Knight who had recently nearly fallen to the Dark Side. Palpatine had felt it when it occurred, and was rather intrigued by Vos and what his skills could be used for if he did fall.

But he wasn't about to aid him in doing so, the knight wasn't well known enough for his purposes. "Truly? That is rather odd. As an outsider it seems strange to me how Master Dooku is given so much veneration as a dueling Master. After all surely someone who is known to have helped create a new style should be considered of equal standing at the very least to Master Dooku. And this is a combat action, which Master Dooku seems to not have the best history with leading. The Mandalorean debacle is still seen as a black mark on his record, even by his friends like myself."

He waited a heartbeat before going on. "Of course, that is just when my speaking as a layman I am no swordsman or even a soldier, so what do I know?"

Sora Bulq was silent for a moment then shrugged his shoulders slightly. "There's not much I can tell you, but during their mission, Master Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan ran into a Dark Side user. It was decided Master Dooku's style would be a better fit against him than mine and his unusual weapon could allow him to match my own skill."

"The Dark Side?" Palpatine asked skeptically shaking his head with a faint laugh. "Ah yes, I did say I am a layman in this area, did I not? Certainly I've studied enough of the Republic's history to know that this Dark Side of yours exists, but its effects are not known to me. Yet again, that seems odd to me. Surely it is after all what you do with the power that matters, not the emotion behind your deeds? Surely if you are in control that is more important than anything else?"

Again he paused, before tapping one of the small bags of tea. "But I have kept you over longer Master Bulq. I think I will try one of these teas immediately, we are having another debate this evening, and I feel the need to gird myself for it. But do remember that I am a friend of the Jedi, and I'm here to lend an ear or suggestions if you need it."

Sora Bulq stared at the man, then down at the teas for a moment before nodding and making his way out the door. He never saw the sinister smile that crossed Palpatine's face as he left the room. _More seeds planted, waiting for them to sprout is irritating, but the process is still somewhat amusing._

 **OOOOOOO**

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Smiling like that," Shaak giggled, one hand rising to her mouth in surprise before she shook her head quickly. She chuckled, she never giggled. But looking at the strangely goofy smile on Rama's face she couldn't control herself.

"I can't help it," Ranma's smile widened slightly as he pulled Shaak into a one-armed hug, lightly so that she could get away if she wished. But it was obvious that she didn't wish to, hugging him back with one arm while they made their way along a small wroshyr branch heading back towards the far larger one upon which they had left the carcass of the snake which had attacked them. Ranma wanted to check something out, but they had left the area when after Ranma had cut out the chunks of snake meat for their meal, not wanting to deal with any other predators. "And there's a bit of the pot calling the kettle black there."

"True, though I haven't heard that particular phrase before, we would say 'the rancor calling the Rodian foul," Shaak said, not making any attempt to wipe her own smile off her face. "But we will need to compose ourselves before we reach Rwookrrorro. I'm not certain that even Wookies would be able to handle the idea of a smiling, laughing Jedi. We're supposed to be sober and grave individuals you know."

"Glad I don't have that problem," Ranma said with a laugh, then 'oomphed' dramatically when Shaak elbowed him lightly. By that point the two of them had reached the scene of the battle, and Ranma leaped over from where they had been moving along a small branch from one of the trees to the far larger branch where the snake's body lay.

It didn't look as if any animals had gotten to it yet, or at least it didn't until Ranma rounded the head and stared at the back end of the corpse. He stopped there with a suddenness that drew Shaak's attention, and she followed him quickly.

She too stared at where at least two-thirds of the snake had been torn apart, ripped asunder and then dragged off further downwards around the curve of the wroshyr branch. "I did say did I not that this was a very dangerous environment?"

"Yeah," Ranma muttered, "though it kind of slipped my mind. Y'know I'm all for a good fight put I don't think I want to run into whatever did this."

"Multiple whatevers," Shaak knelt down, studying the tracks in the blood. They looked like monstrous insect tracks, but not quite. "And you're right, I don't want to meet anything that could do this unless I have to either. Still, we're here now, what did you want to do?"

Ranma reached down, pulling out a large scale from the snake's head, holding it up for a moment against his forearm then shook his head. "I'd hoped that they were smaller, so I could maybe make myself some kind of scale armor. But they aren't small enough, it'd hamper my flexibility too much."

"Hmm… don't you have enoughcortosisto make yourself some more armor from that?"

Ranma flicked his hand, looking down at the bracer he had on one arm, the bracer whose cortosis metal had surprised the Dark Side user he'd begun to call 'Clown Face' in his head during their battle. "No, I didn't grab enough for that and to use some of it in my staff. I might have enough for a large bracelet afterward though."

Shaak looked over on his shoulder at the light pike Ranma had taken from the collection Yoda had brought to Kashyyyk, wondering for a brief moment where that one had come from before nodding. "Pity. I'd have liked to see what you could do with the scales too, especially since it blocked our lightsabers so well."

"Umm… no, on second thought it might not have worked, it looks as if the scales could do that because they were layered," Ranma replied, having moved over to the snake. Hopping up on to what was left of its corpse he pointed at one of the spots where Shaak's lightsaber had impacted. "The outer layer diffused some of the lightsaber strike, but it was the second and third layers which truly stopped it entirely. If you could've hit the same spot several times, you could've broken through."

 _Which is something I need to think about for the future._ Ranma thought, his mind suddenly serious. _Clown Face might be able to stand up to one lightsaber strike at a single point, or even prolonged impact, but there's no way he could stand against an Amiguriken strike with a lightsaber._

"Easier said than done Ranma," Shaak laughed quietly, shaking her head and bringing Ranma's attention back to the present, her thoughts slightly mirroring Ranma's. "With the snake's intelligence and its ability to wiggle, I don't think even my trick with the vines would have kept it still that long. Unless one of us could use your speed technique on it, something to remember for the next time we face something that can survive a lightsaber blow."

With that minor mystery done, they both turned their feet upwards, leaping up to a nearby branch before continuing their way straight upwards back to civilization. At one point Shaak climbed up next to Ranma, shaking her head as she saw his expression. "You're still smiling…"

They stopped occasionally on their way, loathe to return to civilization but knowing they had to. They kissed occasionally, or simply held hands as they made their way upwards. For some reason even holding hands took on a whole new meaning now that they were officially a couple. But soon enough they began to see hunting parties of Wookies, who occasionally raised their hands in silent greeting. Any sounds down here could be dangerous after all.

The higher they went the more Wookies they saw, and the more open they were about moving around. Soon enough they came to the outskirts of Rwookrrorro, and Ranma paused, holding up his hand and looking at Shaak for a moment. "You left your robe back at the Temple right?"

Shaak cocked her head. "Yes, why?"

Pulling off his shirt quickly, Ranma held it out to her with a faint, if somewhat embarrassed frown on his face now. "Here, take this. I'd guess Wookies don't exactly see humans or Togrutans as attractive but, and I really don't want to come all-over possessive here, but I don't like the idea of you being on display like that. I understood the point of it on Tatooine, but now that, um that we're official and all, er, that is…"

Shaak looked down at herself, only then becoming aware of her own state of attire. She looked up at Ranma, who was looking at her, taking in her form from head to toe and flushed slightly, partly in embarrassment and partly in pleasure.

As a Jedi, Shaak had been in excellent shape before running into Ranma and his trailing had taken it even further. Her legs, arms and toned, hard stomach showed a lifetime of training. Her legs were magnificent powerful and sculpted, her breasts somewhat higher and firmer than a humans would be after a similar lifetime, and her skin was without blemish save a few scars which simply served to add character rather than mar her form. Her deep set, expressive eyes set into her white marked face merely added to the impact. In short, despite her non-human appearance she was the perfect image of exotic beauty.

Feeling somewhat bold Shaak returned the gesture taking in Ranma's frame as he stood there shirtless. He wasn't bulky with muscle, but like her own body, Ranma's exuded a wiry strength and svelte speed, and if there was a single gram of fat anywhere on him it wasn't apparent. Whenever Ranma moved you could see the muscles flexing, moving like the finest clockwork under his skin, which was healthy in the extreme, marked here and there by scars both large and small. Yet they added character in her eyes rather than taking away from his looks.

Watching him move was at times strangely thrilling, something Shaak could allow herself to enjoy now. That thought sent a jolt through her, and she felt her lips quirk in into a smile as she pulled on his shirt. "So long as you agree not to put yourself on display in either form I can agree to do the same."

Ranma laughed quietly, reaching into his ki space to pull out another shirt pulling it one over his head in turn. "Agreed." He stopped, looking at Shaak's face his lips forming a small, strangely tender smirk. "Now you're the one smiling."

"I can't help it," Shaak said mimicking Ranma's earlier words, before leaning in to kiss him lightly on the lips. Ranma matched her, and they stood there kissing lightly for several more moments before moving on

As they continued one or both raised hands in greeting to several Wookies who had noticed them and saw the weapons they carried. Though neither were dressed like traditional Jedi, lightsabers were just as good as IDs for recognizing them.

Ranma soon noticed that Shaak had blushed a few times as they passed groups of Wookies, particularly groups that contained both males and females walking or climbing past them talking amongst themselves. "What's up?"

"We're being called a 'beautiful young couple'," Shaak replied, flushing further. "I'm not used to that kind of comment or attention having any basis in fact. Despite my experiences dealing with jealousy about my looks and even simple appreciative comments about it I still reel rather embarrassed. I know that doesn't make sense but I do."

"Oh." Ranma joined her in blushing for a moment, and they deliberately moved away from one another slightly. Shaak noticed, and smiled at him in thanks. But she also reached out after a few more steps to lightly brush the back of her hand against his.

Shaak led the way now, eager to see the city now that they had explored some of the planet. Soon enough she saw a crafts store in the distance, down a diagonally growing wroshyr branch which connected to another one that zigged to the side sharply. Stopping at the place where they met she looked down at where the branches joined together. "So strange," she murmured, reaching down and patting the wood feeling the flow of the Living Force in it. "Looking at this, I can almost believe the theory that the wroshyr trees are one organism."

"That would be kind of cool," Ranma said waiting for her to finish as he stared around taking in more of Rwookrrorro. She smiled at that, and they went on their way, entering the shop she'd seen.

It was hewn out of the side of a small wroshyr trunk which had broken off from the main trunk of the four trees which made up the majority of the city. Though only a single story Shaak and Ranma found the store was larger on the inside. Row upon row of strange tools, crafts and other things crowded the store. This included small water-bottle like containers of local paint and other things spread out in a fashion organized as the locals did such things.

The owner or at least shop worker was a middle-aged Wookie female, who was almost as wide as she was tall, though she was short for her species. She had dark black fur, with hundreds of beads clinking in her hair in an intricate design. Shaak idly wondered if the Wookies had some kind of social code for the beads, but if they did she certainly didn't know it.

"Greetings," she said, clasping her hands together in bowing her head slightly. "I noticed that your sign said you sold painting supplies. Can you tell me what colors are available?"

"Before you go into that," Ranma said quickly, holding up a hand. He wondered what Shaak was up to, but really wasn't interested enough in painting to stick around. "I'm not much of a painter. Do you know though where I could find decorative lights or something similar?"

Shaak quickly translated the Wookie's response, and Ranma left the store. He headed up two floors and over to a tree connected to this one by another of those odd branches made up of two wroshyr branches merging together. The shop he found was clearly marked as the Wookie had said, with several large lamps seemingly somehow grown out of the wroshyr trunk around its entrance.

Inside, Ranma found hundreds of different types of lights, large and small, decorative and not, natural looking and not, though the second was in the minority. It was evident the Wookies preferred to work with nature rather than technology. Several of the lights had little animals of some kind, worms sort of but not quite, creating small areas of almost natural light in this dimly lit shop, presumably dim to show off the lights. But Ranma figured the worms couldn't be sustained while on a ship, so after looking through them, concentrated on the less exotic lights.

A few of them were quite pretty, with small latticed structures around electrical lights, the artistry of the container offsetting the need to rely on electricity rather than natural resources. Four of them had signs above them in common, which stated they were for shipboard use.

Ranma took two of them, one that looked as if it was a small tree which reminded Ranma of a bonsai tree, the light coming out of it in different hues at the touch of a small, inlaid button on the side which looked like a low hanging branch. The other looked like a birds nest, but the effect of the light was really pretty, and again controllable, this time from a small remote. Talking to the Wookie watching the shop, Ranma asked them both to be delivered to the Jedi Temple, and, after some trouble translating the numbers that popped up on the register, paid then made his way back to Shaak.

While he was doing this, Shaak and the female Wookie explored the store together. The two had a very complicated discussion about pigments, the longevity of the paint, types of grain and so forth before finding the appropriate section Shaak was looking for and the equipment she required.

By the time Ranma returned Shaak had picked out several different paints and tools which the Wookie assured her would be sent to the Temple, as well as what looked like a plane small box of wroshyr wood. That she actually kept with her, holding it under one arm as she met Ranma outside the store. "What's with the box?"

Shaak smiled. "Several times during the _Wild Light_ 's construction you complained about how much trouble you ran into imbuing its armor with your 'ki'." Her smile segued into a smirk as she held up her fingers to make quote marks as she said the word ki, returning fire on how often Ranma made fun of the Jedi's terminology for the Force earning a grin from him. "I was wondering if you would have an easier time of it with wood."

"Strengthening sure, but what would be the point of that? I mean we could layer the wood on the interior of the ship I suppose as a final defense, but if the damage got to that point we'd already be out of the fight. And if we did it on the outside, not only would it add to the weight of the ship, but it would take months, and would probably interfere with a lot of its exterior equipment, not to mention the ship's handling."

"That wasn't what I was thinking of." Shaak said cocking her head to one side as she stared at him incredulously. "Haven't you ever thought of using a box like to create a ki space?"

Ranma's eyes widened looking down at the box as his mind worked through it. It was certainly possible, very possible in fact, given what Mousse and Cologne had been able to do. Impulsively he leaned forward kissing her. "That is a brilliant!" he said against her lips, which quirked slightly, before Shaak lightly returned the kiss for a brief second. "Just imagine if it works I could put plates of wood along the interior of the _Wild Light's_ water reservoir! We could have actual water showers regardless of how long we've been in space rather than that sonic shower crap!"

That thought brought Shaak to a standstill, and it was her turn to lean in and kiss him. The Mon Calamari ship had been designed to allow for water showers just like the sonic shower system, complete with a small lip to the shower to keep the water in and a drain. But since the water reservoir was both used for that and cooking and drinking, it was both small and unwise to use it often. But if you could both enlarge it and separate it from the rest of those demands… "That sounds absolutely marvelous!"

The two of them laughed leaned back lightly, staring at one another, then took a brief moment to look around. Noticing that there weren't many Wookies out and about in this area of the city just yet, they leaned forward kissing again slightly more seriously, but not as deeply as they had after their picnic.

As they were kissing however Shaak felt Ranma's hand glide from her shirt-clad side up to touching her back lekku sliding down it's length. Still kissing him Shaak shook her head quickly, and Ranma's hand moved back to its original position.

When he broke the kiss he looked at her questioningly. She smiled, shaking her head again. "I told you once that touching our lekku or even our montrals is a very intimate act among Togrutans Ranma, even between married couples. You can only touch the back lekku very lightly directly in the center when in public. While we are in a relationship, we hadn't been for very long, and that kind of touch is rather too familiar for me right away."

Seeing Ranma nod seriously she went on, smiling appreciatively at him. "And you never touch the tip either, the tip or the base. Both are somewhat sensitive, though the tip is more sensitive than the base. Touching the base is only allowed in public between family members, predominately older siblings or parents to children, and the tip, as the most sensitive part of the lekku is never touched outside acts of intimacy that never occur in public."

Ranma nodded, looking thoughtful. "We're going to have a few moments like that aren't we? I mean, we **are** two different species after all." He blushed shaking his head. "I suppose that when we, um, get to **that** point, er everything will um, fit together right, or else we wouldn't even find each other attractive but…"

Shaak paused between moving up one branch to the next, flushing yet also laughing aloud and shaking her head noticing that Ranma tracked that movement and the movement of her chest as she did. While her Jedi underclothing covered everything they had to they didn't exactly stop things from moving and Ranma's shirt might cover her upper body and down to a little below her waist, but that didn't stop her chest from shifting with her movement.

 _I wonder what it is about being in a relationship that makes me more body conscious than usual,_ she thought to having never really considered such things before except when she had to while on a mission. "That's true enough," she said after she got her laughter under control, noticing that Ranma had joined her for a moment. "But there are other things we need to talk about, I've never been close to any human Jedi before, so I don't know if there are any social taboos around touching your hair for example."

"My hair?" Ranma asked.

"It fascinates me," Shaak replied, reaching up to rub one hand through his hair, her eyes twinkling as Ranma closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. "How sensitive is it, I mean do you like me doing this, can we do this in public when other people are around?"

"Not if I'm doing anything important." Ranma murmured, before reaching up and gently removing hit hand from his hair. "That's kind of distracting."

Shaak laughed then asked quizzically, "I've never been close to any human Jedi male or female. I know you can grow hair on your faces, beards are rather popular among male human Jedi. Do humans grow hair anywhere else?"

"Um, nowhere that feels like the stuff on my head no. And I'm Asian, that might not mean much but my heritage means I don't have much in the way of chest hair or anything of that nature. Except, um, down there." Ranma said gesturing down towards his waist.

Getting the gist of that Shaak pulled back from him, blushing slightly at the topic but more wary than embarrassed at the moment. "Truly? That seems rather odd to me, but then we Togrutan's don't have any hair at all."

Ranma was about to reply when suddenly he found himself drenched from above, his form shifting into his female body. Growling the redhead turned upwards, shaking a petite fist at the Wookie who had apparently just thrown out a bucket of some kind of cleaning water. "Watch where yer throwing that ya big furry asshole I've half s mind to come up there and introduce yer ass to my size 4 and a half shoes!"

The Wookie shouted something in return but turned away while Ranma growled some more before turning back to Shaak, already reaching into her ki space for a water bottle, heating it up via the tab on the bottom. _Best invention ever, of all time_. "Um I know ya wouldn't have agreed to date me if it were an issue, but what about the whole having two bodies thing?"

"I've never known you without it so it doesn't bother me. Indeed, given how it has colored your actions, in particular your empathy toward women and our various issues, I can say I rather like it. You're certainly cute as a girl," she teased, her smile widening further as the feeling of joyful laughter splashed over her once more as Ranma returned to his male form. "Handsome in one form, cute in the other, that's you Ranma. In fact I might be more comfortable with the idea of exchanging hugs in public when you are in female form. Such acts between women seem more publicly acceptable and less attention grabbing, possibly even between two Jedi than a human and Togrutan couple would be on most planets."

"Okay, that leads into the next question, what about kissing in public?" Ranma asked, filing that bit about a human/Togrutan couple for further discussion, thinking he could probably find something out about that on the Republic's version of the internet.

Shaak frowned slightly shaking her head. "I'm… not certain I'd be comfortable with that all the time, certainly not with any other Jedi around. Perhaps around a few close friends eventually, once they get used to the idea that I have been allowed to take the Old Oath and be in a relationship in the first place. But we will be facing a lot of… not opposition exactly, but certainly disapproval and censure when our relationship becomes known."

"Glad I asked," Ranma muttered, before cocking his head thoughtfully. "How are we going to deal with that? I really don't think it's a good idea to try to hide our relationship, remember I said that that might have led to feelings of guilt and fear among those Dark Jedi that fell in the past few hundred years."

"Agreed, but there's a difference between not hiding it and rubbing it in people's faces," Shaak said dryly, before changing the subject slightly. "As for other social taboos, I'm afraid I'm uncertain about them. After all I've never been in a relationship before, or studied my own races mating rituals."

Ranma snorted. "Mating rituals, really?"

"With as many species as are part of the Republic and how diverse reproduction and similar undertakings are, simpler terms like that are often used. Even the word dating doesn't actually cross many species, no more than fifteen or so really, I think. I actually overheard a discussion about that once a few months before I was knighted." Shaak replied shrugging her shoulders.

"Weird but whatever," Ranma shrugged in turn. "So long as we can talk about it, talk about things like that openly like this, I think we can get past anything anymore moments like that though, that's the important thing."

Shaak smiled again, and Ranma paused, holding onto one vine, staring at her before climbing on, his eyes still on Shaak's face. When she smiled like that her whole face lit up, the white highlights around her eyes setting off the dark red of the rest of her face, her high cheekbones coming into further prominence as her deep set eyes seemed to shine. "Damn you're so beautiful."

In response Shaak blushed, reaching out to smack his arm with a laugh when he finished his climb. "And you'd best keep that kind of comment to just ourselves too!"

Now further into the city there were Wookies everywhere and the two stopped flirting. They continued to explore the city simply walking along together. But occasionally their hands would touch as they walked close together, and that was enough.

 **OOOOOOO**

While Shaak and Ranma were having fun exploring Rwookrrorro, Padme was standing in front of the Jedi High Council behind Sabe who was once again dressed in the Queen's garb. Surprisingly Jar-Jar also stood there looking almost as out of place among the robed Jedi in his ungainly food splattered clothing as Sabe did in her Queen's raiment. He seemed to jitter in place, almost as if he couldn't stand still. But the sober nature of the meeting seemed to be keeping him in place, or it could be the occasional stare sent his way from the seated Jedi Masters.

Bowing her head Sabe made to speak, but Windu spoke up before she could. "If you are here to ask for our aid your highness, I think it would be better to hear it from your own mouth rather than your body double. Did you think you could fool our senses with this guise?"

Padme scowled lightly, but shook her head with a faint laugh stepping forward to place herself in front of Sabe. "Force of habit masters Jedi, but can I ask you to keep that secret? It has served me well since becoming Queen."

"As have the friendships of your handmaidens," Dooku said approvingly. "They are quite loyal, and having a second group of bodyguards would serve any elected leader well I would think."

"Indeed," Padme said with a nod towards him, as Sabe moved backwards, grabbing Jar-Jar by the arm and moving him backwards as well. "But that is not why I have come. I have indeed come to ask for your aid Masters. The Senate might well eventually act in our favor, in fact I have been assured by several that the new Chancellor will act quickly and promptly to break the blockade over Naboo."

She shook her head slowly, meeting each Jedi Master's eyes in turn, noting absently that there were only five of them, not the full council even considering those here on Coruscant. "But even so it will be a matter of days before that can be set in motion and days more before any aid sent arrives which leaves my people in the hands of the Trade Federation. You have seen the evidence I presented to the Senate about my people being taken off world already, sold into slavery or killed for trying to fight the unilateral conquest of our planet. The dead or taken number in the thousands, if we wait it might number in the millions. I **cannot** allow that to happen."

Master Windu gestured toward Master Dooku. "Master Dooku has already begun to put together a force of Jedi to help free your planet your highness, Master Yoda told you we would aid you, and we will, something you have no doubt already heard about by this point. We have plans in place, but we Jedi are not an army. Surgical strikes we can do, but to fight an entire army spread out across the planet? If you expect our aid to free the whole planet in one move, we cannot promise that."

"I realize that Master Windu, however I have a plan there. You see, there is already an army in place if we can but motivate them." With that Padme gestured toward Jar-Jar. "Jar-Jar, do you think you could get me an audience with the leader of the Gungans?"

Later after Padme and her entourage left, Dooku frowned slightly over at Mastering Windu. "It's a sound plan, as is our own to deal with the threat of the Droid army and even this Dark Side using Zabrak if he shows up. But if we are to save as many of her planets people as we can, we need to leave immediately. Will you inform Master Yoda, Ranma and the others on Kashyyyk to meet us?"

"I will, but what about your investigation into the Death cultists which attacked the queen?" Mace asked, looking at the older blade master.

"I have taken that up, along with Master Sicaria." Master Ranicisis broke in. "Sicaria is using his excellent computer skills, while I and a few of the more advanced Padawans are doing the footwork here on Coruscant. So far we've turned up several bits of evidence linking the death cultists to a Neimodian faction on their home planet, but not yet to the Trade Federation. Sicaria is working on where the droidekas came from but that looks to be a dead end. I'm afraid we have nothing we could share with the Senate, nor will the investigation be quick."

Nodding his head Windu stood up, crossing to Dooku, clasping his arm. "In that case, may the Force go with you." The titular Master of the Order allowed a wintry smile to appear on his grim face. "And if you meet that Dark Side user that so ill-used Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, do give him my regards."

"I will do that." Dooku said, clasping his forearm and returning the ritual exchange.

With that Dooku left, heading down and out towards the waiting group. They represented many of the best Guardians present at the moment on Coruscant, with those who were not Guardians other skills to the mission.

Master Yaddle and her former padawan, Knight Empatojayos Brand and recently elevated Master Jerec **,** a human and a Miralukan respectively. While none of the three were Guardians their Mastery of the Force skill Ionize, taught to the others by Master Yaddle in recent months made them ideal for this mission given the Trade Federation's reliance on their droid army.

Master Plo Koon and Master Saesee Tiin. Among the best pilots in the Order, they would lead both the initial diversion and the subsequent space battle. Joining them would be recently elevated Knight Lissarkh, a Trandoshan female, and Knight Jaq Murani, a human known as an up-and-coming starfighter pilot chosen by Tiin to join their part of the mission.

The so-called Dark Woman. Called so because she had given up her real name to emphasize her devotion to the Force she had been called back specifically for this mission, something she had refused until told she would be able to meet the one who had ended her greatest shame, her former padawan turned bounty Hunter Aura Sing. That and the chance to possibly confront a real Dark Side user had pulled her out of simply following where the Force willed her. Another of her former padawans, Knight Ki Adi Mundi would join them as well.

Masters Koth, Knight Glaive and padawan Obi-Wan, the only padawan on this mission, rounded out their numbers. They would be joined by Master Piell and two more knights from those stationed on Kashyyyk. Despite being a padawan Obi-Wan brought firsthand knowledge of the Dark Side user they might meet on this mission and a friendship with Padme, which Dooku hoped might make him better at keeping the young ruler in check if needed.

"Are you all prepared?" He asked, ignoring the snort the Dark Lady let out at his pompous-seeming words, going on simply. "Then board your ships, and let us be about it."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Green. Grey. 4. 2. 9. Left. Center. A scene of a farmstead. A city. A sky. UM, a kind of light green color, aqua? I've never seen that color before." Anakin recited answering the questions of the examiner accurately and without hesitation until the last one, which was somewhat understandable.

"You see?" said Qui-Gon, smiling triumphantly. "His rapport with the Force is phenomenal for a Jedi Knight, let alone someone his age. He is the Chosen One!" His voice was somewhat weak, but certain.

That, Yoda reflected was a problem with all Jedi including himself of course. _Always certain, we are, gets us into trouble it often can._

The ancient Grandmaster shook his head lightly. "Talented the boy may be, also arrogant he is. Also fear within him there is. Attached to his mother, too much so, he is. Difficult to wean him off her it will be, but necessary. Taken in, he will, but granted any special status, he will not."

"You can't have it both ways Master Yoda." Qui-Gon said with a faint chuckle, before breaking off into a hacking cough. Despite the best efforts of the healers, healing from the wound he had taken during his fight with the tattooed Zabrak had badly sapped his vitality. And he hadn't exactly been a spring chicken before that battle anyway, having taken numerous wounds in recent months, all of which sapped his strength.

When he spoke however he made no attempt to hide that or draw attention to it. "Rumors have already begun that Knight Ti was allowed to swear under the Old Oath, which harkening back to before the Ruusan Reformation allows for attachments. Surely Anakin can swear the same when it becomes his time to become a Knight."

"A Jedi for years, Shaak has been. Allowed to re-swear her oath she was, but tested was she even as she asked. Seen as part of the Ranma experiment by the rest of the order, it can be. Opposition within the order to much of what Ranma has shown us there is." Which didn't even consider the latest revelation Shaak and Ranma had dropped on the council. "If allowed to follow that ideal, Anakin's journey to become a Jedi even tougher will be. Hohm, especially if known that there is a belief that he is the chosen one." Yoda said finally turning to address Qui-Gon directly, glaring lightly at him.

"I'll agree to that. Eventually Anakin **will** have to be told however if he is to succeed in his task." Qui-Gon retorted.

"The chosen one, you are so certain he is," Yoda said with a shake of his head. "In trouble, certainties can get you." This coming from Yoda would have astonished anyone who knew him. But Yoda's own philosophy, particularly his certainty in the Jedi's ability to trust their visions of the future, had ironically changed of late since his vision on Coruscant showed him where that belief would lead the Jedi Order if they did not change.

"Or can steer you through troubled waters." Qui-Gon countered. In contrast to Giiett and others, Qui-Gon had not gotten behind the idea of the Order changing. He approved of a lot of it, but his belief in the prophecy of the Chosen One as the only way for the Force as a whole to become balanced once more had solidified into an almost zealous faith. That had nothing to do with the changes within the Order really but the growing strength of the Veil of the Dark Side.

Again they locked eyes, and Qui-Gon faintly smiled. "Obi-Wan will be ready to take his test for knighthood after the mission to Naboo is dealt with."

Yoda's eyes narrowed, but he eventually nodded. "How he handled the Dark Side user, Obi-Wan impressed me with." he said with a faint smile, but he went on it in a much sharper voice. "Does not matter in the way you wish to hint at yet that does. Anakin's master, you will not be."

The tall Coruscant nativereeled back for a moment but Yoda chopped his glimmer stick through the air, shaking his head. "Too close to this issue, you are, clouded when it comes to Anakin, your judgment is. A more-worldly and demanding teacher then you would be, he may require. Anakin given no special treatment I said, and I meant."

Qui-Gon frowned, and was about to respond when his body was once again wracked with a cough. After he got over it he tried to argue the point. "Master Yoda, I am certain I felt a Master-padawan bond building between us on Tatooine."

"Influenced by our desires and thoughts, the master side of such a bond can be, " Yoda replied gently. "Besides, different from being a master, teaching is. With Obi-Wan taking his test, stationed here on Kashyyyk as a teacher you could be. "

Qui-Gon frowned again, but nodded his head jerkily. It wasn't as good as being Anakin's Master, but it might be enough. "Very well. My injuries are paining me Master, with your leave?"

Yoda nodded, gesturing Qui-Gon out the door as he turned to stare out over Rwookrrorro, his eyes closing as he breathed in the Living Force of the planet.

Qui-Gon made his way down through the temple, stopping to watch the young man exits the room where he had been tested. "Master Qui-Gon," he said, smiling happily and moving over to the tall man. "How did I do?"

Qui-Gon smiled faintly. "You did very well Anakin it is now certain that you will be a Jedi, you impressed everyone with your rapport with the Force. But you must watch out for becoming arrogant. Just because you are able to connect to the Force to such an extent does not mean you are infallible, or know better than your teachers. Bear that in mind going forward."

"I understand," Anakin replied nodding his head. "I know I have a lot to learn, and I'm eager to begin. But can I ask, what's going on with Padme? Her home planet is still having trouble right? And I haven't seen her or Obi-Wan around since we were separated on the landing pad yesterday."

"They both left almost immediately after arriving because Queen Amidala wished to put her plea before the Senate. Between you and I, it is doubtful that the Senate will act quickly. But the Jedi have already made plans to step in."

"Good." Anakin replied firmly. "It's our job to step in, our job to do the right thing, that is what Jedi always should do."

"Ahh, but then it becomes a question of deciding what the right thing is, doesn't it?"

"The right thing is whatever we say it is." Anakin said quickly cocking his head to one side. "Isn't it? The Force tells us what it is?"

"Moral questions are much tougher than those questions you were asked just now my young friend." Qui-Gon said smiling at the young boy's innocence. "Law and justice often do not coincide, or make you popular."

Anakin nodded. "Will we be sent to help Padme?"

"Of course not," Qui-Gon said with a laugh. "I'm injured, and you're a youngling now. The Order has learned not to send even padawans into danger, regardless of their skills, let alone younglings."

Anakin's eyes narrowed at that, but he nodded equably and continued to ask questions about his upcoming classes, which Qui-Gon fielded with a smile. Yoda was right, even without being his Master he could still influence Anakin, and it was obvious the boy looked up to him as his savior from a life of slavery, which would make it easier. He didn't notice Anakin's eyes straying occasionally towards Rwookrrorro and the landing pad beyond.

 **OOOOOOO**

Eventually both Ranma and Shaak knew they had to return to the others, their first date, and it **was** a date both of them were certain, coming to an end. Hopping through the trees between Rwookrrorro and the Jedi Temple they arrived there about the same time as the sun had begun to descend. The two of them stood for a moment on its outskirts, watching the classes and work going on the temple's exterior before, with an unspoken agreement, letting their hands fall loosely from where they had still been softly touching to enter the building.

Crossing the threshold, Ranma frowned thoughtfully. "Now, where'd I go to ask someone about repulsors?"

"The basement, if they're trying to emulate the Temple on Coruscant in its layout. That is where ships parts, designs and other such things are stored, looked over by the Chief Shipwright. The name comes from when Jedi used to design, build and maintain all of our own ships. The position has lost most of its importance in the past thousand years of course." Shaak replied.

She stopped smiling when she saw her friend Luminara moving towards them from a small meditation chamber hewn out of the interior of wroshyr tree like the rest of the interior of the temple. Behind the Miralian she could see a flash of blue skin indicating Aayla was inside. "I think my friend wishes to talk to me, so I'll see you later?"

"Of course," Ranma said with a smirk. "It not like we have to spend all our time together Shaak. I want ta look into parts for my light pike too, so if you want ta find me, look for me where that stuff is stored okay?" Shaak nodded, and Ranma moved off quickly.

Shaak watched him go for a moment, before turning to her friend with a smile on her face. "Luminara, greetings."

Her friend rolled her eyes lightly, then gestured her to join her walking back towards the meditation chamber that Luminara had just left. She stopped for a moment, looking at her younger (by four years) friend for a moment. A small sliver of Force reached out to touch Shaak's own before receding and Luminara's eyes narrowed lightly. The deep well of discipline and calm Luminara was used to feeling from her friend was still there. But there was something else as well, a joyful happiness that had never been there before.

"I have heard rumors," Luminara began cautiously. "You stayed behind to talk to Master Yoda about something last night, and you've changed." Luminara's voice went from cautious to blunt in that single sentence, as she paused, staring at her friend. "In some ways you've changed in others you are still the same. But I am concerned."

Shaak shrugged her shoulders lightly, shaking her head internally. _Good grief, rumors really do travel faster than lightspeed, and apparently can see through walls and take secrets out of the very air._ "You were there last night when I talked about Ranma and my discussions about the Jedi Order. Is it any wonder that I have changed in how I think, feel and see the Force or even our Oaths?"

"No, but it is unexpected for you to be so open about it, to have **embraced** the changes so much. The Order has existed for thousands of years and for the last thousand years is has been the Order which have kept the Republic's peace. Our Oaths, how we regiment ourselves, has kept the Order from splitting as it did during the Sith Wars and has cut the number of Jedi who fall to the Dark to a bare twenty over those same thousand years."

"The Republic's peace is not solely dependent upon the Jedi Order my friend, that is pure hubris and you don't truly believe it." Turning, Shaak moved through the small meditation room, smiling at Aayla, who looked up from her meditation pose. In front of the girl was a small lump of clay, which she was in the midst of contorting with the Force.

Shaak smiled at that, understanding dawning quickly. "An interesting idea, did you come up with that one?"

Luminara nodded, also smiling at Aayla, who nodded back at them both, though the tenseness in her shoulders did not go away until the door behind Luminara slid shut, locking away the voices of men and women moving around outside. But when it did, Aayla looked at Shaak inquisitively. "So, is it true that Ranma was the one who made that strange surge of Force sensation last night and twice today? It felt weird, but pleasant for all its oddity."

"Yes that was him. Why?"

"I, I don't understand he really is a man? But she had…" Aayla gestured, to her own chest.

Shaak laughed. "In female form he does, not in his male form dear." Shaak went on to describe the curse and how Ranma explained to her how he had gotten it in the first place, along with several of the other curses from the same source. Through it all Luminara and Aayla stared at her, bemused by the tale and somewhat disbelieving, but willing to take it at face value for now, seeing no point in questioning it.

When Shaak finished Aayla didn't question the curse itself further, having something else on her mind. "He, that is she," she frowned, stopping in consternation. "How do you even address him, her, wahtever?"

Shaak shrugged. "I address Ranma with every whatever pronoun is appropriate at the time. Ranma's mind doesn't change overmuch one form to another, he says his taste buds do, and I've noticed he is somewhat more willing to acknowledge softer emotions, sadness, fear, that sort of thing in female form but that seems to be all."

Both other Jedi frowned at the idea of acknowledging fear, and Shaak shook her head quickly. "Ranma's female form is fully functional. He is one of the few men alive who truly understands a certain fear, one that you have gone through Aayla." she said softly.

Aayla stiffened, her hands clenching and unclenching, and the large piece of clay which had begun to assume the shape of a tall fluted decanter exploded. As the clay exploded many of the pieces were quickly caught by Shaak and Luminara with their own Force powers, quickly being reforming in front of the young woman. "It's a work in progress," Luminara replied dryly.

Aayla stared at the place where the pile of clay was reforming and shuddered slightly. "I, I understand," she said her voice strained as she tried to move on past that moment of anger and nightmare fueled fear. "Is that why he, he was willing to remain a 'she' while I was aboard your ship?"

"Shmi and I asked him to and Ranma agreed. We had a long talk about fears of that nature, and his were quite a bit worse than you might think."

"A Jedi must not feel anger, a Jedi must not acknowledge fear, to do so willingly is to fall to the Dark Side." Aayla said by rote, her face almost firming into the mask she had assumed during their trip to Kashyyyk. Even as she did so though, her eyes and the twitching of her lekku told the true story.

Luminara shook her head, sitting down next to the girl and gently taking her wrist. "That is not the way. Yes, we are told to do so, told to ignore our fears, told to ignore our anger, but not when it is justifiable. The experiences you went through were horrifying Aayla, no other Jedi alive now can know how horrible. No one will look at you askance if you feel anger towards those who do to you, or fear their memories."

 _Well, no one whose opinion I give a Rancor's rear about at any rate._ Luminara thought. There were hundreds of Jedi masters and knights who would state Aayla was in the wrong for feeling such, but they were mostly men or came from races who didn't have words for rape in their language for various reasons. But none of them were here at present, and even if they were, their opinions were based off arrogance, a lack of empathy and ignorance, nothing that Luminara was going to acknowledge.

"Let those emotions out in this controlled environment, rather than let them fester." Shaak said nodding her head towards the clay, sending her friend an approving look which caused the Miralian's lips to twitch slightly and Shaak went on. "Do not use those emotions to reach towards the Force, do not use them to power your connection to the Force, but let them out physically."

Aayla looked at them both and her mask cracked, and she reached forward, tearing into the clay with her own hands for a moment like a child would until her anger subsided. She slipped then into a meditation trance, pulling her hands out of the clay and using her Force powers to slowly reform it into a single mass. There were still ripples in the clay, indicating that Aayla was still dealing with her emotions, but the moment of cathartic release seemed to have allowed her some measure of peace.

For the moment anyway. Shaak knew it wouldn't last, but was thankful that Luminara had already acted to allow the girl some outlet. Moving over towards a nearby window Shaak nodded back towards the girl. "Very good progress for a single night."

"I have no idea how Master Yoda made her open up. I had feared how long it would take Aayla to actually admit to her fears and residual anger. But she is talking about her experiences somewhat freely now, and if there are moments of anger like that, the fear is diminishing slowly now that she is in a safe environment. The clay was my idea, and it seems to have worked so far. It will still take months of course before she's ready to resume her training, but the progress we've already made is all due to Yoda's first breaking down her barriers."

Luminara suddenly shook her head, her headdress swaying with the violence of the motion. "Animals. I have never enjoyed killing as you well know, but I am glad you dealt with those responsible for what happened to Aayla."

"I am as well." But Shaak knew the conversation would switch back to the changes Luminara felt within Shaak. Wishing to preempt that, Shaak began instead, gesturing out to the vista around the Jedi Temple. "But right now, look outside this window. Life, every species learning and growing changing as they compete. After the Sith Wars the Order stopped changing, stopped **growing**."

She held up a hand before Luminara could speak. "I know that the Order had good reasons for restricting research into the Force, some of those reasons I was even able to convince Ranma about. But the Ruusan Reformation was nothing more than a way to ensure the power of the Jedi Lords was broken, the Army of Light broken. I think that even there some of the reasons used were good and proper, giving more power back to the Senate and the elected governments of the Republic."

"But others, forbidding marriages or any attachments between Jedi, that cut us off from the essenceof the Light Side of the Force. The Force is deeper, more complex than we can ever know, but the Jedi High Council at the time assumed they knew best, that the Force itself was what mattered, not what could constitute the Light Side of it. Ranma, and in a way myself, we are a breath of fresh air come in a time of stagnation,, when the Order is at its weakest. And when our enemies are circling like victai around a weak Sra'an."

"The Veil of the Dark Side," Luminara said, nodding and holding her arms around her body for a moment as if cold, not commenting on Shaak using a metaphor few non-Togrtutans would understand, easily understanding the gist of it. "I have not tried to probe the skein of the future for some time, but I understand at least that much."

She paused a moment, another Force tendril reaching out to Shaak's own, before pulling back, and Luminara nodded, satisfied for some reason. Knowing that her friend was still somehow the same person she had been despite allowing herself to feel affection towards Ranma, she decided to continue on this vein rather than attempt to ask further questions. After all, it wasn't as if Luminara had never had to fight with feelings of affection or even desire herself after all. "This Dark Side user Ranma ran into, do you think there is more to his appearance?"

"I don't know," Shaak shook her head. "The Force is silent to me on this matter, and to Master Yoda and the others I think or else they would have shared more of it. It's obvious he is tainted with the Dark, but does the Dark mean the Sith, our ancient enemy risen again somehow, or something else? I do not know, and I am pleased that I am not the one who will have to backtrack his trail." She smiled somewhat grimly, purple lips parting to show pointed teeth. "All Ranma and I will have to do is stop him if we meet him while aiding the Nabooans."

Luminara nodded, then looked over at Aayla before leaning in quietly, her female curiosity trumping her Jedi indoctrination for the moment. "So what's it like? Kissing, I mean?" Shaak frowned cocking an eyebrow at her, and Luminara smiled gesturing to her mouth. "Your lips are slightly bruised."

Shaak blushed hotly, her red skin lightening noticeably around the cheeks then leaned in herself, whispering. "Well…"

 **OOOOOOO**

While Shaak was being somewhat playfully interrogated by her friend, Ranma was talking to a few Wookies and Jedi who had been working on the interior of the temple's basement, an area that clearly showed work was still continuing even more than the exterior. The Wookies didn't seem to understand at first what he wanted, nor did the Jedi see the point, but eventually one simply nodded. "We can build a room like that yes, but it just sounds like some form of torture to me."

"It'll work for what I want to do." Ranma said bluntly, shrugging. "It won't be pleasant, but then the original isn't either." At their quizzical expressions he shrugged. "Take two giant boulders, tie person to second giant boulder, then smash repeatedly against the first. Repeat until bruised and battered, rest, then repeat again. Your body will eventually toughen up."

All of his listeners stared at Ranma, one of the Wookies even gaping openly, fangs showing openly and he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me I didn't come up with the technique, I just know it works."

"In that case the repulsor field idea does sound rather more civilized." one of the Jedi said dryly, while the Wookies broke out into laughter. "We'll figure out a way to set that up somewhere I suppose, but it'll take time."

Ranma nodded, holding up the small box of local wood that Shaak had bought and which he had been gently pumping his Living Force, his ki that is, into since Shaak had given it to him. "That's all right, I've got something else to experiment with. And I also have to finish my weapon. Where's your lightsaber construction area, whatever it's called?"

"Sixth floor, the right side is dominated by a single room devoted to the lightsaber construction tables. You should find several tables not in use at present. There are only about two dozen advanced younglings at that stage of their training here, but we brought enough along to allow for many more to have room when it becomes time." Said another Jedi, before turning to talk to the Wookies about where to put the training room Ranma had described to them.

Ranma nodded his thanks. Leaving the temple he headed over to the airfield to pick up the parts for his staff that he had left on the _Wild Light_. He was held back by a Wookie overseer of some sort at the entrance to the airfield however because another ship, a _Consular_ class, was landing taxying into position between the _Wild Light_ and the _Starwayman_ which was still here. Booster had to wait to be paid for his part in the breakout and wanted to take on a cargo which would let him head deeper toward the Core Worlds, hopefully away from any Hutt influence.

As soon as the _Consular_ class ship touched down, Ranma moved forward, eager to enter the _Wild Light_ and head back to start on his lightsaber in earnest, but he stopped when he saw who was coming out of the Consular class. "Kit!"

The Aqualian Knight turned, smiling as he saw Ranma and moving forward quickly. The two of them clasped forearms and Kit laughed. "Good to see you my friend."

"Good to see you too but what are you doing here? I thought you would be stuck in the Mon Cal sector for a while."

"No, several other Jedi have entered the Mon Cal sector on various missions, and my own was finished several months ago. Did you really think a simple espionage assignment would take that long? I'm almost insulted." Kit laughed again and Ranma joined in for a moment before Kit went on. "I've been hopping around the Republic since and was called here to join the rest of you when you go to join Master Dooku and his intervention team."

"'Intervention', amusing choice of words." Ranma said with a grim smile.

"What other word would you use when we're trying to intervene on behalf of a planet that has been wrongfully invaded?" Kid asked with a shrug. He then became more serious looking at Ranma, his black, pupil-less eyes somehow darkening further. "As I was landing, I was informed of what you and Knight Ti had done for Padawan Secura. I cannot thank you enough for saving her. She and I have met several times, and I'm happy to call her at least an acquaintance if not a friend. To know that such a young woman was put into such a position… **irritates** me."

"Wow you cleaned that up real quick." Ranma chuckled, shaking his head. "But if you're thinking about taking a chunk out of the Master who assigned the mission to her, get in line. The next time I'm on Coruscant, I'm going to look him up and I'm going to peel off his toenails." He paused. "Er, or his specie's equivalent anyway."

"I'll hold him down." Kit said with a faint smile. "Do you think I'll be able to speak to Padawan Secura?"

"I doubt it," Ranma shook his head. "Luminara Unduli, do you know her?" Kit nodded and Ranma went on. "She's taken over looking after Aayla, and believes that she shouldn't interact with any men for a while. Given what she went through, I can understand that."

Kit winced, his worst fears realized. "Then I am doubly thankful you and Shaak were there for her. The Order owes you a debt for your part in that, and I will personally try to pay you back for it somehow Ranma." Kit looked past Ranma at the _Wild Light_ , a smirk suddenly appearing on his face. "Now, why don't you show me your ship? It looks amazing I have to say."

"Heh, yeah it does, and it flies beautifully too. The Mon Cal do good work. Come on." Ranma smiled, eager to show his ship off a bit.

As the two of them walked up the ramp and into the main sitting area however Ranma paused listening to what sounded like an argument coming from the cockpit. "Histrionic shout: This cannot be! It simply cannot! There has to be something better!"

While Kit cocked his head, smiling slightly as a voice that could only be Tune's latest version replied, a deep bass rumble that sounded like a foghorn given voice, its very volume cutting off the first speaker. "Would you quit shouting that?! You have been searching through the local databases ever since we touched down and you haven't found a single example of robotics that you actually approve of. Get over it!"

"Affronted indignant statement: They cannot be. They simply cannot be, look at them! Mass-produced junk, week, unusable, stupid, ungainly, do I need to go on?"

"You've already gathered a crew?" Kit asked.

"Ah, no. Not really, the bass voices is Tune my astromech, he hooked up that voice translator/speaker thing I bought on Coruscant. The other is that droid head I found. He's… somewhat psychotic, but also useful, and obedient so I've been keeping him around."

"A psychotic droid, interesting, though it sounds as if you should be grateful he doesn't have arms just yet." Kit mused, still smirking at the younger human who rolled his eyes while in the background the argument continued.

"I'm going to regret this," Ranma muttered but still led up to the cockpit where he flopped down in the chair staring first at Tune, who was once more ensconced in the astromech port, slot or whatever it was called and then over at HK's head. Kit remained standing, leaning against the hatchway staring at the droid head connected to the control board. "All right," Ranma said wearily, "what's this all about?"

Tune spoke first, his voice now a dulcet lilting female voice, the sort you could picture coming from a young girl. "Master, HK has been looking for his body parts ever since we touched down, but discerned after only a few hours that he could not hunt them down, he simply has no memory from which to begin that search. Ever since then, he's been looking for alternate parts, and to put it bluntly he isn't happy with the examples he's found."

"Dour tone: Master, **these** are supposed to be the finest examples of the Republics robotic technology?" At a signal from HK's head into the control board several images popped up on the screen, showing Trade Federation droids, droidekas and a few different versions of diplomatic droids and others, including one or two combat types. "Superior Statement: Not a one of them comes close to even approximating the mechanical and technical perfection that was my body! How could robotic standards fall so low?"

"I don't know, remember I've only been in this dimension for a little under six months now." Ranma shrugged.

"And yet have already made an impact all out of proportion." Kit mused, causing Ranma to glare lightly at him.

HK however had more important things on his circuits than the new squishy. "Wrathful Tone: Master these things, these so-called combat droids are an affront to the very idea of a true combat droid, the very sight of them causes my diodes to heat with rage! Wary Tone: I am afraid you will have to special order parts for me. I have begun looking over prices for custom work, and it might be exorbitant."

"Heh, if you think looking at them is bad, wait until we're actually fighting the things. I understand those droids are the main military force of the Trade Federation, so we're gonna run into them in the next few weeks."

"Indeed. It should be fun. It's always an odd experience fighting droids, no need to hold back but your Force Precognition suffers due to them not being alive." Kit cut in.

HK's crystal eyes seemed to light up further. "Exultant avowal: YES! I will show the universe what a true combat droid is capable of by demolishing this mass-produced junk!"

"You mean what a true combat droid's **head** is capable of." Ranma laughed as did Kit. "We won't have had your body made before than after all."

"Slight amused sadness: There's no need for hurtful words Master, I already like you."

Ranma rolled his eyes, before gesturing back to Kit. "Alright, Tune, HK this is Kit Fisto. If we are ever on a mission with him and neither Shaak or I are there, I expect you both to obey him so long as his orders don't supersede any we've already given you."

He waited until both droids had acknowledged this with rather different degrees of enthusiasm it must be said, before going on. "As for your body HK, keep on working on that list of design features you'd want your body to have and include what you can remember what from what your original body had. I don't want anything more expensive than this ship, but if you're going to be part of this troop, I want you to be at peak efficiency eventually."

"Grateful statement: Thank you Master, that is a load off my metallic mind."

"The universe will never be the same Master," Tune said dolefully, the astromech droid's voice now that of a young boy, causing Kit to laugh.

"Irritated shout: Hush you!"

With that taken care of, Ranma showed Kit some of his ship's features, talking about the design process, before standing up and moving back to the sitting area, showing some of its features while picking up the supplies he wanted before exiting the ship. Outside Kit looked at the _Wild Light_ once more, shaking his head. "It might've expensive, but damn Ranma, you've made a monster of a ship here. Despite my Oath to the contrary I am having a severe case of possession envy right now."

"Yep, just wait until we start using my hidden toys." Ranma laughed, leading the way off the landing pad. The two of them continued to talk as they made their way through the city, only parting once they reached the temple.

Ranma worked on his staff for the rest of the day, taking one of the empty table in the area devoted to this work. He was able to build about half of the staff's electronic interior, including the very delicate holding splinters for the three gems he'd use to create the actual plasma saber. Three gems would let him ignite a plasma beam from either end, along with a surprise in the middle.

At the same time a small high-tech smelter began to shape the cortosis metal into the strips he would then mold into the exterior metal casing of the staff. The majority of the staff would be normal metal, since cortosis could not be allowed to touch the plasma beam at any point, but the cortosis would be molded into the rest of the metal at various points, seeming to be a simple design feature of the metallic staff, but also functional, able to shut down any lightsaber that hit it.

He was joined by Shaak at one point. She looked over what he was doing, and smiled tapping the two lightsabers sat beside where Ranma was working. "These are the two weapons you took from Sing correct?"

"Yeah, I asked Yoda and he said it was fine. I figured the pieces could at least be put to good use."

"I'm certain their former owners would like that," she said, then looked around, making certain there was no one around before leaning down to kiss him on the forehead. "Is it all right if I spend the evening with Luminara and Aayla?"

"You don't have to ask my permission for that Shaak," Ranma said, looking up and smiling at her. "Like I said, just because we're in a relationship doesn't mean we have to spend every waking hour with each other, and it certainly doesn't mean I want to take time away from your friends or your Jedi duties or whatever."

"Thank you Ranma," she said sincerely. "I'll see you in a few hours then, don't forget to eat at some point."

Ranma shook his head gesturing at the table in front of them. "I want to get this done, I have a feeling will going to be called in quickly on this Naboo thing."

Shaak frowned at him for a moment then chuckled. Ranma looked at her, and she shook her head. "Nothing just an errant thought I had. When we start experimenting with you and reaching out to the Unifying Force I'll share it with you. You wouldn't find it funny until then I'm afraid."

Ranma shrugged, and turned back to his work while Shaak left the room. But Ranma's words were soon proved to be rather prophetic, because that very evening Yoda called the two of them and Master Piell and Kit to prepare to leave. Master Piell, a human knight named Violeta and Kit took the _Consular_ class Kit had arrived in, never noticing they had a passenger. Indeed, it would be a few hours before anyone in the temple realized that their newest youngling was missing.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Ranma and the others were preparing to leave Kashyyyk, Darth Maul was arriving in orbit around Naboo. Several Trade Federation droid- controlled fighters left their mother ships the moment they detected his ship. One of the controllers on the control flagship opened communications, his voice arrogant. "Attention unknown vessel, this planet is under Trade Federation control, turn back now or be fired upon. This will be your only warning."

The voice stuttered to a halt as Maul sent his control protocols, overriding the local communication net to speak directly to the Viceroy. He said nothing, simply letting his features and those protocols speak for him.

Nute Gunray stared into the pickup, his entire body shaking from fear, his normally wide eyes widening even further his green skin turning a very pale shade for a moment as he nodded convulsively. "Gr, greeting my lord. I've taken over the capital entirely and ensconced myself in its palace, um, we will be prepared to receive you soon." Even as he spoke the Viceroy's fingers moved over his own communication equipment on his hover chair, sending an all clear message up to the five Lucrehulk ships in orbit, ordering them to make way for the _Scimitar_.

Maul cut the connection quickly, his ship angling through the small fleet in orbit over the capital city, Theed, before angling down into its atmosphere. Moments later he touched down, and quickly exited the cockpit moving back into the interior of the ship. As he did the aid his Master had given him for this mission stood up, clenching their weapons, grabbing bags of thermal detonators, tripwires and other things that he had brought along for this mission.

Seeing this, Maul spoke for the first time since they'd left Coruscant. "You will remain here, I will speak with the Viceroy then we will prepare for the Jedi."

They all nodded and he smiled evilly as he stared at the toys his Master had sent along with him. He disliked having to rely on them, but they were brainwashed to obey, and more importantly, would allow Maul to kill Jedi.

He exited his vessel to find the Viceroy, his aides and two companies of TF combat droids lined up in parade formation waiting for him. Walking towards them he also scanned the area with the Force, making certain that they were not being observed. Even so he kept his hood up as he stared at the Viceroy, a sinister black clad presence whose very existence darkened the noontide sun. Wordlessly he gestured with one hand, and the Viceroy stuttered for a moment before quickly reversing his chair around, leading the way inside the palace.

As they moved through the corridors of the large palace from the offshoot which held the hanger bay and toward the main building Gunray foolishly tried to make small talk. "Er, ahem, is your Master pleased with our work thus far? Are we in the clear, or will the Senate… Well I've seen reports of what happened on Coruscant, both before and during the Queen's recent call for no-confidence in Valorum. Who will the new Chancellor be do you think?"

Maul did not answer because he did not care, the Viceroy was a tool, and not one whose reins Maul had to handle personally. If the Master felt he was important enough the Master would see to stroking his ego and feelings himself. Maul was not made for such things.

But Maul's silence seemed to embolden the man, and he continued speaking. "Surely now that so much time has passed since we've taken control of Naboo it will be a done deal! The Senate has no standing army, it can't match our military might just like your Master promised! This will send a strong message, and the Trade Federation dealings with the Mid Rim will continue as they always have. Even the Jedi would be foolish to try to change the status quo now."

"The Jedi will come." Maul stated his darkly calm words dropping like tombstones into the sudden silence of the corridor. By this point they had reached the entrance to the throne room, which the Viceroy had taken over, converting into his own personal communication center and control room. The doors closed behind them, and Maul pulled back his hood slightly, revealing his tattooed face to the Viceroy and his aids who'd follow them in.

All three Niemodians paled visibly, and one of them backed away shivering slightly under his yellow-eyed glare. "The Jedi will come here, they cannot but act as their Order dictates. They will not sit by and allow your usurpation to go unnoticed, they will come. They will fight. They will die. **I** will kill them, your robots will fight them or be destroyed. Jedi will die." Maul seemed to savor those words, staring at all three of them as he finished his speech, more words in a single setting than he normally spoke in weeks.

"T, the Trade Federation," stuttered one of the aides, surprisingly the one who had paled the most. "The Trade Federation cannot, we cannot fight the Jedi! That would be seen as an attack on the Republic itself."

"They will be here acting on their own initiative, not that of the Senate. The Queen has asked them to step in. There will be no repercussions later at least not from that." Maul deigned to explain, his eyes flicked from that speaker to the Viceroy then to the other aid, before back to the Viceroy before continuing. "You will do your part, your robotic underlings we'll get a proper field test as my Master promised. Do your part, and you will be rewarded."

The words tasted odd on Maul's tongue, unused to even this little bit of politicking. But they seemed to work as the Viceroy drew himself up quickly, glaring at his subordinate who had spoken out of turn.

With his next words however Maul returned very much to form. "Or **you** will die." All three of them were now shaking, staring wildly at him. "You have come too far to back out now." He waited for that to sink in then continued. "Now, tell me of your defenses, and I will tell you what I require."

 **OOOOOOO**

From Kashyyyk it would take this portion of the group being sent to Naboo a little under thirty hours to make the journey a fact which once more forced Ranma to realize how big the Republic really was. The group from Coruscant would have a slightly longer trip due to needing to follow a more roundabout route because of various navigational issues. He spent about an hour after they jumped into hyperspace staring at the galactic map, trying to stretch his mind to really understand the size of this galaxy when Shaak shook his arm lightly. "Come we can get in a bit of training tonight or at least meditation. And then I think I want to start redecorating."

"Women and decorating, I see that at least crosses species," Ranma said dryly. "All the girls back in my old dimension went through that kind of thing at least once while I was in Nerima."

"Do you like the color gunmetal gray or the shades of blue that Mon Calamari use as their equivalent?" Shaak asked archly.

"No, not particularly. I was too busy designing the ship to really care about what the interior looked like other than you know having it all in place. Which might bite me in the ass when I try to work on the water reservoir."

"Then I don't want to hear any complaints," Shaak said primly. "Besides, I saw you buy those lights, don't talk as if you're not interested in redecorating yourself."

Ranma laughed, smacking his hip lightly against hers as they walked down into the sitting room from the cockpit. He paused staring into Shaak's room, gesturing into it. "Did we remember to tell Tune to clean the sheets?"

"No, but I remembered to ask one of the locals to send in a droid to do it." They both stopped for a moment looking at one another and she nodded quickly. "I'll look over it now, while you start up the holocron. I don't think the Wookies would be involved in any attempt to spy on us, but I believe us safe from spying on Dac too."

"Best to get into the habit now," Ranma said with a nod. He moved around Shaak, letting his arm gently slide around her waist for a second before moving on, leaving her with a faint smile and a blush on her face before she entered her room.

Configuring the sitting area into its training her room took up a bare few moments, the sofa disappearing into the side of the room across from the kitchen area, and the central table containing the Hypercom uplink disappearing into the floor. Ranma set the small yet heavy holocron in the center, staring at it for a moment. It still felt odd to him that this tiny thing represented so much, had so much weight to it.

Nonetheless, he sat down across from the holocron, closing his eyes as his ki sense reached out into the world around him, the Unifying Force as the Jedi put it, and despite his best efforts, Ranma was coming to use their terminology to touch the thing lightly with his mind, activating it with difficulty. Opening his eyes he looked up into the hologram. "Keiran, I know it's been a few weeks but we've been sort of busy. How does time even register to you anyway?"

"It doesn't," Master Kieran Halcyon said, his image shrugging. "I am not a Force ghost remember, I am simply the equivalent of a Force memory imprinted into a computer as it were. But busy with what might I ask?"

Ranma filled him in on everything that had happened since the last time they used the holocron device, by the end of which Shaak joined him sitting down next to him Indian style, their knees lightly touching. He broke off with a smile for her, and Halcyon looked between them smiling himself. "There seems to be something new between you two, something I have seen a time or two before I was imprinted into this device Including between myself and my wife. Yet I thought Knight Ti that your Oath did not allow for connections of that nature."

"It did not Master, but I decided that for me personally the old Oath was closer to what I believe the Jedi should be the arguments against the Reformation and what it denied us swayed me. I can't say it was an entirely bloodless, logical, decision on my part though." She laughed quietly looking over at Ranma who grinned back at her. "But I have rarely made a decision that felt as **right** as that one."

"I am happy for you." the hologram said simply. "May the Force bless your union, and continue to guide your path together. But what did we wish to work on today?"

"Tactics against a double bladed light saber if you have any, and your opinion about a Dark Side user be ran into." Ranma replied.

"Kieran's eyes narrowed and he nodded slowly. "I have no tactics to impart about facing double bladed light sabers, they were not in vogue in my time, and indeed I can only remember one individual using such, Exar Kun. We've already talked about his fall and the wars he began, but as I never faced him personally, I'm not going to reiterate what I've already spoken of. As for this Dark Side user, describe him and his powers to me."

Ranma did so, using both his own words and the words Obi had used to describe him to the Council the evening before. After he was finished, Halcyon nodded, not having asked any questions but simply taking it all in. "He does not sound quite like a Sith as your Masters already noted, he didn't use any of the traditional Sith powers, nor did he use what was the normal Sith method of combat."

"Method of combat?" Shaak asked quickly.

"Most Sith were Masters of Dun Moch, misdirecting, taunting their opponents through use of words, trying to disrupt a Jedi's connection with the Force via self-doubt. This Zabrak did not do so. He sounds more like a half trained Dark Side user to me, or someone who found a small cache of Sith teachings but not enough to recreate everything."

"I could also not comment on how he could have figured out your toughening technique Ranma. The Force Warriors in my day could take such things to extremes, but even that extreme never came close to what you are capable of. Though if I were your Order would be more concerned about his origin then that aspect myself, simply guarding against future attempts to spy on you would be best I think."

Shaak frowned lightly, shaking her head slightly. She didn't like how little they knew about this Zabrak, nor did she like how many assumptions they were being forced to make about him and his origins because of that. "I hope Master Thorne turns up something about him eventually. This Zabrak has created far too many questions, and you're right his origin is the most important thing."

"He could also be a Dark Brother," Kieran said with a shrug. "A renegade of the second class citizens of Dathomir, unwilling to bow to the Dark Sister matriarchy that rules there. That would be the simplest explanation, and often time the simplest explanation is the correct one. But one should not form theories before you have facts. Now, did the two of you wish to get some training in today?"

They both nodded, standing up as one and moving to opposite ends of the sitting room. For this exercise Ranma didn't have his staff, having left the one he'd borrowed from the Jedi Temple on the Kashyyyk behind, and not having finished his own. Instead he pulled out the lightsabers he had taken from Sing, taking up a stance with them.

Ranma knew he had to either come up with a way to continually refill his ki reserves or switch to using lightsabers. He would have preferred to have his light pike ready before facing the Zabrak again, but he wasn't going to rush it and there was no way he could have it ready before they reached Naboo.

He and Shaak ignited their lightsabers at the same moment, their hum filling the area. They stared at one another for several moments before charging forward.

About two hours later they both decided to call it quits for the night, and after listening to Master Halcyon's critiques on both their styles, were about to turn off the holocron when Ranma clicked his fingers. "Oh, we forgot to ask Yoda about bringing your holocron to your descendent Nejaa, we'll ask once this whole Naboo thing is done with. We'll make it our next stop, besides, isn't Corellia one of the main tech centers of the universe? We might be able to get some body parts built for HK."

"And that's something else we weren't able to do: Getting HK's head examined." Shaak said dryly. "I'm not exactly happy with the idea of getting that psychotic droid a body."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "He's been working out pretty well so far. So long as we are clear about his ROE he should be fine."

"On your 'head' be it." Shaak shrugged in turn, smirking at her own words. "He's you're droid after all."

The two of them made up a quick meal then retired to their different rooms, sharing a hug and a chaste kiss in the hallway between them before retiring.

Over the next day and a bit in hyperspace Ranma and Shaak began to adjust to their new status relationship-wise. Neither of them took it beyond kissing, occasionally deeply but not often, both unwilling just yet push to the envelope physically. But despite that, there was a new closeness between them. Whenever they sat together, one or the other would always to touch the second, their hands lightly touching, their knees or thighs brushing against one another. This, the kisses, their normal conversation, and hugs all combined to create a surprising amount of intimacy despite not rushing things.

After the next day's first training session Shaak also took the time to begin to decorate the interior of the ship. She first painted the wall across from the sofa to resemble a scene from her home world: a mountain in the distance with several dozen close-in trees. When Ranma complimented her on her artistry she shook her head lightly, holding up the painting device, a large gun-like object connected to an equally large vat of paints separated into thin vials and a small computer screen.

"I wish I could take the credit but…" she held up the screen so Ranma could see. Ranma laughed quietly seeing that the image on the screen was taken from a picture of her home world, which the painting machine was simply copying. "All I'm doing is following the computer's instructions unfortunately. I can't say I have an artistic bone in my body."

For his part Ranma replaced the lights in both of their bedrooms and the sitting room with the lights he'd bought on Kashyyyk. The slightly dimmer lights combined with the shapes of the actual braziers gave the interior of the ship a much homier feel. Then when Shaak was done in the sitting room, the two of them both painted their bedrooms, as much as they could anyway given how small they were and how little actual wall could be seen. Shaak painted the ceiling to resemble the stars.

They finished that task on the second day and as they sat back on Ranma's had to admire his painting, a scene of the sun rising in the east over a forest, Shaak smiled leaning against Ranma's shoulder. "That's rather pretty. You never told me much about your planet, as in its actual environments rather than your adventures you know. Did it look like this?"

"Earth's just like a lot of other planets I suppose. You have to understand the humans where I'm from we've not even started to head out into space yet. So our tech isn't much. Even so, we've got cities, we've got countries, forests, jungles, oceans, all that. The weather I think is most like back Dac, but we had a few forests that sort of match Kashyyyk?" He shrugged lightly. "Sorry I'm not really good at describing it I guess. It was just a planet you now, I didn't have anything to compare it to at the time."

"Then tell me about your training journey, some of the places you've personally visited, not the adventures you had."

The two of them stayed there for about an hour as Ranma did so, leaning against the wall that abutted one side of his bed. Eventually however the two left, moving out to the training area once more for their final training session before they would leave hyperspace early the next morning. They actually made a bet out of it, staking who would be able to have the shower first.

Ranma won, and left Shaak to make their evening meal while he picked up the wroshyr box, which he had been experimenting with on and off. It did keep a ki charge a **lot** better than the metal he'd experimented with, and he had been able to create a smallish ki space within it before leaving Kashyyyk. Now he put it under the heating pad in the kitchen, letting the wood heat lightly to the touch before taking it into the bathroom with him.

Behind him, Shaak turned to their meal, the last large one they would have. She stopped however as Ranma shrieked "Gah, cold!"

Turning quickly she looked as Ranma exited the bathroom on the other side of the sitting area, shivering. "Note to self, heat doesn't carry through the ki space medium, and water loses heat the larger the amount of water there is for some reason. The water was freaking frozen."

"That's interesting." Shaak said, shaking her head and turning back to her work on their meal. "I gleeep…."

The 'gleep' noise was cause by Ranma having moved through the sitting area to join her in the kitchen, her hands holding one towel over the heater allowing it to warm. This was the same towel Ranma had previously been using to cover her shoulders, leaving her upper body bare to Shaak's gaze.

This was the first time that Shaak had seen Ranma's female form like this, and before this, Shaak would have said that she wasn't as attracted to Ranma's female body as his male one. It wasn't a problem for her, it just wasn't a plus either.

That idea died a violent death when she saw Ranma bare like this and moving around, dancing up and down to warm up from his aborted experiment. Oh, watching Ranma move, especially shirtless, was always a treat. It was like watching a magnificent predator prowling, all grace and understated control even in something as simple as jumping around like she was now.

But that was one thing, and the shocking amount of desire that had just hit her was another. Shaak found herself responding to the sight in front of her just as much as she would have to Ranma being so undressed in his male body, but in a different way. The other girl's cherry red nipples, now stiff from the cold stood out on the pliant globes of her breasts. And the muscles in her stomach, whose muscular structure even a few Jedi might have envied, moved and shifted just as in his male form despite his hips and overall form being noticeably female, softer and curvier.

With difficulty Shaak turned away, blushing brightly. "I, I think we have both mentioned the need to keep a certain amount of modesty between us Ranma, th-that should also extend to your female form."

Ranma blinked at that, gratefully wrapping the now warm towel over her shoulders. She frowned lightly, cocking her head to one side. "Er, sorry, forgot. Um, ya, ya don't not like looking at me when I'm like this right? I mean, you said you'd be more comfortable with this form in public at times, but was that just for being in public, I mean…" She halted, trying to come up with a polite way to ask if Shaak was actually attracted to Ranma in this form and failing due to Ranma's own embarrassment about the subject matter.

Shaak however understood and turned quickly, leaning down to kiss the shorter girl. Ranma responded slowly, this being the first time they had kissed in this form, and that allowed Shaak to dominate the kiss in a way she rarely could. Neither deepened it, but Shaak let her feeligns flow through it, moaning lightly as Ranma returned the kiss, the shorter girls hands roaming up and down Shaak's back even as Shaak's own hands slipped down Ranma's thinner and slightly softer sides.

Eventually the need to breath made them both pull back, and Shaak smiled staring down into Ranma's shining blue eyes. "Does that answer your question?" Ranma merely nodded, and the two reluctantly disengaged, with both of them going back to what they had been doing, blushing slightly but smiling all the same.

The next morning they were both woken up slightly earlier than they would normally wake up at Tune's announcement coming through the speaker. "Master, mistress," the droid said in its new voice, that of a surprisingly young boy for some reason, with a bit of what Ranma wanted to call an educated tone, though Shaak called it a Coruscanti accident. "We are coming out of hyperspace at the rendezvous point in five minutes."

Of course Dooku wasn't about to his team coming out into the Naboo system piecemeal. They would instead rendezvous about a light hour out from the star system's farthest point, joining together in deep space before jumping into the system. It should've been impossible for anyone to figure out where they were meeting like that who wasn't part of the expedition, but Ranma had told to Tune tell them beforehand just in case. It might have seemed paranoid, but better safe than sorry, especially since not being paranoid enough had already bitten them in the ass in terms of his training techniques.

With Ranma heading to the cockpit Shaak grabbed them both some energy bars and brushed her teeth, switching off with Ranma for a brief moment as he did same before coming back. He sat down just as the ship exited hyperspace to find that there weren't any enemies around thankfully, but their allies had already arrived.

Already there were four starfighter craft of the design Ranma hadn't seen personally before but had heard of from Shaak, modified Delta 6 sprite class starfighters. These ships were made for Jedi and had no astrogation droids, two lasers whose punch was slightly greater than a quad laser though their rate of fire was far less, and had been modified to carry proton torpedoes as well, with a sprint launcher and a six round magazine. Waiting with them was another _Consular_ Class like Kit's. Unlike his, this ship had been modified with weapons and shielding added to it.

"Master," Tune said, "We are being hailed from the other _Consular_ class ship, it's reading as the _Movia_. Master Dooku is on the line, asking for the two of you and the others from Kashyyyk to join him for a face-to-face conference."

"Inform him we'll be over in a moment Tune," Shaak said already angling their ship around. Being the closest already, the _Wild Light_ was first the two ship's airlocks linking together. Ranma and Shaak moved through from the airlock into the sitting room of the _Consular_ class ship, greeted by Dooku who stood up quickly from where he had been sitting with several others most of whom Ranma did not recognize. Padme too was there along with captain Panaka, sitting quietly to one side in the rather crowded interior of the ship.

One of them he did recognize however also stood up and Shaak smiled at him. As Ranma and Dooku clasped forearms she did the same with him. "Master Plo Koon, greetings."

"Knight Ti," the other replied looking at her thoughtfully, the voice coming from a translator attached to his gas mask. He nodded slightly, seemingly having sensed something through the Force from her, though Shaak hadn't been able to feel any kind of probe from him as she had with Luminara back on Kashyyyk. "It is good to see you well and not overly changed from what you were before taking up with this one," he said waving his hand towards Ranma, cocking his head thoughtfully. "Indeed what changes I sense seems to be all for the good. The Ranma experiment seems to have been a positive one thus far."

"I would say it has Master, and we really do need to get that phrase patented." Shaak said with a faint smile looking over at Ranma who laughed and reached over to shake hands with Plo Koon himself.

With that Ranma turned to the third person who had stood up as they entered. "Hey Obi, you seem to have grown a new leg for yourself there. Or is that some kind of prosthetic?"

"It's my real one." Obi said with a smile over his shoulder toward Padme, who smiled in return, blushing almost indiscernibly. "Thanks to Padme and her people putting it into a bacta tank and thus keeping it alive, the Order was able to reattach it. Of course they had to reinjure my leg opening the cauterization which was rather painful, and it still feels somewhat odd, but still, it's better than the alternative."

Limbs could be reattached like that only if someone was very quick about putting the limb into a bacta solution. Further, reattaching the limb was an incredibly tricky process which only highly trained Jedi Healers could do, fusing the limb back to the rest of the body at the cellular level with the Force. No technology could do that.

"Cool, though in the future try not ta get chopped up like that, think ya used up yer cache of luck with this one 'k?" Ranma asked, laughing and causing Obi to chuckle ruefully. He turned, winking at Padme who smiled back, though her eyes once again tracked to Obi Wan for a moment.

They all moved to sit down, with Shaak and Ranma sitting down next to one another, their thighs touching but otherwise not showing any sign of their relationship while they waited for the other _Consular_ class ship to finish docking with this one, while Tune piloted the _Wild Light_ away from the airlock. Dooku made the introductions, going around the circle one Jedi after another.

The Dark Woman stared at Ranma thoughtfully. "I've heard a lot about you, about your skills and techniques. I'd love to see them in action, hopefully we will on this mission."

"I have heard of you, Dark Woman." Shaak replied, shaking her head lightly. While having heard of her Shaak hadn't formed an opinion on the rumors around the Dark Woman, or why she was known as the 'Dark Woman' rather than her name. But if she had, that opinion would probably have changed since meeting Ranma and understanding that attachment at least to another person did not interfere with her Jedi duties. "It would be interesting to see a sparring match between the two of you."

The Dark Woman eyes flickered to her, but it was her former apprentice Ki Adi Mundi who spoke up. "And I've heard rumors about you as well Knight Ti. That you asked Grand Master Yoda to retake your vows in the Old Way because of your attachment to this one. This experiment of Master Yoda may yield new techniques for us to use, but that is certainly going too far."

To one side, Padme began to look uncomfortable, realizing this was a private Jedi topic, but unwilling to remove herself since this meeting was supposed to be about freeing her planet. She also could not stop herself from feeling a bit of interest in what was being hinted at here, her eyes going to Ranma and Shaak in turn. However she quietly ordered Panaka to head up to the cockpit for now, where Sabe and a few others were. The rest were waiting in the various rooms elsewhere in the crowded ship.

Shaak smiled, her lips quirking upwards lightly. "One surrounded by Akkk dogs should not throw a stone at a restingakul. You were given special dispensation by the order to have multiple wives Knight Mundi, I fail to see how you of all of us can assault my position."

There were some muttering at that, a few seemed to think that she was correct in that, while others seemed to be leery about her and her new willingness to take the Old Oath rather than the prescribed one used since the disbanding of the Army of Light. While most of the others present decided to remain silent The Dark Woman was very much among this group.

A proponent of the Unifying Force as a single guiding power, she shook her head. "A Jedi should have no attachments, not even to his or her sense of self. A Jedi should subsume himself into the Unifying Force in all things. A relationship such as yours simply gets in the way of our doing our duty."

"Yet without such attachments, do we truly understand the lives of those we serve?" Shaak rebutted.

"We do not need to understand them to serve them."

"But in understanding our service becomes easier, our connection to them becomes easier, rather than to the Senate as a whole." Master Plo Koon stated, shaking his head. "In any event, this experiment has been allowed by the Council, by Grand Master Yoda, and we all know the reason why. The Dark Side is still gaining in strength, it's Veil still growing stronger. It is stronger now than it was when Master Yoda had his vision on Coruscant months ago, and we all know it."

"And yet," the Dark Woman said silkily looking at Shaak and Ranma. "None of us seem to be willing to point out that for all of Master Yoda's changes that is still occurring: those changes haven't done **anything** to stop the Dark Side from rising further. Indeed some believe them to have had the opposite effect. I admit this one seems to be a font of the Living Force and of the Light, but even so the brighter the Light, the Darker the shadow."

"'This one's' got a name. It's Ranma, and I suggest you use it." Ranma said smirking and crossing his arms leaning back lightly this entire body screaming insolent self-confidence yet Shaak knew for a fact he was taut and ready for a fight. If anyone here challenged they would quickly regret it. "I don't see the Force like you people do, I doubt I ever will. But I've already taught Shaak here enough to allow her to feel emotions, rather than shut them to the side to let then boil over like all of you. You may personally be able to ignore your feelings, your emotions and subsume yourself to the Unifying Force as you put it, but not everyone can. Stop trying to paint everyone with a single brush lady, it doesn't work."

"Enough." Dooku said simply, but that word was enough to end the argument. He stood, gesturing towards the doorway where the airlock had finished cycling. "This is not the time for this discussion, a discussion moreover which has been gone over and over and will continue to dominate the minds of Jedi Masters both here and elsewhere. I know this, but now is not the time for it."

"I personally recognize both that Knight Ti was allowed to take her Oath in the Old Way, and has grown in the Force since meeting Ranma, and I further recognize Ranma both as an ally of the Order and personally. That, and the fact that the Council has given me command of this mission is enough for now. I asked all of you before we joined if you had a problem with working with Ranma, you all answered that you did not."

His eyes swept the room, and he went on slowly. "If you wish to go back on that, then arrangements can be made to leave you here in the other _Consular_ class. You can remain there until we are finished our mission. To put it bluntly, with the abilities of his ship, and the fact we might be facing this Dark Side user again who seemingly has been able to reverse engineer some of Ranma's techniques, Ranma is more important to this mission than any of you. Do I make myself clear?"

The Dark Woman would have argued further, both for the sake of argument and because she had never really gotten on with Dooku, thinking him too arrogant and too quick to go his own way rather than follow the will of the Force. But she subsided instead, the Force not having really told her one way or the other where to go concerning Ranma. Indeed, any visions of the future or attempt to discern long reaching answers to questions of that nature were becoming more and more difficult even for her.

"Good," Dooku said, looking up as the inner airlock opened. He paused, looking past Master Piell to a young boy who most definitely should not have been there. "Master Piell, you seem to have had a stowaway."

Piell, Violeta and Kit both looked as abashed as Jedi could for a moment. Anakin had somehow gotten from the Jedi temple across the city and onto Kit's ship the night before. Piell eventually found him, but only after the ship had already entered hyperspace, a fact all three of them were rather castigating themselves for, not having felt his presence with their Force senses before that.

Ranma, Obi, Padme and Shaak stared at Anakin. instead of looking abashed himself, or even defiant Anakin simply looked like sure of himself, like he was right where he wanted to be, looking at them all before his eyes locked on Padme with a fixation that Ranma found… odd in one so young.

The Dark Woman moved over to him, staring down at him before smacking him upside the head hard. "A Jedi does not allow arrogance to cloud his actions, a Jedi does not allow his personal belief, or in this case I think hormones, to sway them. You are arrogant young man, that arrogance will not serve you as a Jedi do I make myself clear? When we return, you will be reprimanded most harshly for this!"

"I already said I'd agree to any punishment you all would give me." Anakin griped, holding his head and glaring up at the older woman for a moment before subsiding quickly as she made to raise her hand again.

The Dark Woman was known as harsh teacher, but a good one for all of that. She smiled at him, her hand lowering quickly as he seemed to take his her lesson to heart and he went on. "But I feel the Force wants me here for some reason."

"While I appreciate the sentiment and realize you might have the reflexes and even a connection to the Force that could help us, you don't have any experience in war, or even combat. You might think the Force wants you here, but surely any task you can do could be done just as easily by one of these other Jedi." Padme said, shaking her head. "I'm disappointed that you would stow away like that, leave the temple and your new studies, just because you felt you had to help me."

While Anakin scowled at Padme not being as thankful as he felt she should be the Jedi Masters all exchanged glances, taking the boy much more seriously than Padme, and the Dark Woman asked "Describe that feeling."

The boy did, and the Dark Woman looked at Piell and nodded her head slowly. Of them all, she was the most used to following the vagaries of the Force and knew how to recognize the feeling. "It does appear as if he was guided. I cannot fathom why, but he was. That doesn't mean you won't be punished later for sneaking off, but since we're stuck with you, I can't see any reason to fight it right now."

"With all of these interruptions done with can we get back to the matter at hand?" Dooku asked wearily. He gestured, and that newcomers all set down on the floor or the circular sofa facing the hologram device in the middle of the room. As they did an image appeared of Naboo and the space around it. "This is our latest intelligence on Naboo and the blockade. What I propose is…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Reaching over his new desk now-Chancellor Palpatine shook hands with the Corellian Senator Garm Bel Iblis. "Thank you once again for aiding my people."

"So long as you follow through with backing Corellia being added to the Arming Rights Act, we have in agreement. Though I have no idea how you're going to get the sectors between mine and the blue planet to agree to allowing our fleet passage."

Garm was a near to middle-aged man whose body and bearing showed a lifetime of military training, not softened at all by his appointment as the Corellian sector senator to the Republic. He wasn't as good at the political game as some, but was known as a staunch Corellian patriot, willing to do whatever he had to protect the sector, and the system's interests. Even including working with a man who he didn't really get along with like Sheev, not really moving in the same social circles or having any similar interests.

Sheev smiled mischievously. "I have already gotten two of them to agree to it, so long as they don't have to add their own ships or supply yours. Frankly there are many senators who want the Trade Federation brought to heel but who do not have the resources or the will to do it themselves.

He shook his head. "And there are of course others who will back the Trade Federation regardless of everything else. Say what you will but at least those senators once bought stay bought."

The Corellian chuckled grimly, shaking his head lightly. "More power to you then Chancellor for dealing with them all. I'd hate to have to deal with all that, I have enough problems in my own sector thank you."

Palpatine smiled, though unbeknownst to the other man it wasn't at his joke, but the wording Garm had used in his first comment. _'More power' to me is it, oh yes, much more in time._ "In any event, let us call Senator Antilles in, and we can both sign the agreement. And you can send out the orders by the end of the day?"

"By the end of the hour," the man replied swiftly. "Time is of the essence of course, even with hyperspace lanes we can't travel that large a distance quickly and the Jedi will need our help."

"Indeed, I am still wondering why my queen was so adamant about leaving so quickly but she seems to think there is a military presence in place that could be called upon. I have no idea what that force could be, but I believe that the Jedi and the Queen will thank you for this."

Palpatine was actually telling the truth for once there, he really didn't know where Amidala was going to come up with any kind of local resistance. Naboo was a near pacifistic world: it didn't have any large-scale weapons depots or even a large police force. It did have a small and rather elite starfighter corps, but that wouldn't be enough to turn the tide on the surface let alone in space. He was in fact certain that Amidala had showed her naïveté in this, relying more on the Jedi and simply bluffing about having another local power to call upon. And if that was the case, even more Jedi would die which was all to the good.

Moments later the two of them were joined by another man. Younger than either of them, Senator Antilles of Alderaan was the head of the Senate's anticorruption committee. A task many had remarked which should have added gray hairs to his face, yet for all that he was young, energetic, and **utterly** incorruptible. Of course being incorruptible also made him somewhat predictable and thus usable to Palpatine.

The three of them made small talk as their aides went through the verbiage for the agreement, and eventually all three of them signed the agreement with Antilles signing under the witness bracket, and Palpatine signing as Chancellor of the Republic. He'd have preferred not to, but having Iblis' signature and the ways he could use this move later were too intriguing to pass up due to his own healthy paranoia.

After signing, Palpatine shook hands with Iblis and Antilles in turn before walking both men and their aides out of his office. With them gone he returned to his desk, swiveling around to stare out over the view behind it, the entire back wall of his office being dominated by windows. It didn't give him a view of his enemies or their so-precious temple, but it did show him the entire Senate District, his place of power now. Rather more openly then it had been before but still **his**.

 _The Corellians will play their part, and will be used as such. Adding their name to the Arming Rights Act is irritating, but it actually strengthens my secondary plans going forward. I'll have to be careful of course to create local aggression against the Jedi in Corellia as well as it in the other worlds where they are attempting to set up their secondary temples, not just in the Core Worlds. Kashyyyk is probably a lost cause in that area of course given Yoda's direct involvement and his close relationship with the Wookies, but they're an alien species anyway, more beast than intelligent creature. Corellia however is a different matter entirely, it has a large human element, and is therefore of value as well as use._

He glanced at a chronometer, nodding his head lightly. He had time enough to get that last agreement dealt with, to sow the seeds once again of the anti-human movement and a little bit more before the Jedi were due at Naboo. He wanted to be fully immersed in the Force in his place of power before then, so he could feel out the action as well as he could from this distance while it was occurring.

Getting that final agreement took another hour as he expected. By the end of that meeting the senator in question firmly believed that both there was a human anti-alien movement growing, and that Palpatine wasn't part of it and was in fact a partisan of his, solidifying Palpatine's power even further. After doing so, Palpatine made his way into his rooms.

Inputting the special code on the incredibly well hidden control panel he stepped into the recessed elevator which carried him slightly down into what was a solid bastion of the outer wall of the tower on the map, but was in fact his hidden throne room. As he did, Palpatine made a mental note to connect the room to his new office, it would not do to have to always travel to his personal rooms to enter his place of power after all.

Disposing of his senatorial robes, Palpatine sighed faintly as he pulled on his far simpler Sith robes. Doing so, he left behind Sheev Palpatine new Chancellor of the Republic becoming fully Darth Sidious. Striding forward the dark of the room welcomed him almost as if it was an animal coming at its Master's call.

He sat in his throne, and began to reach out with the Force into the Veil of the Dark Side for a moment, before stopping, noticing one of his message devices blinking. With a flick of Force power he activated it. "You have a report." He said, both statement and threat in one.

"Yes sir, the bounty Hunter Jango Fett has succeeded in capturing your target. We have physical evidence of the capture and he is asking where he needs to bring her to receive payment."

"Excellent, tell him to bring the prisoner directly to Coruscant, route number three on the alpha list. He will be met at the landing bay by a few droids under my command along with his payment for this task. Well done, I will allow a ten percent increase in your pay and those of your people."

He ignored the other individual's profuse thanks. Money talked, and Sidious had long Mastered the electronic means with which money could be changed from one account to another and using it for his own ends. It wasn't out of a sense of fondness or even loyalty to his underlings that he did so: it was simply using one tool to make certain other tools continued to be of maximum use.

He thought for a moment, but did not reach out to the Force directly, instead gesturing. A small droid moved over the floor, its four legs clicking almost sinisterly as it did. Sidious programmed it for a moment then sent it on its way, watching as it moved over to another droid and was picked up quickly, its legs folding into it's body.

With that done he at last leaned back smiling faintly. _Another piece is on the board and ready to be of use. With Fett having proved himself, I will send him to the Kamino, and we can begin that phase of the grand plan. The virus I inputted into the Jedi Order's computers a few months ago will have already done their work of course._

 _However, I will need to remove Sifo-Dyas soon, his task is done, and it would not be good to let him return to Coruscant where he might confide in Dooku about what he has done too soon. Hmm, the timing isn't right, pity, I had hoped to use his death as a test of my new tool or perhaps the Weequay, but I have other means to remove him. For now, best to leave that thought to simmer._

"But now," he said aloud, his voice echoing back at him through the darkness of the room. "Now for the first battle of the Rise of the Sith. Let the fall of the Jedi begin."

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Dooku's plan to run the blockade around Naboo was simple, but effective. Master Koon would lead the four Jedi starfighters, along with Ranma and Shaak in the _Wild Light_ aimed directly towards the airspace over Naboo's capital of Theed. It would seem like an assault drop or perhaps a more heavily armed version of the Jedi's first attempt at a diplomatic intervention with Koon broadcasting calls to that effect.

This was a feint. The Jedi had no desire to actually put down within Theed itself just yet, attacking an opponent where he was surely his strongest was a stupid and reckless tactic even if it might cut down on the time a campaign could take. And the Jedi were certain that no further diplomatic overtures would work here, though it was unclear if the Trade Federation would realize that, hence that little bit of subterfuge.

At the same time, Dooku's ship and the other _Consular_ class would come out of hyperspace facing the other side of the planet. They would make planet fall from an angle where the ships in orbit over Theed could not see them, heading to put down at one of the known Gungan cities rather than one of the spaceports.

This of course forced them to make a series of short jumps to get in position, a bare two hours since all the jumps were so short. Yet Tune informed him that just because the jumps were short did not make them easy, and Ranma made a note to find out more about astrogation in the future.

The _Wild Light_ came out of hyperspace switching to sublight engines racing after the Jedi starfighters who spread out in a limited diamond formation. Master Koon took the lead, with Tiin above and behind him and the other two equal with Tiin on either side of Koon along the same plain. The _Wild Light_ moved into the center of their formation.

"All shields at full power, all weapons online." Shaak murmured, taking control of one of the guns herself this time. The two of them had talked about it, actually having a small argument, but eventually they had agreed that Ranma needed to get in some practice piloting. Ranma had pushed for that to occur during this stage of the operation, which Shaak had eventually acknowledged made sense, since the next part would be a pitched battle rather than a quick skirmish.

HK was once again hooked up into the systems, labeling threats and using the other pulse lasers. From the astromech station Tune manned the communication gear, the ECM, and ECCM, which wasn't much in this battle, though the two droids had talked about some kind of offensive tactic there.

"Remember HK, we don't want to use our hidden weapons just yet, not in this part of the engagement. When we come in later we'll use them to take down the capital ships, this time we're just trying to pull them out of position." Ranma warned.

"Sarcastic response: Of course Master, and would you like to tell me how to operate my own optical sensors? I am aware of common tactics and strategy, this is not the first time I've been to war after all."

As they sped towards the blue white marble that was Naboo Shaak decided to ask, "So have you figured out any more of your long-term memories HK?"

"Irritated chagrin: No mistress, whatever damaged me enough to send me into hibernation mode also almost entirely destroyed my long-term memory banks. I have brief flashes of memory, I know for a fact that this is not the first time I served under a Jedi, though I have no information in my databanks about techniques like yours, or your curse Mastress."

"You just combined the words Master and mistress." Ranma interrupted deadpan. "That's not actually as clever as you think it is. Nevermind that for now, we're coming up on turnover. Tune, input the song 'Danger Zone'."

"I thought I said no to theme music." Shaak murmured, but she did not further object, indeed her purple lips quirked as the song started to boom through the internal speakers She reached out lightly with the Force, tapping into the outer edge of Ranma's mind allowing his understanding of the words to transfer via the Jedi's mental translation ability.

Ahead of them the droid-piloted Trade Federation starfighters had boiled out of their containing motherships, hundreds of them per ship, small Vulture class starfighters. Somewhat flat ships with twin pronged wings sweeping forward of the main fuselagewith four forward facing lasers at the front, they also were armed with energy torpedoes, fast bolts of heavy fusion plasma held in a magnetic bottle which could be shot straight ahead of the ship. They had no lock on ability, but packed a decent punch. The vultures didn't have shields, but there again there were thousands of them.

Indeed, the ships in orbit could have put even more ships into the battle if they had wished, but they didn't for various reasons. Arrogance was one. There were only five ships attacking them after all. The other was the need to conserve the solid-state fuel the Vultures ran on, which only allowed for 35 minutes of flight time. And the third was the major weakness all the droids of the Trade Federation army had: the need to rely on their control ship to do much of their higher end thinking.

Shaak closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out through the Force to the other Jedi ahead of them in their Sprites, waiting for Master Koon's order.

"A Trade Federation representative is calling mistress, Master," Tune said over the song. "He is demanding we stop or we will be fired upon. Master Koon has radioed back, saying that the Trade Federation embargo of the planet is illegal, and they need to come to the arbitration table or be fired upon in turn."

"Disgusted comment: That never works. Why do people always think that they get so much with sweet things when the stick is always more applicable? Speaking of, the starfighters ahead of us are powering up main weapons and entering firing range in five, four, three…"

"Now," Shaak said calmly, and the _Wild Light_ bucked underneath them going to full power as the four Sprites ahead of them swerved around to either side. The quad lasers of the _Wild Light_ opened up at a little bit beyond the Vulture's range, destroying fifteen fighters before they could recalibrate to target on the _Wild Light_ rather than the Jedi fighters as it banked left hard. Their movements however were much faster than their tactical understanding, and the swarm opened up swiftly enveloping the attackers.

Now entering the Vulture's ranges, the shields of the _Wild Light_ sparkled briefly underneath their fire before Ranma could break off their targeting locks, juking left and right, their energy torpedoes flashing through the space the _Wild Light_ had previously occupied. Without those, the Vultures didn't have enough firepower to get through the _Wild Light_ 's shielding.

In fact the shields didn't even dim underneath that brief moment where the front runners all concentrated on the Mon-Calamari designed ship, during which Shaak and HK killed a further twenty. The Vultures having no shielding of their own made them easy meat against the quad lasers, whose swift rate of fire and lock on time made them excellent anti-fighter weapons.

The Sprites came around again, having banked up and around, now slashing in on their own attack runs before the Vultures with their limited computational ability could recover. But there were hundreds of the damn things, and despite this initial success the battle soon devolved into a desperate melee at the edge of Naboo's gravity well.

The Jedi moved in the odd synchronicity that the Force allowed them, each one of them defending or attacking moving around one another in a way that only the most tightly drilled and trained starfighter pilots could've made possible, slashing in and out of the huge mass of enemy Vulture's killing several of them in those first few minutes. They moved so fast and so wildly that the Vulture's limited systems couldn't lock on to them fast enough to fire, forcing the droids to use unaimed fire. And those Vultures which had already shot off their energy torpedoes moved noticeably slower, their systems recovering slowly from the energy drain.

But the Sprite's shielding was not up to taking even the glancing blows they were taking now from the vast number of droids around them. While the _Wild Light_ was pretty much simply shaking off any blow which tagged them despite Ranma's piloting, the Jedi starfighters were noticeably taking a pounding their shields dimming on Tune's sensors as he kept up a running monologue.

Plo Koon knew this and around the same time the song ended in the background the Jedi peeled off into the engagement, turning and running for the outer edge of the system where there was a small asteroid belt which helped fuel Naboo's economy rather than entering hyperspace. The various asteroid bases and in-system ships had already been demolished by the Trade Federation by this point, but the asteroid field itself would allow them to hide for a time against the Vultures. Like the TF's infantry droids, the Vultures could not run for very long or very far from their control ships, their online logic centers and internal power not designed for that.

Ranma maneuvered _Wild Light_ into a position where they guarded the back of one of the more heavily damaged Jedi starfighters, the one reading as Master Tiin's who had taken a few blows meant for one of the others, including a proton torpedo that had slammed into his shields but whose payload hadn't had time to arm before impact. With HK and Shaak twisting the controls for the quad lasers entirely around so that they guarded the ship's aft portion destroying yet more Vulture's, Ranma flipped and cavorted all around, keeping the _Wild Light_ between the Jedi starfighter and their pursuers.

"Tune, how many of those starfighters are coming after us?" Ranma asked.

"Apparently all of them Master, my analysis indicates however that they will have to turn back soon, or move out of radio range of the control ships. They might still come on for a time on inboard control, but given what we did to them when they had access to the somewhat more sophisticated control computers, I doubt their overseers will allow that."

"Angry mutter: Honestly, if this is the type of fight I would get from these so-called combat droids on the ground, I'm thankful I don't have a body. It would literally be a waste of a blaster bolt to kill them."

"Do try to keep your bile down HK," Shaak replied, slewing her gun around to destroy another starfighter before moving it back to another position as Ranma flipped them up allowing her to get a second and a third kill in quick succession. "How much time before Master Dooku jumps in?"

"Master Dooku has already jumped in mistress. They appeared on the other side of the planet and are currently heading into the atmosphere." Tune replied.

"If they're on our radar, aren't they on the Trade Federation's?" Ranma asked.

"No Master, we're far enough away from the planet now to see further around it. The Trade Federation motherships have not moved from their position over Theed, and their starfighters have **very** limited radar envelopes. I estimate they are only about a fourth of the range of the Sprite's, which in turn are limited by their size."

"That's it then." Ranma looked over at Shaak for a moment before going back to his piloting. "Radio Plo?"

"He already knows Ranma," said Shaak, smirking as the feeling of satisfaction she was getting from her fellow Jedi. On her screen the Jedi starfighters began to put more power into their shields and engines, pulling even further away from the Vultures. All four were badly battered around the edges, their shields dipping well into the red from this small skirmish despite pushing more power to them from the weapons. Even _Wild Light_ 's shielding was starting to go into the yellow thanks to the sheer amount of fire and one energy torpedo which had tagged them.

"Now if you were in charge over there Tune, when would you… never mind." Shaak said, as suddenly several dozen of the Vultures nearest them began to peel away from the retreating Jedi as if they had reached a invisible line in space they couldn't go past. All of the others turned quickly after that, returning to their motherships.

Ranma smiled, shifting slightly to the side to smack his shoulder against Shaak's. "Well, that's our part in this whole mission done with, for now anyway. Let's hope Dooku and Padme are as good at diplomacy as they seem to think."

"I have faith in their ability." Shaak said with a smile. "Did the ship take any damage? I noticed us getting hit at the end there when we moved to cover Master Tiin."

"Not a bit of it." Ranma laughed, shaking his head. He gestured to the screen, and Shaak looked to see the shields already back up into the green. They weren't far into the green, but the color was growing steadily stronger as she watched. "The Mon Calamari believe in a lot of redundancy, and remember the _Wild Light_ 's got five onboard generators just for the shields. Allows for a lot more energy devoted to them, and the recovery rate is phenomenal."

"Definitely going to have to talk to Master Yoda about commissioning some of these for the Jedi Order, the initial expense might be high, but in the long term…" Shaak said, smiling faintly. "Even starfighters based off the same philosophy would be a good investment if they save Jedi lives."

Soon the _Wild Light_ and the Jedi had reached the outer edge of the asteroid belt, and Ranma began to direct them towards the largest asteroid in view, one which had apparently been home to a mining concern before the invasion. While its buildings and the giant dome over them were now lifeless, opened to space, this just allowed the _Wild Light_ to enter the dome, along with the other Jedi starfighters hiding their energy signatures within it from even a close range sensor scan.

There was a series of clicks against the hull as the Jedi starfighters all shot out small grappling hooks, connecting to the _Wild Light_ here and there before reeling themselves in until small magnetic grapnels connected them to the larger vessel. Then they began the arduous task of moving through space towards the _Wild Light_ , where all of them would remain until they got the signal to return to the planet for the next stage of their side of this operation. Of course the Jedi could've stayed in their cockpits, entering a meditation style to limit the amount of food and drink they would require, but why should they do that when all of them had spacesuits, and the _Wild Light_ to spend time in instead?

Jaq was the last to join them, having to repair some damage to the exterior of his ship before making his way over to them. Tune, as an astromech droid was capable of doing such repairs, and would be busy going over all the ships for the next few hours. Indeed he passed Jaq as the human knight entered the airlock, heading out to start on that already.

The knight moved to join the others on the coach, shaking his sweat streaked head as he reached into a pocket of his overalls and pulled out a deck of cards. "So, anyone want to play?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Standing in the Viceroy's control center in the palace, Maul smiled thinly, opening his yellow eyes to look at the Neimodian. "They are here."

"Nonsense," Gunray blustered. "You saw them, the Jedi turned tail and ran! Our Vultures might not have performed up to spec, and our control programming will obviously have to be overhauled, but even so, they didn't bring enough force to break through our blockade!"

Maul decided he'd have to explain reality once more. "They pulled you out of position. Two more ships with more Jedi arrived on planet somewhere on the other side. They will come, they will come **here**. The command and control weakness in your droid army is easy to see, and that will allow me to dictate the battlefield on the ground."

He paused for a moment scowling, he hated talking to fools like this, even his Masters tools, but a bit more orders seemed necessary here. "They will have to do something to draw off your droid army, be prepared for that."

The Viceroy stared after Maul as he exited the room, before turning and moving toward the windows, staring out at Theed, a beautiful if rather old city. But the vista did nothing to calm his mind right now.

He didn't like this. He did not like this assassin the Dark Lord had sent, he was too imperious, too certain. Worse this escalation could only end one way: the Senate would eventually see this as an attack on their own power, and after that would no longer be concerned with their own smaller parts of the pie, only in conserving the entirety.

"You seem concerned my friend," said a soft voice, and he looked up his heart racing at his control chair's communication device, which had activated on its own. The hologram of the dark Lord of the Sith stared at him, its features obscured by his hood as always. Even Nute didn't know who the man really was.

But at the moment neither that mystery nor the smaller mystery of how the communicator had activated without his input mattered. "T, this has gone too far!" he said, fear not only for himself but for the Trade Federation of as a whole fueling his words. "Your apprentice, he is ecstatic that the Jedi are here, b-but if we fight Jedi…"

"Jedi will die, and you will know how strong your droid army is, what weaknesses there are beyond the obvious, and how to correct them." The man on the other side said calmly. "Do not worry, you know we have already prepared the groundwork to protect your personal position and the Trade Federation as a whole is too important to be threatened by this. Your opponents and the other 'extremists' among the Neimodians and on the Directorate will be painted as the ones who pushed for this invasion, with you being an unwilling participant, your own position appearing to be that of a figurehead at this point. You, my friend, will come out of this with more personal power and your enemies within the Federation crushed."

Greed almost overcame Nute's fear at that, not quite but almost. "But, but I am involved personally now, how…"

Again Sidious' voice was almost soothing, reaching across the lightyears to stroke the man's thoughts almost a Force power all in it's own but not quite. He had no need to crack the whip over Gunray now, not with Maul no doubt having been his usual frightening self. "You got involved personally to keep the extremists from too many atrocities, you have retrieved most of the Nabooan's you captured to ship off-world have you not? There have been no true massacres ever since you arrived on-planet."

Gunray nodded and Sidious went on, hating the fact he needed this coward, but after this, Gunray would be too indebted with him to even dream of acting against him. "You see, you again will come out looking like a moderate **forced** to take this action." The Trade Federation's reputation may be tarnished somewhat, as your race's will be of course, but you personally will not be. Calm down my friend, this plan has been long in the making, regardless of whatever wild card has been added to the deck, it is still my game, and the pieces can but move as I will them…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Dooku smiled lightly as Padme's words, and her lack of arrogance, swayed Boss Nass. It had been an amazing ploy with a high payoff though he had been worried she was expecting too much of her own skills to sway the standoffish Gungans, who had every reason to be resentful towards Naboo's human inhabitants. But it seemed as if it had worked, Boss Nass seeming astonished at her bowing before him as she had, though Panaka looked as if he had swallowed a lemon.

As Padme gestured toward the group of Jedi, Dooku knew his cue and stepped forward, bowing politely. "Greeting Boss Nass. I am Master Dooku, and I am the leader of these Jedi behind me. We have the beginnings of a plan, but we require more in the way of information before finalizing anything."

To one side Anakin watched, having frowned as he watched Padme prostrate herself before the fat if jovial Gungan, so unlike Jar-Jar in every respect save his accent in Standard. Still, it seemed to have worked and that was the important thing.

It turned out however that Padme's initial plan, to try and sneak and capture the Viceroy where he had ensconced himself in her palace while the Gungans drew off the droid army, needed some work. The Gungans had detected that all the ships in orbit were capable of radioing commands down to the droid troops on the planet, the control center in Theed was simpler closer, not more powerful. The Viceroy however was still the primary target.

For their part of the operation, Piell and his team would infiltrate Theed in one large group before breaking up to assault their disparate targets. The only three who would remain with Master Dooku were Yaddle, Jerec and Brand. Now with the Gungan aid secured some of the Masters questioned this allocation of their numbers, but Dooku shook his head. "If this Dark Side user is going to appear, he will do so in one of two places, either on the battlefield with the majority of the Trade Federation's army, or defending the Viceroy in his new palace."

"If he appears on the battlefield, myself and Master Yaddle will be able to handle him." Dooku exchanged a look with the far shorter Jedi Master, who nodded her head gravely.

Yaddle had followed up on Yoda's orders to go through the records to see if she could find hints to any old skills that had been forgotten or not passed on in ages past among the Order. Ionize was one such skill, but it wasn't the only one. Her most recent find was a Light-based power called simply Force Light. If it worked as the hints she had put together said it should the skill would cripple any nearby Dark Side user. Beyond that, Dooku was certain his own skills would suffice to match the tattooed Zabrak.

"But if he appears somewhere in the capital, you will need numbers behind you, you have two different objectives which will force you to split up, thus your initial strength needs to be all the stronger. I could wish that Ranma was already on station here with us, but he'll be needed in the _Wild Light_ for at least the initial orbital assault."

Master Koth and the Dark Woman looked affronted at that as did several of the others who hadn't seen Ranma in action, irritated that Master Dooku felt they would need an outsiders help for dealing with the Dark Side user. Even after listening to Obi-Wan explain how the Zabrak had overwhelmed him and Qui-Gon they weren't used to the idea that there was someone out there tougher, stronger and quite frankly **better** at combat than them. That was of course a downside to the Guardian mindset, Dooku reflected.

But Piell spoke up nodding his head, showing once again the odd humility that had seemingly overcome him in recent weeks. "It is true we will need all of us to take on this Dark Side user. And remember what we were told, beware his strange weapon, and prepare yourself for the feeling of him in the Force."

With Master Yaddle nodding, even the Dark Woman was forced to acknowledge the seriousness of the threat the Dark Side user represented. "Let's get on with this then," she said gruffly. "The Force waits for no sentient."

Master Dooku nodded at her, and to the others around the circle. "May the Force be with us all."

With Padme's guards and a few Gungans helping them, Obi-Wan and the others were able to slip into Theed's small harbor that very night. Once in place, they hid themselves away for a time, hidden as much by physical means as by Force Stealth, waiting for the signal from Master Dooku that the droid army had moved out of the city to engage him.

That aspect of Master Dooku's overall strategy was, as had their running the blockade, based on deception. The Gungans set up a few dozen squads of their army along with several devices that imitated the heat signatures, noise levels and other things of an army being assembled a few hundred leagues away from the city in an area where swampland became plains in one direction and high cliffs in another. The cliffs were a logical place for the Gungans, who relied on primitive-seeming catapults for their long range punch, to set up. So the nearby swamps was an obvious place for the amphibian Gungans to gather their army before pushing to the cliffs, if you thought like a surface dweller at least.

In actuality, the Gungans had done all the gathering of their army they needed **underneath** the water, and the majority of their forces were waiting off shore where the ocean met a jungle to the north of the swamps, the water hiding their movement, heat and energy signatures. Of course there was still a danger that they would be spotted there, but Yaddle led a group of Gungan scouts out that night seeking out the few patrols between their chosen battlefield and the army.

These were few and far between, the Trade Federation was overconfident, or perhaps simply didn't have enough information about the Gungans to understand they could be a real threat. Most of the occupation force was centered in Theed and the next four largest Nabooan cities keeping the populace in line in those cities. Theed itself had suffered the most in the occupation, with dozens of buildings destroyed to create security zones, and thousands of its citizens rounded up and sent off-world to be sold into slaves. Hundreds more had simply been killed when they tried to fight the invaders.

Near dawn Master Dooku pulled himself up out of the water, pulling off his rebreather and handing it to a Gungan as he nodded his head at Boss Nass. The two of them waited there in the dark, until Yaddle suddenly flowed out of the nighttime jungle, sitting down between them as if she had always been there. "The Trade Federation had few scouts in the plains between here and the city, and what they have are now gone."

Dooku nodded, a grim smile appearing on his aged face as he stretched lightly, smirking internally. Following up on the exercises he and Ranma had done as well as the speed exercises that he had gleaned from watching Ranma in action had a decidedly pleasant side-effect. Not only was his Living Force beginning to grow, slower than Shaak Ti's to be certain, but he also felt in the best shape he'd been in years. Anticipation roiled within him, and he dearly hoped that the Dark Side user was foolish enough to take the gauntlet he was going to throw down the moment this fight began.

Beside him the fat but powerfully built Gungan grinned, reaching over and clapping his hand on Dooku's back. "Then we's be ready!" he said chortling happily. "This gonna be a big fight!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Standing to one side of Nute Gunray's control center Maul's eyes narrowed under his hood. There was something wrong here. Oh, it was obvious that the Gungan army was being used as a decoy but he would not have thought that the Jedi would have been so lackadaisical with other people's lives. Their so-called moral stance should've meant this was impossible.

 _Too obvious, a trap within a trap then? The droids will leave the city, but the obvious target is but a feint of some kind. But then where are the rest of the Jedi? Hidden under their stealth, but here in the city, doing as they always have or out in the army?_

Maul thought for a moment, his entire body still as he pondered before deciding. _No, they will be close, regardless what I can sense now. The Jedi will never change, always believing that removing the head of their enemies makes the enemy submit, fools. Of course thanks to the number of control centers here they will find that an impossible task._

As the Viceroy's aid began to bellow orders Maul idly wondered where Nute himself was, but put that aside to turn to one of his helpers. "Are your people ready?" He said his yellow eyes gleaming under his hood as he turned away.

The figure in the shadows behind him nodded the voice gruff, hard edged and angry. "We're ready, so're the droids."

Maul nodded wordlessly, and the two of them exited the room. As they did,Maul stopped for a moment stretching out his senses into the Force. He wasn't nearly as good at sensing other Force users as his Master was, he had always concentrated more on the combat arts. But he was **far** better at hiding his presence even when using his powers than any Jedi, and he wasn't actually looking for the Jedi.

He stopped after only a second, his lips splitting into a snarling sneer of a smile as he felt not the Jedi, but the mind of Padme Amidala, which he had felt on Tatooine. Her presence in the Force wasn't quite like that of a Jedi but it was distinctive, a bright shining thing even without any Force power behind it. Another Force user would have wondered about what that could mean, indeed many Jedi who she had interacted with had done so without coming to any answer.

But Maul couldn't care less about that, only what her presence meant. _The Jedi are here. They have come to die._

 **OOOOOOO**

The Trade Federation army mobilized. B1 class battle droids detached themselves from their couplings in warehouses that the Trade Federation had taken over after securing control of the capital. Others came down from orbit in C-9979 Landing Craft, gantries folding out from their sides each of them carrying hundreds of droids on their frames, the droids detaching immediately. Dozens of Armored Assault Tanks, or AAT-1s, and troop transports rolled out from other landing craft. It took about three hours for the entirety of the robotic army, two full corps, to be assembled and on the move towards where the Gungans were apparently bringing their army together.

STAPs, Single Trooper Assault Platforms acted like the scouts of the army, moving around the army's sides and well in front of its marching ranks. These tiny hover platforms had formed the backbone of the occupation force, keeping the Nabooans from revolting, policing the streets of Theed and the other occupied cities. They also made for excellent scout vehicles, in which function they were acting now, their electronic brains warning them to be wary of traps, combing the ground with their scanners.

The reason for this was simple: both tanks and troop transports were susceptible to mines and other attacks from directly below them. The programmers for these droids might not have done very well in terms of individual combat ability, but their army tactics were somewhat better.

Those droids were scanning every kind of frequency they could, looking into the ground and everywhere else, looking for sensors or anything that could set off explosive devices along with odd pockets of metal and other material that could be the actual explosives. But they ran into trouble almost immediately.

Master Yaddle leapt out from where she had been hiding in a tree, her hand lashing out with the Force power called Ionize. It was not, as many among those who knew about it thought, the Light Side version of Sith Lightning. Indeed Ionize could barely harm leaving flesh, but it was incredibly deadly to anything electronic, almost like a concentrated EMP blast so powerful it could smash through any kind of hardened shielding in a blast of purple lightning.

Seven STAPs in Yaddle's line of sight fell, the purple lightning leaping from one to another, and she disappeared again backwards into the brush, cloaking herself with the Force to a degree that very few in the Jedi Order could've matched. She was not quite fast enough, and several dozen more skimmers moved in his direction, their double-barreled blasters powering up.

In response several other Gungans popped up then in a prepared ambush. Each Gungan was armed with a primitive seeming sling, which hurled not rocks but booma balls, pressurized blue plasma held in a glass ball which burst when it hit the target. These struck with the impact of a blaster's plasma bolts, smashing several STAPs down.

Two of the Gungans ran towards where Yaddle was, and she nodded at them. "Time to leave, it is." As they moved off, she radioed Dooku. "Moving back towards the swamps we are, further baited the trap, we have." Elsewhere similar ambushes led by Jerec and Brand did just as well, and suddenly the advancing droid army was nearly blind in the direction of its march.

In response the droid army began to mobilize even faster, several tanks moving ahead of the rest of the army, with dozens of infantry droids clinging to their sides as they moved ahead of the slower and far less mobile shield generator devices. Their tiny robotic brains told them that this was but a skirmish, a holding action to keep the army away from the mobilization center, to allow the enemy to prepare a defense. The proper tactic therefore was to burst through and take the enemy before they could finish organizing.

A living, intelligent enemy would not have done so. They would have wondered what was going on that they didn't know about and they would have not pulled all of their Scouts from their sides towards the front. Which this army now did, moving the scouts spread out along its flanks forward to join the fast moving assault force.

Soon enough the droid army's fast assault unit reached the edge of the swamp, where they began to take fire from the defenders there. The infantry droids fell off their tanks, moving forward in lines as they began to fire blindly into the swamps ahead of them.

No droid in this army would ever win prizes for its marksmanship, but the sheer amount of fire even this small a force could put out was impressive. The defenders kept their heads down as the tanks moved up and began to pound the swamp, large bolts of energy blasting into the swamp-land incinerating trees or plowing into water.

This didn't really do much. Tanks were not the proper weapon for a fight in a swamp. The defenders kept their heads down, returning fire when they could, but more importantly staying alive. They would have to retreat when the infantry came up in numbers as they'd had to when Otoh Gunga was invaded, but they could hold until then. But the infantry would be able to move through the swamp even better than the Gungans, so long as their feet could touch the ground and their heads remain above it.

Here and there defenders further back from the start of the swamp fired back with their atlatls, hurling small boomas with great effect against the STAPs. The Grand Army's massive catapults, hidden well beyond the swamp's edges began to throw their cargo of huge boomas into the air towards the attackers, nearby shields sputtering into life to protect them.

One of the tanks was hit dead on and exploded in a burst of fire. Another was close enough to lose half its repulsors from another blast. Yet even as it plowed sideways into the ground it joined it's still upright fellows and began to fire back trying to target the catapults.

Behind this fast reaction force came the bulk of the droid army. Thousands of droids began to move forward catching up with their fellows now, firing in echelons as they came into range of the outer edge of the swamp pushing the defenders back. Behind them the troop transports ground to a halt, but did not disgorge their troops yet.

Even the swamp water and brush couldn't protect them from that weight of fire. Two of the catapults were hit by tank shells exploding in fire before their shields could power up. Despite this the defenders had only taken a few casualties thus far. Nor had the droids actually seen anything like the army their sensors told them was gathering in that swamp.

Before the droid's electronic brains could question that however, Dooku let loose his main thrust.

Dooku himself strode out of the jungle to the North, looking through a pair of binoculars. At the far edge of his senses he could feel the troop transports moving forward. Only a few of them were within range of the initial trap, but it would be enough and Dooku smiled grimly he pressed a small transceiver at his belt.

The buried munitions which should've been found by the scouts that had been pulled from the flanks of the droid army towards the front exploded at his command, taking with them several columns of droids on that side along with two troop transports outright. One mine detonated underneath one of the troop transports, destroying it, the massive metal form tilting sideways to smash into the troop transport directly next to it.

That troop transport also began to list, its repulsors unable to take the strain put on them by the weight of its grievously wounded fellow, knocking it sideways into a third. That third was pushed directly over the last mine, which exploded, causing sympathetic explosions in the troop transports engines, destroying all there. Within seconds, the entire flank of the droid army had been shattered.

Seeing this through his binoculars, Dooku blinked a little then shook his head. "That was a bit more spectacular than I anticipated."

"Now wesa follow it up!" Next to him on his palanquin Boss Nass grinned evilly then raised a conch shell to his mouth blowing the charge.

From out of the jungle behind Dooku came the vast majority of the Gungan Grand Army. They combined old-fashioned spearmen, slingers, a force of cavalry on actual animals and a few scattered shield generators to protect several dozen barely mobile catapults.

All of them armed with weapons that could damage or destroy battle droids. In the case of the spearmen these wee spears contained electric shockers powered by boomas, the equivalent of a vibro-blade and shock stick rolled into one. Boomas and the atlatl armed slingers had already proven their worth.

It wasn't as good a display as the Trade army's had been, more barbaric horde than high-tech army. Nor did they come close to matching the droid army for numbers. But the Jedi and their assault into the droids flank would make up for much of that, as would the destruction of as many troop transports as possible before they could unload their troops.

Master Dooku ignited his lightsaber, grabbed onto a kaddu, a two legged cavalry animal he'd commandeered from the Gungans and raced forward leading the charge. As he did so, he clicked the transceiver with his free hand igniting a few other little surprises, none of which did as much spectacular damage to the droid army as the first one did, but more than enough to complete the disorganization of their lines as the Gungans charged over the limited open ground between them and this flank of the droid army.

The Gungan army closed behind him. Ranks of militia stopped, going to ground behind personal deflector shields, hurling boomas forward in ranks from their atlatls. The better trained and armed guards charged with their booma-powered spears behind their cavalry. In the jungle the catapults began to fire, trying to target the remaining troop transports so the droids already in the field could not be reinforced.

As Dooku closed he reached out with the Force, grabbing and hurling the nearest tanks backwards through the air like so much kindling with a blast of power few Jedi could have matched at this distance. With a deft grab he snatched several wayward boomas from the catapult out of the sky, directing them instead into the last troop transport on this flank. It exploded, taking with it its passengers and more than a thousand nearby combat droids. What little response to the attack on their flank the droids had been able to put together in the past few seconds shattered.

The fact this show of power also announced his presence to the entire world was another factor, and Dooku allowed a grim smile to appear on his face. _Come to me Dark Side user, come to me. Then we will see what you can truly do._ Around him Yaddle, Brand and Jerec followed, keeping their own Force presence tamped down for a moment so as to get in close and use Ionize once more, this time in concert. The battle for Naboo had begun.

 **OOOOOOO**

Maul felt it, the presence of a powerful Force user with the Gungan army. For a moment he was sorely tempted to answer that challenge, for challenge it was. Such a brazen use of the Force when they had to think that he might be here somewhere was surely directed at him personally.

But after a moment Maul forced down his combat instincts. There were more Jedi in Theed already and his Master wanted as many Jedi to die as possible, not just a single Jedi no matter how skilled. Moreover, if he could head off the attack sure to come here in Theed, then the main battle might well turn against the Jedi and their Gungan allies. Sheer numbers then would kill the Jedi with the natives.

He paused his movement just as second however when he felt something else, something occurring in orbit. The Chaotic Fulcrum was here, and attacking with more Jedi. After a moment however he shook that off. He had targets much closer to deal with first.

 **OOOOOOO**

At first as they moved through the almost silent city Padme, Piell and their party did not run into any opposition. Padme spent most of his time wondering where all of her people were, worried that the entire city's population might've been already sold into slavery.

Later she would find this was not the case, they were simply confined to their homes and following such orders rather than trying to fight the invaders. Naboo was a peaceful planet, and few people had any weapons to fight with, and the first week's brutal occupation had broken any thought of resisting. When the Viceroy had begun to curb such, the planet's people had responded by adopting a sullen obedience to the occupiers.

Piell and the other Jedi however had their own worries, trying to extend their senses outwards trying to feel if the Dark Side user was here. But if he was they couldn't sense him, which made a few of them edgy and the others overconfident.

The Dark Woman for her part had left them almost as soon as they had begun the operation, disappearing under her Force Cloak, to an extent that no other Master in the Order could match, phasing through a wall with her singular talent to do so to disappear into a building for a moment before disappearing into the city entirely.

An hour's journey brought them came within sight of the walled palace, which was more a governmental district than a simple palace and Piell looked at the others quickly. "Master Koth you, Knight Violeta and Knight Fisto will lead the queen's guards tofree the local pilots. Take young Anakin with you. I think he can do whatever he is here for from behind a cockpit better than he could on the ground."

Anakin grinned at him, and Koth nodded. "The Force be with you, Master Piell." With a gesture he gathered the others and they moved off to one side entering a small alleyway, moving all around the 'palace' towards one of its wings, where they would enter and try to gain access to the prison holding the defense force.

Padme ordered half of her guards and two of her handmaidens to go with them to guide them once they entered the palace. Panaka remained with four men, Sabe, Motee, and Dorme, her last maids.

Master Piell led the others towards the nearest wall of the palace, igniting his lightsaber before cutting an entrance into the stone work. Padme and her 'maids' entered first, ignoring the Jedi as they took up positions with Captain Panaka irritably following them up with his men. Then came the Jedi led by Obi-Wan for a moment.

They found themselves in an outer garden area of the palace well back of the main buildings, but close enough and with enough covered that Padme began to almost think they could enter the palace itself without being discovered. But then as they began to move into the garden they ran into their first opposition.

Droidekas appeared around the tall shrubbery, trees and other items, rolling to a stop their sides immediately opened out, their guns flashing. These were not the same battered illegally gained version that Dooku and the others had run into on Coruscant. These looked brand-new, and they moved around with frightening speed and fluidity, firing on the invaders confident in their shields but not overly so, their programming making them work together even better than the ones on Coruscant.

Master Piell moved ahead of Panaka and the others, his lightsaber igniting, deflecting the incoming attacks. But there were eight of the little things, all of them firing at them. For a moment it was all the Jedi could do to protect their fellows, who returned fire, concentrating on one droid then the other. The droidekas were smart and whenever one began to lose power to its shields it would roll away into the garden, using shrubbery and other rocks and even a few fountains as cover to while its small generator recovered its energy.

Two of them weren't fast enough though and were shredded by blaster fire, and another came apart when Glaive, who had always been good at the telekinetic skills, got close enough to reach out with the Force and pull it off balance, smashing it into a nearby statue which came apart under the impact of its shield. That shorted out the shield and Glaive held it up in the air. Standing nearby Obi-Wan cut it in half before whirling around to defend two of the guardsmen from another droid who had been about to take them under fire after rounding a corner of the shrubbery.

"Glaive has shown us the way I think," Piell said holding out his free hand. "Together!"

He andMundi concentrated as one, grabbing and hurling the droidekas into the air. The droid's blasters had a limited firing arc, and in the air they could not attack their tormentors whereas Padme was quick to order her fellows to bombard each in turn. When the last droid exploded, she nodded her head toward Master Piell. "Excellent work but I think we have lost the element of surprise Master Jedi."

Three of the palace windows facing them suddenly erupted with blaster fire, causing the Jedi to once again have to shield their fellows with their lightsabers, and Master Piell nodded. "Run!" They did so, with the Jedi continually shielding the people as they began to move towards the palace as quickly as they could, shattering the door facing the garden and entering a strangely silent hallway.

They moved down the hallway, wary but as quickly as possible with the Jedi using their senses to try and figure out where the next assault would come from. Obi-Wan and Master Piell were in the lead, and a bare minute after entering the palace structure both of them halted raising their free hands. Their Force skills molded into one, and Piell directed the blast of Force which caught the explosion from two claymore mines stuck into the side of the hallway, pushing the explosion's front away from them down the hallway.

It did not save them.

The doors on either side of them opened, and Yinchorri roared out. Knight Glaive was a massive man, who had bulging muscles and had always developed his physical skills and the kinetic side of his Force powers rather than the subtler arts. He was just a little too slow bringing around his lightsaber to defend from the ambush, and he grunted in agony as the lead Yinchorri's bayonet ran into his chest.

Falling back Glaive grabbed the Yinchorri blaster with his free hand, holding the larger alien in place as he cut its head off with his lightsaber. But not before the Yinchorri fired twice, and Glaive slumped to the ground, joining his killer in death.

"What are Yinchorri doing here?" shouted Ki Adi Mundi over the tumult of battle even as he took three of them under attack cutting two of them down. A Force Push sent the other one back into the room they had come from and into the wall opposite while his lightsaber failed on a cortosis plate of the second one he had cut into with it.

One of the Yinchorri actually took the time to answer him, grunting as he stabbed one of Panaka's guardsmen to death with a knife and shot at another who ducked aside. "You Jedi may have the beaten our former overseers, but you didn't beat **us**! We might not be able to go home, but that doesn't mean you're stronger than us, it doesn't! And if we can get paid to kill Jedi, that's just a bonuagh!"

His voice faded as a blaster bolt from Padme took him in the eye. She ducked behind his falling body, quickly reaching down other thigh to pull out a battery. Slamming it into her rifle she continued to fire out past Obi-Wan while Sabe ducked into cover beside her in an open doorway. Dorme joined Sabe along with two of the guards, who opened up with their heavier blaster rifles down the hallway at a few Yinchorri who had appeared looking dazed from a few doorways near where the claymore's explosion had occurred.

"Yinchorri mercenaries lovely," Piell muttered, slicing two of them in half while Obi-Wan moved forward, now attacking the same Yinchorri the guards were concentrating on. They were more numerous than the ones coming from behind the group so were the greater danger.

Concentrating on the visible enemy Obi-Wan didn't notice a doorway sliding open to one side not sensing any threat from that direction but he turned quickly when the Dark Woman suddenly phased through the other wall her lightsaber igniting just in time to block a dark red lightsaber from cutting into Obi-Wan's back. "The Yinchorri are not the main threat here!" She said, her lightsaber flashing in an intricate dance as the Dark Side user appeared there, his Force Cloak failing now as the two of them danced around the corridor.

Nearby Master Piell turned quickly, charging forwards to engage the Dark Side user as well. "We will handle him! Obi-Wan, Mundi, lead Padme and her fellows on from here!" There would be time to grieve for Glaive later.

Swiftly the red and black tattooed Zabrak was pressed back down the hallway by the combination of the Dark Woman and Piell. Piell used Ataru, dancing around, using the walls as bouncing points, his lightsaber always moving pressing the Dark Side user's defense. The Dark Woman used a much more personal style, a mix of Soresu and Makashi, every movement economical, her defense quickly turning the Dark Side user's attacks against him trying to overbalance him. The combination slowly pushed him backward down the hall, but didn't seem to be breaking his defense any time soon.

Obi-Wan looked down at Padme while his lightsaber moved to intercept a blaster bolt that would've taken Padme in the side of the head hurling it backwards towards its instigator, the Yinchorri's head exploding under the impact. He reached down with his other hand, pulling her to her feet. "He's right your highness, we have to move, we can't allow the Trade Federation time to rally, or we'll be overwhelmed. We've spent too much time here already."

"True," Padme said, nodding her head over to Sabe and the others who nodded back along with the remaining guards, Panaka having been slain in this second ambush. "But we can't keep running into ambushes like this, and with the Yinchorri here will you be able to sense any further ones?"

"We won't be able to I'm afraid but myself and Knight Mundi will go ahead of your group, hopefully springing any traps before they can close on you. But you'll still have to direct us."

"Go," she ordered, and Obi-Wan and Ki sprinted ahead of them away from the Dark Side user, leaving behind around fourteen dead Yinchorri, it was tough to tell given how many of them were cut in half, and the Dark Side user still fighting the two Jedi Masters. As they did however, Obi-Wan took a brief moment to send a thought out into the Force. _**The Dark Side user is here!**_

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Koon and Master Tiin had planned the space-based portion of the battle against the Trade Federation just as well as Dooku had planned the land-based portion. The news that they would have to take out all five of the Trade Federation control ships or at very least destroy their communications gear was worrisome, and frankly none of the Jedi were very optimistic about their chances. Ranma and Shaak however knew that they had an ace in the hole, and after the last fight knew that the _Wild Light_ was up to the task.

Indeed, several of the other starfighter pilots had come to the conclusion Shaak had reached about the need for the Jedi to have better ships in the future. Plo and Saesee were both going to petition the rest of the High Council this to reach out to the Mon Calamari to build ships for the Order.

In any event, Master Tiin had a specific talent besides his skill as a pilot that made him the best choice for this portion of the mission: He could calculate a hyperspace jump into a planetary gravity well.

Hyperspace travel was incredibly dangerous for various reasons. For one thing, anything with any kind of gravity to it created a hyperspace shadow which had to be calculated in any jump from one star system to another. You couldn't change direction once in hyperspace, you would come out at the exact heading you entered it, and you always traveled in a straight line. The sheer number of things that had to be calculated even for a fairly simply jump was the reason why astrogation droids like Tune were needed, or entire computer systems had to be devoted to calculating hyperspace jump routes.

The Jedi however did not need to calculate as other sentients did instead relying on the Force to feel out their route to a degree no computer could match. This gave them a tactical edge, one that most people didn't realize even existed. This one however had shocked Ranma to the core. "Wait, you want us to jump **through** the planet!?"

Tiin had tried explain it, but the explanation had gone over Ranma's head. Instead he simply looked at Shaak, asking silently if she trusted this idea. When she nodded, he nodded too, and said simply, "Don't tell me how it works, don't tell me the odds, I'll trust you to get it right. Just know if this doesn't work, I will find a way to haunt your horned ass Tiin."

The Jedi ships moved out from their hiding space in the asteroid belt, unhindered. The Trade Federation hadn't even sent out a single Lucrehulk and it's Vultures to watch the asteroid belt, not understanding that the Jedi would be back, or simply too arrogant to believe even if they returned that the Jedi could pose a real threat.

Once free of the asteroids the five ships turned slightly to match the route that Tiin was calculating, and jumped into hyperspace. In system jumps like this were so fast as to almost be instantaneous, and before Ranma could blink they were out, having passed across the solar system through the planet, and out the other side. Or rather mathematically around, but Ranma didn't really understand that. All he knew was that they had come out into orbit in the middle of the Trade Federation flotilla.

They had switched jobs for this part of the operation so it was Shaak who juked them to one side almost immediately, and Ranma who began to fire up their weapons and targeting systems. But he was interrupted by HK's voice. "Exultant shock: Master, the Trade Federation ship to our right has its shields down!"

Without even asking Shaak banked the ship around in the indicated direction and Ranma began to fire up his weaponry, quad lasers stitching the side of the gigantic trade vessel as they looped underneath it, coming up into the interior of its crescent shape, hammering away now at the armor over the control core. "Why the hell were their shields down?!"

"The Trade Federation is a mercantile enterprise Ranma, if something was wrong with their shielding and they couldn't keep it on 24 seven without damaging their systems, they would probably have powered it down to save money long-term even with us known to be in the area."

"Bankers as generals," Ranma shook his head. "Never worked on Earth, doubt it'll work here."

Even as he spoke Ranma frowned, noticing that the massive ship's armor was taking damage but they weren't actually getting through to its innards. He also noticed out of the corner of his eye a small flicker appear around the ship indicating that the shields were beginning to power up.

Flicking a switch on the weapons control panel he opened the small panels which covered their heavy weapons at front of the out-thrust jaw of the _Wild Light_ for just an instant. Two proton torpedoes flashed out from their launchers, slamming into the same spot on the enemy ship, blowing through its armor and detonating in the ship's interior. The entire control core exploded, and Shaak banked them hard upwards, racing for open space out of the Trade Federation's crescent shape as the ship began to list, all power lost as explosions continued to wrack its insides, shattering the ship. "Scratch one!"

"Well done." Said Plo Koon's translated voice over the intercom. "But I fear that is the easiest victory we're going to get today."

That Trade Federation ship was the only one that had its shields down, and all of the others had been quick to launch their fighters. And once again there were hundreds of them. The radar screen now was nearly filled from one side to the other with red designators.

Ranma shook his head. "I probably should've realized this after the last fight, but these people really do believe in quantity over quality don't they?" Even as he said that the ship's quad lasers turned in their pintle mounts, blasting out under his and HK's command, taking out two starfighters, before both targeted another as the _Wild Light_ moved through the pack.

"The Trade Federation race doesn't have a real warrior caste or history. Money and the ability to transport things is the seat of their power, so it makes sense for them I suppose," Shaak replied. "For my part, I believe that the moment we as sentient beings decide to use robots for war is the moment we forget how horrible it can be."

"Dry yet quizzical statement: While I am all in favor of sentients doing their own dirty work, I'm uncertain what you mean when you say war is horrible mistress."

"I know HK," Shaak sighed even as she banked the ship upwards, looping above a group of starfighters that had been trying to get on their tails, allowing the quad lasers to hammer all seven of them out of space before rolling to the side dodging several more starfighter blasts and curling the ship in a tight turn. "That's what worries me."

"Flagship on our right flank!"

That would be starboard," Shaak corrected Ranma, juking them that way while HK and Ranma covered their assault she also sent the ship into a rotation around its axis, allowing them to cover 360 degrees, though of course not all at the same time. The quad lasers could only fire in a certain area at any moment, and with as many Vultures as there were around them their shields were still getting hit.

But the Vulture's blasters didn't have enough power to worry the _Wild Light_ 's shields. It would take sustained fire or a number of energy torpedoes to break through them. And Shaak was too good a pilot to let them remain in one place for that to happen.

The weapons on the capital ships however were more dangerous. The one they were about to attack began to fire on them with quad turbolasers, causing Shaak to swerve this way and that dodging their fire. There weren't many of those weapons for the size of the ship however, the Vultures were supposed to be the main offensive punch of the Trade Federation's massive cargo haulers letting them keep the Lucrehulks well away from any combat with their armor and shielding able to see them through any surprise attack.

Despite Shaak's efforts though one of the turbolasers splashed across the _Wild Light's_ shields, the green of their shielding on their sensors dimming halfway down to where it would start to go yellow. But almost immediately the shields began to regenerate, thanks to the redundancy built into them. "By the Force Ranma, I love this ship!"

"I know right!? If we ever go back to Dac I am so buying Dukat and his teams a round of drinks."

"Exultant Warcry: Die! Die! Go to the rubbish heap you miserable examples of robotics! Not one of you can hold a candle to a true combat droid! Thousands, millions of you could not face me! I will feed you all to the great demolisher in the sky!"

"Great demolisher in the sky?" Tune asked dryly, his voice strangely still that of a young boy. It seemed as if Tune had chosen that voice in the past few days, and was now simply tweaking it going from one accent to another. "Is that some kind of ancient droid religion I don't know about?"

"Ironical tone: If humans have heaven and hell, then can droids not have the great demolisher and… significant pause… I don't know eternal oil baths? The afterlife is not actually something I have given much thought to. It is just that I like the idea of these droids, and most particularly the people who built and programmed them being tormented forever for their sins."

"It's not exactly a sin to be built by the lowest bidder you know." Tune replied. "At least not from the dictionary term I just looked up."

"As amusing as your banter is," Shaak said coldly, pushing the ship down and around, trying to come up underneath the control ship before having to veer off as more droid starfighters launched directly into their path. "Could we please concentrate?"

"Irritated grumble: You're no fun mistress."

"I beg to differ." Ranma muttered, causing Shaak to actually blush for a moment despite her self-control and the battle all around them.

This didn't stop her from flinging the ship to the side, coming almost close enough for their shields to scrape against the shields of the Lucrehulk vessel for a moment turning around to bring their forward bearing weapons to bear ignoring the staccato rhythm of several Vulture droids impacting their shielding, as they stayed put for just a moment. There were no turbo lasers on this section of the hull, and the Vultures around them had already fired their torpedoes, moving far slower than their fellows.

Understanding what she wanted Ranma flipped open another one of the panels along the _Wild Light_ 's jaw. "Ion cannon firing!"

The ion cannon spat out three solid bolts of yellow energy impacting the Lucrehulk's shielding, scintillating along it's 'surface'. This segment of the shielding went down in a riot of electrical discharge, leaving the hull unprotected for a moment.

The Trade Federation Lucrehulks did not have the redundant multilayer shielding the Mon Calamari favored on all of their designs. This of course saved them money, and allowed them to use more of their ship's bulk for cargo capacity. But it was a weakness to the vessel in combat: despite the power of those shields they could be overcome in sections by ion fire.

Even so, the shield failure didn't last very long. The ion cannon on the _Wild Light_ wasn't strong enough to override a capital ship's shielding for very long, and the Lucrehulks were large even for capital ships. But it was long enough for Ranma to shoot four proton torpedoes through the downed shielding. The side of the targeted ship exploded outwards and it began to list badly in its orbit around Naboo. But the shields came up after a moment, and the ship began to rotate, still in the fight.

"Damnit." Ranma muttered.

"Each cargo section of the outer circular segment of the hull would have emergency bulkheads and other reinforced sections. We have to get within that circle again and attack the control hub, set off internal explosions from there to shatter the ship." Shaak replied. "Good try though."

"Thanks," Ranma muttered, shaking his head. "I suppose that that first punch was a good enough show of our secret weapon, but still I could have wished for better."

As they slewed the ship around again, Shaak and Ranma both took a moment to look at the overall battle. The Jedi were fighting well, all of them linked into a sort of Force gestalt with each other, once more moving and fighting as a single unit with a level of coordination and teamwork that only the best trained starfighter units could've matched. The shields on two of the other control ships were noticeably in the red because of their torpedo fire, and they had destroyed dozens of the Vultures.

But even so they were slowly being overwhelmed. Their shielding was nowhere near the quality or power of the _Wild Light_ partially because of the Sprite's size and partially because of the design. And they had to husband their limited proton torpedo loadout for the capital ships, which limited their ability to fight the Vultures. Even as they watched, Jaq's shielding began to fluctuate and fail.

Master Plo Koon had been brutal in his orders; the Jedi were to pull out the moment their shielding began to fail. They could come back in if their generators regained strength, but their lives were more important than any part they could play in the battle in space. "I am out for now, good luck Masters!"

He pulled away swiftly leaving the battle zone, but several droid starfighters were on his tail. Shaak took the _Wild Light_ out after them cutting them down from behind, and Jaq continued to rocket away from the planet.

After gunning down the last Vulture on his tail Ranma suddenly noticed something. "Why are all those droid fighters suddenly ignoring the others?"

Shaak blinked, then looked at the screen between them, noticing that yes, approximately two-thirds of the thousand plus Vultures which had already been launched from their motherships were now ignoring the Jedi coming swiftly for them. "Could the Trade Federation have realized our ship is the biggest threat here?"

Tune's voice answered her before Ranma could speculate sounding even more like a little boys than it had a few moments before, this time a rather sheepish and worried young boy in fact. "I'm afraid I know the reason Masters. You see, HK asked me via droid cant to let him send out a signal on some of the communication radio waves, I thought he wanted to use some kind of white noise but instead he began to insult the Vulture droids."

"Affronted accusation: Don't say that like it's my fault! When I explained my idea and I **did** , you thought it was an excellent one!"

Tune's voice went plaintive. "Well yes, but I didn't expect it to actually work. It's so illogical!"

Lofty tone: That just shows what you know."

"Wait," Ranma said, even as the _Wild Light_ began to take far more fire than it had since the battle began with Shaak desperately trying to keep them from being boxed in, continually juking this way and that so the Vultures energy torpedoes missed them. The quad lasers continued to hammer out, shattering fighter after fighter but the shields began to fluctuate, their power dimming. "I want to make sure I understand this. Droids respond to insults?"

"Superior tone: Certain insults and assaults on their station Master especially delivered in droid cant will override the logic centers of any true droid, and combat droids in particular can only respond in one way to such insults. With droids as limited in their cognitive powers as these, it was actually far easier than I expected."

"You have reinvented insult-fu to work on droids." Ranma said in an awed tone of voice. "I didn't think that was possible." Of course, insulting one's opponent was a cornerstone of Ranma's own combat style, so it appealed to him greatly. His father had been a master at it, and that had filtered down to Ranma, though of course it also got him into a lot of trouble at times because he couldn't' understand when it wasn't applicable.

"I think you should stop it!" Shaak exclaimed, watching as their shields dimmed again almost into the red now. The Vultures seemed to be ignoring the dangers of the two quad lasers simply to strike back at the _Wild Light_ , what little self-preservation programming they had seemingly being overcome by their anger.

"No," Rama said shaking his head. "He should keep doing it. An angry enemy is one who has stopped thinking, these aren't like that Dark Side user, who can control himself the droids are making mistakes. I say we capitalize on them."

Shaak took a moment to stare at Ranma, who was grinning like a loon at the moment. "HK, if I had if you had a hand I would be so high-fiving you right now, this is just awesome."

"Why me?" Shaak asked aloud, shaking her head.

"Just lucky I guess."

Shaak stared at him the most deadpan of deadpan stares, but any reply she was going to make was preempted when Plo Koon called them. "Whatever you're doing, keep it up!"

She looked back at the radar screen and saw what Ranma had already noticed: Plo, his former Padawan and Tiin had pulled into a tight attack run straight down from directly above one of the Lucrehulk ships. Turbo laser fire flashed out at them, but they dodged around it, and there weren't enough starfighters around them to stop the attack.

Their torpedoes lashed out, bringing the shields down in one area allowing them through into the interior of the ship's circle, where they again let loose with her proton torpedoes at the control sphere before flying further down towards the planet, out from the circle as the control sphere exploded behind them. That emptied their magazines, but it worked.

They pulled up into the fire from another Trade Federation ship, but again there weren't enough starfighters around them to make it very difficult for them to dodge that fire. Behind them, their target vessel lost all power and control, explosions racking it's interior from the control hub back into the rest of the ship.

"Two down, three to go." Ranma said, smiling grimly while the Vultures seemed to all turn back towards their mother ships, as still more Vultures launched to join them.

 **OOOOOOO**

Maul snarled, his twin-bladed lightsaber flashing back and forth, deflecting and attacking, trying to keep the two Jedi off-balance but not having much luck just yet. He wasn't a Master of Ataru, able to move even in this enclosed area with equanimity, which forced him on the defensive somewhat, which was what he wanted the Jedi to think. He reached backwards with the Force, blowing the wall behind him outwards with a Force Push of such power that both of the Jedi were startled almost to the point of stopping their attack, unable to follow up immediately as he jumped outside.

This allowed Maul to regain his stance, his lightsaber ready as they charged forward once again. Following the Dark Side user outside Piell took to the air now, able to use Ataru even better outside than inside. But his opponent suddenly began to attack with even more vigor and ferocity, and more importantly even more strength and a bit more speed.

This pushed Piell on the defensive before the Dark Woman could rejoin the fight, her own form not lending itself to Force Jumps as well. She tried a Force Push only to find it countered. That shocked her, but it wasn't the only shock she felt in the next few seconds.

Now away from the other Jedi, Maul pushed forwards in earnest. Now away from the other two, Maul let loose his full powers, speed and strength. Every blow blocked directly nearly send the Jedi off-balance despite the energy blades stopping most momentum from passing between them, and his speed was even more surprising. This required both Jedi to empower their bodies with the Force to an extent neither usually would, but it was the only way to keep up with their opponent's speed and strength.

Moreover Piell and the Dark Woman began to run it into the same problems that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had run into on Tatooine. Their opponent's mastery of Force Precognition allowed him to match both of them, and outside his double-bladed lightsaber began to come into its own keeping Piell off-balance even in midair, unable to press the attack.

The Dark Woman was faring slightly better, her personal style a better match for their opponent's, but his weapon kept on interfering with her ability to sink into the Force, startling her occasionally into making mistakes which Master Piell had to cover. He did so, but this disrupted their ability to work together. It was like a fine symphony sometimes interrupted with notes of discord, ruining it not quickly but surely. Both of them began to become frenzied in their attacks, almost but not quite desperate to end the battle before their assailant could find the moment to strike when neither could cover or Piell's endurance could fade.

Feeling this Maul took advantage in a way no amount of Force Precognition could have anticipated. Allowing his defense to slip just a moment Maul attacked full out, his lightsaber on one side deactivating as he twisted into an assault that smashed the Dark Woman backwards on her feet.

Piell of course took this opening, his lightsaber flashing down from a jump to impact the Dark Side user's raised arm which blocked the blow. It didn't have any kind of cortosis armor like Ranma, it was simply his own arm, the skin under his black clothing sizzling for a moment as Maul's peeled back in pain. But it held Piell's lightsaber there rather than being cut as Ranma had feared, shocking the diminutive Jedi and holding him still for just a second..

Instantly Maul's double-bladed lightsaber came back into a thrust straight up. Piell couldn't evade in time, and he gasped in agony as the blade impacted his throat, searing straight through and out the other side before the Dark Side user reactivated the bottom half, blocking the Dark Woman's frantic attempt at a thrust trying to make her allies death not in vain.

With a flick of his wrists Maul twirled his twin-bladed lightsaber, cutting Piell's head halfway off as he began to attack ferociously, pushing the Dark Woman back. Even as he did an evil, sadistic smile appeared on his face. One Jedi down, several more to join him.

OOOOOOO

Master Piell's death reverberated in the Force, and Ki Adi Mundi and Obi-Wan stopped at an intersection, looking down at the bodies of the Yinchorri all around them cut and sliced into in most cases, though several of them had fallen to Padme and her people. The two locked gazes, and Obi-Wan nodded. "Go, I'll see to Padme!"

Mundi nodded without another word and turned, lightsaber flashing as he began to his way through the palace in the straight line towards where he felt his Master dueling with the Dark Side user. Obi-Wan turned, grimly gesturing Padme on. "The stairs are this way your highness."

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere, Kit, Koth and Violeta also felt the assault. Koth paused between one step and the next, and he and Kit gestured, blowing the small Yinchorri gun position to pieces, hurling them backwards and setting off several hidden explosives. With that done, Koth turned to Violeta. "Knight Mundi is moving to aid the Dark Woman I think it best you join him, Kit and I will be fine here."

"Should not two of us go?" Kit asked.

Koth shook his head. "Your style would not merge well with the Dark Woman's whereas Violeta has studied with Ki many times, the two of them should be able to work together better. And if he somehow breaks contact with the Dark Woman before aid arrives, I would like to have you here with me."

Violeta nodded and raced off while Kit and Koth forged ahead quickly, shattering every defense ahead of them, forcing the guards and the two maids to race after them with difficulty.

 **OOOOOOO**

Maul felt the two Jedi moving toward him even as he engaged the so-called Dark Woman, a name which made Maul sneer internally. As if any Jedi knew anything about the Dark Side! At that moment she tried to reach out for the Force to use the nearby foliage to attack him, but Maul simply reached out with the Force and ripped the entire tree out by its roots, hurling it at her sideways at even as he dueled against her lightsaber, forcing her to jump aside.

His ability to use his Force powers without gestures was just as good as Obi-Wan had reported, but at least the Dark Woman was prepared for it, racing along the tree's trunk midair even as she continued to duel with him. That won her some surprise from the Jedi killer, but it wasn't enough to tip the balance in her favor.

Maul fell back in front of her moving backwards into another building a large amphitheater of some kind. Their lightsabers smashed against one another the acoustics of the room causing the sounds to reverberate ever louder as they dueled. Mundi found them there and joined his former master, his own style merging seamlessly with her own for a moment, but Maul retreated once more, putting more distance between the battle and the second Jedi coming towards them.

He allowed himself to be pushed away from the palace area, deeper into the city, ducking into one of the generator stations. Leaping up onto a gantry he was quickly followed by both Jedi, their Force Precognition letting them seemingly beat him back for a moment. But then Maul changed his style slightly, and began to use kicks.

Unable to use his hands since his blade demanded both hands most of the time, kicks were the only way he could add to his offense without weakening his defense. This worked since the Jedi hadn't faced someone who wasn't worried about losing a limb to their lightsabers before and few Jedi used kicks at all. His kick took Mundi in the face, shattering his jaw and hurling his body back a step, seeing stars.

This allowed Maul to concentrate on the Dark Woman, and a similar kick broke through her defense just before Mundi could rejoin the fight. It cracked ribs, but the Dark Woman kept coming, ignoring the pain even as she used the impetus of the blow to twirl around, bringing her lightsaber down low to cut into his pivot leg. Kicking up with that foot Maul leaped over this attack but Mundi nearly caught him midair with his blade, forcing Maul to flip backwards, his own double-bladed lightsaber flashing out.

The fight continued for a few minutes, then Violeta arrived. As Koth had predicted, her style merged well with the other two, and they began to truly press Maul hard. He knew it however, but the palace wasn't the only place he had prepared surprises in. And with the Jedi fueling their bodies with their powers concentrating their Force Precognition hard on him, none of them was able to sense the small tripwires scattered around.

Maul had seeded much of the area around and within the palace complex with traps like this one. He wasn't stupid, even with his durability training Maul had known he couldn't match more than a few Jedi at once. But little traps like this, and controlling the battlefield, made up for much. Now Maul tripped one himself, and a mine set on the bottom of the gantry exploded upwards shattering and flinging the metal of the gantry upwards like shrapnel.

The explosion caught both Maul and Mundi a sight that caused the Dark Woman nearly to gape in shock, wondering why the Dark Sider had committed suicide, not having really taken Maul's durability into account yet despite Piell's death. She watched in shock as the bits of metal and explosive force merely tore at Mauls clothes, doing little damage against his toughened body, while they ripped Mundi's legs and lower abdomen into offal.

The Cerean fell, his teeth grit around a scream that escaped him all the same. "Aaahhh!"

Violeta leaped in, protecting Mundi as did the Dark Woman, but Maul backed away quickly, his lightsaber flicking down into another tripwire before he leaped to another nearby scaffold. The gantry section right beneath where he had stood began to fall, bringing Mundi down with it. The two Jedi both stopped leaping back and away before reaching out with the Force to grab their fallen ally, pulling him slowly through the air towards them. Neither were strong enough to do it quickly and gently at the same time, so had to go slow lest the impact when they stopped moving him kill the Cerean, who had already fallen unconscious from the pain of his wounds.

Maul hurled his double-bladed lightsaber deactivating it at first then activating it with the Force as it whirled through the air. The Dark Woman reached out, splitting her attention in a moment of Force mastery that was surprising in any, deflecting the thrown lightsaber from its target though she wasn't able to stop Maul from pulling it back to his hands.

Violeta gently rested their horribly wounded companion to the floor of the generator room before turning joining the Dark Woman towards the Dark Side user. But Maul was gone and suddenly the nearest generator exploded in a blast of released energy, flooding the room with shrapnel and fire.

Outside Maul paused on a roof, reaching out with his senses, snarling lightly. He could only feel one death from that, and it had been his best laid trap, easily the most powerful he'd set in the city. For a moment he debated waiting for the survivors to emerge from the fiery blaze that was even now bringing the generator station's roof down, but shook his head, smiling as his senses told him more. The Dark Woman was injured, and the survivor was weakened badly, possibly dying.

He could take them both at his leisure later. He needed to concentrate on the last two fit Jedi before they and the padawan who had escaped him on Tatooine realized he should be their real target here rather than that coward Gunray. With that thought Maul turned away, heading towards the hanger bay where the Nabooan defense forces spacefighters were kept. He didn't have many surprises there, but the Yinchorri should have at least slowed the Jedi down for him.

 **OOOOOOO**

The battle in space continued though the droids had stopped concentrating on the _Wild Light_ swiftly after the destruction of the second Lucrehulk. With the _Wild Light_ covering them, Master Tiin and LIzarkh had both pulled out of the fight but eventually came back in. Jaqhad also come in again, his shields having recharged enough to be useful once more. Yet their ships were gradually being battered into bits despite being able to leave the combat zone like this.

The _Wild Light_ itself was down to the yellow, but the initial battle in orbit and the destruction of the first Lucrehulk had allowed all of them some more room to maneuver. The Vultures were further hindered by the lack of onboard computational ability.

Worse even the Lucrehulks could not direct more than a few hundred of the droid fighters at once, and the ships apparently didn't have full loadouts of them in any event. These ships were refitted cargo haulers after all, not warships, so most of their carrying capacity was left open, in this case for spoil taken from Naboo's cities.

The control and communication aspect was the bigger problem however, since that lack of full loadouts merely dropped the number of Vultures from each ship from over a thousand to four hundred or so. This first generation style Vulture had to rely on the Lucrehulk flagships for all of their communication and coordination, and there were dozens of instances of one Vulture firing through another to get at the Jedi, or even running into one another in space. The more Vultures the Neimodians tried to send out at once, the worse they all fought, something none of the Neimodians seemed to notice.

On the other side of the scale none of the Jedi fighters had any torpedoes remaining to them, which meant only Ranma's ship had enough offensive punch to matter against the Lucrehulks. Yet even so the sheer number of Vultures was keeping them from making a third kill and also turning the tide.

Then the feel of Master Piell's death hit them. Shaak nearly flew them into one of the Vultures in their path, before juking to the side at the last moment shaking her head. "Master Piell may you find peace within the Force." Even as she said that though, Shaak remembered that he would not have a chance to apologize to Aayla now, and wondered if he really would be able to find that peace.

Ranma didn't feel anything through the Force like that, so looked at her quizzically out of the corner of his eye even as he swiveled the quad laser he was controlling backwards to fire at two fighters on their tail, both of them exploding under his fire. Yet even as he did, the nearest Lucrehulk was launching another wave of fighters to offset the Trade Federations most recent losses. "What is it?"

"The Dark Side user is on the planet." she said grimly. "I can't tell much from this distance, but I felt Master Piell die."

"Damnit," Ranma muttered. "I need to get down there then, don't I?"

"I don't know," Shaak replied. "This fight is important too after all, can we afford to take the time out to drop you off? We're barely holding our own out here, and that's more because our enemies don't really seem to be…"

Shaak stopped speaking just then seeing Master Plo Koon's starfighter disappear from their radar. Yet his death did not reach her senses. Glancing at their scanners, Shaak saw that Koon's fighter had crashed into the ship that had just been launching starfighters, getting under its shielding in the moment it had come down to let the Vulture's out of its hangar bays.

Seeing that, Shaak decided. "HK, Tune, tell me the truth can you two fight this ship?"

"Insulted reply: Of course mistress; these Vultures are nothing in comparison to my magnificence, and this ship is an adequate weapon to my hands."

"You don't have hands," Ranma muttered, then smirked. "That's never going to get old."

"Sorrowful tone: Master, I've already said you don't need to make hurtful comments, letting me join fights like this without even having gotten my body back puts you easily in the top two best masters of all time."

Shaak wordlessly directed their ship towards the one where Master Plo Koon had crashed, the ion cannon flaring under Ranma's command as they came within range pummeling the ship with dozens of bolts. Ranma noticed that the ship's overall power began to dim noticeably at that point, though thanks to the multiple generators they had the shielding at least was not effected right away. Under this ion pulse pounding the shields of the Trade Federation ship faltered, but instead of using their proton torpedoes, Shaak drove the ship into the Lucrehulk's faltering shields, getting underneath them and heading towards the hangar Bay where Master Plo Koon had crashed.

They entered the bay and Shaak quickly pulled herself out of her chair. "I'm going to help Master Koon, if you two can fight this ship that well, then drop Ranma off down at Theed and get back up here!"

Ranma leaned over quickly, kissing Shaak on the cheek. "Stay safe okay?" he said then turned back to his controls as she raced out of the cockpit into the main sitting room.

The airlock opened and she leaped, while behind her the Wild Light rolled, bringing its quad laser to bare on a few security droids. She rolled as she hit the deck, bringing out her lightsaber to block incoming fire from several security droids before racing towards where Master Plo Koon was standing unable to move from his defensive position. A wave of Force power from her outstretched hands sent the attackers all around him flying away, crashing with droid shattering force against the far wall.

"Well met Knight Ti," said Plo Koon nodding his head to her calmly. "I feel the majority of the sentients aboard this ship are in that direction." he said pointing to one side and slightly up. "Are you ready?"

Shaak nodded her head, though out of the corner of her eye she saw that the _Wild Light_ was already turning around and moving at high speed out of the hangar bay. _You stay safe too Ranma, of the two I'm afraid you're the one who's going to be in the most danger._

The two of them swiftly moved as one into the corridor leading to the hangar bay, a gigantic corridor made more for transporting cargo from one cargo hold to another then for living people. This of course didn't stop security droids from amassing to try and stop their progress, but the two of them moved forward quickly, their styles not as seamless as those of Master Koth and Knight Fisto, but very good nonetheless.

At one point however right before they were set to enter the control hub from the near-circle of the main cargo carrying portion of the Lucrehulk they ran a prepared position, heavy defensive bulwarks behind which several dozen Trade Federation droids held in place blasting away at them. The weight of fire halted their progress, until Shaak reached forward with the Force, concentrating for a brief moment, a necessary act from this distance. She then lifted the bulwarks, hurling them backwards into the droids behind them smashing them out of the way.

As they raced forward Plo Koon turned to her, raising one eyebrow underneath his mask in query. "You are much stronger in the Force that you were the last time I saw you in action Knight Ti."

"It is odd Master Koon. I had expected my internal Living Force to grow as I learned from Ranma but I've also been trying to work on subtle Force attacks against him in our spars. That seems to have had the effect of letting me use more Force power bluntly in this manner as well. It's a strange contradiction."

"Interesting," Plo Koon said, nothing in their tone of voice indicating they were actually taking fire as they talked racing through the corridors, cutting any droid directly in their path away but beyond blocking blaster bolts coming towards them from the side passages ignoring those not in their way. "I wonder, a study between the amount of Living Force a person has within them and how much Force power they can use outside of their body, should the word be externalizing? It could be an interesting study."

"I don't know if there's a direct correlation actually. Ranma certainly can't use any of our normal Force powers, but he can as you put it 'externalize' his Living Force to a high degree." By this point the two of them had made it halfway through the neck of the control hub, and began to cut their way upwards through the ceiling towards where the control room the bridge of the ship was.

"Interesting, very interesting indeed."

Outside of the massive Lucrehulk class ship Ranma had rejoined the fight for a moment, cutting down several Vultures as they tried to home in on Saesee and Jaq. He couldn't however get in position to defend Lissarkhat the same time, who began to shout for help over the intercom. "I've got seven of them on my tail, repeat I need assistance!" She sent, even as she dove into the atmosphere to try and evade them.

Help came from an unexpected source, as a little over a hundred blue dots appeared on Ranma's radar screen racing up from Theed. "This is the Naboo Defense Force, Captain Curiel speaking. Put us in your IFF's Jedi, we're coming in!"

Even as that voice came over the intercom one of the blue marked fighters peeled off from a direct assault straight up, passingLissarkh's starfighter as it plummeted into the atmosphere. The Vultures on her tail fired at him, and vice versa, with the Vulture's disappearing as the Naboo craft continued on its course. "Your cleared Jedi!" said a very young voice.

Ranma gaped. _Anakin! I knew that boy was a good podracer, but… on the other hand I suppose putting him in a cockpit isn't exactly a bad idea certainly better than having him around on the battlefield down there._

Smirking he opened the communicator to the incoming pilot. "Nice going Anakin. Pair up with Lissarkh, I think she'll be more of a match for your style than your fellows. The control ships are the main target though, don't get locked into dogfights, let that to the others."

"Roger, and good luck Ranma." Over the intercom Ranma couldn't see Anakin shiver, but some of his fear came through his voice. "I felt, I don't know what I felt, but I felt something bad happen, and I can feel that Zabrak from Tatooine in the palace somewhere. I think you're going to need it."

"Don't ever need luck Anakin, just skill," Ranma said grimly before cutting the connection. He took the ship down, turning over the controls of both quad lasers to HK for a moment as he did so, racing down towards the planet. Luckily Theed didn't have any anti-air weapons, and once they left the dogfight behind them the trip down was uneventful. Indeed, thanks to the five shield generators, the shields began to regain energy before he reached the city.

"All right you two," he said un-belting himself from his chair. "HK, you're to take orders from Shaak. If she orders you to do something over the radio you do it, which includes stop firing. Those large ships are the main target, but other than that and keeping our own people alive I'm giving you free reign, go crazy. Don't make me regret this."

"Eager response: Oh Master, you say the sweetest things. Don't worry, you will not regret this at all."

Tune groaned. "You have released the beast Ranma, I'm not certain that was a good idea."

"I'm not either," Ranma said with a shrug "but I've made so many bad decisions, this one doesn't even rate in the top ten. Go crazy HK, just remember what I said about your rules of engagement."

"Bloodthirsty Pleasure: Roger… roger…" HK said, his tone that of almost sadistic glee as he parroted the Trade Federation droid cant words they always transmitted from one Vulture to another. Which had been the real reason why HK had stopped his verbal assault, listening to that phrase had begun to drive him insane. If a droid could go insane, or if it wasn't already too late in this case anyway.

With that Ranma left the cockpit, and the ship continued down under Tune's control, until they were directly above where the Naboo starfighters had appeared. The airlock opened, and Ranma leaped out into space. Before Ranma even touched down the _Wild Light_ turned on its axis, hurling itself straight up with a blast of its engines. "Eager Tone: Now, let's have some real fun…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Koth and Fisto whirled around one another, their styles of Makashi and Shi-Cho merging into a synergistic whole, cutting, slashing and flinging the Yinchorri who had attempted to ambush them backwards, cutting them down, deflecting the blasts from the two droidekas attacking them backwards. The hallways here were slightly more open than the ones elsewhere in the palace district, leading both to the rooms that had been converted into prison cells, and the hangar bay where the defense forces spacefighters remained even now.

All around them the guards with the two Jedi poured fire into the droidekas, concentrating on them as the Jedi had ordered them to, slowly turning the tide.

Both knights had felt their fellow's death reverberating through the Force, and their senses were on high so much that even though he was now once more covered with his Force Cloak, they felt the Dark Side user's approach. Once he ended that technique, anger and hate roiled off the Zabrak, blackening the Force as his black-clad form did the material plane. Even Anakin, untried and untrained could feel it however vaguely and his eyes narrowed, a faint shiver going through his small form.

Koth hurled his lightsaber down the hallway, directing it with the Force to cut into the doors containing the prisoners, cutting off the security panels on each before bringing it back to his hand, gesturing the handmaiden and guards forward. "Free your fellows and get them to their ships! We don't have much time."

The fighter pilots and Anakin were all clamoring into their fighters along as Dark Side user arrived in the hanger bay. The two Jedi turned seeing the tattooed Zabrak enter the hangar bay, clad in loose black cloth which showed some tears here and there, particularly along the legs, showing red skin beneath. But this didn't seem to slow him down any, and besides a few burn marks on the visible skin he looked uninjured.

Holding his lightsaber out in front of him diagonally, he activated each side in turn, sneering at them. The Zabrak even spoke now, confidence radiating off him almost as much as the Dark Side. "Two more Jedi for my tally."

"You'll find us a harder match I think." said Fisto moving forward his own lightsaber activating as Master Koth did the same. They stood there, with Fisto holding his lightsaber down towards the ground, and Koth holding his in a double handed grip upright by his head. The three of them stood still locked in a standoff, their Force Precognition abilities reaching out and pressing into one another while the last of the spacefighters left the hangar bay behind them, zooming up to join the battle occurring in orbit.

The Dark Side user moved first, his double-bladed lightsaber flashing as he cartwheeled forward, twirling it to one side then the other deflecting both Jedi blades, smacking Fisto slightly backwards, though Koth moved with his blow, coming back with a thrust which the Dark Side user was forced to parry. Fisto of course regained his balance quickly, his sword coming up in an upper slash, as he moved continuously, his form of Shi-Cho constantly moving but in an economical fashion, not using so many parries but simply moving along on the ground while Koth was a noted sword Master, using Makashi and Djem So in tandem, merging into his own style.

Moreover, Maul realized that these two Jedi did not have the discordant note Piell and the Dark Woman had in their styles. The knight might not have been as formidable as either of the Masters he had previously faced, but his ability to mold his own style to that of Koth allowed the two of them to make up the difference in one another's styles.

Worse, both could more closely match his physical abilities, save his endurance and toughness of course. Fisto had trained with Ranma for several days and kept up the exercises he was given after leaving him and Shaak. And Koth had, though few even in the Order knew it, studied with Dooku for long hours every day while Dooku was stuck on Coruscant. He might not have approved of the recent changes within the Order or even Ranma, but he was pragmatic enough to not let that get in the way of becoming a better swordsman.

The two Jedi forced the Dark Side user back and further back, forcing him to leap around keeping the space open to allow him some time to set himself between parries. If it wasn't for his own endurance, his slightly above Jedi speed and his Mastery of Force Precognition the two of them might have overwhelmed him in short order. But despite this being his third duel in less than an hour, the Zabrak was still as fresh as when he had started.

Nonetheless, Maul quickly realized he needed to add something to the battle once more, or he would be overwhelmed here as he had almost been by the three Jedi in the generator room. He saw it as he was pushed further backwards away from where he had entered towards where moments before starfighters had been lining one side of the hangar. One starfighter had been left behind its engine cowling open obviously a 'hangar queen' of some kind. But reaching through the Force he found the power generator was still connected to its guns.

This subtle movement of the Force went unnoticed by either of his opponents, pressing forward as they were and indeed as he was trying to concentrate on that Master Koth attack got through, impacting his thigh a little. It wasn't a slash but a thrust from Makashi which the Dark Side user barely dodged, the blade sizzling along his outer leg but not penetrating to actually do much damage thanks to his endurance training.

In response the Dark Side user made obvious Force grabs at some of the detritus littering the hangar Bay, hurling it at both Jedi. They were ready for it, deflecting all of the debris away or slicing the debris into pieces even as they continued to attack, forcing him to use his double-bladed lightsaber solely for defense now.

But this had allowed him to reach through the Force again towards the down starfighter, and suddenly it's weapons began to fire straightforward, right where the two Jedi were currently standing. This took them by surprise and Kit turned quickly, his lightsaber flashing in an intricate display that smashed the bolts back towards the starfighter, quickly slagging it, while Koth leaped out of the way, leaping over the Dark Side user's head to attack his other side.

But this momentary break of their attention allowed Maul to turn and engage Koth one-on-one for a few brief moments, where his double bladed lightsaber was able to break through Koth's defenses, slicing his arm off at the elbow. To his surprise however Koth didn't retreat, instead pressing the attack, his face twisted slightly in pain but no give in him. It hadn't been his dominant hand and though Maul didn't know it Koth was a Master of a power called Crucitorn, which allowed him to deaden the pain centers in his body to a degree that even Ranma wouldn't believe possible.

The Dark Side user was so thrown off by this that his Force Precognition faltered for a moment and Koth's attack actually caught him in the side. It was a slashing attack and the Dark Side user moved with it, which did not allow it to penetrate but even so the lightsaber seared a long painful furrow in his side.

Anger, fear and pain were the Dark Side of the Force. Maul used his newfound pain to power his rage, reaching through the Force to hurl Koth backwards, slamming him bodily into the far wall, ripping the lightsaber out of his hand before Koth could shield himself with his own Force powers.

Kit turned from dealing with the starfighter, grabbing the lightsaber out of the air with his own power bringing it to his hand and hurling himself forward, dual wielding for a moment pressing the Zabrak backwards from his victim allowing Koth did get to his feet. Shi-Cho might not have been the most elegant style, but it was random and adaptable, two things Kit had been forced to emphasize further when facing Ranma all those months ago. But he couldn't quite break through the Zabrak's defenses despite this.

Feeling his fellow Jedi ready to rejoin the fight between one slash and the next Kit dropped Koth's weapon, who grabbed it with his own force powers pulling it towards him and rejoining the fight. This momentary break in their defense however caught Fisto. He gasped as the Dark Side user rammed his lightsaber point down into his foot below Kit's defensive riposte, coming up into a slash but Koth blocked it from taking Kit's head off.

Just then the Dark Side user leaped backwards, avoiding a slash from a violet bladed lightsaber attacking out of nowhere. The Dark Woman suddenly appeared there holding her lightsaber. Her face was seared, half of her hair was gone, burned off, and one leg was seared clear of clothing, the skin beneath showing third degree burns. But she was alive, and her eyes locked onto the Dark Side user's grimly.

The three Jedi looked at one another battered and bleeding, but all of them still game. As one they began to press forward, the Dark Woman's style slipping into the other two defenses not as easily as they could alone, but adding enough offense to make up for it.

Maul knew he was overmatched here. With the Dark Woman up showing up he couldn't overcome all three at once. But it wasn't as if these three were his only targets after all. Snarling he reached forward through the Force, leaping backwards and away from the Jedi, grabbing up everything in the entire hangar bay and hurling it at them.

All three Jedi stopped, holding up their hands as one their own Force powers fighting his for a moment. But all three of them were wounded, their attention diverted, even Koth with his power of crucitorn could barely match the sheer power the Dark Side gave the Zabrak's own push. His anger redoubled and he used it to power his attack and broke through their attempts to block it.

The trio of lightsabers began to flash, slicing bits and pieces of the debris down or away as they moved sideways until the Dark Woman reached the hangar bays wall. "May the Force be with you both!" With that she phased through the wall, leaving the other two behind to deal with the stuff still raining down on them.

Koth and Fisto did so before slumping against the same wall for a moment, staring at one another as they deactivated their lightsabers. For his part Fisto knew that without training with Shaak and Ranma all those months ago, as well as having actually listened to Obi-Wan and Ranma describe their battle with the Dark Side user, he would've been overwhelmed here.

Koth too was aghast at how badly this battle had gone, shaking his head morosely. Even Guardians were not up to facing a Dark Side user like this one. If he had been alone Koth knew he could well have been overcome. His arm was testament to that.

The two of them wearily moved through the hangar bay towards the entrance, pausing as they stared upwards. As they watched they saw a ship zooming down through the atmosphere on an attack run straight towards him. It was only feeling the font of Living Force upon it that stopped them from running for cover before they recognized the _Wild Light_.

The ship stayed in the air as Ranma leaped out, bouncing down several stories to slow himself down before he landed in front of them. He looked at them, his normally warm blue eyes cold as the depths of the ocean. "Where is he?"

Fisto wearily pointed in the direction of the main palace. "I think he's gone after Obi-Wan. The Dark Woman went after him, but she's injured and I'd swear to the Force he looked just as fresh now as he was when we began this, his endurance is simply phenomenal. Whereas we," he gestured Master Koth, who was leaning against the side of the hangar bay doors. "Aren't. And you were right, his durability **can** stand up to lightsaber attacks for a time."

Ranma nodded. "Will you two be all right?"

"Go,"Fisto ordered, pointing with his lightsaber hilt again. "We'll be fine here."

Ranma nodded, leaping away up onto the roof and off in the direction of the palace.

As he did so, a platoon of droids came around the band, possibly the last such in the city responding to the noise in the palace. "Me and my big mouth," Fisto muttered, activating his lightsaber and moving towards them grimly.

Master Koth shook his head as he too activated his lightsaber wearily. The two of them exchanged a brief glance once more then moved forward as one, lightsabers flashing anew.

 **OOOOOOO**

None of the three Jedi with Dooku were Guardians, they were decent enough fighters but the main reason they were with him was because of their Ionize skill, not their combat ability. Even their Force Precognition wasn't as good as it should be, and worse Force Precognition wasn't as good against mechanical enemies as it was against living ones. This was why Knight Brand found himself isolated from his fellows, desperately using his lightsaber to protect himself and two Gungans who had taken cover behind as they tried to refill their atlatls, only to find their pouches empty of boomas.

Brand was not up to the task of deflecting lightsabers to defend all of them from every direction in the chaos of a battle like this. A tank blast slammed into the ground nearby kicking up the ground and Brand turned in that direction just slightly, enough to take his attention away from his side. A full company of robots fired, and the two Gungans and Brand died, the Jedi going down his back, side and head perforated by several bolts of plasma energy.

So close, his death reverberated through the Force even more than the death of the Master Piell had from the city. Yaddle and Jerec looked up from where they had been fighting near one another. Suddenly moving together as one, they created a storm of Ionize all around their positions and spreading outward slowly.

Dooku was elsewhere forging towards the last remaining troop transports, who had formed defensive fire zones around which the droid army had begun to move their tanks, firing in deadly effect against the Gungan army mixed up with their own troops. The droids after all didn't care about their own losses, and the tactic of shooting through their own forces was costing the Gungans heavily.

Feeling the death of Brand Dooku grit his teeth. Suddenly the words Rama had spoken before the two of them had left Mustafar to join Windu and the others against the Yinchorri came to him. 'Righteous anger is in not dark or evil! Anger at person if he has done evil is no evil!' Dooku wasn't certain he fully believed that, But just then, he understood what his young friend had meant, and it actually helped him to concentrate for a brief moment even in the tumult of battle.

Gritting his jaw with the effort Dooku reached through the Force and summoned up a massive Force Push, a blast of power that started in front of him and gained energy as it moved away, slamming with the might of a tornado into the droid army. Hundreds, thousands of droids were lifted off of their feet and hurl backwards into the troop transports. Thousands of discarded or lost booma balls also lifted into the air with his power, hurling with the driods in front of him back to their meagre reserve forces.

Yet that wasn't quite the strangest thing. Dooku was known as a power, one of the strongest Jedi Masters living. What was strange, was that his Force Push interacted with the Ionize attacks from Yaddle and Jerec, carrying the purple lightning forward too. It carried the Ionize attack into the tanks and shield generators, shorting them out in turn, and the booma balls magnified the effect, destroying every droid caught up in Dooku's assault.

Nearby Boss Nass raised a massive atlatl over his shoulder. Around him his guards also pushed other way forward as he shouted encouragement. "Push 'em, push da droids, Wesa can win this war boyas!"

 **OOOOOOO**

Obi-Wan paused where he stood over yet another security point, this time on the fourth floor. He had felt another Jedi's death though he could not tell who had died and knew that the Dark Side user would be coming for him now. Obi-Wan turned looking at Padme and her remaining handmaidens. The last guard with this group had died in this ambush along with Motee leaving only Padme, Sabe and Dorme,. All three had proven themselves able soldiers, but even so…

Padme looked up from where she had been bandaging Sabe's arm where a blaster had grazed it. Her eyes were red both from the smoke of a recent explosion and from keeping in her grief at her handmaiden, at her **friend's** , death. But her voice and face remained firm when she met Obi's eyes. "What is going on Obi-Wan?"

"Padme, the Dark Side user the Trade Federation has apparently hired is closing in on us. I can't protect you and fight him at the same time." Obi said bluntly. "Are we close enough for you three to take the control center without us?"

The two young women looked at one another and Sabe, who had been weeping unashamedly at their friend's death, nodded, her face firming to match her queen's as Dorme grit her teeth, moving away from Motee's body. Padme turned, and was about to reply when a shout from the stairway made all three turn. "Your Highness!"

Seven men raced toward them, picking up weapons from the Yinchorri mercenaries while two more took position behind them covering the stairway, moving after them slowly. All of them were dressed in the livery of palace workers, but if they really were Obi-Wan would eat his lightsaber. These men were guardsmen, just as much as Panaka's men had been.

Padme's shout of joy proved this beyond doubt. "Lieutenant Gitas! I feared you and your men all dead."

"We would have been milady but I thought to hide us among the palace servants. We were all kept on by the Viceroy and his fellows to keep the palace running and clean, unarmed of course. But we took a vote, and decided to remain here just in case we could be useful." All nine men bowed deeply to their queen and her maids all of whom smiled. "But where's Captain Panaka?"

"As interesting as this is, I am afraid I have to leave you your highness, now." Obi interrupted. Despite his inability to find the Dark Side user with his senses the Force was warning him not to stay here, not to fight him with Padme nearby. Something about that idea roared in his senses, and Obi-Wan wasn't going to question it.

"Very well Obi-Wan. With Gitas and his men we can handle anything short of the Dark side User the Viceroy can have prepared between here and the throne room." Since said throne room was at the far end of this hall that might well be true. Padme nodded, holding out her hand to Obi-Wan, but when he went to shake it she pulled him in, kissing him lightly on the mouth. "May the Force be with you Obi."

Obi-Wan blushed but turned away quickly, wondering what had brought that on, not ever having done anything he felt could have gained the queen's affections. _Then again, what I know of such things would fit in a single paragraph._ He thought bemusedly.

He took one brief second to look towards Padme before turning fully away, running to a nearby room then out through the window which overlooked the roof of a covered walkway. He opened them then leaped out, rolling as he landed.

Obi-Wan took a brief moment to repeat the Oath of the Jedi to himself, dispelling his fear, his anger at how this battle had gone, all of his negative emotions , centering himself in the 'now' as his Master had been trying to teach him for years. Idly he noticed that the sky, which had been overcast since the day began, looked to finally be ready to actually start raining.

When Maul crested the far side of the roof Obi stood, his lightsaber up as he held it the blade facing down on a diagonal, one hand held loosely on the bottom of his lightsaber hilt and the other held tightly on the top. He stared across at his enemy, his eyes calm and clear. "I am a Jedi, I will not run from you."

For only the second time in this fight the Dark Side user broke his silence to reply his voice flat with menace, made all the more frightening by the flatness of it. "Then die where you stand." With a wordless snarl the tattooed Zabrak charged forward his lightsaber flashing in and out as he leapt, chopping down at where Obi-Wan stood.

The two of them began the intricate dance of lightsaber combat, hopping here, there, lightsabers flashing in and out, moving from one end of the rooftop to the other. Obi-Wan gave himself to the Force to a level he had never before been able to before, powering his Force Precognition to a level that would've made many a Jedi Knight gasp in awe, Sorseu helping him retain his defense against the overwhelming offense of the Dark Side user.

It wouldn't be enough. Obi-Wan knew that within the first few clashes. Despite the running battle that had taken around two hours by his reckoning, the Dark Side user was as fresh now as he was when the battle had begun. His wounds helped instead of hindered him, the Dark Side user somehow using the pain to fuel his anger and thus his strength in the Dark Side, sitting in the Force like a black hole, sucking away had Obi-Wan's senses and Force Precognition.

It wouldn't be enough. As fast as he was, as good against his opponent's style as Soresu was, he simply could not match or overcome the Dark Side user's sheer strength and speed. If Maul had ever studied Ranma's speed technique, this fight would already be over and Obi-Wan would have joined the other Jedi who had already died today. But even without actually studying it Maul was faster and stronger than any Jedi. Like the others Obi had to push the Force into his body willing it to move faster than it could, and his body simply could not sustain it, his tendons and muscles slowly failing.

One minute became two, and Obi-Wan began to feel tired, the pain of keeping up with the other Dark Side user taking a toll on his senses, breaking through his Jedi ability to negate the pain. The Dark Side user's blows began to come ever closer, his replies weaker. One slashing blow nearly took off his ear, sizzling a furrow out of the side of his face and slicing his padawan braid off, leaving a small sizzling scar along his cheek. Another nearly caught him in the kneecap, slicing alongside his leg rather than impacting directly thanks only to a last minute dodge just as another blow nicked his slice along his forearm enough to sizzle the skin there too.

No, it wouldn't be enough for Obi-Wan to win against the Dark Side user. But it was enough.

Despite setting out after the Dark Woman, Ranma was the one to arrive first on the scene. He announced his arrival with a "BOOM!" Appearing in a flash in front of Obi-Wan, his head thrust out smashing into Maul with as much speed as Ranma could put into it.

The Zabrak was hurled away, hurled off the roof entirely and almost off out of the palace grounds to slam into the outer wall several hundred meters with a grunt of agony. Ranma looked at Obi-Wan as the rain began to fall, changing him into her as she smirked down at the Jedi learner. "I know I've said this to you before but tag out Obi."

"With pleasure," Obi-Wan said, releasing his hold on the Force and now feeling all of his pains, all of his pulled muscles and the agony of his cheek, elbow and knee. He could barely move his thumb to deactivate his lightsaber before it fell, and he went to his knees gasping in air. "Ranma, he, he killed, he killed…"

"I know," Ranma said coldly one small, feminine hand grabbing Obi-Wan's shoulder for a moment squeezing gently. "You did good Obi, I'll take it from here."

Obi-Wan nodded, remaining on his knees as Ranma leaped away, remaining there until the Dark Woman using her phase ability leaped up out from the walkway directly below him to land silently on the roof, holding one hand to her broken ribs and looking like she had barely walked away from a fight with a flamethrower. "The Dark Force user?"

The younger man smiled wanly, pushing himself to his feet. "Ranma's problem now. He'll deal with it, **she'll** deal with it I mean. The two of us I think need to meet up with Padme posthaste."

 **OOOOOOO**

In point of fact, Padme's renewed force had already broken through into Nute Gunray's pilfered throne room. The fact that he surrendered immediately and looked relieved to see them threw Padme off for a moment, but when Gunray said, "I, I c-can't do that," to her demand to terminated the control center's communications to the droid army she scowled angrily.

Raising her blaster she pointed it right between the Neimodian's eyes, her pretty face set in a scowl. "Nute Gunray, I may be a diplomat by both profession and preference, but right now I am fresh out of diplomacy, and all I have is this blaster here. What do you mean you can't order the shutdown of your troops?"

"Two of the captains in orbit won't take orders from me and none of the others will move against them, internal fighting like that just can't happen!" Nute Gunray said frantically, the words coming out so fast they tumbled over one another. "This whole invasion was ordered by the new Board of Directors, not myself. I was in favor of it when Naboo began to look elsewhere for trade venues seeing it as an attack on our legitimate monopoly of all transportation in the Mid Rim. It, it was just supposed to be a show of force. But ever since the debacle on Eriadu, the more militant among our Directorshas gained ground."

"I don't believe you," Padme said, though her voice belied her tone.

"See for yourself your highness. After I took command here, I mitigated the deaths among your people! Most of your people who were carted off to be sold did not get to the ships in orbit before I turned them around, storing them in other cities. The Jedi have already destroyed one of the ships that would not answer to me, if they can take out the last one they'll remove the internal threats, and all of the droid fighters in orbit and even the army here on the planet will once again follow my orders."

"Can't you simply override that last one? Surely being closer would allow your orders to take precedence over any from orbit."

Nute seemed to hesitate for a moment, then zoomed over to a control panel staring down at it, pulling up some communication printouts of some kind. "It might be possible," he said softly, "at least for the army on the planet. The spacefighters in orbit won't respond to anything but their own control ships or the nearest ones if their ship has been destroyed."

"Do it," she ordered.

His hands flew over the keyboard. "Done, all droid troops, tanks and anything else on the planet have received the order to shut down."

Not, he thought to himself as he stared at the control panel that there was much of that army remaining. Whatever Jedi tricks were being used out there had allowed the Gungans to get in close with the droids, and had destroyed nearly all the tanks and troop transports. Without the ability to stay at long range and those heavier weapons, the droid army had not fared very well, something he was making a note of for the future. Surely his Master would be interested in that knowledge, and his pantomime of the part the Dark Lord had wished him to play here, would surely also gave him ever more favor…

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma landed in front of Maul as he pulled himself out of the rubble of the outer wall. With a flick of her wrists the redhead pulled out the twin lightsabers he/she had taken from Sing, activating them and standing there coldly staring at her opponent. Normally at this point Ranma would say something, try to piss off whoever she was facing. But not only did Ranma know that would not work, frankly she just didn't feel the need. Why banter words with a dead man?

Maul stared at her slightly unnerved by the flat dead eyes staring back at him from the redhead's soft-seeming face. Where before Ranma had been fiery, now he/she (even Maul had trouble with the curse, and the feeling of it to a Dark Sider was positively foul) was cold. Where during their first meeting Ranma had been chaotic, always on the move, now she was still and watchful, like a predator waiting to strike.

It was a very odd change and it unnerved Maul until he got a grip on himself. _He, she is_ _ **nothing**_ _, a mere Force anomaly, she knows_ _ **nothing**_ _of the Dark Side,_ _ **nothing**_ _of true power!_ With that in mind Maul charged forward, leaping ahead and striking down at Ranma, eager to keep her on the ground.

Ranma deflected the blow with one lightsaber, riposting with the other forcing Maul to use his double-bladed lightsaber's other blade to block the blow. The two of them dueled in midair for a moment, Ranma glowing slightly breaking whatever kind of Force hold Maul tried on him with a brief pulse of ki before subsiding.

Eventually Ranma gained the upper hand forcing the Dark Side user down to the ground and flipping over him, his lightsabers flashing at the Zabrak's head, keeping him on the defensive before Ranma landed, kicking out with a sudden blow that took the tattooed Zabrak in the leg. That one kick became a thousand under a second, Ranma's kicks almost breaking the sound barrier, a deep thrumming sound filling the air.

Maul gasped in agony as the blow began to overcome his durability. A wild swing from his lightsaber at the still kicking leg stopped it, and Ranma whirled away, bringing up her own lightsabers again and again, pushing Maul backwards.

 _That's right bastard,_ Ranma thought to herself coldly, almost but not quite at the level of the Soul of Ice, she was worried about what the Force might do or how it would react if she tried it here. Nor was it really necessary. _You think just stealing one or two techniques for me makes you my equal, fucking think again_ _ **murderer**_ _!_

The Zabrak tried a kick. Ranma blocked it with his own thigh, forcing her opponent to push himself off and away with a Force push from a series of lightsaber cuts before the Zabrak lashed out with another Push toward Ranma. But Ranma glowed blue again, ignoring his Force Push as she brought her lightsabers up and around from both sides, forcing the Dark Side user onto the defensive once more.

His weapon might have been able to handle a defensive battle well enough, but Maul was not mentally prepared for one. He kept on trying to go on the offensive, but Ranma simply bulled through, overwhelming him at every turn, pushing him back and further back as they leapt and jumped around each other.

One or two times Ranma's lightsaber got through, slashing into the Zabrak, but his durability was such that these blows didn't penetrate, just as Kit had warned him. But Ranma adapted once more, using the Amiguriken on her wrists, her lightsaber flashing like a metronome slashing a few times against her enemy each time Ranma broke through, but the other was able to move just enough to keep the attacks from doing much damage. They tore at his skin, blistering and burning, his black clothing burning away as well, but that was all since the Zabrak knew not to stand still for long.

With every series of clashes Maul began to understand how outclassed he was here. The chaotic Fulcrum was no longer relying on his/her Living Force shields to block Maul's lightsaber strokes. She was no longer using her own hands or body parts to hammer Maul, thus injuring him/herself almost as much, if not more. The Fulcrum had instead adapted his/her style to attack a lightsaber user, and her overall skills were such that they were slowly but surely overwhelming Maul.

 _Anger_ _ **, anger**_ _, hate, hate,_ _ **hate**_ _! T_ hose were the only emotions Maul could feel glaring at the human across from their locked lightsabers again and again. Every time Maul tried to have a single advantage, he couldn't do it. The only thing going his way was that his constant use of Force grabs was keeping Ranma relatively centered on the ground, forcing Ranma to expand her ki in small lots to break those holds less she be hurled away or slowed down by them.

This forced Maul to once again try to turn the environment to his advantage, and he sent out his senses, trying to think if there were any of his little surprises nearby he could use. There were two, and he slowly began to move in their direction, letting the short human female push him along only in that direction subtly, thinking it would allow him to take Ranma by surprise.

And it worked. The first claymore exploded to Ranma's side, completely taking her by surprise and hurling her sideways. Maul immediately capitalized, thrusting forward with his lightsaber, but Ranma blocked it with one of her own while dropping the other lightsaber. With her other hand she thrust forward, shouting, "Moko Takabashi!"

A sphere of pure Force energy slammed into Maul hurling him backwards, shattering four of his ribs but not doing much damage otherwise other than burning away the remains of his black shirt. This revealed more tattoos and red skin and by the time Maul regained his footing Ranma was already on her own, leaping forward with both lightsabers flashing faster than Maul could match.

He blocked the first one and was forced to barely duck underneath the other, gritting his teeth in agony as it sliced off several of his horns, the searing pain fueling his anger and hate and thus his power. A fierce Force push sent Ranma away before she could flash her Living Force and Ranma impacted the far wall. But she pushed off it, now glowing blue breaking the hold as she hurled herself forward both lightsabers extended.

Maul jumped to one side, bringing his lightsaber down and across to impact where Ranma's body would be. But Ranma somehow was able to get one lightsaber between that blow and her body. Using the momentum she changed direction midair bouncing up and off the ground instead. Her other lightsaber came around in a wide arc which forced Maul to bring the other blade of his lightsaber up to block.

Maul allowed that side of his lightsaber blade to fade, allowing Ranma's blow through for just a second, before reactivating it swinging at the redhead's head, a classic example of the trakatatechnique. Ranma hurled her head backwards dodging the blow bringing his lightsabers back up protect herself from the follow-up series of blows.

Again the two of them began to dance back and forth, moving across the palace grounds up, down and even through walls several times. Soon they came out into an open area, and Maul disengaged, leaping backwards to stare at Ranma.

She simply stared back, her blue eyes ice cold. Ranma broke her own silence in this fight for the first time, sneering at her opponent. "Is that all?"

These words on top of that realization acted like a goad, Maul's normal self-control having been badly eroded since Ranma first showed up. With Ranma having changed his style to eliminate the defects in his style to fight a lightsaber user, the difference in their skill level was obvious and even more hurtful after the series of victories Maul had won throughout the day. " **Die!** " He howled, charging forward.

Ranma met him their lightsabers smashing against one another in a cacophony of sparks and sizzling sounds. Kicks came into the game once again, each of them trying to land one, but neither having the success Ranma had at the beginning of the fight, though the battering began to tell on Maul now even as he began to force Ranma backwards for the first time towards another one of his hidden surprises. Through the rage and hate Maul could feel nothing, not even the pain of his body as Ranma's attacks finally began to tell, his endurance fading.

Between one series of blows and the next Maul's leg was just out of position for his defense and Ranma capitalized, her lightsaber feinting first toward the Zabrak's head, then down her wrist disappearing as she forced her hand, and the lightsaber in it, to go even faster than his normal Amiguriken speed. Her blows hit like an axe against a tree trunk thousands of times in the same position. Maul grunted then stared as his body fell one way and his leg stayed upright, sliced through.

Even as he fell Maul didn't give voice to his pain. Instead he tried to hit back, but Ranma slashed upward, slicing into and through the center of his double-bladed lightsaber. The weapon came apart, but one end still worked, and Maul brought it around as his body finished falling to the wet ground.

He stared up angrily as his opponent blocked it with one of her lightsabers, the other smashing downwards to carry Maul's blade into the ground. Ranma glowed blue, throwing off a last desperate attempt from the silent Dark Side user to hurl him away. Deactivating the one lightsaber under his opponents, Ranma flipped her body over the Zabrak's blade keeping it where it was with the other before reactivating her second and stabbing down straight through the Zabrak's eyeball as the Dark Side User glared at her trying to bring his own blade, which he too had tried to reactivate and deactivate to block it.

He did not succeed and that was one part of his body no one could strengthen whatever technique you used. The lightsaber's point punched straight through the Zabrak's eye and into his brain, killing him instantly.

Ranma stared at the body for a few moments, trying to decide what she felt, if anything, other than simple relief. Deciding that she felt something like a job well done, she sighed, deactivating her lightsabers before grabbing the corpse's legs. The Jedi would probably want to see it after all.

 **OOOOOOO**

The final death knell for the Trade Federation's occupation of Naboo came almost on the heels of Ranma's victory over Maul. Two flotillas of Corellian Defense Fleet ships appeared just outside of the planet's gravity well, foraging inwards at maximum sublight speed: 16 capital ships, four of them carriers which began to disgorge fighters as soon as they exited hyperspace. Garm Bel Iblis was in command of this fleet being a veteran of the Stark Hyperspace War along with his position as Senator. His voice blared out on every communication station, ordering the Trade Federation to surrender or be destroyed.

The ships in orbit might have continued to fight. They still had more than enough starfighters to overwhelm the starfighters coming in at them even with the losses they'd already sustained against those Jedi attack. Possibly even enough to destroy the capital ships they faced if they could keep the range open and simply launch flights of Vultures at them, having learned by now how many Vultures the Lucrehulks could control at a time without impairing their actual ability to fight them.

The three remaining Lucrehulks moreover had belatedly moved into a defensive formation, all of them covering one another. But Anakin, with help from the _Wild Light_ , destroyed a third Trade Federation mothership just as the Corellian capital ships moved within range of their weapons.

This was apparently the last ship that the Viceroy had said had to be destroyed before the others would follow his commands. They did so now, surrendering quickly. Though if this was their following his orders at last, or simple cowardice, could not be said.

The Vultures powered down where they flew. The two remaining Lucrehulks powered down there shields, moving away from orbit while remaining within the gravity well of the planet as they had been ordered to so they could not jump to hyperspace. No computer could do the same thing that Tiin had been able to, so this was enough to make certain they couldn't run.

As soon as the Corellians moved into orbit and around the remaining Trade Federation ships, Shaak ordered the _Wild Light_ to pick her and Master Koon up from the ship they had been fighting in. Ignoring the rapturous muttering from HK, Shaak piloted the ship down to Theed with the other Jedi following.

They weren't the last to arrive by any means, Dooku and the others with the Gungans arrived later along with boss Nass. The Queen met them at the outskirts of the city. Then, with the Jedi as witness she invited Nass to her throne room where they would formalize their alliance. Halfway there she and Nass stopped staring as the Jedi that had infiltrated Theed met them along with their gathered dead.

Knight Glaive, lost against the Yinchorri. Knight Brand, lost against the Trade Federation Army. Master Piell and Knights Mundi and Violeta, lost against the still unnamed Dark Side user. Mundi had succumbed to his wounds before his former master could get him to safety while Violeta died in the explosion of the generator station.

The Dark Woman had been horribly injured in the same blast, but was still able to move relatively well under their own power. Master Koth's arm had not been introduced to bacta quickly enough, and he would need to be fitted with a cybernetic replacement. Kit's foot would recover, in time anyway, though he would have a scar where the Dark Sider's lightsaber had stabbed through it for the rest of his life. And Obi-Wan who could barely stand, his tendons and muscles pushed and pulled far beyond endurance, was still dealing with full-body twitches occasionally.

Nor were the Jedi the only ones who had paid a price for this victory. The Gungans had paid for their aid with lives and Padme promised Boss Nass that any concession he wanted in coming days would be his. No longer would be Gungans be pressed aside, ignored by the rest of the planet and the Republic as a whole. They would take their place as partners of the Nabooans.

Her own security forces had paid heavily, every guard she left the planet mere weeks ago was dead, along with two of her handmaidens. Padme would mourn them along with her friends in private, she could not afford to let their deaths wear her down now.

With the Jedi's aid, she Boss Nass and the Viceroy quickly came to agreements with the planet and with the Trade Federation as a whole, forcing the Trade Federation not only to retreat, but to pay concessions up to and including twice as much of the monetary value of the losses Naboo had taken during this campaign. The droids on planet and in orbit would be demolished. Most of the Lucrehulks in orbit would also be turned over to the planet, though the Trade Federation would be allowed to retain one to transport their people out of the system, sans their leaders of course who would be returning to Corsucant to answer for their crimes.

"The Viceroy would of course be persecuted under Republic law, but there they might run into issues. Not only was he protesting that he had done all he could to mitigate the effect of the occupation, but there was enough evidence to suggest that he was telling the truth there that the Trade Federation's Board of Trustees had forced this action on him, to muddy the waters.

"Which," Padme said, turning away from her throne room's window to look at the Jedi, all of them weary and battered, "Doesn't even consider the sheer monetary power the Trade Federation still possesses."

She was amused to see that Ranma was obviously not paying attention, having moved over to another window to look out at the city, where the locals were coming out of their various hiding places in droves, celebrating the victory. Ships were already en-route to other parts of the planet to bring back the citizens of Theed which the Viceroy had apparently ordered away rather than off-planet. If the numbers didn't add up as he said they would, their case against Gunray would be much stronger, but Padme would have to live with the knowledge that thousands of her people had been sold into slavery.

Dooku spoke those thoughts aloud for all of them. "We can only hope that the Viceroy was in fact telling the truth for once. In any event the new Chancellor should be arriving in time for the parade tomorrow correct?"

"Yes," Padme said smiling, as did several of the Jedi around the room. Senator Garm had brought the news with him that Senator Palpatine had been chosen to be the new Chancellor of the Republic, riding a wave of sympathy as well as his own excellent record in the Senate. The deal he brokered for the Corellian support had been the final nail in the Trade Federation's coffin. Without it, the fighting in orbit would've continued, and might well have been lost which would have turned the tide on the planet itself.

"I could've hoped that he would have been able to move faster, but with transportation and hyperspace being what it is I can understand. I'm not certain I like Sheev's idea of a centralized military force, not until the Senate has its own house in order so to speak. But, at the very least my planet is safer now." Padme replied.

Boss Nass spoke up, his usual over-the-top baritone toned down for now. "Peace be nice because the sacrifice for it be so high." Though garbled by the Gungan accent the words were clearly heartfelt, and Padme nodded at him.

Then she turned back to Dooku and Yaddle. "What about you Masters Jedi? The Dark Side user and his preparations here still bother me."

"The Yinchorri at least were a cut and dried factor." Master Koon replied. "They were acting as common mercenaries. They were on some kind of mission outside the Yinchorri star system when we moved against their leaders. Instead of returning, they decided to act on their own, still following their strong should rule ideal. As for the Dark Side user, he is very much our problem your highness. Or at least where he came from is, he was dealt with rather permanently by Ranma."

Plo Koon nodded over to Ranma, who didn't turn from staring out over the city. Shaak gently touched his shoulder, and one of his hands lifted, his fingers twining around hers he did not turn away from the window, staring out at the setting sun.

Padme looked at him, then at Shaak, wondering anew about their relationship or whatever it was, which had so irritated the Jedi during the initial briefing session. But it was none of her concern, and frankly she was exhausted. "In that case gentlemen, I will see you all tomorrow for the parade." She turned to Master Dooku and the other Jedi once again. "Again, I am sorry for your losses, your fellow Jedi were brave and honorable men and I am proud to have known them if only for a little while."

Boss Nass nodded his head soberly, reaching out clasp arms with first Jerec then Yaddle and Dooku before following her out of the room. Padme stopped at the doorway, looking at Obi-wan, noticing the scar on his face which rather than marring his handsome features seemed to add a sense of roguish danger to them. He caught her gaze and looked away flushing slightly and Padme smiled slightly before moving on, happy that she had at least flustered the older boy.

The Jedi didn't speak again instead remaining silent each with their own thoughts until going their separate ways. Shaak remained with Ranma at the window, staring out at the Vista of the city and the sun, before looking at him. "It's not your fault. You did all you could on Tatooine to stop him, do not beat yourself for things that have already happened Ranma."

Ranma's jaw clenched visibly for a moment, but he turned to her smiling slightly. "You're not reading my mind I know I'd feel if you were trying that. Am I that obvious?"

"Yes, to me at any rate. Do not blame yourself for this." Shaak reached up, taking Ranma's face cupping his cheeks gently. "You did not start this conflict, you did not simply let him go, you were forced too. Your arrival in this galaxy has nothing to do with the Dark Sider, there is no chance he could be that good at using the Force, that dangerous if he had begun training or been turned to the Dark Side when you arrived. Whatever he is, whatever he represents is bigger than you and… Is… Not… Your … Fault."

Ranma closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against hers, feeling the pearl of her headress digging in slightly but ignoring it as he stared into her white marked face. So alien, so alive, so lovely. "I won't beat myself up about it Shaak, my head knows you're right, it's just my heart's having trouble following along."

"I understand," Shaak said laughing quietly before tilting her head lightly to kiss him briefly on lips. "But do not let it consume you, Ranma." Ranma nodded once again, putting an arm around her shoulders as they moved away toward their rooms.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day, the new Chancellor did indeed arrive on a personal yacht from Coruscant putting down at Theed's landing pad. He greeted the Jedi, Padme and the others with a smile and arms outstretched in welcome. "I have heard much of the engagement here your highness, rest assured that I will not rest until justice is done for our people. Masters Jedi, my people, my world, and the Republic as a whole owe you a debt of thanks."

At their questioning looks he frowned. "If not for your show of force, I am certain that other special interest groups might well have begun to act out just like the Trade Federation did here. We will prosecute both the Viceroy and the Trade Federations oversight committee to the best of our abilities and the fullest extent of Republic law. Any of our people who were indeed sold into slavery will be returned, my personal guarantee on that."

Padme nodded, as did the Jedi. They all however knew that the Chancellor might not be able to make good on his promises. He would try, but his powers as Chancellor were not omnipotent.

"And I understand young man that you also played a role." the Chancellor went on looking at Anakin. "Astonishing for one so young, and new youngling among the Jedi as well! I have a feeling I will be seeing more of you my young friend, and I will certainly be following your exploits with interest."

As Anakin puffed himself up and Padme smiled at him as well, Ranma rolled his eyes as did Shaak behind the others, then they looked at one another before looking away.. To Shaak's right Kit shook his head. "I think the Dark Woman should be put in charge of his training for a bit, let her squeeze that arrogance out of him."

The Dark Woman heard that and actually chuckled lightly, while Dooku and Plo Koon talked for a few moments with the Chancellor. Whatever reply she was going to make however was drowned out by a cacophony of bugles, drums and other instruments as the parade for the Gungan Grand Army began.

Ranma joined the other Jedi later that day, watching as the dead Jedi were each interred in a pillar of fire, their bodies cremated, their spirits symbolically rejoining the Force. Elsewhere Padme and boss Nass were formally solidifying their alliance, with one of the nearby buildings being refurbished and remade into some kind of memorial or other, Ranma wasn't certain. Anakin was with her along with the Chancellor.

It was just the Jedi and Ranma here, and soon after ceremony ended the injured Jedi left, heading back to their rooms. But they had been joined by a holograms of Yoda and Master Windu who stayed with them.

For a moment they were all silent, staring into the flames. Then Yoda began. "More to this Dark Side user then we have discovered there is, something… sinister. Jedi trying to backtrack his trail, we already have, find such a trail they will. The right one, the question will be."

The others were all silent but Dooku nodded. "We seem to have an enemy out there somewhere. The one which Ranma dealt with wasn't the brains behind the operation, I don't think he had the right mentality for a spy master, which at the very least he would have to be to have learned about Ranma's abilities. And Gunray's protest that this Zabrak had come to them rather than vice-versa seems to ring falsely to me on some level."

"Hrhrhrm," Yoda grunted agreement nodding his head as he stared first at the fire then Ranma. "Remain between us this will, shared with other Jedi it will not be, regardless of trust. Feel I do that the Veil of the Dark Side, the Dark Side's rising power, more to this there is. Training physical and mental and emotional stepped up will be. The Guardian order refilled will be. Continue to prepare we will."

"I still do not believe that the Sith could have returned without us seeing it, but you are correct Master Yoda, I do believe we have an enemy out there. One who has had this all his own way so far."

Ranma grunted spitting to one side. Shaak elbowed him lightly for that, but understood the sentiment. "It's awfully easy to play shogi when you're the only one who knows the game's going on. You know about it now, and can start planning accordingly. Maybe not openly," he said holding up a hand as Windu made to speak, "but that doesn't mean you can't act at all, right?"

"Hrhrhm, make allies we can, make plans we will. Dark though the days may be, lights among us to guide our way there yet are." Yoda said, flicking his eyes over to Shaak and Ranma.

They all fell silent once more, staring at the fire as around them the celebrations continued and evening turned to night.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

… For some reason I think the ghost of Christopher Lee is going to haunt me because I didn't make Dooku face Maul… which would have been **damn** awesome admittedly, but not the way this chapter worked out.

I also know the space battle was somewhat unrealistic at first, but then these are the first generation Lucrehulks and Vultures, not the massively tough, durable and dangerous battleships they become during the Clone Wars. Nor are the Vultures more than drones at this point with little onboard intelligence.

Besides that, I hope everyone enjoyed how the whole Maul vs the Jedi thing went down. He couldn't simply power through against these Jedi, he might have been able to seem to do so at times, but not quite. Tricks like what he used killed a LOT of Jedi during the Clone Wars, so there is obviously a limit to how much Force Precognition can help any one Jedi, especially against non-sentient traps.

We also see that Yoda and Dooku at the very least believe at least one Sith might still be out there. I did not use that line from the movie about their being only two, since I can't see the Jedi even knowing that much about the Sith under Bane. Unless someone can point out how they learn of the Rule of two to me, someone blurting it out during the hunt for Bane or their finding a holocron which mentions it, it will stay the way it is.

Alright, the time has come to make a decision about something that will truly effect the future of this story. I am really torn about this in many ways, and I value my reader's opinions, so I will ask you all: should I introduce another woman into the relationship, or should I simply have other girls possibly perusing Ranma but with him not interested in them? I can't put it off longer because it feels as if I do, then too much time will pass and the second girl will come in very much an outsider. Already that might be the case given how emotionally close Ranma and Shaak are. If you have a girl you think could come in and make a good third, tell me, even if I haven't already introduced them. I want people's opinions and ideas on this topic whatever they are so please, lay it on me!

the poll for November should be up by Wednesday, so be on the look out for it. Remember it is an ATP month though, so there can be only one winner.

In other news, I have begun putting out a for patrons only at my site, check out the tags on the patron only post if you're interested…


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Star Wars. Mores the pity.

And here is the second gift from Santa Vimes to you all! May the Force be with you all, and Merry Christmas/Hanukkah (first and second night) to you all!

I would like to thank Ultimaflare0 for his help in beta-ing this work for small corrections and word choice issues.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Warm Receptions**

The next day, Ranma was unsurprised to find that most of the Jedi involved in the fight against Dark Clown Face had decided to sleep in. Even Jedi after all needed time to heal. The only one who came out as he did was Kit, though Obi Wan also came out for some reason, wincing with every stride.

"You know you didn't have to come out with us," Ranma said looking over at the older young man. Ranma sometimes had trouble remembering that simply because of how self-effacing and less worldly Obi Wan came off at times.

"I'm not about to start sparring that's for certain," Obi Wan said with some faint smile. "I know my limits. However I did want to talk and see what I could learn just from watching you, Ranma. My style of Soresu helped me survive that Dark Side user's assault, but it's obvious there is still a lot of room for improvement. I'd also like to simply talk about your impressions of him frankly. You're not Jedi, and your insight into things offers… a unique perspective."

"That's one way of putting it," Kit said with a laugh shaking his head, his series of lekku twitching from side to side.

Ranma grinned at him, before smirking at Obi Wan. "So, did you take up Padme's offer to rub ointment into your wounds last night? I'm still not certain if she was serious or not."

"Oh." Obi Wan flushed slightly despite his Jedi self-control. "You heard that?"

"Our rooms are right next to each other so yeah, I did. It was rather funny at the time."

"It's just an infatuation," Obi Wan said shaking his head quickly. "She knows that Jedi are not allowed attachment."

"Keep that thought in mind and you might someday convince her. But I wouldn't hold out much hope." Though, Ranma reflected, there was another reason the two shouldn't really get together, at least in his opinion. Padme was 14 Galactic Standard years old, and Obi Wan was pushing 25, though if Ranma was honest he looked more like Ranma's own age of 19 or so.

"But the whole now attachments thing is probably a better bet in her case than your ages I suppose." Ranma said aloud, causing Obi to chuckle. "After all, how many reigning queens are elected to the post at 14? She's obviously mature for her age."

"Something about that sentence bothers me," Kit said frowning in honest confusion for a moment. "I can't put my finger on why though."

"Good," Ranma sighed in relief. Shaak would not have let that one go and would've teased him for at least twenty minutes. Ranma idly wondered where she was at the moment. S _he did say something last night about wanting to listen in on the start of the talks between the chancellor and Padme, and something else about talking to Master Koth, though what she could talk to that ass… eh, I guess he has sort of redeemed himself somewhat from my first impression of him. never gonna like the guy though._

The trio stepped into the small courtyard around the series of rooms which had been given to the Jedi for the duration of their stay, moving into the center of the area. It was a cleared courtyard that was normally devoted to the palace guards which suited them just fine.

"What are we going to practice?" Kit asked, stepping forward lightly and testing his injured foot, which despite the cauterization of the wound had bandages wrapped around it within his shoe with pain reliving solution.

"Let's start with some warm-up exercises then I'll switch to a staff. I still need to work on my staff work in general then lightsabers." It went unsaid that pushing his body and Force Precognition in order to keep up with Ranma would help Kit's own skills.

Obi Wan moved over to sit on us nearby bench, wincing occasionally. The sunlight felt good on his skin, but he didn't let that or his ongoing pain, filtered through his ability to ignore it to distract him. "I was told your lightsabers were taken from that bounty hunter, Aurra Sing? What are you going to do with those long-term?"

"Incorporate the crystals into my staff, and maybe melt down the metal casing to reuse it. I asked Yoda about it, and he said that was fine."

"That's Grand Master Yoda please." Obi Wan said rolling his eyes at his younger friend's irreverent attitude. "At least out in public."

"Meh," Ranma said with a shrug. "I think the old guy gets a kick out of it frankly."

"No doubt he does," Kit said, shaking his head with another laugh. "At his age, new things are always unique, and he's always preferred to keep things simple. Though I bet the uniqueness of your attitude will start to fade as he spends more time around you."

"Ouch that hurts." Ranma said, then without warning his feet tapped twice on the ground using the momentum from that he shot forward to launch into a high spinning kick a bare second later.

With that the two began to spar, Ranma's limbs glowing briefly whenever they intersected Kit's lightsaber, though he had once again changed his style, trying to avoid direct impacts like that, using mobility and dodging even more than he had previously. It wasn't a marked change, but it was enough to throw Kit off for a second. Still he adapted quickly, speeding up his attacks and moving back and forth around the arena, never taking to the air himself, knowing that would be a very bad idea.

"What did you think about that Dark Side user's style? Can you even analyze how good your opponent's Battle Precognition is? I know you don't have any, but can you tell if someone else is able to keep up with you using it? I have to admit that facing him the second time was easier than the first, but that feeling he gave off in the Force…" Obi Wan asked thoughtfully, his eyes tracking the duel.

"Not really," Ranma replied grunting as Kit nearly got a blow in when Ranma turned slightly to address Obi Wan. His return kick nearly caught the green skinned Aqualian in the chest, forcing him backwards a few steps before Ranma pulled out his staff from ki space.

The staff, a stick of wood Ranma had cut down to the side of the staff he was making, glowed for a moment whenever it interacted with Kit's lightsaber. But Kit kept up the assault, forcing Ranma to expand his ki faster than Ranma had wanted. Suddenly the staff disappeared from his hands, and he ducked under the blow, the staff appearing out once more to slam end first into Kit's stomach, sending him backwards with an 'Ooof' of pain.

"I can tell if someone's able to keep up with me, and I can tell that they aren't simply using speed and strength to do it. But if you're asking me if I can sense whatever Clown Face was doing to you guys, then no, sorry. I could feel his hate and anger, but it didn't really impact me as much is it seemed to you lot going by what Koth had said last night." Ranma went on, his eyes still locked on Kit even as he talked to Obi.

"It was indeed very odd," Kit said, circling around Ranma now his lightsaber making short arcs in the air in front of him rather than the broad sweeps of his normal style of Shi-Cho. Adaptability was key when fighting someone like Ranma, if you did not adapt to his style, you quickly fell to it.

"I had never faced someone like that before, his rage and hate distorted the Force around him, making his Battle Precognition better and impacting mine negatively. I was able to correct it thanks mostly in part with working in tandem with master Koth, but alone I'm afraid that Dark Side user would've overwhelmed me."

"Seriously, just call him Clown Face." Ranma said with a laugh, charging forward before Kit could set his foot down from one step to another. But Kit had anticipated that, and kicked off with the other foot rolling away to one side bringing his lightsaber around in a flashing arc that forced Ranma into the air. Then he scowled realizing his mistake.

For a moment it was all Kit could do to keep Ranma away, and even then he knew that Ranma was playing with him, his staff lashing out occasionally as he remained in the air, dodging and hovering there despite Kit's attempt to ground him with a Force Pull or get some distance with a Force Push. Just as one such pull succeeded Kit overextended lightly with a follow on blow, which Ranma dodged. HIs staff's end flashed out to slam into Kit's shoulder.

Ranma use the momentum of that below to throw himself backwards up into the air in a whirling flashing somersault to land on the far side of the courtyard, a faint smirk on his face. "Point to me."

"Point to you," Kit shook his head ruefully. "But Clown Face?"

"Well yeah, just going on talking about the Dark Side user isn't really good enough you know, and with all that tattoo work on his face he really did look like an evil clown."

"I have no idea what a clown is, but I think I can get the gist." Obi Wan said chuckling.

Kit laughed too, discarding his Jedi robe. This left him in a tight dark brown shirt, which accentuated his upper body. This caused a reaction from a crowd that he hadn't known they had attracted. One of the handmaidens as well as a few of the maids of the palace general had come out to watch the show.

"I don't know, think he's a little too green for my tastes," Sabe said to someone else's comment, shaking her head and looking away. Despite that, a small camera she was holding kept on recording the action, something she had brought along to share what she was seeing with the queen, who could not be here. Sabe and many of the others had decided to use this as a break from getting back into their regular duties, after all it wasn't every day you got to see Jedi training after all.

 _Padme will be so cross to have missed this._ The shirts Kit and Ranma wore left very little to the imagination, and it was a very hot, muggy day. Both of them were already sweating profusely though actually only Kit was sweating because of his exertion.

"He's probably a little darker below the belt too. I would have to wonder about those tentacles, myself" said one of the oldest maids in the palace service. Sabe blushed hotly, and Kit suddenly paused, frowning slightly.

This was the first time he'd actually heard such comments. The feelings he was sensing through the Force from the onlookers was far easier for him to deal with, having felt such feelings before. But the comments were a little beyond what he was used to. Obi Wan on the other hand took them in stride, having heard worse on various missions directed both at himself and from men to women.

"Just ignore them Kit," Ranma said with a laugh. "You won't be here long enough for it to matter, let them have their fun, after living under the TF's boot or guarding Padme these past few weeks they've earned it."

"If you're asking me Obi Wan, if I can figure out a way to help you train against that Dark pressure or whatever you want to call it, the answer is no." he said looking back over the younger Jedi and going back to the original conversation. "Sorry, I just don't know enough about the Unifying Force, and I'm damn sure not going to use any anger-based techniques myself. Even before I arrived in this universe that was a bad idea."

Both Jedi actually shuddered a little at Ranma going Dark then laughed. The image just didn't seem to work frankly.

The spar continued, as Ranma switched off to his dual lightsabers. At the same time Obi Wan began to ask Ranma some questions about his own techniques, trying to figure out what kind of training he could do on his own to take advantage of them. Ranma didn't answer except in generalities, mindful of the fact that they were being recorded by Sabe. He didn't feel the young maid had any malicious intent for doing so, but wasn't about to give anything away either.

"I see you've begun without us," Dooku said as he and Knights Lissarkh and Murani stepped out into the courtyard, raising a hand to shade his eyes for a moment from the sunlight before moving forward. "Masters Yaddle and Plo Koon are deep in discussion with the Queen and the Chancellor, Koth is getting fitted for a robotic arm, And Jerec has left the palace to scour the city's libraries. But I am now at loose ends for a bit. I don't suppose you have time to spar with **me** , do you Ranma?"

Kit backed away, bowing from the waist to the Blade Master as he deactivated his lightsaber moving to sit beside Obi Wan on the bench. Dooku moved forward, discarding his robe and activating his own lightsaber. Ranma brought up his dual lightsabers into an en-garde position, and the two of them stared at one another for a moment before moving as one, lightsabers flashing out.

Ranma pressed in hard, his lightsabers flashing with a speed Dooku could barely match with his Battle Precognition and his own speed training, but he did so smiling all the while as he got used to Ranma's dual sword style. He was very mobile, dodging here and there on the ground, leaping into the air occasionally. But Dooku was mindful of the fact that Ranma was far more dangerous in the air than on the ground, and just like Dark Clown Face had, Dooku used judicious Force Pulls to try to keep Ranma on the ground.

In turn Ranma had adapted to this by flaring his ki. Still the angle of Dooku's various Force pushes, which often changed direction from one millisecond to another, curtailed his movement. The first time Dooku did this he forced Ranma to back off and away from an attack he had launched at Dooku's head and upper body, barely blocking a follow on thrust.

Then Ranma blinked as Dooku deactivated his lightsaber reactivating it quickly as it fell before thrusting forward again. Ranma did the same thing with one of his blades, twisting the hilt around in his hand to block the downward thrust as he reactivated it. Using the impact Ranma rolled away coming out of it, pushing off the ground with both feet propelling himself forward again lightsabers flashing.

"Your style needs work," Dooku said simply, moving into the attack quickly, his single lightsaber a blur as it pushed both of Ranma's blades back or to the side, both of them using the momentum from their swings to try and control the next exchange. Despite Ranma having two blades to his one, Dooku's Battle Precognition seemed to work better against the dual sword style than it had against Ranma's unarmed style.

 _There are just so many more tells!_ Ranma thought as he was forced back again and again. _I can't control them all enough to fool him, Dooku really does deserve the title Blade Master._ _Still I doubt he'll be able to deal with this!_

With that Ranma twisted his body slightly to the side, bringing up one lightsaber as if it was a rapier thrusting forward quickly several hundred times as he brought the other sword around like a broadsword. As it came around he switched styles to once again use both in conjunction.

Dooku backed away, his lightsaber flashing to block the rapier thrust with the side of his own lightsaber letting the thrusts that would miss pass by harmlessly, then he blocked the second blow from Ranma's second lightsaber, bringing his own sword up and around to block the first of Ranma's lightsabers after Ranma once again changed his style. "Very good, not quite good enough though. Your lower body can also give your intentions away when you have swords Ranma, your tells really are… telling."

"Was that a joke, it almost sounded like one but not quite," Ranma quipped then his foot lashed out, catching Dooku in the side, forcing a grunt out of the older man.

Dooku however moved with the blow, his lightsaber coming up again and around to block both of Ranma's lightsabers forcing them down into the side his own coming up quickly flashing into hundreds of swift assaults along the same general line of attack. _Holy Hell he recreated the Amiguriken!_

Ranma barely got one of his lightsabers interposed between his body and the attack, and shuddered slightly as the feeling of the multiple hundreds of blows reverberated in his wrists. Luckily Dooku wasn't able to redirect any of those blows to impact slightly different targets like Ranma could, so he was able to block it without resorting to his own speed attack.

Not so luckily he was so preoccupied with that he didn't even remember he had dropped his second blade until it nearly took his head off under Dooku's Force direction. Grabbing the hilt out of the air he was unable to block another slash from Dooku's blade when he halted his speed assault and switch targets to Ranma's leg.

Deactivating his lightsaber Dooku backed away quickly, bringing the hilt up to his face in a formal salute. Ranma ruefully did the same with both of his, bowing formally at the same time as he did. "You're win." Ranma shook his head. "Even if that one blow wouldn't' have gotten through my ki shield. You taught yourself the speed technique?"

"Indeed. It was rather difficult, and I don't have to tell you how badly it strains the wrists. Still, it is possible, and am I correct in saying it would overcome the durability of your strengthening technique given time?"

"Yep, it's how I go through Clown Face's durability." Ranma said with a nod shaking his head as he moved backwards away from Dooku. "I always think speed is deadlier than durability myself. With these lightsabers you've all got that's magnified."

"Indeed. Round two?"

"So where do you go from here?" Ranma asked conversationally as the two of them locked lightsabers, both of them flowing in and out of battle as nearby the two knights began their own practice with Kit joining them. The onlookers however almost ignored the trio of knights, watching in awe as the elderly-looking Dooku continued to move faster and stronger than the far younger Kit had been able to in his own match with Ranma.

"Thankfully my self-imposed task to repay the Mon Calamari and the Sluisi for their aid against the Yinchorri is finished. The Council has no more need of me as a Consular than I have interest in the job. Instead, master Yoda and master Windu have decided that I should be sent out to hunt some rumors of some kind of deity or other drawing in heretofore unheard of numbers of Anzati away from their home planet."

"Never heard of them," Ranma said. "Should I?"

"Given that you've been in this dimension less than a year, no," Dooku replied dryly. "Knight Lissarck if you would describe them?"

"Of course master Dooku," the female Trandoshan nodded, interrupting her own duel with Kit and Knight Murani. The two of them backed away, deactivating their lightsabers as they too listened. "The Anzati are a very, very long-lived race. But they have a peculiar and rather disturbing genetic disposition to being something that is far too like cannibals for most sentients."

Ranma blinked, pushing himself back from another clash with Dooku, shaking his head. "Run that by me again? How can something be 'like' cannibalism, what, they only eat the brains or something?"

"Your joke is a little too close to the mark to truly be funny. Anzati can drink something they call the soup, essentially they drain the Force and mind of the victim leaving said victim catatonic or dead. But the Anzati are not a true race as most understand the term, organized as such with a central government, laws and so forth, and there have never been many of them seen away from their homeworld, certainly not for millennia. There have really been rumors about to that effect master?"

"Of a sort." Dooku grunted, blocking a particularly heavy blow from Ranma forcing his lightsaber up and around turning inside Ranma's reach for a moment only to find his lightsaber's attack blocked by Ranma's other lightsaber. But a quick Force Push helped his blow along pushing Ranma back, nearly opening him up to a second blow though Ranma was able to correct his stance in time.

"Some rumors, at least enough for us to look into of numbers of them leaving Anzat because of kind of callbyo a 'Dark Dreamer'. Including the disappearance of Knight Nikko Tyris, a young Anzat who was brought into the Order as a baby. He wished to follow in a Master Karkko's footsteps. According to the Head Librarian Karkko was once one of the most learned masters of the Order until he tried to taste the soup to prove he was above such things, and fell to it instead. Tyris was researching his fall the last time he was at the temple, and he dropped out of contact two weeks ago while looking into those rumors."

Dooku paused, bringing his blade up in token of peace to Ranma before he looked over at Kit, whose revulsion and loathing for the Anzati had come to him clearly through the Force. "Do not loathe the Anzati Knight Fisto, rather pity them. I have talked with Yoda, Tholme and others who have dealt with Anzati personally, and they have no more control over their actions after tasting what they call the 'soup' than any drug addict."

He sighed sadly, shaking his head. "They are indeed among the most long-lived species anywhere in the galaxy and they have been around for longer than even the Jedi Order. They could have built a culture of such beauty and majesty as to inspire the entire galaxy. But instead, anything but the hunt for the 'soup' is unimportant to most of their race. Those who can rise above it are to be respected, as Karkko was. And those who fall, who cannot turn away from their beast chill addiction, are to be pitied, again like he was."

"I understand master." Kit said bowing his head humbly.

"So, some kind of spacefaring vampire who sucks out your energy and brains rather than your blood." Ranma said with a nod. "Got it."

"I have no idea what a vampire is, but I can certainly guess from context." Dooku shook his head with a chuckle then both combatants fell silent as they reengaged.

A few moments later, the group was joined by Anakin and Master Tiin. As a Guardian Saesee had no interest whatever in politics and he'd been assigned to watch over Anakin. The two of them had actually been having a very decent discussion that morning pilot to pilot.

The Ikotchi Master didn't care about the boy's reason for being there, feeling that the Dark Woman and the others had questioned him enough about why the Force had compelled him to join them on this mission. Rather he was interested in the boy's piloting skills, which would no doubt be a credit to the Jedi Order as a whole in time. Even at so young an age, Anakin's skills and instincts were incredible. He needed to work on keeping the whole battle in mind rather than getting tunnel vision, but that was normal in young pilots and his Force sense also helped him there.

Obi Wan nodded at the boy, moving over slightly to let him sit down, but Ranma shook his head, having just finished another match against Dooku. "Come on out here Anakin, let's work off some of that energy of yours."

Anakin nodded quickly, moving to stand for Ranma who deactivated his lightsaber and began to rummage around in his ki space for a moment. He pulled out the original wooden staff he'd used, snapping it in half quickly and throwing one half to Anakin. Anakin caught it, and Ranma began to instruct him on some of the basics sword techniques he learned in his old dimension. Dooku watched for a moment, then began to correct the styles to be applicable to lightsabers. The weight distribution of the lightsaber was after all very different from a normal sword, and that had to be taken into account. With that done, Dooku moved over to Kit and the two knights, and began to give them some instruction in turn.

After only ten minutes however Ranma began to run Anakin through more physical exercises, such as sit-ups and squats, running behind the boy as he moved around forcing the boy to sweat more in less than an hour than he normally would have in an entire day back on Tatooine. He was used to the heat, the mugginess in the air here on Naboo was something else entirely.

After Anakin finished a final rep of sit-ups, Ranma nodded. "All right, that's enough for now go get some water and we can take a break." They moved over to join Obi Wan on the bench, noticing he had moved off it to sit on the ground of the courtyard, his legs crossed under him as he meditated. Dooku and the other Jedi were still exercising however, with Dooku giving the younger trio instruction in how to personalize their lightsaber styles further.

"Ranma," Anakin asked, thoughtfully as he drained a small bulb of water. "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Depends on the topic Anakin," said Ranma with a shrug. "I'm not a Jedi, so I don't know if I'm the right person to ask questions about the Force or anything like that." _And you're going to face enough problems from your peers without my ideas muddying the issue further._

"I don't have any questions about that. I'm just, I'm a little confused by how the Jedi reacted to my coming with them on this mission, and the Dark Woman told me I'd be punished too. I was able to describe the feeling, and in the Force did want me here after all, isn't that the whole point? That the Force is supposed to guide the Jedi?"

"I just told you I wasn't the one to ask that question." Ranma said with a laugh. "I don't let the Force drive **me** anywhere after all."

Obi Wan came out of his trance having heard them despite communing with the Force. "Your reasoning was sound Anakin, it was the way you went about following your feeling that bothered us."

"But if I had just told someone that the Force wanted me to go to Naboo, wouldn't I have just been laughed at, or told not to worry?" Anakin asked.

"Possibly if you went to the wrong Jedi master, yes your age would be against you. But there are procedures and rules to be followed Anakin, regardless of what you may think the Force is telling you. There are many more learned masters far better than you are at discerning those feelings. And besides, if you had gone to Master Qui-Gon do you think he would have simply waved your concerns away?"

Though it hurt to admit it Obi knew that Qui-Gon would have been more than happy to listen and possibly act on Anakin's feelings. His master had a marked interest in the youth, and seemed to feel he was destined for great things. And given Qui-Gon's own antiauthoritarian streak he might well have helped Anakin slip off if given the opportunity.

"Personally, I think it's a combination of that and the fact that you snuck onto the ship without telling anyone or even being found that bothered the Jedi." Ranma said with a nod. _Although it could be that they also didn't sense you doing it, heh._ "So while the Force might've sent you here, you'll still get punished for those things, understand?"

"I guess," Anakin said with a frown. "I just think that if the Force is telling me to do something that should be more important than the rules."

"Possibly, but think about it like this, the Order is now supposed to look out for you and keep you safe until you're ready to keep yourself safe."

Anakin scoffed. "I've been looking out for myself and my mom for years. I'm not a baby."

"No you're not, but you're not an adult either," Ranma said shaking his head but keeping how much of that was down to Shmi rather than Anakin to himself. "And besides how is your mom going to react hearing that you ran off like this? After being inducted into the Order, where you're supposed to learn how to harness your Force powers? In fact, I bet Yoda's probably already told her about your little exercise."

Actually Ranma wasn't certain about that, but if the little midget had any sense he would have. But the Order's reaction to family connections left much to be desired. He just hoped that with all the other changes going on Yoda was willing to work with what he had with Anakin and his mother rather than force them apart in an attempt to follow rules which themselves were idiotic.

"But it isn't the Jedi's response to you being here that really bothers you is it?" Ranma asked, gesturing Anakin to sit cross from him as they moved away from Obi Wan slightly. Not far enough to be out of hearing range, but enough to make Anakin think they were. "You're worried about Padme and her response to you, right?"

Anakin flashed, looking down and twiddling with his fingers. "I, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Pull the other one kid," Ranma said shaking his head.

Anakin's feelings toward Padme were so obvious even Ranma could see it. The fact only Shaak and possibly Dooku had seen it said very bad things for the Jedi's ability to pick up on such things. _Just because they are not allowed in the Order or unimportant to you doesn't mean you should ignore them entirely, morons!_

He stared down at the younger boy, who flushed and looked away. "All right, so I was a little worried about it, I mean she didn't, she didn't seem to see my side of things. And she barely said hello to me this morning, I mean the chancellor had more time for me than Padme did. I know that's because of the ongoing talks with Boss Nass and the rest of it, but still…"

"Well she's not a Force sensitive for one thing, and for another, she had no way of knowing how you good a pilot you'd be." Ranma replied reasonably. "After all, pod racing and piloting in space in a combat situation are two very different things. And ever since we won, she's a head of state trying to clean up after an invasion, of course she's going to be busy. Look Anakin, I know what you think of her and I even feel for you. A beautiful foreign older girl coming into your life and along with a trio of Jedi save you and your mother from a life of slavery, how could you not fall for her? But there's a difference between a crush and love."

He sat down across from Anakin, gesturing in the sit down to. Anakin did so, cocking his head thoughtfully. "Crush, what's that, I don't want to hurt Padme!"

"A crush is my people's term for being extremely attracted to someone, mostly because of how cute or whatever the person is, trust me, I know, I've been there. Most of time a crush is built on first impressions, and a crush grows into love only over time and, this is the important bit, growing understanding and affection between both of you. You're not in love with Padme Anakin, you have a crush on her."

"You don't know that! I could be in love with Padme!" the boy said, making to standup, not realizing that Obi Wan was listening intently frowning at the boy's emotional state and lack of control. He was more open to the idea of allowing himself to feel… certain things than he had been, but not if they could control him rather than vice versa.

"What do you even know about her Anakin?" Ranma asked quietly.

"I know she's a princess and she's pretty. I know she needed help here, I know she's young to be queen even here on Naboo..." Anakin trailed off, realizing he really didn't know a lot about Padme the person besides that. "I know she does sometimes like to get away from being treated like a queen, and doesn't mind getting her hands dirty. That has to count for something right?" Anakin frowned as he realized how lame that sounded.

"See what I mean. Love isn't that **abrupt** Anakin. Attraction can be, but love takes time and a lot of time spent around the other person to build. You haven't been around her that long, and you certainly don't know enough about one another or have enough in common to really build a relationship like that. Irrespective of the fact that Jedi aren't supposed to have relationships and all that stuff." Ranma added hastily, glancing over to Obi, who in a rare moment of understanding merely rolled his eyes, deciding to leave this rather touchy subject in Ranma's capable hands.

While Ranma wasn't yet willing to say he was in love with Shaak aloud, he felt he would eventually be able to, and be honest about it too. Mostly because of the amount of time they'd spent around one another, their ability to communicate far better than he ever could with Akane, her general understanding and her courage to challenge her own way of life to be with him. _Her sexy as hell body doesn't hurt anything, but it was her personality that really made me willing to try to have a relationship with her._ Ranma also knew it was his own personal growth that allowed him to even think of having a relationship at all, but at the moment that wasn't important.

Anakin frowned, but couldn't deny any of the points Ranma had made, not having seen many real relationships now that he came to think of it. He'd never spent time with any of the other families in Mos Espa, since most wanted nothing to do with a slave like him, and the other relationships he saw were less permanent and based on the exchange of money or physical attraction. Hearing the there was more to a relationship than attraction Anakin didn't know what to think any longer.

"Now," Ranma said springing to his feet. "Back to work."

Over the next hour Ranma ran Anakin ragged, until he finally collapsed into a heaving sweaty mass, completely running out. Ranma on the other hand was still good barely warmed up despite his sparring with the others and he smirked down at the boy. "You want some water?"

At that point Shaak arrived with the Dark Woman and Master Koth. She stopped frowning as she saw Sabe and the other maids. They had watched Ranma work Anakin through his paces, matching the younger boy with ease while carrying what looked like a giant weight of some kind on his back and now were watching silently as Ranma stood over the gasping youth. Some kind of feeling Shaak Ti hadn't felt ever before went through her as she saw Sabe and a few of the other human women checking Ranma out, their eyes raking his form while others had turned to watch the martial display the rest of the Jedui were putting on.

She grabbed up a water bottle, intending it to see what their reaction would be to Ranma's curse, not even understanding why but knowing she had to do something. Other, that is, than the other suggestion her mind had come up with; that of gauging their eyes out.

Shaak stopped however as Ranma turned somehow having noticed her, his eyes lighting up as they locked on her. "Shaak," he said, moving over quickly. "You done talking to Koth or were you busy with the queen and company?"

Shaak smiled, her feelings of jealousy, _yes that must've been jealousy,_ she mused, leaving her quickly. She had sensed the feeling in others directed at her, but Shaak realized that was very different from the emotion originating within her own head. "We have finished our discussion yes, if not in the way I would have preferred. On the other hand, it is a little late in the day to exercise so I simply came to talk to you."

"Fine by me," Ranma said with a small, but warm smile as his hand brushed against hers for a moment as he turned away gesturing towards the bench. Kit was there, and the two of them joined him while the Dark Woman moved over to Anakin, staring down at his gasping exhausted form.

"I see someone is already begun your bit of penance." The white-haired woman smiled. "Good. I will finish it then when you get back to Kashyyyk you'll have already been disciplined and can rejoin your youngling class without any further interruption. Now get up."

As Anakin was forced back into several physical and then meditation exercises, Ranma Shaak and Kit talked. "So what are your plans? I meant to ask, but then Anakin arrived and I wanted to see with the kid could do."

"Your opinion of him?" Shaak asked, interrupting for a moment smiling apologetically at Kit who merely nodded back.

"He's driven, he's got some interesting preconceptions though, and is not is physically strong or fast as he seems to think. At his age that kind of thing goes with the territory I guess."

"Which must mean that you were right terror when you were growing up." Shaak mused with a twitch of her lips before they both turned to Kit.

The Aqualian knight smiled. "I, along with Anakin and the Dark Woman will be returning to Kashyyyk with you two aboard your vessel. If that's all right?" He added, watching Ranma's eyes narrow. When Ranma nodded after a moment Kit went on. "It's been decided I don't have the temperament to become a sector Jedi or be part of the organization of one of our new temples from the ground up. I'll be assigned a new mission soon enough."

He looked at Ranma, then around at the other Jedi and past them to where Sabe was still recording the exercises being conducted, concentrating now on Obi Wan who the Dark woman had made join them despite his various pulled muscles. "I am to join you in undergoing some training you've begun to set up there?"

"Good," Ranma nodded. "You would be my second choice after Shaak to join me in that. I'll even agreed to train you with you as much as I can while working on my own projects."

"What about Obi Wan? With his master being placed on light duty, will Obi join Master Qui-Gon on Kashyyyk or be temporarily reassigned?" Shaak asked.

Dooku joined them, leaving Lissarhk and Murani to retire to mediate for a time. "Obi Wan will leave here with master Yaddle and the other back to Coruscant. He is to take his Trial for knighthood."

Nearby Obi Wan looked up in shock at that then bowed solemnly, something which the Dark Woman replied to with a cuff above the ear and an order to get back to exercising. Shaking his head at that Dooku went on. "After that however he will be assigned to a group of four investigating a segment of the so-called legal slave trade near the Hapes Cluster."

Dooku shrugged. "The mission had originally been assigned to just two others, but after what happened with young Secura, Master Windu has decided to overhaul the Council of Reassignment, and has placed top priority on assigning such missions more numbers than before."

"Huh, so even a bureaucracy can be taught new tricks if you threaten it with a large enough stick?" Ranma laughed. He looked over at Shaak then back out to the open training ground, but she shook her head. He shrugged and got to his feet, followed swiftly by Shaak. "For now though, I think I want to explore a bit, we'll see you all this evening."

 **OOOOOOO**

"While we might not like the idea of such powerful ships remaining in local hands masters Jedi," Palpatine said, cutting into the argument. "You have to admit that both not only is it a lawful act, but that it could be a final political slap in the face to the Trade Federation."

"We understand that point yes," master Plo said. "But who is to stop some local captain with less moral conviction then the Queen from taking one of those ships and turning pirate? That is our main concern here."

They were discussing what to do about the massive amount of army and naval material that had been confiscated from the Trade Federation after their occupation was brought to an abrupt end. The android troops on the ground were already being dismantled. Their weapons would be used to arm the Grand Gungan army, which would be the core of a new land-based defense force for the planet. It would in no way be a true military force, made up of barely trained levees but it would be able to defend the planet.

The rest of the military supplies from the army would be sold to the Galactic Republic at cost in return for shipments of food, construction equipment and shield generators for the planet. Before this Naboo had not been a rich enough world to purchase yet alone maintain such a system, like Alderaan, Coruscant and other Core Worlds could. But the amount of material they had to sell now could at least fund the purchase and installation of a planetary shield generator.

All well and good, the Jedi were very happy that Naboo could enrich itself off the Trade Federation's supplies. The sticking point for them and initially Palpatine was the two Trade Federation Lucrehulk capital ships which had been taken intact and their accompanying vultures. There was enough there to make a rather decent fleet, and Padme was unwilling to simply hand that back over to the Trade Federation. But Palpatine and the Jedi were not pleased with any single system having that much firepower. At least at first, but Palpatine had seemingly come around to his queen's perspective.

"Perhaps a compromise," Palpatine said, smiling internally. While Padme might think she was the one pushing for this in reality she wasn't, and her general antimilitary stance would eventually come to the fore down the line. By that point, the ships and their maintenance would have become a severe drain on the planet's resources, and after a few years of no military threats he could convince the next Queen to let them go for a song.

The Jedi however needed to be appeased in some other form. "Your main concern is that these ships could be an offensive threat correct? The Vultures do not have personal hyperdrives, they rely on their capital ships for that. So if we remove the hyperdrives from the two surviving Lucrehulks become system defense ships, which are allowed to be **any** size under Republic law. Why just look at a few that Corellia has, or Golam. That and using the ships as further collateral to pay Naboo back for the Trade Federation's invasion would remove my concerns about the lawfulness of this act."

"Suppose do I that will, and magnificent for in system cargo transportation too would they be. How the trade federation began after all, that was." master Yaddle said thoughtfully. "Take much work of course, updating the soldiers on board computer systems would, but even so, a large military force, it is."

"Which will serve as Republic auxiliaries should the need arise. Indeed, I would prefer to turn them entirely over to the Republic, so long as I was assured that they would remain in station in this system for a time, and never find their way back into the hands of the Federation. But it is not just up to me. My people were caught without defenses once Chancellor, Masters Jedi, and I have talked to the various sector governors and mayors, they are determined that we will not be so caught again." Padme replied.

She sighed faintly. "I have to say that I am not happy about that but I can understand their points and as their queen I will do what I can to safeguard my people."

"Excellent," Sheev said with a nod. "In that case, we should get down to the wording of the announcement we'll be sending to the Trade Federation to that effect, as well as discuss how we will deal with the rest of the Senate concerning this matter."

Despite his upbeat tone Palpatine was somewhat irritated, both by how well the queen had argued her points and the need for him to change his plans once more. Those massive ships were expensive in the extreme, the Lucrehulk class was the bedrock of the Trade Federation fleet not only in terms of military power but trade, and returning them would have garnered him even more control over Gunray.

However, once turned over to Naboo, he could subtly see to it they were counted towards that get the Trade Federation owed Naboo entirely, which meant the Trade Federation as a whole might not have to pay another dime, and wouldn't need to expend further political capital to do so. They would still have to recant publicly, and the public denouncement and trial of the Board of Directors would be enough to exonerate Gunray and keep him as head of the Trade Federation. His position would slowly become more powerful because of the Senate's need to have a single individual to interact with about the Trade Federation in the future, and that would allow Palpatine in turn to control Gunray.

The Jedi would no doubt keep a close watch on Gunray and the other higher-ups of the Trade Federation, but that wouldn't be enough. No, the Nabooans arming program would continue out in the Outer Rim. Moreover their not contesting turning these ships over would be seen as a major concession towards peace, which might earn the Trade Federation more Senate approval and thus influence.

A few hours later Palpatine left the conference room, smiling politely as Padme did the same, moving down the corridor with her talking quietly about the damage done to the capital city. The Jedi moved in the opposite direction talking to each other, happy about the outcome but so not happy about the militant attitude the previously peaceful planet seemed to be adopting.

The two of them nearly ran into one of Padme's maid, Sabe, coming out of her room. "My Queen," she said bowing quickly. "Er, I apologize, but I have that security video you wanted to look at."

Padme nodded, nothing in her face giving anything away and Palpatine nodded agreeably at her and her look alike. "I believe I will leave you here. It's been a long day already for the both of us, and I too have some work I need to get back to."

"Thank you Chancellor Palpatine," said Padme, bowing her head slightly, one head of state to another, to the older man. "I hope you will have time to dine with us this evening but until then, I think it is indeed time we both see to our separate duties."

After a few more pleasantries, Palpatine moved towards his own quarters quickly, entering and locking the door behind him before moving towards his computer system, the most secure type of system money could buy. He had implanted a suggestion in Sabe's mind to record the Jedi exercises that morning, eager to see what he could get out of it. Her recording device did not only record, but could also send data, and it did so to his system.

After a moment however he cursed pushing away from the chair and slamming a fist down on the table top in a rare sign of anger. The camera angle wasn't very good, and they weren't close enough most of the time to hear any of the discussion going on with the recording device. Worse, the stupid girl had concentrated on the exerciser's chests and faces almost to the exclusion of the actual combat going on. Despite that Palpatine could see several examples of this speed technique at work thanks to Dooku, but he couldn't hear anything about the training to duplicate it.

He calmed down as he watched Ranma put Anakin through his paces, then listened intently to the recording of them talking, which Sabe's pickup had been close enough to overhear with a faint smile on his face. That could be another string on the boy, definitely something to keep in mind going forward. Something to keep in mind, as was the other conversation he could overhear, about some kind of training being developed on Kashyyyk. _Hmm..._

Still, over all this was a failure and Palpatine scoffed as the video slanted to decidedly below the belt for a moment. _So much effort to subtly influence the useless sluts' minds and get them interested in watching the Jedi's exercises for next to nothing! And I doubt I will be able to spy on the Chaotic Locus in the future now that he might be wise to such. I will have to step up my attempts to either curtail the Chaotic Locus or remove him. I am getting very tired of having to adjust for the bedlam he leaves in his wake._

 **OOOOOOO**

"Sense you there I can." Yoda murmured into the darkness of his meditation chamber on Kashyyyk. "Come far to test your ability to sneak about, you have. If the only reason you are here that is, disappointed, I will be."

"It is not master, though I suppose I should have known that you of all people would feel my presence," said a light, lilting female voice from the darkness around him. Then there was a brief flare of light as one of the small local bugs the Wookies used in some of their lights was released, unharmed, from a hand. It hovered in the air besides the being who had caught it, seemingly happy to remain there.

Yoda turned around in his on his meditation had, staring up at the tall merely human woman standing there wearing a plain Jedi robe over an equally plain white shirt and pants. Most of her features were human, but the long pointed ears protruding from out of the long dirty blonde hair gave her otherworldly nature away. Her features were angular yet beautiful, her eyes deep, compelling and infinitely kind.

"A long time master Fay, or been for me at least, it has, since we last saw each other." Yoda chuckled, and Fay laughed quietly as she moved to take a sitting position in front of him, folding her legs under her body smoothly as the small light bug moved into the air above their heads.

Jedi Master Fay was a near-human Jedi Master, who had been master Yoda's first padawan. Not even he however knew what race she was from, having never met any other like her in her his travels. Indeed, Master Fay was a extraordinary individual in every sense of the word. Even as a padawan, Fay's connection to the Force had been profound. He had not felt the like until recently with young Anakin, who had an even stronger connection to the Force than she did, though nowhere near her intrinsic level of understanding.

She was also famous for not following the Orders of the council or even listening to the Senate, rather looking to the Force to guide her path without any other exterior entity getting in the way. Yoda had until recently felt that was possibly the best but a far too simple way of dispatching a Jedi's duties for the universe they lived in. The Order was too tied into the Republic as a whole to allow more than a scattered handful of Jedi to follow that calling. But Fay had done so almost from the moment she had been raised to become a master. And unlike most, Fay had been acclaimed as a master rather than achieving the rank in the normal method of raising her own padawan to knighthood.

 _And surprised I would, if aged a day since the last time we saw each other, she has._ Yoda thought with another chuckle, the sound echoing lightly in the room. Unchanging and ageless Fay could possibly live forever, free of disease and the touch of centuries. A lesser creature might've been jealous or even angered by that, but Yoda was **old** , and knew that all things aged as they would, ended in their own time.

Yoda smiled at her, reaching across with his small wrinkled hands to take hers. **"** Welcome my dear, you are, welcome and more than welcome. But weary you seem, hrhrhrm?" Indeed, though only those who knew her very well, of which there were only three still alive, would've recognized it but it was there. Fay looked exhausted despite her normal poise, her hair was a little out of joint in places, and her eyes were slightly red. There were even dark bags under her eyes.

"Master, as you know I have allowed the Force to guide my path for centuries. But around seven months ago, I began having increasing difficulties doing so. It is not the growing power of the Veil of the Dark Side. I have felt that for years and been able to cope with it. This is something inherently… chaotic. Light-based I feel, but chaotic. When I was finally able to understand what was going on, I tried to ascertain the source of the chaos, and came here."

She looked around the temple, shaking her head wonderingly. "Evidently I have been out of touch for a little too long this time," she said with a sigh. Last time she had been to Coruscant had been over two hundred and forty years ago. It had been for a ceremony to honor a fallen comrade who she had met and befriended out in the Outer Rim, but she had left immediately afterwards. The Force was her guide, not politics, not the vagaries of society, not even the Order itself.

"And here on this planet I feel echoes of happiness in the Force that do not match anything I've felt before. It's awe-inspiring to know that there are still things about the Force that I do not know." Fay now smiled softly, the smile of a being who would happily spend her entire life trying to discover new things, yet always happy knowing she would never accomplish it.

"You felt not only that the Chaotic Locus was here, but here you should come, Hrhrhrm?" Yoda asked, though his tone made the question a statement.

"Yes," Fay said simply. "I can't say discerning that was easy master, but so long as I can unravel this mystery, I will consider the time well-worth spending. A Chaotic Locus you say, I remember reading about that kind of thing, but have never run into one before."

"Ranma, the Chaotic Fulcrum's name is. A most unique young man, he is." Yoda chuckled at that monumental understatement, wondering what these two would make of one another. "Tell you what he has done, will I, as well as had on the Order, the impact he has. Hrhrhrm, for me, began when a certain future shift, I felt."

That took some time, with Fay interjecting at points. Not because she didn't believe master Yoda, though if anyone else had told her about Ranma's curse she might have tried to see if they were on a hallucinogen. But Yoda wouldn't lie to her, and if anyone else had she would've felt the lie in any event. Nonetheless she asked for clarification several times which made the already somewhat long tale lengthen further.

About two hours had gone by before they finished, and Fay shook her head in shocked amusement. "Fascinating, he makes such a gigantic impact on the Force yet doesn't reach out to it as we Jedi do? Fascinating and most enlightening as well. And he is coming back here?"

"Indeed. Knights Ti, Fisto, the Dark Woman, young Anakin and Ranma, return here soon they will."

He chuckled lightly as Fay frowned, though not at the idea of meeting Anakin. He might well become a powerful Jedi, but the idea he was the Chosen One was not something she would be drawn on. The Force worked as it willed, if he was so chosen her belief would not matter one way or the other and she preferred to believe they were all equal to the Force. Fay's frown was at the mention of the Dark Woman.

She had met the Dark Woman once, and to say they did not get along was a vast understatement. It was ironic considering that in many ways their views of the Force were similar, but how they went about fulfilling their duties as Jedi could not have been more different. The Dark Woman was a spy, a mover in dark alleyways and someone who would not hesitate to kill if she thought justice or the Force demanded it.

On the other end of the scale, Fay had never been a fighter, never seeing that as something a Jedi should be at all. She had been decent enough with a lightsaber under Yoda's tutelage, but she had never been enthusiastic about it. And now Yoda noticed that she didn't even have a lightsaber on her belt. Instead Fay used persuasion and in particular the projection of an aura of calm and fellow feeling to fulfill her duties, along with an ability to discern intent, negative feelings and lies that was second to none. When that failed Fay had a mastery of Force telekinesis and mental disciplines that made her a very dangerous opponent.

"Stay to meet him, you will?" Yoda asked though he didn't really have to. Even he could tell that the Force wanted Fay here for that purpose. Why that was, he didn't know but would accept it.

"Yes. I am not certain if it is this Ranma character who I am here for, or if it is one of the people who have been affected by him, but nonetheless this is where the Force wants me to be. And I a very much looking forward to seeing this curse of his in action, to feel the Force laughing. It sounds fascinating." Fay replied with a smile.

"Indeed, appear fascinating many things about Ranma do. At a safe distance however, they are best observed." Yoda said dryly.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma, Shaak, and their passengers left for Kashyyyk the very next day and almost immediately, the cramped conditions for so many people on the _Wild Light_ proved irritating. Kit was okay, even Anakin. Ranma shared his room with Kit, who slept on the floor with Anakin sleeping on the couch in the sitting room. They both went out of their way to not rub either Shaak or Ranma the wrong way, knowing the cramped quarters could cause trouble.

The Dark Woman however was contentious, commanding, and rather oppressive. Whenever she saw Ranma and Shaak together, even if they were simply sitting next to one another not even touching she would frown censoriously at them. Nothing about the _Wild Light_ seemed to interest her, and she was always trying to needle Ranma or Shaak, either alone or separately, pushing at their self-control.

In Ranma's case she found fault in his not being a Jedi, his personal moral code and refusal to reach out to the Force. Though thankful for his aid and for his slaying Sing, her greatest failure, she found Ranma's non-Jedi attitude to be dangerous. In Shaak's case she questioned her dedication to the Force and the Order, accusing her of arrogance for asking to retake her Oaths in the old way.

She didn't get anywhere with either of them. Ranma simply ignored her for the most part, primed by Shaak to expect this kind of response and frankly not caring a whit about the woman's opinion of him. Shaak simply smiled and took her verbal sparring with ease, letting her control, her new skills and the fact the Force had responded so positively to her retaking the Oath speak for her.

The censorious aspect of the Dark Woman's presence however got old very quickly, stopping the two of them from being as affectionate towards one another as they would have liked. Neither were effusive in their affections, but a touch of the hand here, a kiss on the cheek there, hugs and general closeness mattered given how new they were to their relationship.

So it was with relief that they came out of hyperspace after a day and a bit, and this time they weren't even immediately fired upon. Though there were two Wookie patrol craft however swiftly moved in their direction as they moved towards Kashyyyk.

"Attention incoming patrol craft, this is the _Wild Light_ returning from Naboo, identification codes inbound to your systems." Shaak said crisply into her intercom, then switched over to another channel. "Kashyyyk Space Control this is _Wild Light_ , requesting clearance for space lane and landing coordinates."

She listened to the growls on the other hand, and gestured Ranma in the correct direction while the two patrol craft peeled off, their small almost nonexistent wings waggling as they moved from side to side in a gesture of respect towards them before moving away. A few moments later they entered orbit over the planet, before moving down at an angle into the atmosphere towards the coordinates they had been told to follow.

To both Ranma and Shaak's surprise, they were not being ordered to land at the landing field they had used previously, instead they were directed further down and around the city from that landing field. It was hard going, the verdant foliage becoming more interweaved and pervasive as they lost altitude. It got to the point where if they didn't have the local instructing them on where to go a normal pilot would have crashed a dozen times over.

Eventually they turned the ship slightly and spotted their target, a sight that woke a gasp from Ranma and an impressed 'hmm' from Shaak. Several hundred feet below the Jedi Temple was a small docking bay carved out of the interior of a wroshyr branch, its sheared off end blocked by metal and wooden doors which opened as they watched. The branch was more than wide enough to take their ship, a sight that once again made Ranma shake his head in awe at the size wroshyr trees could reach.

Inside they were met by a Wookie, taller than most of his species and almost emaciated with russet fur, as well as Anakin's mother and Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon looked almost back to normal, though he was using a walking stick, which came up to his waist. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when Anakin came down the ramp, though his mother, who Qui-Gon was standing beside yet somehow separate from, frowned at Anakin severely.

"This is amazing," Ranma said ignoring the trio for now as he gestured around them looking at the Wookie. That was fine with Shmi and Qui-Gon, who ignored him and Shaak in turn, tearing into Anakin for how he had just gone off on his own. "Is this new, it doesn't look it but why didn't we use this place before?"

The Wookie too ignored the human youth and the two adults' discussion, growling a reply in his own language and Shaak translated. "It was down for a new coating of the mixture they use to protect the wood from heat and fir. This is to be the Jedi Temple's own landing area now. Connecting this with the temple, carving a path up to that heretofore unused section without doing any permanent damage to the Wroshyr tree itself has also taken some time apparently."

"Understandable given how tough the wood is." Ranma cocked his head and looked at Shaak smiling faintly. "You're smiling Shaak."

"I know, it's the feel of this planet. Naboo might've been alive with animals and plants, but not to this extent. It did not burn with the Living Force as Kashyyyk does to my senses." Shaak shook her head, looking around her smile slowly growing. "It's simply amazing."

By this point Anakin had been thoroughly berated by his teacher and Shmi, and Shmi threw her arms around him hugging her tight them tightly. "I'm proud of you Ani, but please don't do that again without telling anyone. There are a lot of dangerous animals on Kashyyyk, and some of them even come up this level. We were afraid you'd been taken in the night with no one the wiser."

Anakin looked suitably chastened at that, bowing his head. "I'm sorry master Qui-Gon, mother, it was just I didn't think I'd be allowed to go even if I described what I was feeling accurately enough to appease the youngling's Masters, and I just **knew** I had to go!"

"You might not have," Qui-Gon said with a faint smile tapping the boy's shoulder lightly with his staff. "And I have often found that forgiveness asked is easier gained than permission. However if you had come to mewith your concerns we would have been able to work something out. The Force speaks to us all, and you are not the only one who can hear its message Anakin."

"Don't encourage him," Shmi warned, shaking her head at the older Jedi master who sent her a frown, but said nothing. It was evident that she was here on her own, he hadn't brought her and indeed seemed almost to not know how to react to her still being a part of Anakin's life. The Dark Woman scowled too, looking at Qui-Gon seriously before gesturing him to one side leaning in to talk to him in low tones, her eyes also flicking over to Shmi.

While the two Jedi talked Tune came out of the _Wild Light_ behind them, moving over to interact with some equipment which looked almost incongruous against the backdrop of this seemingly primitive landing strip. He tootled at them for a moment, a socket appearing on his side from which a small linkage control manipulator, the same he used to interact with the ship, came out, inserting quickly into the side of the mechanism. A moment later it began to move towards the _Wild Light_ opening and extending various cleaning devices on thin arms.

"I didn't think the ship was that dirty Tune." Ranma said, watching this.

Tune warbled at him, and Ranma raised his forearm to look at the translator device embedded in his vambrace. "The majority of the ship is not master, but we have some electrical damage to the paint scheme, and the engines could do with some cleaning, as well as could the recycling center. We're also out of several comestibles."

"That's true. See what you can do about getting us some human or Togrutan foodstuffs here on Kashyyyk, fresh if possible. If not then we'll rely on what the temple can give us both in terms of fresh foods and nutrition bars." Ranma suddenly smiled. "In fact, if you finish cleaning the exterior and setting up the food see if you can scrape off that dark blue paint color. Shaak and I will see if we can decide on a paint scheme for the outer hull."

"I'd go for dark green personally," Anakin piped up. "Maybe with a splash of gold here and there?"

"I'm not a painter Anakin, so I'm not going to even try other than saying what colors don't go together." He clapped Anakin on the shoulder, shaking his head at Shmi, a wry smile on his face which the mother returned wanly. "Ani? Really? Could you please come up with a less emasculating nickname for him? Stowaway maybe or The Little Flyer That Could, hmm, no that one's way too wordy."

"I could get behind The Little Flyer That Could," Anakin said with a laugh shaking his head. His attitude had improved markedly since his and Ranma's discussion on Naboo, and he was eager to resume his studies with the Jedi despite Padme not having seen them off. It seemed as if he had decided to move on from his crush, which Ranma thought was a good sign.

By this point Qui-Gon and the Dark Woman had finished talking, and Qui-Gon gestured them all towards the hall leading into the hanger bay. "Since the Dark Woman says you have done penance already, we will say no more about it and I will prevail on the youngling masters not to punish you further. But this is still a mark against you Anakin, whatever good you did you broke the Order's rules. Many people will look at you askance for that for some time until you have proven that you can work well with others."

As Anakin nodded the older man went on. "I personally believe you did the right thing if you honestly thought no one would believe you, but that is neither here nor there. I am but one teacher among many you will be dealing with remember that. And also realize we cannot play favorites."

At that point Kit joined them, shaking his head as he looked back over his shoulder into the interior of the ship. "Are you sure you want to get that homicidal head a body Ranma? I realize that sentence sounded ridiculous, but…"

"Yeah I'm sure," Ranma said with a sigh. "When we get him a body HK and I are going to talk and I'll lay down some ground rules for how he can act in certain circumstances, but I think he cold be a major help in combat situations, especially at range where Shaak and I aren't at our best."

"On your head be it." Kit said, his lips twitching slightly.

Ranma groaned aloud at the pun while adjusting the strap on a backpack he was carrying as Anakin and Shmi laughed and the Dark Woman rolled her eyes. "That was so bad Kit, put yourself on punishment!"

Shaak sighed. "Boys, let's get a move on please. Shmi, have you been able to find a job in the city, or are you still working for the temple itself?"

"At the moment I'm writing up several things related to my time on Tatooine for the Order, what I know of the Hutts from the belly of the beasts as it were. I'm also still helping mistress Unduli with miss Aalya most days. We've made some progress, especially for so short a time, but we've still got a ways to go. I've found an apartment in the city, but in the long term I am still looking for a permanent job."

"I'm good with mechanics, though not as good as my son," Shmi smiled down at Anakin who smiled back at her. "And most Wookies who lean toward those kinds of professions can put my skills to shame. I'm good with people, and have a decent mind for organization, but my time as a slave means I was never actually credited with any of the work I did. So it might take some time to find someone willing to hire me."

"I think you'll find it easier than you assume. The Wookies have a soft spot for ex-slaves, and they know they often need interpreters when dealing with offworlders. I would recommend attempting to learn the Wookie language, not to speak it of course, but to understand it, and look for a job where you could be a go between a local factor and some off-world business." Shaak said, as the group began to walk up a long flight of stairs leading upwards from the level they'd previously been on after leaving the dock.

The stairwell weaved this way and that, stopping occasionally and going straight for a time, but generally speaking heading upwards. Why it meandered so wasn't clear to Ranma, but he figured they were moving around sensitive parts of the wroshyr tree or something like that. Here and there they passed by Wookies working on some part of the corridor, and Shaak paused occasionally, looking over the Wookies shoulder with a smile, which the Wookies seemed to return after seeing her lightsaber.

About five minutes into their journey Shaak and the other Jedi looked up, even Anakin snapping his head upright staring upwards through the intervening levels to the Jedi Temple. "What is that!?" Anakin gasped.

Ranma looked at them all quizzically. They were well out of his range to feel anything via his ki sense, and his danger sense wasn't telling him anything either.

"Something's wrong with Aayla, I can sense it from here!" Shaak said, leaping over the intervening heads of Kit and the other Jedi along with Anakin and the Wookie guide, moving ahead so fast that she was almost out of sight before the others began to follow her. Ranma swiftly moved in her wake, leaving the others behind just as quickly, and they arrived at the Jedi temple together.

They burst through the temple's doors just in time to see a young padawan, a human male, hurled through the door of Aayla's meditation chamber. Other males of several different races were swiftly ordered away and Luminara, who hadn't been in the room with Aayla at that moment, raced through the temple's halls towards the room.

"GRAAAH, stay away!" Aayla's Force telekinesis lashed out indiscriminately, smashing out from her in a circle, creating a dent in the wood beneath her feet, bulges in the walls and hurling the door to her chamber off its hinges. The wind around her picked up into a near gale, and the clay and other loose items in the room zoomed around with bone breaking force.

Raising her hands Luminara tried to push back at the younger girl's force powers, trying to curtail the damage while also sending out a faint tendril of her mind out through the Force to touch Aayla's mind. _I only went to the bathroom for a moment, that young padawan is going to be on punishment detail for weeks if I have my way!_ "Calm down child, you are among friends please see us, not your fears."

Her calm tone did nothing to help Aayla unfortunately and her small mental probe found no purchase in the roiling violent, fearful chaos of Aayla's mind. She was caught in a nightmare of memories now, unable to escape them. And there were still men nearby, men who were like the men who had raped and abused her for their sick pleasures or the amusement of her Hutt 'master'. "GYAAA, stay away, stay away!"

Without a word Shaak moved to stand by Luminara, her own hands rising as she joined her Force power to that of her friend. They began to slowly push the telekinetic storm back, not quickly for fear of terrifying Aayla further, but stopping her from causing any more harm to anything but the walls of her chamber. "Aayla, please my friend, you're safe, remember? We saved you, Ranma and I. Push past your fear and anger Aayla, you are remembering scenes from your past, but lashing out in the now."

Ranma on the other hand looked around desperately, knowing that getting any closer to Aayla right now as a guy would be **bad**. Looking into the room where Aayla was standing, he saw a tray of discarded food, shattered and scattered on the door. _That moron must've been dropping off some food, who the hell assigned that job to a guy?!_

But in the rubble was a small bulb of water, which had remained uncrushed up to this point. _That'll have to do, but how to get to it?_

By this point Yoda had arrived along with several other masters. Mostly men, they remained back but one of them, one Ranma hadn't seen before, a woman of possibly middle-age with pointy ears that made her look elven stepped forward.

Instead of joining the effort to curtail Aayla's manic assault she began to move physically toward the room. The wind around her died to a tiny breeze, and any items hurled her way went wide. Her face was composed and kind as she held her arms out wide. "Sshh child, you are among friends here, please, let us in young one. We only wish to help you. Feel my words, know them as the truth..."

Aayla's attacks subsided, but the fear and wild rage in her face didn't go away, nor did her control return. Aayla was still stuck in her own memories, not seeing the real world around her at all despite the master's best attempts to get into her mind. Instead she backed away physically from the door, grabbing up a small, edgeless knife from the ruins of the food tray. "Don't, don't come any closer!"

Ranma moved around the hallway, coming at the door to Aayla's room from the other end and for a moment he looked at the woman, who looked back at first stern then nodding. "Ah, you would be Ranma yes?" She asked, over the tumult of the wind in the room in front of her. "I trust you have a plan?"

"Well I figure if my curse feels like I've been told it does, it might knock Aayla out of her memories." Ranma shrugged. "It's worth a try."

"Indeed." The woman's lips quirked upwards and then without warning, while still protecting herself from Aayla's powers, a small tendril of Force telekinesis lashed out, picking up and hurling the small bulb of water at Ranma. Many a master nearby blinked in respectful awe at the amount of control that move showed, working her own thoughts through Aayla's control of the air around her to reach the object, then taking control of it through its arc, not allowing Aayla out of control power to redirect it.

The blub splashed Ranma, and he felt the change occur instantly. And as always the Force responded, a bright pealing note of laughter splashing out from the wet redhead.

Everyone in the temple felt it, even Aayla through her mindless anger and fear. It knocked her out of her memories, and Aayla blinked, before collapsing to her knees, tears running down her azure cheeks.

Shaak and Luminara both raced forward, passing by the older master and Ranma to reach their young friend. Shaak went to her knees in front of her, pulling her into a hug as Luminara looked her over, making certain she hadn't hurt herself before doing the same. It wasn't very Jedi-like, but there were some instincts even Jedi training could not wholly abolish, and this was one of them.

Ranma sighed, breathing a sigh of relief as the hugs seemed to do the trick, slowly calming Aayla down further. She turned around looking for the padawan whose idiocy had started this. "Okay, where's the moron?"

"The moron, with a friend who injured her ankles in class yesterday, switched duties he did. Informing the Jedi knight in charge of kitchen duty he did not. Hmmmmmm." Yoda replied, his voice soft. "Disciplined, will he be, but truly faulted for that he cannot. Knowing about Aayla or how, react to his presence, would she, he did not. Indeed, thought beyond this sort of instinctual fear response, might have been I thought." Yoda sighed, looking every inch his near to a thousand years old for a moment. "Wrong, I was."

"What, you mean Jedi don't gossip? I'd've thought that Aayla's problems would've made the rounds around the temple by this point." Ranma said, still looking angry but not so much now.

From beside him, the elven-looking Jedi had moved forward, her hands outstretched to the younger women. Shaak looked up from the hug she was giving Aayla, and her eyes widened in recognition but Ranma's attention was taken from this moment by another male master, an elderly looking birdlike alien of some sort.

"You see Master Yoda, it is as I said. Padawan Secura is damaged, admittedly through no part of her own. But there is no doubt that she is a danger to all around her so long as she cannot let go of her anger and hate of the people who abused her. We should lock her up somewheRE!"

Ranma turned, her hand flashing out with a speed even Shaak would have barely followed, pinning him against the far side of the hallway, the birdlike alien having no warning and thus no time to enter into his Battle Precognition. Her other hand flashed forward, but stopped a bare millimeter from his target's face, quivering. The wind of the punch alone was enough to smash the man's head back violently into the wood with enough energy to create a small crack in the wood.

"Spoke in haste Master D'olme did. A shocking lack of empathy and ignorance, his words show. But reason for you to murder him, that is not." Yoda said calmly, nothing in his bearing showing the strain he felt having to hold Ranma's hand still with the Force, his glimmer stick stabbed toward the restrained arm. "An ongoing process Ranma, doing away with such blind arrogance and lack of feeling is, which barely begun, have we. Release him, please."

Teeth gritted in a snarl Ranma scowled down at the aged Grandmaster then slowly nodded, her hand on the other man's throat unclenching convulsively, letting him fall to the floor. "How'd it feel to be helpless?" She asked, her voice almost conversational, but not quite, there was a brittle, ragged echo to it that gave her words a dangerous edge.

The birdlike alien on the floor looked up at him, massaging his throat, but didn't reply before Ranma went on. "Didn't feel good, did it? Remember that feeling the next time you look down from your ivory tower and try to condemn someone else for being unable to forget memories so much worse than that you can't even imagine." Without another word Ranma turned, picking up the shattered door and propping it back up behind her before turning to move towards Shaak and the others.

Yoda watched the battered door for a moment, ignoring D'olme's attempts to get his attention. _Greatly damaged Aayla Is, but help her that quartet will. Repair the damage nothing can, though realize it too few Jedi do. But help her accept it, they will. Her scars accept, and to live continue, rather than be defined by them. But never happen again this must, to one of our younglings._ _ **Never again**_ _. Having success in overhauling the council of reassignment's assignment policies, I hope master Windu is, because if it does, have no one to blame but ourselves for allowing it to occur, will we._

Seeing Ranma come in Aayla's eyes widened. She reached up to rub at her eyes for a moment then cocked her head to one side, looking at the petite redhead. "Ranma, that, that feeling just now, was that your Force disease or whatever it is you call it? I didn't really believe it existed before."

"Yep," Ranma nodded squatting down in front of Aayla, her blue eyes gentle as she gazed into the Twi'lek's eyes. "I got it around… I think a little under three years or so ago. Cold water changes me to a girl, hot water back to my male body." Ranma pulled at her red hair, shaking her head. "That's why I can really understand what you've gone through. I have some nightmares in that direction myself."

Aayla nodded, frowning, biting her lip so hard it bled. "I wish I could say it helps, but… I, I just looked up, and that padawan, I noticed his braid, was standing there, reaching out to, to touch my shoulder I'd guess, but that didn't register at the time. All that did was he was a man and he was standing over me. I couldn't, I..."

She fell silent, a full body shudder going through her. Shaak and Luminara tightened their holds around the girl while Fay debated with herself internally. There was precious little she could do here that wouldn't be counterproductive in the long term. She could take away Aayla's pain, even reach into her mind and either remove the memories dealing with her trauma or simply cover them with a thin veneer which would make them seem less painful.

But the first would be dangerous even for Fay to attempt, and doing it to another Jedi would constitute assault, in her view anyway. The second sounded better not being a permanent solution, but such a thing wouldn't last for longer than a few weeks at best. It would take days on end of careful meditation and psychological intervention to help Aayla through this without losing her to hate and anger.

Luckily Knight Unduli seems on top of things. This was simply a nasty series of events working together to create a worse one rather than a sign of her neglect. Indeed the young Knight was now doing one of the first things Fay could have done, sending soothing thoughts into Aayla's mind, connecting her own mind to Aayla's.

It was dangerous, since as that type of therapy continued, Unduli would see and come to share some of the memories they were working on, but it would definitely help Aayla. And it also would come to replace the younger woman's padawan bond to her master, though from what Yoda had told her about Knight Vos that was possibly a good thing.

 _But there is something else I can do. I can listen, and listening banish the feelings of self-recrimination, guilt for not fighting back as she thinks she could have and self-destructive hate for the same reason._ "Padawan Secura, I am Master Fay. Have you heard of me?"

Aayla looked up in shock as did Shaak, both of them recognizing the name. "Master Fay, of, of course, you, there's a bust of you in the main hall on Coruscant, everyone knows that name, but we all thought you were a myth or a legend."

"Really, then what would you call Master Yoda, or Master T'ra Saa? Both of them are older than me, though I will admit only by a few hundred years in Master Yoda's case. I have no idea how old Master Saa is, and no inclination to ask." Fay shook her head, a glint of humor entering her eyes. "And a bust, really? What a useless thing to make for me. I am a mere servant of the Force, nothing more, nothing less."

Aayla actually laughed quietly at that, while Ranma looked over at Shaak, who nodded her head seriously indicating this woman was someone she, indeed most Jedi deeply respected. Fay looked at him, her lips quirking slightly before she turned back to Aayla. "More to the point right now, I have discovered over my many decades that a burden shared is often not nearly so arduous, and that talking about nightmares often make them disappear. Even if those nightmares are grounded in memory. I and your friends here want to help you, and we are willing to listen."

She said nothing more, letting the implication hang in the air for a moment, sitting down in a meditation pose across from Aayla, projecting a feeling of peace, serenity and safety into the Force around her, the potency of which few masters could match. Even Ranma, closed off in most ways as he was to the Force felt it. The redhead blinked, then backed away lightly from Fay, looking at her in confusion, mouthing a name under her breath.

Aayla too felt it, and a burden seemed to lift from her shoulders. _And maybe Master Fay is right, maybe, maybe talking about it, maybe having other people know the details about what happened, will help me get over it._ She and Luminara had been working toward this since she had first arrived on Kashyyyk, though Luminara hadn't been pushing for it very hard just yet, wanting to teach her some of what Ranma and Shaak had learned about concentrating on her own Living Force rather than pulling on the Unifying Force in order to avoid the reverb effect first.

But now when she reached out to the Unifying Force, all she found was peace, serenity, Fay's powers enveloping the entire area. Despite still feeling fearful and angry along with a welter of other emotions, she felt no backlash, no inclination to lash out in anger or mindless fear as she had moments ago.

Licking her lips, Aayla began. "I…, I was there in Mos Espa for about three months, after using several months to create my back trail. I had gathered a lot of information about Jabba's growing criminal empire, and the fact it was still growing, making connections and moving into places where before Black Sun had operated without any competition. My ability to block or redirect the minds of those around me had served me well many times, and I'd kept out of the way of Jabba as much as possible, but that ended one day…"

The story was as horrible as Shaak and the others had feared, though of course they had barely begun to hear it all, which would have been impossible in just one sitting. But with Fay's help, Luminara and Shaak convinced Aayla that there wasn't anything she could have done to protect herself after she had been subjected to the drug. The moment that had entered her system it was a losing battle. After that Aayla's thoughts and actions were not her own. And with no backup, which had been promised but wasn't there, Aayla could not have avoided the drug in the first place.

It was the drug that made her pliable, and any woman or man who had faced the same would have been overcome because unlike Shaak who had been subjected to the drug as a gas, Aayla had been injected with it **twice** after that first time. There was no way what Aayla had gone through had been because of some deep seated submissiveness or desire, no weakness within her. That was something that had been at the center of her guilt, fear and hate, hate of herself rather than the people who had done it.

It was a cathartic process, which ended up with the Twi'lek basically curled up over Shaak and Ranma, who she identified with most strongly given their rescue of her. The final straw had been when Ranma had, at Fay's instruction, changed back to his male body. They had just been talking about how there were men here in the Order and without who would have fought and died to prevent what had happened to her, that not all men were like those Jabba had loaned her out to.

After getting over the feeling of laughing joy in the Force, she had stared into Ranma's eyes. Aayla fully expected to see something there that would set her off, no matter how slight. She expected to feel some emotion via her empathic ability, some measure of lust, or desire, or condescension perhaps.

But she didn't. Instead, Aayla felt compassion, sympathy and understanding. No lust, no desire, no contempt, and Ranma's body language was entirely unthreatening. Nothing in the young man kneeling in front of her could be construed as aggressive, unlike what her battered mind had seen in the padawan whose attempt to help a friend had gone so badly wrong.

Staring into those soft, caring blue eyes, then over to Fay, Shaak, and finally Luminara, she had begun to cry softly, not in remembered pain, but joy at being around friends, as she had when Yoda had first broken through her defenses. Though admittedly Ranma had trouble realizing that, and panicked until Fay sat him back down with a Force Push. When he did, he found his lap full of crying Twi'lek, then Shaak and Luminara's arms around him and her, as Shaak pressed her forehead against his, staring into his eyes, gratefulness affection and something deeper in her eyes.

After Aayla fell asleep, Fay lifted the poor girl out of Ranma's lap without waking her, and moved off still carrying her to the room she and Luminara shared. That worthy looked after the older master, her Jedi self-control coming back to her quickly. "That was a debilitating experience for me to listen to, I can't imagine what it must have been to live through."

"You didn't make Jabba suffer enough Shaak, not nearly enough. I think I'm going to go to this Nal Hutta planet and play Squish the Slug for a bit." Ranma growled, his fists shaking as he finally let the towering rage he had felt listening to Aayla show.

"Hmmm… tempting. But they own armies Ranma, and a defense system that is just past cutting edge." Shaak said, as if she had actually thought about it. "Worse, given how long it would take us to get there, they'd know we were coming."

"Bah, fine wave away my ambitions." Ranma groused.

"Look at it this way Ranma, Aayla's experiences were awful, but Shaak already made the people directly responsible for it pay. On top of that her ordeal forced the Order as a whole to reevaluate its overarching priorities and how it operates in regards to certain missions. I have also heard rumors that Master Windu has basically declared it open season on the slave trade, both the illegal trade and so-called lawful indenture." Luminara replied.

Ranma's lips curled into something that could only be described as a smile by someone who had never seen one. "Not a moment too soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a shower after listening to that filth."

Late that night, Shaak and Ranma met up with one another before turning their feet to the stairs heading up toward the top of the temple. They were silent as they walked, but when they reached the temple's rooftops they moved together, shoulders touching as they clasped hands, staring out at the landscape then at one another sitting on the edge of the roof, their legs dangling out into nothingness beyond. After the emotional day they'd just had and the day and a bit before that where they couldn't express their feelings towards one another even this discretely it was just what they needed.

Their moment of silence was interrupted as Luminara came out of the stairwell behind them, moving towards them with an exhausted but pleased smile on her face. "We made a lot of progress today thanks to you two and Master Fay. I, I must confess I had feared we would lose all of the progress we had made, even that which master Yoda made on the first day when I first felt her start to lash out. Thank you."

Shaak smiled faintly at her friend, knowing that was almost effusive praise coming from the other Jedi. "You're welcome Lumi."

The green-skinned Miralian winced, shaking her head. "You know I hate that nickname, I haven't been called that since I was a youngling."

"I know." Shaak replied, smiling somewhat impishly. "I'm trying to add teasing into my repertoire, do you like it?"

"Not really, no." Luminara shook her head, looking at Ranma speculatively. "You seem to have rubbed off on my old friend in many ways. I just hope that rubbing was merely mental rather than physical."

As a dedicated Healer, Luminara worked in hospitals often, and if there was a legal establishment where dirty jokes were more prevalent she had no idea what it could be. Not, it must be said, that Luminara actually understood or could picture what her joke implied, just that she had heard similar jokes before and wanted to get back at Shaak for the 'Lumi' crack.

Unfortunately for Luminara her return jab didn't strike home simply because neither of her listeners understood the innuendo for a few moments, simply looking at her quizzically. Ranma eventually got it and flushed, looking away, but the moment had passed and Luminara moved on. "In any event, I wanted to ask you two if you would be willing to help Aayla in the future."

"You mean taking her with us on some of my explorations? You realize I ain't a Jedi right, I'm not going to be assigned to missions or anything like that, I'll be choosing where I go from here on." Ranma said, before looking at Shaak, his eyes worried.

Shaak merely smiled, squeezing his hand in response. "My long term mission hasn't changed Ranma, I am still assigned to learn from you and try to keep you out of trouble." Her purple lips shifted from a smile into a smirk. "Although that should be 'try to minimize the trouble he gets into, will cause, or stumble over', really. Regardless I doubt my time with you will be peaceful."

"What is this thing you call peaceful?" Ranma asked, cocking his head quizzically, but he laughed looking into Shaak's eyes and suddenly Luminara felt she was very much an outsider witnessing a private moment. "Besides, would you have it any other way?"

"In the main no, but perhaps a few more quiet moments would be nice. Don't you think?" Shaak replied, her smirk turning into a far more tender smile as she squeezed Ranma's hand again.

"Yes, well," Luminara interrupted, somehow embarrassed, having felt the affection the two of them held towards one another in the Force. After the day she had just had, she knew dealing with the emotions of these two on top of what she had faced was impacting her habitual control. She wasn't one of the many Jedi who believed they needed to push away or ignore their emotions but even so…

"Going back to the original subject, I don't think that's a problem Ranma. As a friend of the Order, you've proven yourself at least four times over, and Aayla seems able to trust you, look at how she responded to your changing forms. If it had been any other man in that room we might well have faced another backlash. That is why I think being around you both would be good for her."

Shaak and Ranma both nodded, and Shaak replied for them both. "That is fine with us, simply get in touch with us when you think Aayla will be ready to leave your care. We will however be heading to Corellia after this, and I somehow doubt Corellia is the very first planet she should be reintroduced too after her ordeal."

"How long before you leave?" Luminara asked, moving closer to her friend and sitting down on her other side. "And what in the Force could make you go to Corellia? The Green Jedi are not like the rest of us after all."

Ranma blinked at that, and looked at Shaak who shook her head, indicating ignorance. He shrugged in return before replying to Luminara. "We have a holocron to drop off to its descendent, Master Yoda's already given his permission for it. And we also want to get HK a body, which means heading to a world that can build his parts special order. Kashyyyk has no droid industry."

"As for how long we'll be here, I'm setting up a training room for one of my techniques, and I'll want both of us to go through it several times at the very least. I also want to build my lightsaber staff, or whatever you want to call it. Should be interesting to see what kind of color comes out of the pearl I got from that Krayt dragon."

"You can use a pearl in a lightsaber?" Shaak asked.

"Master Yoda told me it might work, so we'll see. In terms of time though Lumi, 'snort', I would say at least two weeks or so." Ranma said smirking for a moment before falling silent as he noticed Luminara didn't respond to his dig. "Um, is there something on my face?"

Luminara was in fact staring at Ranma's lips, remembering what Shaak had said about kissing him. "Oh, no nothing like that, just remembering something I was told…"

"Ahem." Shaak said, feeling that odd mix of fear, anger and possessiveness she had labeled jealousy on Naboo. Luminara blinked, looking away, promising herself she would apologize for that to Shaak later and not really realizing why. _Maybe it was Shaak telling me how it felt, or seeing Ranma with Aayla earlier that has made me wonder these things. But no, I am a Jedi, and unlike Shaak, I have no desire to change. Not really anyway, just inquisitiveness, and perhaps I am being effected by the feel of the Force around these two._

Do you mind if I join you young ones?" Said a female voice behind the trio. They all turned standing up and bowing respectfully to master Fay, even Ranma as she moved towards them from the stairwell.

"Master Fay," murmured Luminara, as she and Shaak retained their bows to the legendary Jedi master. "It is an honor to meet you. Your deeds are legendary among the Order. I would have tried to talk to you earlier but we were rather busy at the time."

"If understatement was enough to win elevation you would have just earned Master Yoda's position." Fay smiled, shaking her head. "Oh do raise your heads, signs of genuine respect are appreciated, obsequiousness is not."

As the two knights obeyed her, Fay took a moment to feel them out both with the Force and her own perceptions. Luminara Unduli was interesting, grounded physically and within the Force to a degree that told Fay she was one who would be ready to become a master soon enough. There were the telltale signs of a Healer in her Force sense too, and the physical signs of one who took her lightsaber drills seriously, something which Fay recognized but did not adhere to herself.

Shaak Ti on the other hand was somewhat more attention grabbing than her friend. Where Luminara's Force sense was normal for a Jedi of her skills, Shaak's was not. Instead she radiated Living Force to a degree that would be surprising in any individual… if they weren't standing next to the massive pillar of Living Force that was Ranma. _Good grief, he radiates like a sun to my senses!_ Shaak was also centered in the force, calm like a still, deep pool, an analogy which Yoda had told her was most apt for Shaak Ti.

But in her, you could tell there were emotions roiling underneath the surface, controlled but there adding to the colors and the depth of the pool without changing its nature, rather reinforcing it. And Shaak's body was the hyper-trained athletic sort that the best Guardians aspired to, with heavy callouses on the hands showing intense lightsaber work.

"I do not know how much you have been told about me young Ranma, do you mind if I use your given name?" When Ranma nodded Fay went on. "But I am not a master in the traditional sense as the Order sees it. I refuse to conform to the overarching organization of the Order or take a padawan, and was not raised to master status by raising a padawan to knighthood as most do, rather by acclaim. I do not take assigned missions, rather going where the Force wills me. And I have been doing so for more than seven centuries now."

"Centuries?" Ranma asked then laughed. "Please, you don't look a day over thirty, thirty-five at worst!"

Fay laughed quietly, bringing one hand up to touch one of her ears, which twitched as she touched it. "Suffice to say I am much older than I look." She sat down easily, gesturing the three to do the same, before going on. "But that is not the most important thing I just told you. I go where the Force wills me. That is why I am here, not just because since you came into this universe you've made reading the eddies of the Force incredibly difficult, but because the Force wants me here. It wants me here, I think, to speak to you."

Ranma fell silent, looking over at Shaak for a moment, then to Luminara and back to Fay. "I don't understand. Why would the Force send you to me? I mean, I understand I have this weird effect on you Jedi and your ability to see the future, even the chi, er, the Unifying Force in general. But what could you tell me that the other Jedi already here couldn't? No offense meant. And I haven't even decided yet if I want to reach out to the Unifying Force anyway."

"None taken. But many Jedi are not as open to different ways of doing things as they should be." Fay paused, her eyes lighting on Luminara and Shaak, her lips curving into a warm smile. "Though there do seem to be a few here that would be. As to you not wanting to reach out to the Unifying Force as you put it, that is your prerogative, but why do you think the reverse would be true?"

"Excuse me?" Ranma asked, blinking in incomprehension. Shaak however was smiling in a way that made Fay think maybe the girl had been having thoughts in that direction already. "What do you mean by that?"

"I think the fact you are here, in this universe that is, at all is a sign of the Force wanting you here. I think that the Force will guide you to do what it wants you to do, what it feels you can do." Fay watched as Ranma's eyes narrowed, but went on calmly. "Please do not mistake me. The Force is not some omniscient being, not a god directing our path as it will regardless of our feelings. It will never ask more of us than we can give, nor will it make us do something we would not. Instead it helps us become all we can be."

"I think that is the saddest thing about those who fall to the Dark Side, to reaching out only with anger, hate or fear in their hearts." Fay mused, seeming to go off onto a tangent. "They always think they control the Force, rather than being part of it, and in return, they only get out the feelings they put into their connection rather than the whole."

Ranma looked at her then nodded slowly. "I realize you think that, and I know Shaak thinks something similar. But all you Jedi are trained to let the Force guide your actions. I will give of myself freely, but I won't allow myself to be controlled like that. To a martial artist, allowing someone else, something to control me like that is a very hard concept."

Fay was silent for a moment and the two Jedi knights did the same, allowing her to reply. And when she did, her words were a scalpel, cutting into Ranma so swiftly it was almost painless. "I understand. You were trained in a very different school, one which has given you strengths and talents we do not have. But you in turn fear that which you do not understand, and that fear is holding you back."

Ranma jerked backwards and was about to respond angrily at the very idea he was afraid of anything, but then he sighed, deflating. "Maybe a little," he confessed, something that would have astonished any of his old acquaintances back in Nerima. "It's a daunting concept, that this Unifying Force wanted me here, has a mission it wants me to do."

"Say rather that it will show you possibilities, what you do with that information, your actions, are still **your own**." Fay replied, shaking her head. "Let go of the idea that the Force will try to control you Ranma, you said it before: you will give of yourself freely. Trust that that love, and yes, it is love, you love the martial arts, you love the use of ki, and therefore you love the Force, will be returned."

Again Ranma was shaken by what the old, and after this discussion he had no trouble believing she really was old, said. Then he laughed, shaking his head. "How the hell do you know that?"

"Yoda did give me a hint, he apparently has seen you in action. And I do have many years of seeing into the hearts of beings I interact with. You are not the hardest person to read I've ever dealt with, believe me. So, will you let me help you reach out to the Force as we Jedi can?"

"We'll see." Ranma said then frowned. "You know, you're the first Jedi I've seen who doesn't even carry a lightsaber. Why's that?"

"I have no need of it." Fay replied simply. "I rarely engage in combat, and when I do, I have other powers to use. The lightsaber has become a symbol of the Jedi Order, but a symbol is not the thing itself. We are stronger for not relying on such a device, either in combat or as a sign of our authority.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Nice sentiment, but what happens when you run into people your Jedi mind tricks won't work on? What happens when you have nothing to throw with your powers, when you're pinned down from a distance by blasters? Can you turn aside their plasma bolts? I get why you think the lightsaber isn't necessary, and even that you obviously have been able to get by without it, but don't make the mistake of limiting yourself because you're trying to make a point or something."

"Perhaps in these dark times, I may need to revisit that idea, but the lightsaber will never be my first choice." Fay replied diplomatically, unwilling to concede Ranma's point, though she realized she was being hypocritical after pressing him on his own stance about the Force, and Ranma knew it judging by the smirk he was now wearing. "…I still have my old lightsaber somewhere on my ship, I'll see what I can do about retraining myself on it, but only if you agree to let me walk you through reaching out to the Force."

"Agreed." Ranma said promptly, and Fay chuckled, shaking her head at the other boy.

"Things we can still learn, we all have, yes, hmm?" said Master Yoda's voice out of the darkness. If they hadn't been Jedi Luminara and Shaak would have jumped out of their skin as the diminutive Grand Master appeared beside them all without having announced his presence. As it was both woman's eyes widened in surprise, and they took a slight step back from him, bowing their heads respectfully.

Ranma wasn't a Jedi, and hadn't sensed anyone else nearby with his sixth sense, which was not quite the same as a Jedi's senses either. "GAHH!" He shouted in shock, leaping a foot into the air, kicking out automatically. "Damn it you little, don't sneak up on me like that!"

However Yoda ducked under the kick swiftly, absently noting Ranma had put quite a bit of power behind that blow. His glimmer stick lashed out, smashing into Ranma's pivot leg right behind the knee, dumping the boy onto the roof.

And, to Yoda's shock, breaking his steel-reinforced glimmer stick. "Hrhrhrm, before I met you replace my glimmer stick in over four hundred years I had not. Gone through three of them in less than a year, I now have." Yoda grumbled, still staring at the steel reinforced stick he held, it's top half missing, showing the pipe of metal which had been covered by a thin layer of wood. He'd come out here to thank Ranma once more for his help, and to possibly twit the boy slightly so he didn't grow a big head, but while it had worked, it had cost Yoda somewhat.

"Ow," Ranma muttered, sitting up as Shaak laughed and Luminara and Fay looked on, even Luminara who had seen some of it before somewhat bemused at Ranma and Yoda's interactions. Ranma however ignored them, smirking at Yoda's broken glimmer stick. "Heh, serves you right you Keroro look-alike!" At Yoda and everyone else's blank stare, he sighed. "Nevermind."

 **OOOOOOO**

"Ah, there's the newest knight of the Jedi Order!" caroled a female voice, light and airy almost with a hint of laughter to it at present. "Better late than never anyway, right Obi?"

Obi Wan turned, smiling at his friend, Siri Tachi. "Just because the trip took longer does not mean the journey was any less important Knight Tachi." He watched her roll her eyes even as they clasped hands, and his smile softened slightly. "How are you doing?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" The other knight asked, frowning as she looked him up and down. Siri Tachi was a somewhat taller than average human woman, with short cropped blond hair and light blue eyes, eyes which softened as they looked at Obi now. "I'm not the one who not only just went through the trials but faced a Dark Side user in single combat after that same Dark Side user had slain several other knights and even Master Piell."

"The trials were difficult I must admit. Thankfully they waived the Trials of Skill, Courage, and Flesh in my case given the events on Naboo and Tatooine, though I volunteered to take them anyway they did not see a need for it. Facing the Mirror and the Trial of Perception were not what I expected." Obi Wan answered honestly. "I passed the perception aspect easily enough, but the Mirror, that… took me a while to overcome. I have to say I now know why many knights come out of the trials different. Having to face your most inner fears, your inner Darkness, is something that must perforce change someone."

The Trials for ascension to knighthood were different for every knight which took them. They tested different aspects of the Jedi's mindset and skill to see if he or she were ready to act alone with no one to guide their actions.

The Trial of Skill tested combat skills, as the Test of Courage tested a padawan's ability to face dangers not just in combat but any other situation. Both tests had slowly lost importance over the years since the New Sith Wars ended, and many padawans were attested to have completed them with the missions they had completed as a padawan. This was a sign of the decline of the Guardian and Sentinel sects in favor of the Consulars, but Master Windu and Master Yoda had begun to push for a more stringent test along with Yoda's many other ongoing reforms. It would be some time however before that had much impact however.

The Trial of Flesh was designed to test the prospective knight's ability to deal with hardship, loss and of course physical pain. Unlike the first two, this one was still seen as important even by Consulars, though many felt that the combination of the padawan bond being broken and their missions as a padawan could say to have accomplished it. If not, there were other ways to test the individual.

Obi Wan had passed this test thanks to his being able to ignore the pain of his body in his fight against the Dark Side user on Naboo, pushing himself well beyond his body's ability to go through sheer force of will. That and having his leg cut off, though they had been able to reattach it. His bond with Master Qui-Gon had already been badly frayed around the edges, which coupled with the distance between them physically meant Obi hadn't felt anything when one of the masters present broke the remnants of the Force connection.

But the Trials of Spirit and Perception tested your mental abilities. For these, no mission or past experience sufficed, they had to be tested and passed before one could become a Jedi Knight. The Trial of Perception was designed to test if the tested could perceive what is real from what is illusion, solve problems by perceiving the world around them through the Force or their own senses.

The Trial of Spirit, or Facing the Mirror, forced the tested to dive deep into himself and face his greatest, most hidden thoughts and fears. The padawan dove so deeply that there was a real danger of his never finding his way back out, which was why a master was always present to help him return to the land of the material.

In Obi Wan's case, Facing the Mirror had been by far the worst test. He had proven his Perception by discerning what reports were real and which ones had been tampered with in a made up trial situation designed by the four most learned Republic law masters in the Order, a test that had flummoxed more than a few padawans. The Mirror however had forced him to face his greatest fear.

It hadn't been what he'd expected. Not the Dark Side user standing over the bodies of his friends and those he had hoped to protect, nor any kind of combat at all. No, he had faced the fear of what could have been, what he would have become if he had turned aside from the Jedi Order at different points in his life. The images tried to undermine his faith in his own abilities, his faith in the Order and his place in it. They had not succeeded, but it had been a near run thing.

And even if they had not succeeded, facing those choices again had changed Obi's perception of them. "The world, the Force is not nearly as black and white as I thought a bare year ago, nor my duties so all-encompassing." He said aloud, eliciting a startled 'hmm' noise from his friend. He shook his head, smiling at her, and something in his face nearly caused Siri to gasp. "Nevermind. I, I would like to talk to you at some point however."

Somewhat flustered by what she had seen in her friend's face Siri nodded. "I'd like that Obi, but for now, I think we need to meet up with whoever we're working with on this mission." The two knights remained silent as they moved down the corridor, but even as they did, the two snuck glances at one another, and there were faint smiles on their faces even so.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day, Ranma and a team of Wookies began work on the _Wild Light_ , to open up the bathroom's floor in order to get at the water tanks. It wasn't easy, Mon Calamari ships were not made to be taken apart like this, all of their parts worked and fit together almost artistically which made them all work better, but repairing or redoing an area of the system was much harder and time consuming.

Besides the difficulty of even getting to the water tanks there were of course some design issues. First they had to open it up and put in the layer of wood Ranma had ordered, which had nearly caused the team of Wookies Ranma had hired for the project to attack him.

Since Shaak was busy with Aayla and Luminara that first afternoon, Kit had volunteered to help translate for Ranma. The Wookies had listened intently to what Ranma had asked them to do, looking at the 3-D representation of the _Wild Light_ 's schematics, which Ranma had Tune project into the center of the group. But when he said they were going to add a layer of wroshyr wood to the tank, they began to roar and shout angrily, one of them going so far as to reach over to thump Ranma in the chest.

That the Wookie looked surprised when the blow didn't even rock the pigtailed human amused Ranma, but he looked over at Kit for an explanation. Kit nodded seriously at the group of Wookies, then waved his hand for silence before turning to Ranma. "You see my friend, wroshyr wood is very important to Wookies, part of their culture. Using it to coat a water tank, a perfectly acceptable water tank, with no reason strikes them as insulting. And you really don't want to insult Wookies, they tend to rip off limbs for that kind of thing."

Ranma chuckled then held up the small decorative box of wood that Shaak had given him to experiment with. "Well then, I invite one of them to reach inside this."

One of the nearest Wookies did so, snarling at Ranma right up until he had put his hand entirely into the box and not felt the edges. His snarl turned into a confused frown when he kept on pushing his arm into the small box. Around him the other Wookies stared in shock as their friend's arm disappeared into a space that should have had trouble containing his hand.

"This is a bit of a Force trick," Ranma said, lying slightly. "I'm the only one who can do it so far, but that might change eventually. For now though, I think one of the best ways to use this power is to have a nigh on unlimited water supply. Sonic showers suck, end of story."

The Wookie who had taken up Ranma's little challenge pulled his arm out, looking at Ranma thoughtfully, then tapped a dew claw on a pouch at his utility belt, growling at Kit but Ranma didn't need any translation. "Sorry, I wish I could give you your own pouch of holding or something like that, but I can't. The material might be an issue, I can't do something like this with metal, and stone might be impossible too. But the main problem is that the, call it the charge I suppose, fades after time without direct skin on object contact and I'm the only one at this point who can charge them. That's a problem we'll need to look into solving as we work on this."

The Wookie looked a little put out by that, but eventually nodded and the team got to work planning out the job.

Over the next few days Ranma ran a few experiments with ki spaces late at night. Trying to conduct ki through metal into the wood simply didn't work, the metal drained the entire charge, it did not conduct it. It could conduct from metal to metal, like a sheet of metal to a screw or bolt, but even there it would lose some of the charge. And it simply didn't seem to go from one medium to another.

Electrical signals and electricity wouldn't work across from a ki space to the world at large either. Ranma had a robot stick his arm into the box, and after dealing with a blow to his logic centers, the droid had reported being unable to communicate with his arm or even feel it at all.

Ranma had even wondered what it would be like for a person, having become curious thanks to the intense cold of the water from his experimental box. He could only stand it a few second before pulling his head out shuddering. It was cold, black, no noise, no feeling. It was simply a void, and one of the weirdest experiences Ranma had ever felt. That put paid to his daydream of adding a layer of wroshyr wood to the living quarters in the _Wild Light_.

At the same time Shaak worked with Luminara and Aayla, while also taking the time to help train the youngling when she could. Shaak no longer thought that her path led to teaching, but it was still fun to work with the little ones.

But of course, not even a normal day could go by without some Ranma type chaos occurring. The first example of this happened on the second day of their stay on Kashyyyk at lunch time in the Jedi temple. Ranma walked to an empty bench, carrying in one hand a large heavily piled tray of food from the Jedi Commissary and had only just set it down when he was interrupted. "Are you the one that has that strange Force curse thing?"

Ranma looked down and saw a maybe seven-year-old girl looking up at him, her light orange skin and tiny montrals marking her out as a Togrutan. Ranma didn't realize it at the time, but this was the same young Togrutan that had caught Shaak's attention when they had arrived at the temple for the first time. She was dressed as all youngling's were in simple white shirt and pants with a belt of rope around the middle, and she was staring up at him with eyes that showed a distinct level of intelligence at odds with her age.

That was normal Ranma knew having talked to Shaak about training as a youngling. They tended to emphasize the mental aspect at first, making the younglings far more intelligent and far more dexterous then anyone their age would be normally.

"That's me," Ranma said cheerfully leaning down towards her. "Unless you know anyone else with a Force curse." Ranma was getting better at actually calling it that, figuring that trying to explain the reality of his curse was just far too much trouble than it was worth.

The girl nodded thoughtfully, then reached forward and threw a small glass of water she had been holding into his face. She blinked in shock as she watched the change, then giggled aloud as the humorous Force splash hit her.

"Ahsoka Tano!" exclaimed someone else, pushing forwards from where she had been directing a line younglings, who had all laughed and giggled as the chuckling laughter of the Force hit them. "That was so disrespectful, I can't believe you, that will be a punishment detail for you young lady."

"Now, now," Ranma said, pushing her wet hair out of her face for a moment looking at the attendant. She was a middle-aged human woman, sort of dumpy looking, the first somewhat overweight Jedi he'd yet seen. She gave off a sort of grandmotherly air, but she was the strict grandmother rather than the friendly type, as evidenced by the grip she had on the girls shoulder. "She's just being inquisitive. Besides, what would this punishment detail actually consist of?"

"Standing and holding a tray packed with a pyramid made of round pebbles while meditating for two hours. I have to keep the pyramid still, if a single pebble moves, I have to add another hour." The girl said in a flat droning sort of tone. Evidently it would not be the first time she was given punishment detail.

"Sounds tough," Ranma commiserated, reaching into her ki space for a moment and searching around. "Really have to figure out a way to organize this thing without it taking so much energy," she muttered, sticking her full arm up to her elbow into the pocket, ignoring the gasps of many of the others in the cafeteria. The older Jedi there frowned, trying to follow the threads of Living Force they could sense, but few could make out more than that something was happening, nearly blind from the activity happening on Ranma's person, which as always glowed to their senses like a nova of Living Force.

"Heavy blaster, book, some kind of data slate, water bottle with a warming tab I love that thing, feels like a wrapper of some kind, ah paint brush and it should be nearby by this point, yep there it is" he said pulling a small container of paint out. It was one of the smaller ones that Shaak had bought to use on the interior of the ship, and the only one she hadn't used completely. He had grabbed it when they were cleaning up prior to landing, and hadn't actually gotten rid of it yet.

Before Ahsoka could react to a sudden sense of danger she got through the Force, Ranma had opened the top, flicked the brush in, and then swished the brush over her face several times, drawing a design there. She gasped stepping away quickly, and Ranma smirked the two items disappearing back into his ki space. "Now were even," he said looking over at the suddenly even more aghast teacher.

Ahsoka grimaced putting her hand up to try to wipe at the paint, but this was paint designed to be used in the interior of spaceships, it dried within milliseconds and she couldn't get it off. Scowling at Ranma she raced over to a window and used it to look at herself. The marks worked with her normal white markings, making her look as if all the white patches were interlocked together, and her mouth formed into a frown.

"Rule number one of pranking someone kiddo," Ranma called after her, sitting down languidly to her meal. "Never prank someone unless you can afford to be pranked in turn."

The rest of the younglings in the cafeteria laughed, and even a few Jedi assayed small chuckles as Shaak came into the room looking around for Ranma and finding him, currently her, quickly. She shook her head as she took in the scene, the little one she was interested in glaring at him with obviously painted on marks, and Ranma in female form. _Yes, I think I can safely say what happened here._

Sitting down next to Ranma she shook her head. "Was that really necessary?"

"I'm not much of a punishment person, but on the other hand, escalation, yeah that I'm pretty good at." Ranma said with a laugh.

Neither of them noticed Anakin move over from his more advanced class to tap Ahsoka on the shoulder as she made to move back towards Ranma with fell intent. A whispered conference later in and Anakin was moving away before the attendant assigned to Ahsoka and the other youngest group of youngling could once again corral her. But Ahsoka's frown had disappeared replaced by a small smile.

Little did Ranma realize it at the time, but the younglings all got a big kick out feeling his change's effect on the Force. It was new, unusual and it was above all a funny feeling. Most of their training wasn't actually fun, some was of course, but not all, and the feeling of laughter they got through the Force was almost contagious. Because of this, Anakin was able to rally some of them in a series of attempted ambushes over the next few days despite all their minders could do to stop it.

Most of them didn't work but some of them did, especially after Anakin decide they needed to augment their arsenal…

Ranma met up with Shaak outside of her room that morning as he had the morning before, holding out his hand to her and squeezing her hand lightly. Shaak smiled at him warmly and the two of them moved away from one another slightly and began to walk through the corridors of the Temple up towards the observation deck on the roof.

They remained silent as they walked, not wishing to break the stillness of the dawn just yet. Eventually they stood on the roof, staring out through the canopy of leaves as the sun rose high above them, changing the dark green of the verdant forest into a lighter shade, interspersed with pink and orange where the sunlight got through the topmost canopy of leaves.

"This is a beautiful planet," Ranma said softly, reaching out to touch Shaak's hand, feeling her fingers curl around his in turn. In the Temple, this light touch was all they would allow themselves. They had discussed it and decided they didn't need to rub their relationship or rather their ability to have one without Shaak being kicked out of the Order in anyone's faces. In a way Ranma thought that might actually cheapen their relationship somehow, and honestly the Order was having enough trouble with all the changes lately he felt no need to add to them.

"Yes it is," Shaak replied, smiling as she nudged her shoulder against his. They moved away slightly after that, but their hands were still inclined as they stared out over the vista. "You're still not bothered by the amount of time I'm spending with the Luminara and Aayla? I understand its normal for people in relationships to spend as much time as possible with each other."

Shaak would admit to feeling something like anxiety given how little time they had to be alone like this. Though thankfully the spike of jealousy she had felt when she noticed Luminara staring at Ranma's lips hadn't returned.

"I've never been normal, so I don't think we should worry ourselves about what normal couples do." Ranma laughed. "Besides, I told you once before just because we're in a relationship doesn't mean I'm going to demand you change how you act or how you go about performing your duties as a Jedi. Frankly, your dedication to the Order and to your friends is one of the things that attracted me to you."

Shaak flushed at that, smiling a small warm smile for a moment, then her lips quirked. "Really, I thought it was just because you wanted to touch my lekku."

Ranma blinked, turning away from the vista to look at her and realizing she was teasing him decided to respond in kind. "That's not all I want to touch…" They both blushed at that and he shook his head. "Um, too much?"

"M, maybe a little." Shaak said then laughed and Ranma laughed to and the awkward moment passed quickly. It was true of course, but both of them had subconsciously decided to take this relationship slow if at all possible. Shaak was taking it slow because everything about being in a relationship but the 'clinical knowledge' was new to her. Ranma was taking it slow for that much the same reason, and the fact that he been burned once already.

"So what you want to do this morning?" Shaak asked changing the subject slightly.

"I'd like to go exploring the upper reaches, move away from the city for a bit, see how this level of the ecosystem works. If that's alright with you?"

"And the fact that it will allow us both to jump around like a pair of monkeighs is obviously part of the appeal." Shaak replied drolly.

"Yep," Ranma said with a chirp, chuckling aloud. "Oh, I also spotted this small eatery in town that apparently has human food. Considering we're going to go to a mostly human planet next, I figured that it might be a good idea get me used to what is called human food around here other than steak."

"I don't think there is a so-called normal human food except maybe base ingredients such as rice or wheat Ranma, and even those can taste very, **very** different from one planet to another. Still, it sounds like a good idea. Though part of me wants to see what we could hunt up ourselves."

"That's a good idea too. If we run into anything that decides it likes the taste of human or Togrutan I'm perfectly happy with the idea of eating it in turn."

"Poetic justice at its most base," Shaak said with a laugh, and the two of them turned, moving through the now waking Temple nodding at the night shift guards who patrolled the Temple even on Kashyyyk. Though there were only two of them here unlike the five that watched the temple on Coruscant as the rest of the temple began to wake.

They were nearly down to the bottom entrance level when Shaak frowned, looking around them thoughtfully. "Ranma, we seem…"

Then it was too late, and several small youngling's popped out of a few of their dormitories they had passed holding small, primitive but working water guns, squirting them quickly in Ranma's direction. Anakin was in the lead, both his hands holding water guns of somewhat better quality than the rest as he dual shot them at Ranma.

Ranma quickly responded ducking and dodging this way and that, but couldn't dodge them all he was so surprised.

 _So prank intent doesn't trigger my danger sense,_ she mused as she wiped her now wet face. _Interesting and somewhat good to know I suppose._ She glared at Anakin and the other younglings. "You realize I am going to get you back for this?"

Anakin shrugged his shoulders. "My minders decided that I'd still be punished for running off, despite the Dark Woman telling them she'd already seen to my punishment. I figured I might as well do something to deserve it."

"Can't argue with that reasoning," Ranma said with a laugh, ruffling his hair before grinding his knuckles into his head a little. "But I will get you back anyway."

Shaak however had turned to the other younglings, a wide smile on her face as she shook her head. "I think that all of you will be punished for this little escapade, I also don't think it will stop you from doing it again. However, perhaps we should come up with some rules for this little war? I'll talk to your teachers about it."

Then she turned to Anakin with a faint frown. "They are not your minders Anakin," she said firmly. "They are your teachers. Just because you have an excellent connection to the Force does not mean you have nothing to learn. You will treat them with respect, is that clear?"

Anakin nodded contritely, though he was still somewhat miffed about having been given punishment detail despite the Dark Woman's words and Ranma running him into the ground while they were on Naboo more than once. Several days later and he was still sore in places from that.

"For now," Ranma said as he moved off. "I think I'm going to go and change back to my male form, I doubt," he said quietly to Shaak, "that you want to be together with me in this form."

Shaak followed him as they left the younglings and the teachers of said arrived on the scene, waving at them as they passed. The younglings made no attempt to escape the scene, most of them knowing they would be punished for this but having thought it would be interesting anyway, and the feeling of Ranma's change had certainly been enough to pay them back for it.

As they rounded the corner however Shaak's hand snaked out grasping Ranma's wrist, noting once again that Ranma was much smaller in this form than his male form, even her wrists were tinier. But she had seen his female form punch out creatures there were far stronger and taller than she was. _Looks truly can be deceiving._ "I thought I'd proven on the trip to Naboo that I didn't have a problem with this form Ranma," she said softly. "You don't have to change back on my account."

Ranma turned staring at her, then nodded slowly and the two of them left the temple heading out for a day of exploration. "Sorry, I just, got a thing about my other form, so I'll probably need to be reminded of that a time or two."

It turned out that some animals even on the top level of Kashyyyk's multi-level ecosystem had not gotten the memo about what not to attack. A large avian creature that looked like a cross between a lizard and a bird attempted to eat them as they were heading back from exploring, but was dealt with easily.

"I wonder if it will taste like chicken," Ranma mused as she stared down at the corpse, scratching at one side of her face.

"Possibly." Shaak said with a shrug. "Many avians do."

"Wait, you know what a chicken is?"

"Of course Ranma," Shaak said cocking her head to one side. "Many human planets have that animal, though admittedly sometimes what they call a chicken does not match the picture in the Republic Bestiary."

Cooking the beast took some time, but thankfully it's feathers came out easily and cleanly and Ranma had a small fire going quickly. He watched it closely, knowing that despite the layers of dirt under his feet they were still on a admittedly large branch of wood. It was smaller than most wroshyr branches even at this angle but still able to support both of them and their kill with no apparent effort.

The two of them snuggled against one another leaning back against the upward rising branch behind them, Ranma's arm around Shaak's waste and Shaak's arm around the shorter girl's shoulders. "This is nice," Ranma said, leaning her head against Shaak shoulder. "Somehow I doubt that little restaurant I found would be quite as nice frankly."

"It certainly would not have been as comfortable," Shaak said, speaking about how close they could sit here and cuddle without anyone else around. She was still rather leery about showing much affection in public, not just in the temple, but she hoped that would come in time.

"Yep," Ranma said, "especially since in public, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this." With that Ranma leaned up kissing Shaak, tracing along one of her lekku where one of her stripes of blue met the white, then moving upward, pulling back to stare into Shaak's mesmerizing eyes.

Shaak closed the distance, and the two women kissed slowly, deeply. Thanks to the Dark Woman's repressive presence they hadn't been able to do that on the trip back to Kashyyyk, nor had they been able to spend much time together since arriving thanks to everything else they were doing. This might be why the kiss slowly began to get out of control.

Ranma pushed Shaak lightly backwards further against the trunk as she moved rolling her body so that she sat on Shaak's lap, her legs to the side of either of Shaak's own. Shaak moaned, her hands rising to clutch Ranma's hair, causing her to squeak a little into the kiss, before she disengaged pulling Ranma slightly back and away from her.

They stared into one another's eyes, then began to kiss lightly, not deepening it again just for now. Then they began to hear a chittering noise, and Ranma moved off of Shaak's lap turning to stare across the fire towards where the sound was coming from,.

Several small animals had invaded their tiny campsite, the otter-like arboreal creatures that Ranma had spotted from the sky on their first trip to this planet. They were gambling and cavorting around, flipping up and over smaller branches, to land lightly against one another, as they stared at the food and the remnants of the dead bird from the other side of the fire. One of them poked its head up out of the small posse, staring at the two aliens.

Ranma shrugged, waved a few fingers in the air. "Have fun guys, we weren't going to eat it all."

The creature couldn't understand his words of course, but the tone apparently came through. The little creatures quickly began to tear the carcass into pieces, biting through even bone and digesting it with ease.

Shaak chuckled, her face still flushed from their kisses, and pulled on Ranma's hair lightly to get her attention again. This times it was Shaak's turn to lead and she turned them both, leaning over Ranma, pushing her back in turn. They didn't kiss for as long that time, but it still sent a shiver down Shaak's spine and she pulled away reluctantly, shaking her head. "This relationship concept is rather intoxicating." she confessed.

Ranma nodded, staring up at Shaak as she moved away. _That was fun, weird but fun._ It didn't feel like it did as a guy, he couldn't say it felt strange or anything like that, it just felt **different** kissing Shaak in his female form. Just as good, but different. He couldn't describe it better than that. "I completely agree," she murmured, sitting up. Putting one arm around Shaak again she leaned forward for the food with the other, pulling off a piece of the bird and holding it out to Shaak, who nipped it out of Ranma's fingers with her sharp carnivores teeth with a playful smile.

Once again keeping a distance from one another, though it was admittedly somewhat harder at that moment then it had been when they left the duo returned to the temple mid-morning. Inside the main hall they were met by Master Yoda and a few of the other teachers. Yoda chuckled as he saw them, his glimmer stick towards them.

"You've already got a new one?" Ranma said cheerfully, once again in his male form thanks to a brief stop and his favorite bit of tech, the water bottle with the heat tab built into its bottom. "What's this one reinforced with?"

"Solid steel, not pipe this time, it is." The diminutive alien replied, shaking it up towards Ranma's face. "Coated it with a wood veneer for the feel of it, have I, but not the same it is. One metal stick to hit you with, another for day to day use, I might have to keep."

"My heart bleeds," Ranma mocked.

"Was there something you wanted master?" Shaak asked before the two of them could continue their little act. And it was an act Shaak was certain now. Both of them seemed to get a kick out of it, and she felt Ranma truly did respect Yoda and vice-versa, which was the most important thing to her.

"You two were ambushed by some of our students," said one of the teachers, an older wolf-like alien of the kind that Ranma had only seen once before though he couldn't remember what the race was called at the moment. "Forgive me," he said suddenly, bowing his head lightly. "My name is Rahhdool I am the head teacher at this temple. Except, of course for those times when Master Yoda decides to step in."

"A sign of my age and rank in the Order, can do so I can." Yoda replied mildly, ignoring the other master's put upon manner. "Talk about the younglings ambushing you, we would like to."

Ranma related the incident from their perspective, and Yoda nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Matches with what we've learned already it does. Able to stop the younglings from acting out in this manner, possible it might not be. Feel of your change, too amusing it is to them. Prefer instead to use this as a teaching moment, I would."

"Continue to allow them to ambush you so long as they use their Force powers to do it, we will. Your position in the Force, the youngest can sense to ambush you, working together through the Force. For the advanced students, your balance confusing or water towards you throwing, they can do."

"Sounds like fun," Ranma said with a nodded and a smile which Shaak shared, both of them nodding their heads towards Master Fay, who had appeared at one end of the hall and was obviously waiting for Ranma. "So long as they don't bother me when I am with Master Fay or Aayla that's fine by me. If they do that, I suggest ramping up the punishments threefold just to make them realize we're serious about it."

"Agreed," said Yoda, to the well-hidden shock, horror, and affront of the teachers.

One of them made bold to ask. "Master Yoda, this is completely outside any kind of real teaching, we might well see all of our classes and long term lesson plans disrupted with this kind of nonsense. Surely a regular lesson would be much more beneficial."

"We can stop the younglings from acting out through isolation mediation or assigning extra physical exercises," said another.

"Perhaps, yet perhaps not. And, so long as this hurts no one or get in the way of the running of the general temple, really doing any harm is it, hrmm? Ambushing Ranma on their free time they are after all, doing so during lessons they will not be. And, mold them into Jedi, our task is. Not, only through obedience and meditation can they understand the Force, convince them. Teachers we are, task masters at times, fonts of all wisdom we are not."

Yoda stared hard at the two teachers. While he had organized this temple, many of the appointments had not been to his liking, particularly in the teaching staff. He'd gotten his choice as the head teacher, master Rahhdool's latest padawan being raised to knighthood a bare few weeks before this project began. But the others had been appointed by the Council of Reassignment before Windu had begun to revamp its bureaucracy.

They were all Consulars, and like many had begun to subtly influence their students towards that sect. Nor did they seem to be able to roll with the punches as much as he could wish, and seemed to resent the various changes sweeping the Order as a whole and the curriculum they were forced to teach.

In particular they seemed to resent the emphasis on flexibility and finding their own way that Yoda had begun to teach, as well as his insistence that all advanced younglings be given more instruction in combat, particularly lightsaber vs. blaster style combat. That was a small wedge of what he was trying to do to prepare the Order for the dark times to come. But it was the one these masters had to deal with and they had not responded well to the change. They went along with it, but there was a difference between endorsing something and dragging your feet about it.

Yoda was in fact using this opportunity to nip that kind of thinking in the bud. He'd have had to create something else to do the same without Ranma and his curse, and not for the first time he thanked Ranma's chaotic nature and his ability to bring things to the fore.

"Agreed," Shaak said with a nod, smiling her serene smile at the teachers. "Do not worry, we can even change the actual attacks into a teaching moment, calling them together afterward, going over what they did wrong, how to reach out to the Force and control it better. Not all teaching should be in the classroom, or even the majority."

Many of the teachers still looked as if they wanted to argue, but Yoda's face had firmed, and his placid stare swept them all. In response they bowed their heads, and agreed.

Shaak and Ranma spent two weeks at the temple in this manner, with Ranma devoting most of his time not spent on these various projects learning from Master Fay to try to reach out to the Force to decide his course from here on. He still refused to use the Jedi powers, feeling they opened him up too much to the Force when he couldn't handle the flow of it and refusing to subsume himself to it as Jedi did. But he was willing to meditate occasionally as Fay had taught him, and had begun to get a sense of where his journey should go from Corellia.

He, Kit, and Shaak also all trained in the repulsor room, whose construction had finished a day after they had returned from Naboo. The toughening technique took hold quickly for both Shaak and Ranma, the Togrutan having built up her Living Force to a level that approached Shampoo's when Ranma had fled his old life. It was painful as hell, but the repulsors simply worked faster and better than the old style, though as Ranma remarked once it was not as fun to watch.

Kit on the other hand ran into problems. He hadn't had months of training with Ranma, and so hadn't built up his personal reservoir of Living Force. His body therefore could not adapt to the pressure put on it. But even he began to build up some more durability after about a week or so. Ranma cautioned him not to experiment with it until Ranma said it was okay, but it was a good sign for teaching other Jedi in a similar manner. But Living Force reserves were a must, which meant intense training regimens beyond even what Jedi were used to, even if you discounted the need to meditate on that internal reserve rather than the Force as a whole.

The pranks continued, with Ranma and Shaak both getting into the spirit of it. A few of the advanced teachers were dismissed and others added, who were able to follow the new curriculum with its emphasis on flexibility and combat skills Yoda had ordered. Many still questioned why, but not loudly, as the Veil of the Dark Side was now present in nearly every mind. Though many didn't want to admit it, the time was coming when fighting against that Dark would take a far more physical form than it had in centuries.

Shaak took the time to get to know Ahsoka, her decision to take her as padawan firming into a certainty as their bond began to form through the Force. That would be several years in the future of course. First choosing routinely happened at 12 or 13 and the girl was seven now. But five years down the line Shaak would be back for her, and made certain the girl knew it, and what Shaak expected of her. As a Togrutan herself, she could easily word her instructions to the girl to get her to flow them despite her slight antiauthoritarian attitude.

Every evening Ranma and Shaak would have a meal with Aayla and Luminara, after which Shaak remained with them for that evening's session and Ranma would work with Master Fay. These meals were fun and pleasant, with all of them sharing stories from growing up, and more than once Ranma's adventures had Aayla laughing aloud or Luminara biting her lips to keep from doing the same.

He learned more about Luminara, her time as a Jedi, and what the marks on her face meant. At first it was somewhat awkward at times, with Luminara staring at his lips occasionally, but that faded as they got to know one another. Luminara was most definitely more of a traditional Jedi than Shaak Ti had become, despite her brief interest in the romantic side of things.

She didn't believe in abstaining from emotions as the Oath demanded, she had seen too much as a Healer to believe that. But there was a big difference between that and embracing them on a day to day basis, as Shaak seemed to have, despite the amount of control she had over them.

The other aspect was that while she found Ranma physically interesting, Luminara didn't appreciate his wild nature as Shaak had come to and she had none of Shaak's own well-hidden wild nature. Luminara and Aayla on the other hand became close, with Luminara nearly always nearby working with her.

Aayla made a lot of progress during their stay, so much so Ranma began to stay in his male body for these meals and got to know the Rutian Twi'lek more now that she was healing and no longer pretending nothing was wrong as she had on the trip from Tatooine. Her stories about Ryloth and how slavery was so common there made his blood boil, but her stories about the missions she and her former master went on gave him a much better opinion of Quinlan Vos than he had before. Some even had him laughing nearly as much as his own had Aayla, and when he did her face lit up with a grin that made her hardships seem to fade away.

When informed of the decision to separate the two of them, Aayla had been rather saddened but not angry after hearing how he had nearly struck down fellow Jedi. Especially not when informed of how she would be assigned to Knight Ti after Luminara had cleared her. She was eager to learn Ranma's techniques, and spend time with both of them going forward.

At the same time, Fay was able to walk him through reaching out to the Force for brief spurts of time while he entered what he called his kata trance, getting so far into going through some of his katas that he actually entered a trance-like state, but not like a Jedi's. During that he could reach out to the Force, to the skein of the future and present, without being immediately being overwhelmed as he had on Dac.

But other than some vague images and a sense of welcome, Ranma couldn't interpret what he was seeing, and Fay couldn't see the same visions as he could. Even so, that seemed to be enough for now, and the sense of urgency Fay had felt before coming to Kashyyyk faded, slowly replaced by the feeling it was time to move on.

The work on the _Wild Light_ 's interior finished in around thirteen days. The bit of wood that Ranma would have to touch to charge the ki space inside the water tanks stuck out of the shower's floor, which all of the workers felt was the best way to do it.

Late one evening two weeks into his stay on Kashyyyk Ranma and Kit were talking about that, as they walked from one of the training areas back to the temple proper and Kit asked "How long do you think it would take for me to get up to that point?"

"I think you probably already are if I'm honest," Ranma said with a chuckle. "There are some things you Jedi seem to pick up a lot quicker than I did when I was first learning how to harness ki. Projecting your ki should be relatively simple once you have enough of it. But it's got to be Living Force, not Unifying. Unifying Force just shatters the wood for some reason."

Ranma had experimented with that too with Master Fay. While Fay could control the flow of Unifying Force into her piece of wood the results were very odd. Instead of creating a ki space, the wood seemed to somehow transform the Unifying force, becoming almost alive, with small buds of growth appearing. When Ranma tried, he couldn't control the flow, and the influx was too much for the wood to handle, shattering it in an explosion of wooden shrapnel. Neither had any idea why that was, though Fay had been intrigued by her result.

"You do know that eventually you're going to have to sit down and figure out all of the differences between using the Living Force and Unifying Force, correct?" Kit asked. "I know you began to meditate on the unifying Force, and it's a good start but there are still so many unanswered questions about why some of your techniques work so well sometimes and others fail."

"I know," Ranma replied sighing. "But that's not my thing, y'know. I'm not scientific about what I do. I'll learn through trial and error but come up with reasons about what so and so doesn't work, blech."

Kit rolled his eyes at his friend before stopping him momentarily his face going serious after second. "Thank you," he said, not for the first time. "Without your training, I would not have faced off against Clown Face as well as I did. And without you, Aayla would still be…" he cut off shaking his head. Aayla had begun to spend a few hours a day out in the rest of the temple, she was still leery of letting any man within arm's reach, but she was getting better over time.

"You're welcome," Ranma said with a smile. "I'd like to say I only did what anyone else could have, but I'd be lying. What anyone else **should** have done yes, but **could** have? That's a different story."

"So modest," Kit rolled his eyes, smacking Ranma's shoulder with his fist in a comradely way that he'd picked up from Ranma over the past few days. Gestures like that wasn't normally a Jedi thing, but Kit was quickly coming to realize that there was no reason why it couldn't be. _Shutting out that dark side of the Force didn't mean we had to shut out the Light side of our emotions. We only did so because of fear, and there is no reason to do it. There are other things out there to fear._

"Have you been assigned a new mission yet?" Ranma asked as the two of them continued to move, heading up to the lightsaber construction center. Ranma was nearly finished his staff, all that was left was to put in the crystals, the two from the lightsabers he been using and the pearl that he'd taken from the Krayt Dragon on Tatooine.

"He has," said a feminine voice, and both men turned bowing their heads to Master Fay. She smiled at them both, reaching over to pull Ranma's ear lightly. "The Force is done with me for now here on Kashyyyk. You and I have had our discussions, you have learned what you are willing to from my teachings and I have learned what I can from you. I think we are too dissimilar and how we go about our lives for more."

"I wish I could disagree," Ranma said and was honestly surprised that he meant it. Fay was a peacemaker, a peaceful gentle soul that put even Kasumi to shame, though Ranma thought if Kasumi ever had become a Jedi, Fay would've been the teacher he would've chosen for her. _Maybe Kasumi could have grown it to be like her._ But Ranma was to combative, too chaotic, and far too aggressive for Fay's gentle nature to put up with for long. Her teachings had really helped him and vice versa, what Fay could do with Projected Force attacks now put most of his own long range attacks to shame. But a longer association would serve neither of them.

"It says good things about you that you are able to say that and mean it Ranma. Despite your own nature, you are a gentle man. That pleases me," Fay said simply. "However, I have other tasks. The Force is calling me away now, and I will follow it."

Ranma sighed and nodded.

"However," Fay went on, looking at Kit. "Master Yoda has decided that I need a guardian, quite literally. In this dark time, with the threat out there whatever it might be, no Jedi can truly assume that he or she can handle everything that comes at him on her own. And since I haven't even used a lightsaber in centuries, the point is even more… pointed… in my case." She smiled faintly at her little word joke, and Kit smiled back.

"I am to be assigned to you master Fay?" Kit asked. "I welcome it and the opportunity to learn from you." He bowed his head humbly, and Fay smiled.

Ranma on the other hand was looking at her one eyebrow raised. "The little frog let you in on that?" He asked not saying what 'that' was in this case.

"Yes he did." Fay replied, not commenting on his derogatory term for the aged grandmaster after interacting with Ranma for two weeks. "Mainly because I can sense where two of the so-called Lost 19 are going to be. We will be getting in touch with them first about what has been going on, and then the Outer Rim is calling me. There is some disturbance out there, something that is calling to my senses in particular."

"I understand," Kit said with a nod. "When do we leave?"

"Now," Fay replied simply. "I have said my farewells already." She smiled faintly shaking her head at that. Normally Fay would've simply left, assuming that anyone who knew her would know that the Force had called her away and bear her no ill will. But now, Yoda had insisted that she at least take someone with her, and Knight Fisto had sprung to her mind quickly. So quickly, that she felt that the Force had a hand in that too. "My ship, the Starry Ocean, is ready."

"Give me a moment to gather my duffel bag then master. I will meet you at the hangar bay." With that Kit nodded to Ranma, clasping forearms with him before turning bowing his head again to Fay and running off.

Fay smiled at that, and nodded her head at Ranma in turn. "May the Force be with you Ranma, and, please watch out for Knight Ti. The two of you are a magnificent beacon of Light in this growing darkness, but that will attract even further darkness to you. Darkness I feel that you two are equipped to handle in many of its forms, but perhaps not all."

"We'll watch out for each other, and you and Kit watch out for you each other too." Ranma held out his hand, but when Fay made take it in a clasp like Kit had he pulled her into a hug, lifting the slightly taller yet far less dense master off her feet into an exuberant hug. Fay found herself laughing even as she pushed him away slightly. "If you don't, I'll come looking for you!"

"I'll hold you to that," Fay said with smile, and Ranma set her down. She nodded her head once at him again then left as Shaak Ti moved towards them from the inner temple.

 **OOOOOOO**

It had taken weeks to get away from Naboo, but it had been time well spent. The Queen thought of Palpatine as a cautious but insightful ally and more importantly a powerful one. The general populace was well behind the idea of militarization, which would push the young queen in a direction she personally did not want take. That could be reversed given her popularity, but in the main it was unimportant because the populace had also responded well to his subtle anti-alien messages and he'd found a few locals to keep that feeling going. One movement or the other would keep Amidala off-balance at home, and more susceptible to suggestions from him.

But despite all that good work, Sidious only felt relief at finally entering his sanctum, discarding his Chancellor garb and pulling out his plain black robe as he sat down in his throne. Too much time wearing his public face wore on Sidious badly at times, especially when not everything was going his way as had been the case of late. Much still was, but it required constant effort on his part. The Chaotic Locus and the trouble he was causing was an itch he just couldn't scratch.

Here surrounded by darkness at the center of his power Sidious immediately felt more centered in himself. He simply sat there, his eyes closed as he meditated for a few moments, sending his senses out into the Force light tendrils on the ocean of the Veil of the Dark Side.

Opening his eyes after those few precious moments Sidious gestured, and a small walker droid with a communication device on top of it move towards him obediently. Another gesture pushed in a few keys, and the communication device opened, revealing the hologram of his one of his underworld contacts. "Bounty Hunter Jango Fett I presume?"

Elsewhere on Coruscant Jango Fett, former Mandalorian and now one of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy, was looking at the small hologram droid being held in the far larger droid's arms. He'd been asked to remain on the planet before being paid for this last job, but as he was also being paid for his time that was no hardship save boredom. This though, this and the droids which had guarded his ship, or perhaps his cargo since his arrival, hinted at something more.

"If you're the one that asked for this one," he said gesturing over his shoulder at the woman frozen in carbonite, "Your man only paid half of the bounty. You paid me for my time here, but that's a secondary issue, not part of the original bounty. If you really want her, I need the rest of what I'm due."

"Check your bank account, bounty Hunter," the figure in the hologram said. The voice was soft, but stern, nothing special on the surface of it. Nothing to match the rest of this set up, which made it stand out all the more.

The younger man did so, and smiled underneath his Mandalorian style helmet. "Good. This is highly unusual, but you paid for my time here as well as the payment for delivering her. What's the second job? No one spends this much time on a bounty hunter without having a job already lined up for us."

"How would you like to help kill a lot of Jedi?" The figure in the hologram asked, the visible lower portion of his face twisting into a sneer of such malevolence that a lesser man might have taken a step back.

Jango was not a lesser man, and he hated the Jedi almost as much as he hated the Death Watch, possibly more if Jango was honest with himself. A poisonous rawl snake could not be anything but a rawl snake after all, whereas the Jedi always put on airs about being so honorable, so dispassionate and neutral in any conflict. They always looked down their oh-so superior noses at people when in reality, they not only killed but they died just like anyone else. Jango should know, he'd killed several of them with his bare hands. "Tell me more."

Moments later Jango signed off, having just received the coordinates of a planet that no longer appeared in the Republic or Jedi database thanks to a little worm that Sidious had let loose into their systems.

 _Excellent. Fett will make a perfect candidate for the cloning process. And talking to him has reminded me of another contact I can use to possibly eliminate the Chaotic Locus. The Death Watch Mandalorians pride themselves on being the equal of Jedi in terms of combat, let them prove it._ Sidious smirked. _Using the newly rebuilt version of that cult to one end while using the man who wiped out the original for another is deliciously ironic._

Sidious spent the rest of that day setting things in motion, contacting people and generally manipulating his ever-growing power base towards his goal of destroying the Jedi and taking power over the entire galaxy. Though he now included the death or capture of the Chaotic Locus as an important side project. He also updated his computer system on the various Jedi that he had seen in action or felt in action on Naboo, detailing what new skills he had could predict.

Night found Sidious deep underground in Plagueis' secret laboratory, slowly unthawing the young female human from her Carbonite prison. He stood at one end of the room as carbonite slowly unthawed, waiting calmly in the dark of the room, the room lit only by a single red light set in the ceiling. Eventually the process was finished, and the young woman fell forward on her hands and knees, gasping and looking around her.

The young woman had sharp, angular features and athletic, well-formed body clad in dark black leather that hugged her from around the chest, with an open patch over her stomach which left her shoulders bare, tall leather boots, and pale white skin. Her hair, short and spiky was white too, a sign much like her yellow eyes of her unbridled use of the Dark Side, a sign that it controlled her as much as she controlled it.

Her beauty was marred by several scars here and there, in particular on her shoulders and along her lower jaw, but they did little to take away from the whole image. These were signs of her torture under the Bando Gora, a Force worshipping cult of assassins and death stick users that she would come to rule through giving in to the Dark Side, manipulating their minds and becoming a crime lord through their efforts.

"Hello Komari Vosa," said a male voice from the shadows in front of her, its tone rich with command and power. "We have much to talk about."

With a wordless snarl the woman raised her hands. A Force Push grabbed the equipment all around her tearing it of the floor and hurling it towards the voice.

She gasped in astonishment as her attack was blocked, some kind of Force power held in the hand of the man standing there sucked her Force Push away. The items it had pushed towards him dropped for a moment before he languidly thrust them away right back to where they had been before. "Is that all, a mindless, animalistic attack? I was expecting more from the former padawan of so accomplished a Jedi as Dooku."

His other hand gestured, and despite trying to use the Force to latch onto the ground beneath her, Komari found herself flung backwards slamming with bone deadening force against the far wall. She was held there suspended off the floor, her throat constricting in an unseen grip, her attempts to break it with her own Force power were batted away with contemptible ease as the man stalked forward.

Stepping into the light he allowed some of his features to be seen under his hood, though not enough to identify him. "You have much to learn about controlling your anger and hate, much to learn about power and the Dark Side. I can teach you," he said releasing his grip on her neck. "I can teach you, and I can mold you into a weapon that will extract vengeance against the Jedi for forgetting about you, for using you and leading you on. But only if you are willing and able to **learn**. Are you up to this challenge, would you like to learn the true ways of the Sith?"

Komari gasped slightly, rubbing at her throat as she stared up at the man before standing stiffly, bowing her head in submission, her yellow eyes suddenly glimmering with eagerness and intelligence, not just hate and rage. "What would you have me do?"

Under his cowl, Sidious smiled.

 **OOOOOOO**

Two days after Kit and Fay had left, Ranma shook his head, coming out the last kata of the night, letting his hands fall to the side. Despite Fay's patient tutelage, he just couldn't get anything more from reaching out to the Force than a few distorted images. He was now more at home with taking energy from the Force as a whole, because he had figured out how to give it back later thanks to master Fay, and had got over his fear of damaging the Force as he would have the chi of the area around him at home.

But reading the 'skein of the future and present' was still beyond him. that made him unable to use Force Precognition entirely, though given his speed, and the fact he was still training himself to become faster both armed and unarmed that didn't matter. The bits and pieces of visions he got were just enough to irritate him, but going by what Fay had said, either the Force was happy with what he could do now, or just didn't have anything it needed to tell him immediately.

He looked up, only now noticing that the small training area he had commandeered for the evening was empty now. "Good grief, was I at it for that long?"

"I've been watching you for at least an hour, beyond that I don't know." Ranma looked to the side sharply, seeing Aayla there. Before he could open his mouth, Aayla held up a hand. "Knight Luminara was with me for most of that, but watching you practice your martial arts is rather mesmerizing, and almost but not quite peaceful too. It's obvious you love your art, and the Force too."

Ranma shrugged, he wasn't really at home with throwing out the word love like that, though he couldn't deny he did love the martial arts. It was part of who he was. But expanding that to loving the Force… _I guess I do love ki, so it could be just a hop skip sort of thing to loving the Force, if you think of the Force as an entire combined system anyway. Still not certain I do, but meh._ "Did ya want to talk to me Aayla, or are ya just waiting for the rush to pass by so ya can get back to your room without running into too many guys?"

Aayla walked towards him, cocking her head to one side. "Did you know I am an empath?"

"Shaak mentioned something about that, though it took her a bit to explain what the difference was between that and her ability to feel emotions and thoughts sometimes. You can't turn it off right?" Ranma asked, frowning slightly. Even now it was not usual for Aayla to approach him this close when he was in his male form.

"Yes. Most Jedi only can feel emotions when the emotions are sharp as it were, distinct or powerful, and rarely can they detect a single feeling in a crowd. Otherwise Jedi are better at seeing thoughts. But I feel emotions all the time from everyone around me. That's why I began to feel comfortable around you. I felt that you sometimes felt desire for me, but it wasn't a constant thing, and it was always followed by a heaping of guilt. And I never felt it when Shaak was around." Aayla smirked at the older boy. In fact Ranma was closer to her age by a year than he was to Shaak.

"Um, sorry?" Ranma asked, wondering why his instincts were telling him to back away.

Before he could do so, Aayla was close enough to reach out and touch him. "I don't mind it, not in comparison to what I felt when I was, when I was a slave." She shuddered once, but moved past it quickly. "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. I know I'm good looking, guys, especially those not raised to be Jedi from the cradle, look at me that way from time to time. Heck I feel some bits of attraction even from other Jedi Knights or even Masters at times."

She grabbed Ranma's shirt, holding him in place as he went to back up. In her other hand she had pulled out her lightsaber, which Quinlan had sent to her from Coruscant. Luminara had kept it before this and later Aayla would get in trouble for having it at all at this stage of her recovery. But there was something she had to do, and Luminara, after being told what that was, would forgive her.

 _How the heck did she get her lightsaber!?_ Ranma of course knew nothing about that, only that the girl who had a firm grip of his shirt also had a lightsaber. And he would catch ever-loving hell from Shaak if he hurt her in trying to escape.

He would have broken her grip, but for some reason he just couldn't take his eyes away from Aayla's, they seemed to stare into his soul. "You and Shaak are in a relationship, don't bother denying it, it's obvious to me and those who know her. Admittedly there aren't many of us but still. I can feel the emotions between you, the affection, the desire, all the rest. It almost makes me blush, and it does make me a little jealous. But more than that, it makes feel very protective toward her."

Ranma couldn't stop himself. "I thought Jedi weren't supposed to put emphasis on attachm…. I'll shut up now." He broke off as Aayla flicked her lightsaber on for a moment before turning it off.

"Good, especially since you don't believe that any more than I do now. I just want you to realize as much as I like you, and I do like you quite a bit, you've become as close to me as any friend I've ever made in the Order, and in less than three weeks of interaction. But more importantly, Shaak Ti, my **best** friend, has feelings for you." Aayla continued to smile, but her eyes became very dangerous. "So if you hurt her, in **any** way, I will cut off what makes you a man, cook it, then make you eat it, understand?"

"Um, do spars, I'll shut up again." Ranma began and ended when Aayla lit her lightsaber up again. "Message understood. And I'd have never entered into this relationship if I thought I was gonna hurt Shaak Aayla. We were friends before we decided to be together. We both knew getting together was major issue on her part, so we will try our best to make it work, that I will promise. If we break up it won't be because of anything I've done."

"I will hold you to that Ranma, and… just be happy, the both of you." Aayla said with a smile, clipping her lightsaber to her belt and patting Ranma on the cheek before walking off without another word.

The very next day, Shaak and Ranma waved farewell to their friends before boarding the _Wild Light_. Aayla was there, she didn't seem to have a reaction to the Wookies so long as they stayed out of arms reach of her, which was all to the good. Luminara was there too, as was Yoda. "I'm looking forward to travelling with you both in time, I will repay your aid, I swear it."

"No payment is necessary between friends Aayla, especially not between Jedi like you and I." Shaak rebuked the younger girl gently, before pulling her into a brief hug, mindful of the other Jedi who had come to see them up. "Be well Aayla and we will see you soon." Aayla nodded, stepping back and watching as the two of them turned away, heading up into their ship.

"Power up HK," Ranma said as he passed the still disconnected head of the assassin droid. "I presume you finished shopping for your parts and ordering them from someplace on Corellia?"

"Eager response: Yes master! Are we had last leaving for that oddest of odd systems?"

Ranma paused, cocking an eyebrow the droid. "Did you just read about that kind of thing, or is that from your memory?"

"Deliberating tone: A bit of both master. While I cannot remember any details, I remember someone commenting on how anyone could even doubt that it was an artificially created system, when there was so much evidence to support it, despite it being 'patently impossible'. Meatsacks like to toss out that phrase for things they just can't comprehend, much like your curse." HK replied.

"Businesslike redirection: In any event, I have indeed already acquired and paid for a new body for from a single specific company with holdings on Corellia. They create one off protection and guard droids, as well as high-end mining droids, asteroid repair ships, and other goods of that nature. While the final product will not be as streamlined or perfect as my old body was, it will be as close as possible."

"Good job," Ranma said with a nod, sitting down across Tune from Shaak. For a moment he and Shaak were busy, piloting the ship up and out of the hidden hangar bay then out through the verdant forest and into space. Ten minutes after that, they had left the small bit of traffic in orbit over Kashyyyk behind. A few minutes spent turning to face the right direction, and then the _Wild Light_ jumped into hyperspace.

Shaak looked at Ranma, taking his hand in her own with a faint smile. "Away again."

"If home is where the heart is," Ranma said with a grin, "then thanks to the _Wild Light_ I don't think we ever need to leave, not really anyway. Though I will miss having space to roam on Kashyyyk, and all the different training areas."

Shaak laughed shaking her head, her lekku twitching with the movement, her headdress glinting in the light of the cockpit. "While even under the Old Oath Jedi are not supposed to place attachment upon possessions, I do have to admit that this ship has grown on me. I still believe that Jedi shouldn't have a love of possessions like that, but in this case I will make an exception."

Ranma laughed again shaking his head then he became serious. "So, tell me more about this Green Enclave. Whenever our going to Corellia came up it looked as if Yoda and the others were, hmm, not against it so much as extremely frustrated or leery of something."

"Yes unfortunately that is the case, though I hadn't actually realized it until I asked master Yoda about the Green Jedi Luminara mentioned. And of course he assigned me some reading, so that I could form my own opinions about the issue in my copious spare time." Shaak said drolly.

"The little imp's a good teacher, but it can sometimes get a little irritating." Ranma replied, rolling his eyes. "And if either of us had a lot of free time I'd like to know how exactly we got it, y'know? Controlling time like that would be damn useful."

The only time the two of them had free was breakfast in the mornings, which they had through unspoken agreement turned into their time to be together. Most of the time they hadn't been able to spend too much time together even so given all the other things they had going on, but it had been nice to have those moments alone just to talk, take in the sights, or explore Kashyyyk.

"Far too true. However, that question is a little complicated. Tune, can you take over the controls for now?" Shaak asked.

"Was that supposed to be an insult mistress?" the Astromech droid asked, beeping and shaking in his slot between the two of them. His voice this time was that of an elderly, urbane sounding gentlemen, but it shifted mid-sentence to that of a young boy with the same kind of accent.

"Someone's been hanging around HK too long, he's enabled your sarcasm function." Ranma quipped, following Shaak as she moved towards the sitting area. She sat down on the sofa, her robe flaring slightly as she did, and Ranma paused, shaking his head at the flash of red ankle he had seen there before sitting next to her. Shaak leaned back against his chest after moving her back lekku so that it draped to one side of their bodies rather than be squished between them, shuddering as he ran a hand down its length before putting his arms around her.

Once she was comfortable, Shaak began. "You know of course about the three sects within the Jedi Order, Guardian, Sentinel, and Consular. What you don't know is that there were at one point other sorts of divisions within the Order that depended on where you were trained. Dating back to before even the last war, only one has continued to this day. The Green Jedi as they are called are Jedi raised and trained in Corellia and the systems around it that do not leave its sector. They remain within its borders, an almost separate entity yet still ostensibly under the council."

"I didn't think that was allowed." Ranma said frowning, one hand making gentle circles on her stomach, which caused Shaak to shiver slightly despite the touch needing to pass through her robe. "I mean, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the only Jedi Temple was on Coruscant before Yoda began to push for us to spread out to more temples once more. So how could these Green Jedi be trained on Corellia?"

"That is indeed the case, though there used to be an enclave on Corellia. It isn't an **official** one anymore, a nice little bit of legal fiction. Master Yoda and the other more senior Masters know it is still there and being used however."

"I don't get it," Ranma said with a shake of his head. "Why are the Corellians allowed to keep themselves separate like that, I just don't see the Order going along with that kind of internal division."

"They really aren't. I mean they are but they are viewed as being highly suspicious, almost heretical by the masters who know about them at all."

"Last time I checked, the Jedi aren't actually a religion. Heretical?" Ranma said, now somewhat enjoying needling Shaak.

"I'm just paraphrasing what I've read Ranma," Shaak said, her elbow moved slightly to thump into his side as if she had sensed his amusement, which she probably had. Ranma let out 'umph', squeezing her lightly in response in apology, and she chuckled before going on. "Yes it is odd, and there are two large sticking points between the Green and the High Council."

"First, politics and loyalty. The Corellian Jedi view their loyalty to their home sector as being more important to their loyalty to the Republic as a whole. They will **always** put Corellian interests over that of outsiders, even going so far as to rule in their favor in any negotiations dealing with external parties. That's occurred more times than I would have credited it, and is a major point of contention. I'm not saying they were always wrong to do so, but they certainly were not always right by the letter of the law either."

"Second is their training and, though I personally no longer see it as a sticking point, the Green Jedi have kept to the Old Oath. Many of them have apparently even married and had children who became Jedi, like the Halcyon clan. That apparently has continued to this day, despite the Ruusan Reformation. The High Council at the time tried to force them to conform, but were leery of starting another war, so backed off on that point, simply ordering them to keep it under wraps and since they have ever since, the High Council has allowed it rather than, again, start another war."

"Yeah, I can see why that wouldn't be a sticking point for you anymore." Ranma chuckled throatily, leaning down to nip at the side of Shaak's neck before nibbling at her back lekku, dragging his teeth along the white and blue rows near where it merged with her montrals at the back.

She gasped, arcing her back. "Gah, sto, stop that, we need to finish this discussion first." Shaak said, trying to wriggle away without actually doing so.

Ranma pouted at that, but nodded and leaned back up, resting the side of his head against hers, feeling the hard montrals pressing into the side of his head. "So this all happened upwards of a thousand years ago, what happened during the New Sith Wars, I thought all the different Jedi groups had to band together then?"

"The Green Jedi fought with distinction at times but until the final campaign of the Army of Light only when battles occurred near the Corellian sector or within it. Because of that, the rest of the council had an easy time painting them as dissidents and marginalizing them. Not, mind you that the Green Jedi at the time seemed to fight the label, as I said, their isolation from the rest of the Order began long, long before that."

"I've said it before, but that High Council bunch were assholes, political assholes who really screwed the Order over hugely."

Shaak scowled slightly, shaking her head, her montrals rubbing against the side of Ranma's head as her back lekku rub across his side. It felt odd, but not in a bad way, though of course this wasn't the first time he had felt it.

"If you had said that in front of me a bare year ago I would have taken umbrage at it, but I can't disagree now. We allowed ourselves to limit ourselves out of fear, and we didn't even realize it was because of fear and external influences. Politics, power mongering, and a desire for centralized control. We Jedi are supposed to be above such things, and ever since the Council and the Order as a whole have paid for it, becoming ever more tied to the Senate and its power structure without even realizing what we were losing."

The two of them fell silent, before Ranma shook his head, getting back to the original topic. "So let me get this straight, the Council views these green Jedi as quote heretics, but they're not willing to actually go in and dig them out?"

"As I said, they retreated almost entirely into their own isolation at the time of the Ruusan Reformation, and their isolation was a tried and tested thing. The Council demanded they keep their retaining the Old Oath to themselves along with all that means and a representative on the Council of Reassignment, so that there are as few problems in the Corellian sector assigned to Jedi trained on Coruscant as possible, and then tried to forget they existed. It's worked for the most part."

Shaak shrugged. "There have been of course incidents where a Green Jedi and a Coruscant trained Jedi met over the debates table. That is how Luminara knew about them, apparently she met one in that manner, and was… not impressed. Luminara won the debate, but she apparently got the impression that the other Jedi was rather contemptuous of her on some levels, and she was not impressed by his partisan manner and bearing. Oh, and there have been several episodes of poaching."

"Poaching?"

"When Jedi on missions to find younglings with Force ability run into their opposite numbers from Corellia while in the Corellian sector. Luckily most of those incidents were peaceful ones. A first come, first serve rule is the general order of the day apparently. The Green Jedi have shrunk somewhat over the centuries because they are not as good at finding and getting to such children and because of some other, mostly political shifts between them and the High Council."

"Strange, but I'm not a politician." Ranma waited for Shaak to finish exclaiming 'Force be praised' before going on. "So what does this actually mean for **us**?"

Shaak remained silent for a moment, leaning further back and Ranma went back to rubbing her stomach in gentle circles. That touch was beginning to impact her ability to think despite being so innocent and it took her a bit to concentrate on his question.

"I have no idea," she answered honestly. "Master Yoda called ahead to a master Grikass, they have been talking since Yoda began to push forward with the idea of having multiple temples and wanting one to be in Corellia. He also gave me a recording to give to them and a series of verbal messages dealing with your own skills and the vision Master Yoda had on Coruscant."

The two of them exchanged a glance at that, but after a moment Shaak went back to the current conversation. Talking about the danger that might be out there did them no good since neither had any idea where to look for it, and there were others set on that task already anyway. "At any rate, Yoda wants the Jedi to have a series of interconnected temples, not separated entities with separate loyalties which is directly opposite to how the Green Jedi see things."

"That makes sense to me." Ranma said with a shrug. "After all, if you're trying to do away with that kind of factionalism, as well as protecting yourselves from putting all your eggs in one basket, how else could it be?"

"Yes but again the patriotism of the Green Jedi, and the fact they see themselves as Corellians first and Jedi second is not exactly endemic to creating warm feelings. And don't make the mistake of believing they are above the internal politics of Corellia either," Shaak said.

Ranma shrugged again. "So we drop off the holocron, get HK's body, don't make any political statements and get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible. I really, really don't want to be involved in politics, even Jedi politics."

"If I wanted to be involved in politics I would have chosen to become a Consular like my master wanted me to." Shaak said, one hand moving down to lightly touch the hand Ranma was still moving on her stomach. Her body was now definitely reacting to that gentle touch, and she twisted her head, leaning up to kiss him for a moment before pulling back, her eyes staring into Ranma's blue ones. "But for now, I have other things on my mind."

The trip to Corellia, though longer than most given they had to use regular hyperspace for a time rather than a trade route and thus stop over many times to avoid running into astrogational hazards, was uneventful in the most pleasant possible manner. Shaak and Ranma continued to grow into their new relationship, talking and learning about one another, cuddling and kissing often, but mostly simply getting to know one another even further.

They also got used to how their new relationship effected their living together aboard the _Wild Light_. The bathroom, with its now almost unlimited water supply, became a battleground at times. Shaak was nearly addicted to showering with real water, and sometimes Ranma forgot whose toothbrush was his, which quickly became a pet peeve of Shaak because he often had morning breath, which stuck to the toothbrush somehow.

Once they lost control of their hormones.

 **Warning Lemony content:**

With a flourish of his wrist Ranma disarmed Shaak with the end of his light pike. But only after doing so did he realize that the move had put him slightly off balance. Shaak swiftly took advantage, tripping him and smacking her fist hard into his hand holding his pike, forcing him to loosen his hold on it. As his light pike fell to the floor and deactivated he grabbed her arm, pulling Shaak down with him. They came to a rest with Shaak's body across his, her legs on either side of his waist.

Letting go of her arm, Ranma laid his hands on Shaak's hips, staring up at her with a smirk on his face as a heat began to expand from where their waists met. The fact she had discarded her robe for this session was definitely helping that heat along. Shaak's body on display in her training shift, her chest rising and falling as she gulped in air, the feel of her skin under his hands, it all combined to make Ranma's hormones begin to rage out of control. And from the look in her eyes Shaak could feel it too. "So you've pinned me, what are you going to do now?"

"I can think of many things," Shaak said, before the leaning down to kiss him, tongue immediately questing into his mouth. Ranma responded, one hand moving along her thigh, the other gently playing with her back lekku. His tongue began to duel with hers, pushing her tongue back into her mouth, his own moving over her sharp teeth, so alien but not disconcerting at all by this point, rather a bit of a turn on all their own.

When Ranma's hand reached the tip of her lekku he began to rub and pinch it lightly. She gasped and shuddered, breaking away from the kiss to moan aloud. "Raannnnmmaaa…. Ahhhh…."

That was easily the most erotic sound Ranma had ever heard, and he let that hand remain there, fingers dancing over and with her lekku tip as he leaned up, his other hand on her back while he began to nip and bite at her neck, teeth just grazing her exotic red skin, leaving little kiss all along her neck and collarbone area. He did not venture lower however, thinking that Shaak should be the one to decide to go to that stage.

Unwilling to be a passive participant Shaak leaned down in turn raining kisses on Ranma's forehead, cheek and then neck as Ranma did the same to her. At the same time her hips began to gently rock against Ranma's waist, the feel of his bodies response to her fueling her desires further. Her sharp teeth ran down the side of his throat, until it met the shoulder. There she tried to bite down, a deep, instinctual desire to leave a mark on her mate overcoming her for a second only for her teeth to not sink into his skin. Then Ranma's lips captured her own again and Shaak just went back to moaning into his mouth.

The two of them pulled back for a moment, Ranma's hips beginning to lift of the deck, rocking into her own then they kissed hungrily, tongues intertwining and gasping. Ranma's hand on her back started trying to hold Shaak still, letting their hips crash together more deliberately, and the fire in her body had spread, wetness also spreading out from the point of contact, soaking through her simple underwear.

Slowly Shaak's movements became more erratic, the feelings within her continuing to rise, until she was just moaning and going with it, unable to control her body's movements as instinct took over. All Shaak could do was hold on, her body moving towards a finish of some kind that she didn't even know how to describe.

Breaking off the kiss Shaak moaned again, a low wail of a noise as the universe exploded, inside of her head, inside of her body, and Shaak's spine stiffened. "Ahhhhh!" An instant later she collapsed, all of her muscles turning into so much mush as she fell against Ranma chest to chest, bearing them both backwards onto the floor, her head lolling to one side while her lekku continued to twitch in delayed reaction.

For a moment all she could see was the back of her own eyelids as they fluttered in place while Ranma gently nuzzled her cheek, slowly bringing her back to reality. "Are you all right?"

Shaak shuddered throatily shaking her head slightly from side to side. "Mhmm, better than alright. By the Force, that was, that was, that felt, **wow**. Why was passion seen as such a bad thing for so long? I, I think you just gave me my first, what is the word, orgasm? Something like that anyway." Shaak waved her hand languidly unconcerned about the exact terminology.

Ranma blushed, nodding his head. "I um, yeah I thought that was where you were going there. Um, would it help if I apologized?"

"You don't have to apologize Ranma, I was the one urging you on, if not verbally. Oh by the Force that was incredible." She shuddered again, looking over at Ranma, their noses now brushing against one another so close were their faces, before she frowned slightly. "Did, did you… finish too?"

When Ranma shook his head her frown became more pronounced even as she blushed. "Would, that is, would you like me to help you?"

Ranma blushed, embarrassed beyond belief despite what had just happened between them. "Don't force yourself Shaak, I'm fine, I'll just er, take care of it later." It wouldn't be the first time since he'd come to this universe, though Ranma always felt a little dirty about it frankly.

"No, no I want to. You, um you helped me, so it only seems fair…" Shaak trailed off, one hand going between them. As soon as her hand began to rub directly over the large bulge of Ranma's arousal, all his concerns and worries about them going too fast fading as the sensation overrode his body.

He threw his head back, groaning in a throaty, guttural tone that caused Shaak to shudder in reply, her slightly bruised purple lips quirking upwards into a smile. Her hand continued to graze up and down Ranma's bulge, marveling at its size. Though not a Healer, Shaak Ti had been taught basic human and human-like anatomy as a youngling, and of course she knew what she was touching. She also understood that Ranma was quite large for his race.

 _It feels like he stuck my lightsaber down his pants! If my lightsaber pulsed and twitched and felt like it had a soft skin over its steel core anyway._ Shaking her head, Shaak concentrated on the task at hand, amused by how now it was Ranma's turn to become a passive participant in the event. She scooted back in order to lean closer, shuddering as her own sensitive parts bumped along Ranma's legs, leaving a trail of her own arousal and recent completion as she went.

One of her montrals rested lightly against Ranma's stomach as she watched her hands, both hands now, moving along the bulge up and down, around, pressing down. Her movements were almost random, but she began to respond to Ranma's moans, and soon found the right tempo. And while Ranma had built up a lot of endurance, even durability in many ways, this was not one of them. It only took a few moments of attention for Ranma to approach his own finish. "Shaak, I, I'm gonna!"

That was as far as Ranma got before his shaft twitched in her hand even more violently and liquid shot out from the tip with enough power to actually lift the fabric of his pants. The liquid quickly spread darkening the front of his pants as her own arousal had darkened her panties and skirt.

Some of it even leaked through and Shaak was tempted to see what it tasted like, but decided against it right now despite her own arousal returning quickly. There had been enough firsts for one day. Shaak did not resist as Ranma's arms pulled her up into a kiss, before leaning back onto the floor, kissing and nuzzling against one another lightly as they recovered.

 **End Lemony Content**

By unspoken agreement they didn't revisit that moment the next day. They both knew that it had been a little too far for their still-new relationship, even if had seemed like a good idea at the time.

For Shaak however there was another aspect to it, because she was still a Jedi, and after mentally recovering her balance, knew now why relationships, indeed attachment of any kind could be seen as dangerous. For one thing, it definitely created a conflict of interest. The Order as an entity could not command the kind of loyalty an individual, especially an individual you were close enough to have moments like that with.

Then there was the idea of attachment, of attraction and desire could lead to the Dark Side. Shaak did not believe it was inevitable as too many in the Order thought of course. But having felt the highs of the relationship, feeling not just the physical kind of things but the emotions, she could see how it could if the other individual didn't return your emotions. Or worse yet, pretended too, then abused them or thought that because of their relationship they had control over you.

With Ranma she had no fears of any of those, though Shaak knew that she would deal with feelings of jealousy a time or two, having felt them already more than once. That could be controlled at least, which she had also already learned.

They were still cuddling, still kissing, but stopped short of another moment like that. Indeed, they were having another make out session when Tune reported they were coming out of hyperspace into Corellia.

Joining the droids in the cockpit, Ranma found the ship moving through the outer sector of the system as his ships sensors began to pick up the planets and other space going bodies nearby. A few small patrol ships moved in their direction immediately. They looked like a variant of the Uglies they had seen in pirate hands before, though as their sensors picked out more detail Ranma realized they were not nearly as ramshackle.

 _Maybe some local in system defense ship that just looks like them? The power readings off those things are more in keeping with a freighter too,_ Ranma mused.

"Corellia space control this is the _Wild Light_ out of Kashyyyk, do you read us?" Shaak asked into the intercom.

"Roger _Wild Light_ , this is CSC, we have you on our scanners. You're right on time for your arrival, our compliments to your astromech droid. Please send identification codes on frequency 66497." a crisp male replied voice within a bare second of her call.

"Sent . Did you receive it?"

"I have indeed." Ahead of them out group of uglies peeled off from their intercept patrol, heading back out towards their hangar bays in a small series of small satellite stations. "Be advised, there is a lot of traffic here, probably more than you're used to if you're out of Kashyyyk. Follow the nav data being sent to your droid now, and do not deviate."

"What would happen if we did deviate?" Ranma asked as Shaak cut the connection.

Shaak shrugged her shoulders, her lekku twitching in symphony with the movement, and she smirked as Ranma's eyes seemed to be caught by them once again. _He really is fascinated by my lekku isn't he?_ "You'll see as we get closer to the planet. The space lanes here are almost as crowded as Coruscant's, and not nearly as well organized from what I was able to find out."

"I'm really glad you're the one piloting then," Ranma laughed. "I'm not exactly the best of following orders, even if the order is just for me to go in a straight line."

"No really?" Shaak replied dryly, then laughed as Ranma reached over to poke her in the side.

As they neared Corellia, they passed by dozens, even hundreds of in-system ships plying the trade routes between the planets. Others, dozens more, came out of hyperspace in the outer edge of the system, moving in to this or that space station.

At first Ranma thought that they were farther away than they were, but as they came closer to the planet, the number of ships grew, as well as the detritus scattered around the spaceways. "Why hasn't this all been cleaned up, and what is it all anyway?"

"Debris of past battles, debris of ships that ran into trouble, derelicts left to drift by their owners for one reason or another, bits of asteroids, space stations moved out of orbit and replaced because that was cheaper than upgrading them, and just plain junk. Corellia has seen more battles than any system save Coruscant, and even that is debatable and it is also one of the Republic's major industrial hubs." Shaak replied.

She went on as in the distance the Wild Light's sensors picked up one of Corellia's vaunted system defense dreadnaughts, two-kilometer long monsters bristling with weapons which Corellia used as its primary defense platforms. "As to it being cleared, I understand much of it is at any given point, but the whole process is slowed by various bureaucratic nonsense and the fact it's being added to all the time. It's much the same on many Core Worlds. It's even worse I've been told over in the Corporate Sector, though there it's the newer 'resource' planets which are the worst."

Soon they reached the planet's orbit. Ahead of them a gigantic dockyard sprawled, and Ranma used the word with feeling. It was an uneven cavalcade of dozens of different construction projects all welded into one. There didn't seem to be any kind of artistry or plan to the edifice as Ranma had seen in the Mon Calamari docks, just sheer energy and ongoing effort. Nor were as the station as large as the Mon Calamari dockyard ring, though there were dozens of separate stations scattered across the globe, so Ranma supposed the planet's total capacity might be close.

"We're being directed to that docking port up there Ranma," Shaak said, gesturing to one side as they began to follow blinking lights in a series of satellites guiding them forward into the cluttered area above the planet.

"Why aren't we landing on the planet itself?"

"Corella doesn't allow that except to ships registered here. And before you ask, no it's not for political or military reasons, it's an environmental necessity. A few hundred years ago apparently a set of extremely dangerous doglike animals were let loose or escaped, reports are sketchy, and soon began to dominate the local environment. They wiped out a few native species, before they were sharply curtailed and wiped out themselves. And there are rumors that the Sith tried to use a biological agent here in the first war against them."

"I'd heard of problems like that in ancient history on my own planet, guess I didn't think it would occur here for some reason."

"Plague is one threat every space going race fears Ranma, believe me. Much of what the Healers of the Order do is to make certain that no one is developing any such agents, or to stop any budding disease in its tracks whenever we can."

The two of them fell silent as Shaak maneuvered the _Wild Light_ into its hangar Bay, setting down easily. "Are we expecting a welcoming committee here?" Ranma asked as they and Tune worked their way through the series of power down check lists.

"No," Shaak said with a shrug. "The Green Jedi of course know we're here by this point, they would have been informed by the space control. But they'll wait for us to come to them on their own ground. Politics again."

"Remind me again what the difference between Jedi politics and real politics is?" Ranma asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"One can be openly corrupt and make it seem a virtue. The other seems able to do the same with high-handed arrogance." Shaak replied quickly, standing up and closing her eyes momentarily.

Ranma fell silent, watching her as she centered herself in the Force, getting rid of the bit of irritation his joke had caused. When she opened her eyes Ranma shrugged his shoulders apologetically, and Shaak smiled faintly shaking her head indicating it wasn't his fault. The two shared a quick kiss before leaving the cockpit, with Ranma pausing to disconnect HK's head. "You might want to shut down HK, I'm going to put you in my ki space for now and while I don't know if droids can go crazy through sensory deprivation, I'd rather not find out."

"Wary response: Shutting down immediately master." the droid said, his eyes dimming immediately.

The two of them made their way to the gangplank, waiting for it to stop moving before descending. The hanger was large, with several dozen billets for ships of all size spaced out around it. The _Wild Light_ was situated along the inner wall in a small enclosed alcove, the berths all around it already in use. Ranma noticed that at least two of the ships looked as if they were in the process of being taken apart as they sat there.

As Shaak had said, there was no welcoming committee from the Green Jedi here, just a series of workers and droids moving towards their ship. Ranma shook his head at them, waving them off. "We don't need anything, just docking space for now."

"You'll still be charged for it as part of the service." said one of them with a shrug before gesturing his team back. Another officious man came towards them from the entrance to the rest of the station, holding a clipboard.

That was the moment when it all went to hell. Shaak blinked, looking up sharply and activating her lightsaber. "Ranma, I sense!"

Blaster fire began to cascade down towards them from several gantries here and there as scruffy humans and aliens of all sorts poked their blasters out of cover and began to fire on the two of them.

Shaak deflected what she could as Ranma, who had already been moving before she had shouted her warning, dodged to one side, smashing his foot down hard on a floorboard below him. It's bolts screaming in protest, the piece of metal plate came up and he grabbed it, using it as a shield. Rated to take the heat of takeoff thrusters, the metal was up to the task of stopping blaster bolts with ease.

"Who do you think they are?" Ranma shouted over the tumult of the sudden battle.

"They are not dressed in any kind of uniform I recognize." Shaak said almost conversationally despite the exertion of blocking dozens perhaps a little under a hundred blaster bolts coming towards her. Her lightsaber was a blur of light all around her, forearms and hands disappearing almost so fast was she moving as Ranma guarded her back, the two of them racing towards large blast shield set on the ground between to ship's berths. "Possibly bounty hunters?"

"Oh joy!" Ranma muttered. Between one step and the next he hurled his makeshift shield forward before leaping up onto it, using it as a springboard up towards the ceiling.

The gravity in the bay was only half a normal planet's, the bounty hunters having not even waited for the gravity to stabilize before attacking. But this cost them now as Ranma used his ability to move in midair to even greater effect, hurling himself upwards into the darkness of that hangar bay's ceiling.

The people shooting at him lost sight of Ranma for a split second but before they could retarget Shaak and possibly overwhelm her, he opened fire and dove down on top of them, his skimmer grade blaster rifle in one hand hosing down several of the attacker's positions. _No need here for my new lightsaber, not for scum like this, though I gotta remember to grab up some more ammo packs._

Twelve of targets fell dead, and a further six screamed as their hands, legs or shoulders were punctured by the heavy blaster bolts. The rifle disappearing once again into his ki space, Ranma lashed out with hand and fist as he landed, sending five more attackers brawling. Two of them had even released their weapons as they went, and Ranma grabbed them out of midair, firing both on full auto emptying the batteries of both in a matter of seconds but silencing another enemy position as he did.

"Frank this!" said a voice, "Use the thermals!" Several of the bounty hunters heard that and tossed thermal detonators towards Shaak and Ranma.

This was a mistake. Shaak reached out with her free hand, and the thermal detonators paused in their flight, before zooming backwards towards their attackers. At the same time she ducked under another blast, unable to get her lightsaber within between her and it in time. She could have simply taken that bolt, her studies with Ranma were up to the point where she could take even heavy blaster bolts, but she wasn't about to advertise it.

A Force Jump took Shaak away from the explosions into the attacker that had nearly shot her just then, her lightsaber flashing in midair to block more bolts midair before she landed among them. The arc of energy flashed once more, and their guns fell silent as their owners were cleaved in two.

At the back of the hangar bay for bounty hunters and Limburg heavy weapons, one a concussion missile launcher, and the other an even heavier type of crew served blast than Ranma carried. Ranma scowled at the sight, bring up his own blaster again and firing as he charged towards them.

Around them the startled and rather astonished dockworkers began to respond. Having ducked for cover at the first onset of violence, a few of them actually brought out their own weapons, and began to fire at the bounty hunters. Not many, but more than there would've been on most so called civilized planets.

In the distance alarms began to blare, telling the bounty hunters they were running out of time. Several of them retreated towards the entrance to the rest of the space station. However the inner hatch clanked shut, trapping them within the hangar bay with their quarry.

As Ranma noted that, the concussion missile launcher got itself settled down and began to fire concussion missiles towards Shaak and him. Shaak battered them aside with Force pushes that sent them careening in different directions, seemingly unable to send them directly backwards this time busy as she was with several other threats at the same time. Even so she was able to make certain they exploded harmlessly to all involved including the bystanders, of which there were more than Ranma had ready noticed.

Ranma however had to plow through one of them, grimacing in pain at the explosion blew him off his feet. He rolled with it, shaking his head groggily. "Okay that hurt," he muttered, bringing his hand forward, a bright cerulean sphere of Force leaving them. His attack shot forward, slamming into the concussion launcher slagging it and he charged forward before the blaster rifle could bear on him through the smoke and shattered debris that the missile launcher had created.

Moments later the battle is over and Ranma began to move through the hangar bay grabbing the wounded bounty hunters and piling them up in a corner near the inner airlock as Shaak moved to a few of the dockworkers who had been injured, calling out to Tune to bring out some of their medical supplies.

One of the still breathing bounty hunters had gone down with shattered shoulder from a blow from Ranma. Beyond that however he was uninjured, and he gasped and groaned cursing Ranma volubly as he was dragged towards the door. "I'd be a bit gentler with you if you told me what this is all about. I mean come on, this was a decent show of timing I suppose, but a rather amateurish setup besides that. And I could've sworn I told one of your organizers or whatever you call them to only send the best bounty hunters after me. Numbers alone don't make you the best crew."

He looked over at a dock worker, who had been shot through the thigh by a bounty hunter trying to get him out of the way to shoot at Ranma as he had charged the concussion missile launcher. "If he thought I was joking about the consequences of you people killing innocents to get to me, he's dead wrong. The only thing keeping me from putting you all down like the dogs you are is the fact that I have other things to do with my time. But you just moved up the priority list."

"You fucking shit, I what? Bounty hunters? I've no idea what you're talking about! I work for Boss H…" he cut himself off, grimacing in something other than pain for a moment, though the pain might have loosened his tongue for the worse there.

At that moment the inner airlock opened, and several troops of armed and armored men entered. "This is Corsec, weapons down hands where we can see them!"

Shaak waved at them making certain they all saw the lightsaber at her belt. "I need a medic over here!"

Ranma and Shaak gave their statements as the police moved through the bodies of the dead, lining them up for inspection to one side of the hangar Bay while a medical team saw to be entered hunters as well as the workers. The workers of course got priority, while the still living hunters were also cuffed hand and foot, if they still had them that is.

The commander in charge of the security force was looking at Shaak a little askance, almost but not quite suspiciously. "I've not seen you around Master Jedi, what's your business here?"

"My own," Shaak said simply, one eyebrow rising in query. "We are here to purchase supplies of a sort, and to drop off something to one of the Jedi here. That is all. I have no interest in politics, no interest in staying, and no interest in making trouble." Her lips quirked as she looked over at Ranma. "I can't deny that trouble will probably find us though."

"That is not what I wanted to hear." The man said dryly, but his look of suspicion faded. Their attention was pulled to the side however as one of his men shouted for his attention.

They moved in that direction, joining the man as he stared down at one of the killers, having rolled him onto his face. "Boss, isn't this O'Markel?

"I do believe it is Lieutenant," the company commander said. "He's had a bit of I work done on his nose and jawline, but the rest of the face is still his own."

"You know him?" Ranma asked. He recognized the man who had been one of ones around the heavy weapons he'd taken out.

"I do indeed. Search the bodies Lt, see if you can find any communication devices on any of these worthies." As his subordinate went to work the man turned to Ranma and Shaak. "O'Markel is a wanted criminal, a murderer several times over, a drug dealer, and a hitman for hire. He's wanted on every planet in the system, and several outside it. We had no idea he was in-system again, he probably came in on a ship to Selonia. The Selonians don't notice differences in our faces so they use computers for most of their security work, and even a little plastic surgery can fool them. We'll backtrack his movements and get to the bottom of this, don't worry."

"But what you should worry about," the man went on gesturing back down to the body, "Is that this man was one of the troubleshooters for a local crime syndicate. No one knows who their main bosses are, though we've got our suspicions."

"Meaning you think you know who the bosses are and in part fact probably do, but they're politically connected or too rich and too careful." Shaak said with a sigh. "That at least is true in every system where crime abounds."

The man winced, but nodded. "Not politically Knight Ti, at least not in Corellia, I'm not going to comment on how any other sector runs itself. We just haven't been able to pin anything on them."

"Witnesses turning up dead or suddenly recanting their stories before disappearing with their families, that kind of thing?" Ranma asked his face somewhat grim.

"No, just no witnesses found in the first place." the man said dryly. "We're not entirely foolish here thank you."

His Lt. chose that moment to run up to them, carrying a small communication device. "Boss, all of their com gear is shut down, one shot cheapo jobs, we won't get anything from most of them. But this one was still showing some information. I think we know the reason why they attacked these two."

He displayed the picture of Ranma both in his male and female form, with a message of dead or alive, 40 billion credits below it.

"That's almost more than, you could buy a space station with that, you could buy a **flotilla** for that!" The commander exclaimed in shock, looking over at Ranma.

"It's gone up," Ranma amused frowning mock-thoughtfully. "I wonder why?"

"Would you like the reasons alphabetically or simply listed by date and time Ranma?" asked Shaak shaking her head.

Ranma laughed, then reached into his ki space, ignoring the man's gasp of astonishment as he did so, figuring that since the man wasn't a Force user he wouldn't be able to see anything that he could pass on to anyone else. _Man this caring what other people see sucks._ After a moment Ranma pulled out HK's head, holding it up for a moment. "Wake up HK."

HK did so, is eyes flickering around the hangar Bay. "Affronted shock: Master, he you had fun without me…again! Bemused irritation: Did you just wake me up to rub it in?"

"Apparently my bounty has gone up sufficiently enough for whole crime syndicates are looking to collect it, which means we might run into more of this. I just wanted to give you a heads up and tell you to connect to the local net, get an update on the local bounty hunters, and see if we're lucky enough that any of this lot have bounties. More importantly, make certain your body's ready for delivery to us tomorrow. We might need it."

"Atavistic thrill: Oh master, your master of motivation is truly exceptional! Just give me a moment, and I will do so."

About ten minutes later Shaak and Ranma exited the hangar Bay, leaving the police chief behind them to sort out the bodies. "So, 400 billion dead, 800 billion alive. That's quite a bit more than would be charged for even a senator's death or ransom Ranma, you could buy a whole army with that."

"Are we talking a good army, or just a large one, because I'm assuming that stuff like guns and other things cost too."

"Mostly an illegal one I think," Shaak replied dryly. She paused then, looking in the direction of the inward face of the docking bay. "Ah, it seems the Green Jedi have decided not to wait planet-side for us."

Ranma turned in the same direction and saw a tall weather-beaten man with the build of a swordsman like all Jedi seemed to have coming towards him. Beside him was a slightly younger looking man wearing the same uniform as the security officer they had been dealing with. His face was slightly less weathered, hence why Ranma thought he was younger, but his eyes, as they closed, showed he had seen possibly just as much bad shit over his lifetime as the older man.

The two of them waited where they stood for the newcomers to arrive, and when they did, the Jedi began to speak immediately, not even introducing himself. "While we were somewhat ambivalent about agreeing to allow a foreign Jedi into Corellia, we did not anticipate you would bring trouble of this nature to our very doorsteps."

"The local crime syndicate decided to waste some of its members by attempting to collect the bounty on us," Shaak said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her face was once more serene and calm, rather than filled with droll amusement as it had been a moment ago. "I do not believe you can consider it our fault that they showed such a poor lack of judgment."

"I was going to go with blissfully moronic myself." Ranma said, looking down at HK's head. "What about you?"

"Disgruntled pout: I wasn't going to say anything master, as I wasn't able to take part in the fun."

"Fun?" said the security officer aghast as he looked past them at the amount of bodies being stacked up to one side of the hangar bay. "You call this fun?"

"Amused condescension: Of course I do, I was created for violence, it is what I do and what I love. Nor is it my Masters fault that meatbags like this decided to shorten their own existences by taking on a superior opponent."

"Not bad HK but I think that's enough of your particular brand of diplomacy." Ranma said with a chuckle. He could see Shaak's mouth almost beginning to twitch there for a moment, but she controlled herself easily enough and he mentally snapped his fingers. _So close._

"Do you have time to answer some questions about this?" the security officer said coldly, and once more Ranma noticed neither of the newcomers had bothered to introduce themselves.

"We were just answering questions from your friend over there." Ranma gestured to the security officer they had been talking to. The new man seemed to notice him for first time and nodded abruptly to both of Shaak and Ranma before moving off leaving the Jedi with his two fellows, obviously washing his hands of them.

The Jedi simply sighed faintly then bowed his head. "City Jedi always seem to cause trouble either with your general attitudes or with your mere presence. This kind of trouble is new I will admit but I have to ask, do you think we should expect more of this?"

"Probably," Ranma said, as a faint gargling rock sound came from HK's mouthpiece, the droid's equivalent of laughter perhaps?

"I'm afraid so," Shaak said sending Ranma a quelling glance. "It's out of our hands after all. We still have no idea why Ranma has this large a bounty. We have irritated the Hutts recently however."

 _Or could it be something more sinister at work, the Order's hidden enemy at work? If so, his resources are even greater than we feared, I must send a message to Yoda about that._ Shaak thought.

The local Jedi sighed again, frowning at them both. "Very well, let us conclude your business here and see you gone as quickly as possible. While I am in no way against you defending yourselves, I do not want honest Corellian citizens to be harmed in any kind of shootout between you, criminals out for your bounty or actual bounty hunters. We'll have to see what we can do about that."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I'll agree with you on that one, though if they do, I'll send the same message to them that I've sent to the Bounty Hunter's guild. If they involve innocents, all bets are off, and I'm going to start go hunting them instead." His eyes flashed, and the smile on Ranma's face had no hint of actual humor in it.

The Jedi's eyes narrowed. "We have laws here, and if you break them, you will be no better than the people who attacked you."

Ranma rolled his eyes but didn't rise to that one, instead looking over at Shaak. "Perhaps we should get on with why we're here after all, as you said." Shaak interjected smoothly. "Shall we move on? And, who do I have the… pleasure of addressing? I am Knight Shaak Ti as you know, and this is Ranma."

The Jedi didn't flush or look away but he did bow his head very slightly, acknowledging his bad manners. "Forgive me, I am Master Nejaa Halcyon."

"Then you're the one we're here to see." Ranma said, pulling out the holocron from an actual un-expanded pocket. "Your ancestor asked us to give this to you."

The older man looked at the holocron in something like surprise under his Jedi control and he nodded slowly, his bearing thawing noticeably. "I had been informed of that, as well as your other mission here." He drew himself up and nodded his head more formally at them both. "I find I have to apologize, I let my concern and shock at the violence your arrival caused to rob me of my good manners. Please, follow me."

Ranma and Shaak exchanged one more speaking glance before Ranma ordered HK to shut down again, stuffing his head back into his ki space. Only a raised eyebrow showed his surprise at Ranma's ability to stuff a large droid head into a very small pocket before he turned away.

The three of them made their way silently through the corridors of the space habitat, and Ranma once again noticed the diverse construction designs at work here on the inside as they had been on the outside. This place hadn't been built so much as enlarged over time, with bits and pieces added on haphazardly by various different groups with very different ideas on how everything should go.

It looked like a real city frankly, one that grew as its population did, unlike the impression he had got from Dac's massive dockyards. Ranma had no idea if that was the case, but it was just his impression.

As they were coming around one turn in the corridor, entering what looked like a major industrial district Shaak and Nejaa automatically dodged to one side as a man pushing a small grav cart carrying a large barrel of something passed between them. Ranma didn't notice the man, having turned to look at a neon sign over a small doorway leading into a shop which advertised something that looked remarkably like okonomiyaki.

The grav cart smashed into Ranma, the barrel slopping forward. Ranma had a split second to look at the liquid approaching him with resigned acceptance before it splashing Ranma. The smell which rose to her nose afterward however was something else entirely. _Whatever that was, it wasn't water, water doesn't stink like this without something seriously being wrong with it!_

"All right," she said slowly grabbing the man by his jacket and lifting into the air by about a foot off the ground with no apparent effort. "What the hell was that stuff?"

The man hadn't had a good look at whoever he had run into, so hadn't noticed the change. Instead he was swiftly becoming very, **very** scared of the short redheaded girl who was holding him up as if he weighed less than the barrel he'd just been pushing on the grav sled. "Emergency coolant, the, the _Dawn Venture_ over in bay five burst a leak in its coolant systems, and the engine's slowly going critical even while on standby. There's no one in their right now but droids, but we had to cart in extra coolant by the boatload while the other teams try to find the leak."

"Then maybe you should have been more careful about watching where you're going!" Ranma said hurling the man aside. She then sighed looking down at herself as she noticed the looks she was getting from a few passerby. _Thank God I don't wear white. I'm giving the local boys too much of a show as it is._

While Shaak shook her head in amusement Nejaa stared at Ranma in shock. He had felt the change occur, and was mildly disturbed by the odd Force sensation, but the change was beyond anything he had ever even imagined was possible even with the power of the force. "H-how, how..."

"You're supposed to say how, when and why, not just repeat yourself, get it right." Ranma said shaking his head. "Whatever. Shaak you explain, I'm going to go see if I can find an emergency shower. I'll find you in a bit?"

"Where is the docking port for the shuttle will be taking down to the planet?" Shaak asked the older man.

The Jedi seem to snap out of it shaking his head. "Our shuttle's waiting for us at hatch fifty-three birth ten, that's on the planet-facing side of the space station."

Ranma nodded and without another word turned and moved off heading deeper into the space station, still holding the guy he'd who had bumped into her despite his protest. "I'll drop ya in a bit, but you'd better point me in the direction of a shower first."

Behind Ranma, Shaak turned to the local Jedi and began to explain about Ranma's 'Force curse'. Of course Nejaa didn't believe most of it. After all if it was a curse as he understood the term it should've felt Dark, not like the Force was laughing at Ranma somehow, a feeling that was unusual and therefore worrying but not Dark. But he decided to take it at face value for now. After all, while Shaak wasn't a Corellian Jedi, she was still a Jedi, and there was no reason for her to prevaricate about something so odd.

Ranma rejoined the two of them at the birth designated, and a few minutes later they headed down to Corellia's capital, Coronet. As they went down Ranma took in the view once again, smiling almost nostalgically. Of the planet's he'd been on so far, Corellia looked most like Earth, white clouds, blue ocean, brown and green landmasses of what his brain told him was the correct mix.

 _Pity the locals haven't come up with any martial arts to interest me, I would've liked to explore a bit. But then again given the their attitude toward us so far, maybe it's for the best that they don't. Nejaa seems okay now that he's gotten over his response to the fight, but even so it's not been a friendly welcome._

Looking out the window Ranma allowed a smile to grow on his face. _And I want to start striking out on my, that is_ _ **our**_ _, own, distance myself from the Order for a bit. Whatever the Orders internal problems, whatever this enemy out there, I can't do anything about the second and don't care about the first. It's time to use the_ _Wild Light_ _like I had hoped to, to seek out martial arts styles, incorporate them into my own, and just explore!_

Coronet was more like the city of Coruscant which Ranma had seen from the air than the cities he had seen on Dac. There wasn't near as much depth to the buildings, he could see the actual ground far below the spires all around, but there was far more height than the cities of Dac. And again, there was no uniform type of construction. Some aspects were clearly new, others apartments, still others looked alien to his eyes, but they were all a jumble like on any city on Earth would have been.

Moments later they landed at a small exclusive landing field situated well below the sky line, surrounded by several towering buildings and more than one walled complex. Nejaa, who had piloted them down personally, told the two visitors this landing area was accessible only to Corsec, high level government officials and Jedi. "The enclave is this way," the local man said gesturing in one direction.

Shaak and Ranma followed, and soon enough they were at the green enclave, which was as Shaak had suspected the same building whose picture she had seen in the history texts as the Corellian Jedi temple. The exterior was of a squat, unlovely looking building separated from the rest of the city by a small, admittedly quite nice garden, which was open to the public, and a single road leading up to the entrance for both foot and vehicle traffic. The entrance itself was large, and guarded by two Jedi like the temple on Coruscant was.

That was all the two newcomers could tell from here, though Shaak noticed what looked like a portion of a planetary shield generator on top of the building as they moved along the street. _Hmm, I remember reading about the shields being able to protect the enclave from large scale orbital bombardment, if they have a planetary grade shield generator that would make sense. But the power requirements must be huge._

As they entered the building Shaak stopped and stared, her purple lips quirking upward as several youngling looked up at her. The entrance, a small, well armored area with a series of doors, abutted a small internal courtyard which was currently being used for lessons, advanced ones from the age of the younglings, a clan of ten. Two ramps led off from either direction heading upwards, while the far side of the courtyard was open at present to another garden set inside the square of the enclave.

At the younglings attention Shaak bowed her head lightly, which after a moment's hesitation they returned. The hesitation might have been caused by her robe's color, since every other Jedi she had seen so far here had green robes, hence the Corellian Jedi's nickname. Or it could have been because she was an alien, by which she meant a species not represented within their ranks. There was a Drall and a nonhuman whose race she didn't recognize offhand among them, but no Togrutan or any other species close to her own.

Shaak also noticed that there were a few here that looked enough alike as to be family, particularly one of the Jedi who had ushered them inside and one of the younglings, close enough to be siblings at least, but she didn't say anything. It was not her place to criticize, and frankly given her own relationship with Ranma, she wouldn't have been in a position to do so in any event.

 _Of course with us even if our relationship becomes permanent that particular aspect won't be a problem._ Shaak thought with a twinge of something like unease but not quite. Just the knowledge that whatever happened between them, children would not be part of it. Togrutan and human relationships were infertile.

"This way please." Nejaa said, after returning the youngling teacher's nod, gesturing them to one ramp leading upwards. Shaak and Ranma followed and the ramp ended on the second floor in a corridor that seemed to go around the whole building. They followed it through two right turns before Nejaa stopped at a door hallway down the las segment of the corridor.

The council room they were ushered into abutted the interior side of the building overlooking the open garden beyond, giving a very pretty view of it and the large fountain that dominated it. The lighting was given off by the sun beyond and four lights in each corner. Along one wall were a few art pieces of exquisite glasswork for the most part, but they were the only sign of extravagance in the room.

Situated within the room were four Jedi masters situated in the shape of a half circle, with the window behind them on small cushions, with one more spot empty alone one portion of the circle. Two other cushions sat before them, separated by a more than a yard from the rest of them.

 _Do they present a_ _united front against us, or against anyone from the Order at large?_ Shaak mused internally. She let one hand fall to her side tapping Ranma's hand lightly twice, trying to indicate she should be the one to speak.

She needn't have bothered; Ranma was uninterested in getting involved with politics, especially Jedi politics. He stood back, looking at them all thoughtfully as Shaak stepped forward. "Greetings masters, I am Knight Shaak Ti, and I bring both a message from Grand Master Yoda and the rest of the Order, as well as a holocron of one of your own, returned to his descendent at Master Kieran Halcyon's behest."

Knowing that was his cue Ranma once more held out the holocron to Nejaa, who after getting nods from his fellows took it before sitting down in the place reserved for him. One of the other masters spoke up, frowning coldly. "The return of our property is a nice gesture after you had 'lawfully' confiscated it during the Reformation I suppose. However why couldn't this message be sent via the Holonet? You've already brought your foreign troubles to our shores, what does that old fool want with the Green that would demand a personal messenger?"

The meeting didn't go downhill from there, which would not have been possible given all the participants save Ranma were Jedi. But the masters certainly didn't make any secret of their distrust for 'city-trained' Jedi even as they listened to her intently. As Ranma stood silent, something she was extremely thankful for, Shaak dealt with all their subtle digs or jabs, laying out some of the changes Master Yoda had told her to inform them of verbally.

This included Ranma and the vision Yoda had while Ranma was on Coruscant, something they didn't want recorded anywhere. Many of them shook their heads at the idea this young man could know anything about the Force they didn't. But looking at him with their Force senses and after having the curse described to them by Nejaa and watching Ranma generate a ki ball, they conceded that point. They also looked askance between her and Ranma, obviously able to feel the connection between them in the Force and wondered about it, though that was a subtle thing.

Worse for the Green Jedi they had to admit that some of their own, who specialized in visions, could no longer see more than a few months into their personal future, so clouded it had become with the Dark Side. Because of that they were forced to agree that there might be more to the rising power of the Dark Side, but Shaak got the impression that if they could have buried their heads in the sand and let the rest of the Order deal with it, they would have.

They were not truly resentful of the rest of the Order. That would not have been possible for anyone trained in the ways of the Jedi, they understood their ways were not everyone's, though they didn't recognize the reasons beyond much of the Reformation. They were also very, very insular, almost unwilling to look beyond the Corellia sector's borders, and completely engrossed with their own doings.

 _Of course the same could be said for the Order too, far too busy with the Senate and its own doings rather than looking at the Republic as a whole,_ Shaak mused. _I suppose it's a danger of the monastic mindset, we are told to believe in the Force above all else, and that does tend to make us more insular than we probably should be. And worse, makes us believe in our ability to discern the morality of any discussion over anyone else's._

Whatever other messages Yoda sent to the group on his chip Shaak didn't know and frankly was thankful for that, while she had the patience and the knowledge to play the politician she no longer truly had the temperament. Whatever concessions or demands Yoda made toward them they could review on their own, though Shaak doubted they were all that arduous. The Green Jedi however had asked her to return tomorrow to discuss them anyway, and since they were going to be in-system for the night, Shaak had no reason to refuse.

"Y'know," Ranma said as the two of them exited the temple, heading back to the landing pad and up to the _Wild Light_. The Jedi had offered to put them up for the night, but neither had felt any inclination to take them up on that. "I sort of had high hopes for them after Master Halcyon told us about his family and you told me about the Green Jedi during the New Sith wars, but that was disappointing."

Shaak's lekku twitched slightly and she shook her head. "I'm afraid I'm noticing a pattern among Jedi Ranma thanks to access to your outside view of us. We tend to stake out the moral high ground and keep to it, regardless of any new information that comes our way. Their standoffish attitude also irritated me as well. I just wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Ranma asked as she trailed off.

"I just wonder if it was an act that's all, to see if they could get under my skin. I'd almost think that was the case, in Master Halcyon's case at the very least if not for some of the looks directed towards the two of us at times. The ones which had nothing to do with your abilities or Master Yoda's vision anyway."

"Like they weren't quite sure what they were looking at, or weren't certain what to make of you? I thought it was just me."

"No I think it was **us** ," Shaak said emphasizing the last word.

Ranma looked at her then nodded. "You think that they realized we were in a relationship? I thought given what you said about them that wouldn't have mattered? I mean, I know I saw at least few Jedi in there that were related so…"

"Almost certainly, though whether or not they were looking at it askance because they know I am a 'city Jedi', or because we are different races I don't know. From what little I know of them, my own people are very open about such things, or rather not so much open as understanding when it occurs. If two people are together it's their own business so long as it doesn't impact the community as a whole. If it does that, my people apparently have very abrupt and certain ways of discouraging the relationship."

"But let me guess humans are all over the scale right? Some systems don't care, some systems have outlawed it, that kind of crap?"

"Oh yes. Of all the races Ranma humans are the hardest to understand or categorize." Shaak replied with a droll tone.

"We confuse ourselves often enough that's for damn sure, even on my own planet that was the case." Ranma said with a laugh.

A moment later they were on the shuttle, which took them back up to the space station. From there they made their way back to the _Wild Light_ , pausing as they reached its landing Ramp. It was open, and the two exchanged a look. "Tune, any reason why the ramps still down?" Ranma asked into his wrist communicator.

At the same time Shaak began to stretch her senses out, trying to find anyone watching them with ill-intent or if anything was out of the ordinary. With electrical devices that was much more difficult than it was to find people out of place, but it was within her Force abilities. And given how Ranma's techniques had leaked to the enemy they both felt was still out there, she was more than willing to put in the effort.

Looking over at her Ranma shook his head. "Tune says that he just returned with a purchase of some foodstuffs for us about twenty minutes ago. He says he was going to head out again to get some oil for himself, so left it open. Remind me to talk to him about security later."

After a moment Shaak came out of her trance, frowning. "I can't detect anything dangerous this time, nor out of place with the _Wild Light_ itself. We should still scan for tracking devices however." Ranma nodded and the two entered the ship

As they did, Ranma cocked his head looking over at Shaak, suddenly nervous. "Ya know, this is the first time we've been on a planet that had restaurants and other you know normal date-like things to do, and I was wondering if you'd, um, actually like to go out on a real date?"

Shaak paused cocking her head thoughtfully. "That actually sounds like a lovely idea. I've never been on one of those obviously, though I have to say I enjoyed our explorative dates…" she frowned shaking her head. "That just came out wrong."

"Yep," Ranma said with a laugh. "Yep it did. But if those Jedi want you back tomorrow, that means we've got tonight to ourselves. And its early, so we'd still have time to prepare and everything…" He trailed off, puling at his pigtail self-consciously.

"I," Shaak paused, flushing slightly but she still nodded. "Yes, I think that would be lovely."

Ranma grinned, nearly sagging with relief, though why he been nervous in the first place was beyond him. "In that case, here." He reached into his ki space, and pulled out a wad of cash, handing it over. Shaak look at it blankly then up at Ranma. "If we're going to do this, we should probably do it all out right? Getting dressed up, fancy food and stuff like that."

Shaak frowned slightly. "I've been to a many formal dinners on protection or diplomatic missions Ranma, my Jedi robes were enough there then they should be enough here."

"You mean you've never wanted to try on different clothing and that kind of thing?" Ranma asked cocking his head thoughtfully. "I might not be have been born a girl, but I know that girls normally like to dress up."

"I… suppose I might have when I was younger." Shaak said hesitantly then nodded decisively. "All right. I will go out and see if I can find anything that I like. But what will you be doing, and won't you need to dress up too? Should we do it together, it would make more sense after all."

"That's sort of a prerequisite yeah. But to doing it together, you really have no idea how normal women shop do ya? Definitely a point in yer favor in my book Shaak." Ranma said with a laugh and a kiss to the side of her montrals, then looked over at the com gear in the center of the room, which was in the sitting room configuration at present. "Nah, I'll find a place to shop but for the most part I'll be looking for stuff to do."

After exchanging a brief kiss, Shaak left once more, smiling at the idea of going on a date like this. She had of course had a few protection assignments that brought her along as silent observer along dates or formal dinners like she had said, but to actually dress up was something she had only ever done on undercover missions. Then it was for a purpose, and she still wore her Jedi robes in her own head as it were. But this time, she was going to take part in the date and was buying clothing for her own sake in order to please both herself and her partner.

It was something well outside what the Jedi Order had prepared her for. Indeed, one aspect of her still railed at the idea, that special clothing or dates went against the Order's rules about placing attachment on objects and pleasures of the flesh. And Shaak knew that there was a point to that, but also knew that the idea of any such self-aggrandizement was anathema to her. This was simply another aspect of the whole relationship that she had been allowed to have with Ranma.

Behind her Ranma turned to his work, quickly finding a few things that he thought were date-worthy. One was a restaurant that specialized in meat dishes, which he knew would be to Shaak's taste. The second was local theatre which was putting on a show about a heroic pirate captain trying to save his crew from a corrupt official's ire while also, of course, seducing said official's daughter. It was labeled as a comedy, which was right up Ranma's alley, and he hoped Shaak would like it as well despite the basic premise.

 _Never mind that most pirates are utter bastards rapists and murderers, the scum of the galaxy. Pirates are the underdog, and therefore there's some kind of romanticism to them here I suppose,_ Ranma thought to himself shaking his head. _People are weird sometimes like that. Now, where can I go to rent a tuxedo or the local equivalent?_

 **OOOOOOO**

The Jedi Masters of the Green Enclave all looked at one another having listened to the hologram of their ancient ancestor on this enigma called Ranma and the missives from Grand Master Yoda. For once their faces showed their thoughts clearly as all of them, all human men, looked around at one another.

Master Halcyon in particular was looking conflicted and even said so aloud. "On the one hand, we have Ranma all of his new abilities, what he can teach us of his version of the Force, what it could mean for our skills and abilities. And on the other, we have Yoda's demands to us, and the chaos Ranma seems to leave in his wake. From chaos comes imbalance, from imbalance comes conflict and from conflict come the Dark side."

"Do not mistake the chaos he leaves behind him for the individual himself," Kieran Halcyon said quietly, bringing all their eyes back to his hologram. "I have spent hours with Ranma at times, and found him difficult to work with, but an honorable and gentle man. For all his love of conflict and violence, he is a strangely gentle individual."

His descendent suddenly clicked his fingers remembering something. "Rostek asked me to find out whether or not Ranma was serious about going on a hunt for anyone who tries to take him on for his bounty and hurts innocents in their way."

"Oh yes," his ancestor replied, the hologram's image going cold somehow despite just being a hologram, an interesting feat. "He was very serious. If I were you, I would get a subtle word spread about that, because when Ranma and now young Ti goes hunting, well apparently two Hutt crime lords have already learned what happens when you get in their way."

"Good," said another master nodding his head.

The others looked at him and he shrugged. He and Halcyon were liaisons with Corsec so there was no surprise they were of that opinion, but there seemed to be more to his statement than that. "There have been some noises of late about a bounty going around the underworld for Knight Ti herself because of that business on Tatooine." He supplied.

Faces hardened all around, and they all nodded. The one chairing the meeting, Master Grackel, shook his head. "Get in touch with your contacts on the other side of the law." That the enclave had such was a given, smalltime felons were not the Jedi's concerns after all, and even Jedi knew the importance of an information network. It hadn't helped so far in trying to crack down on the crime bosses, they of course knew the movers and shakers, and routinely observed them, but Force powers were not admissible in court without evidence to back them up, and the Jedi were a force of law, not a dictatorship.

"She may be a city Jedi, but she is still a Jedi. Such like that is not to be encouraged. If they start striking against us, we will take the law into our own hands and strike at them." Halcyon looked a little dyspeptic at that, but the others simply nodded. "Now, as to Yoda's demands, we have to think about what we would lose, and what we would gain before coming to any decision about that matter. This is not a decision that should be reached quickly, therefore I propose…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak sighed faintly as she moved through the shopping district, pausing occasionally. _I really have no idea what I'm doing here, do I?_ The idea of fashion, as a Jedi, just did not exist to her. It was one robe fit all, though admittedly what you wore under the robes were up to you. But even so, there wasn't exactly a wide range of things to have, and she had never been on a security assignment which included shopping trips, mainly, it must be said, because such people had droids or other menials for shopping.

With her enthusiasm now gone, Shaak walked into one story which seems to have women's apparel, looking around as lost here as she had ever been, her Force ability no help here. Luckily for Shaak there were actually workers there, and one of them noticed her confusion. "Can I help you?" she said, bouncing up to the Togrutan.

Shaak smiled faintly at the younger woman, nodding her head lightly. It was only as the girl came up that she noticed that Shaak wore a light saber on her belt. She paused, her eyes wide.

"None of that," Shaak said before the girl could say anything. "I'm not a local Jedi, so I have no idea how they act while out and about, but we Jedi don't routinely demand that people bow and scrape to us, or treat us anything other than other people. And I could use some help I must say."

The girl nodded, slowly recovering her equilibrium. "Um, of course. So what are you actually here for?"

"Clothing?" Shaak said almost desperately. "A dress of some type. I've seen pants on senators occasionally, but dresses seem to be more normal dress-up fare. Which of course makes sense given how they impede your movement."

The girl blinked again, then nodded again. "Okay, where are you going that you need a new dress then? I can only think of a few instances where a Jedi's robes wouldn't be acceptable."

Shaak debated for a moment then shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you could say we're going undercover?" Frankly she didn't want to explain what was really going on. Even if the girl didn't know that Jedi couldn't be in relationships it would be just too much trouble for too little return. Besides, she felt… embarrassed enough as it was, as odd as it felt to be embarrassed at all given her Jedi training.

Her attempt at prevarication didn't work. "So a date then," the girl said cheerfully, grinning at her. She was a rather pretty young human female, with long dirty blonde hair that fell to her shoulders in a wave, dressed up in the store's uniform of a knee-length dress skirt and a blouse tight around her waist and flaring at the chest. "Do you know where you're going?"

"One moment," Shaak said looking away and pulling out a small communicator to avoid the girl's somehow knowing eyes. "Ranma, have you decided on where we're going to go eat?"

"Warnar's Alcove." Was the response, though Ranma sounded disgruntled for some reason. "I've got us reservations for tonight at 8:30."

Shaak nodded. "All right, I will meet you back on the _Wild Light_."

Once Shaak relayed the information to the girl she nodded thoughtfully then led her over to another section of the store. "Well, in that case you'll want something a little high-end, but not too much. Since this is just for a single date, you should know we do offer rentals. However I'm not certain we have that large a selection dresses which would go well with that your skin color and those striking white and blue marks of yours. The white around your eyes really bring them out, but they and the white of your, um, those tentacle and horn things, kind of rule out white for the rest of your outfit."

"They are called montrals and lekku. But what does my skin color have to do with what I'm wearing?" Shaak asked, cocking her head quizzically.

The girl stopped midstride, turning to look at her, her eyes wide. "Oh dear."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma sighed, closing the communicator which had, for one brief moment freed him from his current horror. _I'm in hell._ At a touch on his shoulder he turned, staring in another mirror as the man behind him, who had a noticeable lisp and rather colorful choice of personal clothing, tutted.

"No, no, no that simply will not do. We need to emphasize those broad shoulders more, that chest too! Oh my word, and that color will simply not do, Heren what were you thinking? Now come young man, back to the dressing room!" So saying the man, the owner of the shop apparently, pushed Ranma through the door to the changing area. He began to shout orders over his shoulder at the first man that had tried to help Ranma while others in the store looked on with expressions ranging from amusement to sympathy.

 _Shaak better appreciate this…_ Ranma thought, as more pants and shirts were tossed into the dressing room. _And if he tries to reach below the belt I'm feeding him a Moko Takabashi!_

 **OOOOOOO**

"I don't care how much it is," said the man across the desk to the armored form in front of it, amused that his visitor wouldn't take off his helmet even here. _Anonymity is all well and good, but if you're trying to keep a low profile, that armor really doesn't help your case with anyone who knows even a bit of history._

"Going after this Ranma character is more trouble than it's worth in the long-term. The Jedi have put the word out, if we keep trying for their knight and this Ranma fellow, they'll start gunning for us, and stop caring about the laws. And if they swing it right, the government will back them to the hilt too. Yes, it's almost as much money as my entire syndicate makes in three years. But, I'd have to be alive to spend it, and seeing as the Jedi know who I am and where I live, its very doubtful that would occur."

"I understand your hesitation," said the man in armor, his voice coming out as a deep growl from his headset. "And frankly, we don't want any of your people helping us anyway. This is a task for professionals, and there are few true professionals when it comes to fighting Jedi anyway. Information though would be helpful."

"What kind of information?"

"How long will they be here for, and what's their itinerary?"

"Not long, they've only booked space in Corohab for their ship for one night and two days."

The man in armor cursed, frowning thoughtfully. "What are they here for anyway?"

"The _Wild Light_ 's owner purchased some specialty droid parts from Coronet Personalized Robotics, a company I have no stock or sources in though I do use a few of their droids. They specialize in one-off droids or small groups designed for specific jobs or environments. They are expensive, but extremely good."

"Interesting," the man murmured. "Could you get me a layout of that place?"

"I can point you to another local information broker," the man said flatly. "I'm not getting involved further than that."

The man inside the helmet sneered slightly at the other man's cowardice, but didn't say anything. "Good, now if you'll excuse me, the Death Watch have a job to do."

 **OOOOOOO**

"By the ancients, what are you wearing!?"

"This is my training shift, I always wear it under my regular clothing." Shaak said frowning as she looked up from where she had been pulling on a dress over her training. "You didn't strike me as a prude when you were ordering me to hold still and act like a doll before, what's wrong?"

"You're going to wear that on the date, hells no!" The girl turned, sticking her head out into the rest of the room. "Alice, could you send one of the view-bots over here?"

"What is that?" Shaak said after a moment, staring at what the woman in the image of the hologram projected over the droid was wearing.

"That my dear is lingerie, a woman's best friend and her greatest weapon. Now come on, let's get you dolled up for real."

 **OOOOOOO**

"So that's the plan. We'll move the surprises into place this evening, then keep an eye out for when this Ranma character shows up at the CPR building. How much time do you slicers need to get in there?"

"CPR's got faith in it's internalized net, which is very good, but not that good once you get an actual connection to it. Getting that physical connection to the net is a lot tougher though."

"Leave that to me and my team." Said a female voice, the first one heard in this meeting. The first voice had been the same as the man in armor who had met with the local crime lord, having snuck into his office with none of the numerous people who watched his every move the wiser and back out again. The second voice was young sounding, vain and arrogant, with the local drawl to his tone telling everyone he was a Corellian native, while the other was crisp and cold, the voice of a military man.

The woman's voice was also cool and clipped, as if they were talking about nothing more important than the weather. "We'll get you into the building. Even on planets with hover cars, the security of the top of the building is almost always weaker than below, especially if you go through the windows just below the roof. So long as this map's accurate, we're golden."

"Good. I want no slip ups. We might not have been able to bring together the full Death Watch for this, but if we can pull this off and turn in this bounty, we'll have enough money to fund our movement against Satine. I want no slip ups, understand Bo-Katan?"

The woman nodded her head, her orange hair shifting in the light. "Of course, Chief Vizla."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma smiled as he looked up as Shaak walked into the sitting room then felt his jaw nearly unhinge as it dropped to the floor, and a blush spread on his face. Shaak was not wearing her Jedi robes, he had known that, but he hadn't expected this.

The Jedi knight currently wore a black dress with white stripes that hugged her around the waist and covered her from shoulders down to just below her knees, with blue highlights on the sleeves and bottom of the dress. The dress was also slit halfway along one side, allowing some of her leg to show, but not much. It had a bit of décolletage showing, but not much. The white stripes in the dress complimented the stripes of white on her lekku and montrals, while the blue matched her blue stripes, and the black of the dress set off her red skin color dramatically. She also wore lipstick which turned her purple lips black and dark purple eyeliner that set off her eyes even more starkly against the white marks around them. She looked altogether beautiful.

"Well, what do you think?" Shaak said, smiling slightly, Ranma's reaction had already given her answer.

"Y, you look good," Ranma shook his head. "I mean you always do, but this is just, wow."

"It was rather difficult to get all this on me I must say," Shaak said, still smiling at his reaction, "So the sentiment is appreciated. You look very good too," She said, and it was the honest truth.

Ranma wore a pair of tight black pants under a shirt which fell to halfway down his thighs. The shirt was grey and was buttoned on a diagonal along his left pectoral. The buttons were bronze colored and there was a bronze edge to the shirt and at the end of the sleeves. Ranma had also let his hair down too, letting it fall loose to his shoulders. The pants flared out at the bottom, but looked somewhat tight at the waist, and the shirt also hugged his shoulders and stomach, showing off how fit he was.

"So, shall we go?"

Ranma nodded, and took her hand, tucking it into his own as they exited the _Wild Light_. They walked through the station, very much out of place among its utilitarian corridors for a time, until they took the shuttle down to the planet.

From there they made their way to the restaurant, where they were seated quickly. Shaak's eyes lit up as she looked at the menu, smirking over at Ranma, though she had to womanfully ignore the prices on display here. "I can see why you chose this place," she said, reaching out to grasp his hand and squeezing gently. "Thank you."

"No problem," Ranma said with a shrug. "I'm not as big a meat eater as you are, but it's still tasty."

"Yes I've noticed you are definitely a quantity over quality person when it comes to food." Shaak laughed, but stopped as Ranma took her hand turning it lightly to kiss her palm. That touch sent a shiver through her, and she laughed again. "So," she said after a moment, "what are we supposed to talk about while out on a date?"

"I think the discussion part is just supposed to be normal." Ranma shrugged. He grinned lightly at her, his eyes taking in her form once again. "My God you're beautiful. I mean you normally are like I said before but still. I'm surprised I didn't have to beat off guys with a stick as we were coming in here."

Shaak smiled and returned the compliment, though she had noticed more than a few stares of both genders sent their way. It had been oddly irritating frankly. _Does clothing make the person that much? That's rather sad. Though perhaps I should take it to heart and remember not to judge people by what they wear, their station in life or job._

They talked quietly, touching on how Ranma saw their training moving forward, about Aayla and whether or not she would be ready once they returned to Kashyyyk and where they would go from here. Ranma wanted to head to Eshan. Home of the Echani martial arts, Eshan was a planet on the cusp between the so-called Inner Rim and Outer Rim territories. The Echani martial art style was a style known to be able to fight equally against a Jedi, so it interested Ranma, especially since Dooku had recommend he look into it.

Shaak was fine with that idea, though she had warned him she doubted he would find anything new to learn there. Many of the Echani skills were inherent in their own race's ability to read people's body language, a skill they learned literally from birth. A Jedi could learn some of that, substituting Force Perception for that skill, but Ranma might not be able to, and his physical abilities were well beyond what any Echani practitioner would be able to match.

Still, simply traveling the galaxy looking for new martial arts styles, and weapons too, would be interesting. Though Shaak had no doubt that they would occasionally be asked to help the Order, which didn't even consider the threat still out there, something both knew they would be involved with combating down the line.

Then Ranma began to tell Shaak about some of the 'dates' he'd been on, which had her laughing aloud several times. She replied with several of her own stories about political dinners and other such things she had been at, topping them all with a story about how one such dinner had nearly degraded into a food fight. The host hadn't known about his guest's allergic reaction to one of the main ingredients in the food served him. The resultant regurgitation had hit another guest, who had been drunk enough at that point to reply in kind. If not for a quick Force grab of the food in midair from Shaak's master the entire dinner would have become a disaster. As it was, none of those senators were willing to talk to one another to this day.

The food soon came, and it was just as good as the menu had said it would be. The talk continued light and airy now as they described the most embarrassing moments of their training when they were younger. Naturally Ranma had more amusing anecdotes, though Shaak had one story of a grueling training trip to a forest world to teach the younglings how to find food which had been called on account of a mud slide that had Ranma cracking up.

The two of them then went on to the show from there. The play was amusing in places, but had Shaak shaking her head far too often for it to be a real hit. She had far too much knowledge about what real pirates were like to think this kind of thing was all that humorous. Whereas Ranma thought the voice of the main female lead could be used to etch steel, and most of the jokes fell far too flat to him.

After that they made their way from there back to the shuttle pad and up to the Wild Light, still talking. Finally they stood in the sitting area, just looking at one another. "So, um, did you like it?"

Shaak cocked her head to one side before leaning up to kiss him lingeringly on the lips. "The company was amazing Ranma, but…" She frowned trying to think of a way to say what she wanted to without sounding insulting. "But the rest of it, well I just don't know if I wouldn't have had just as much fun making a meal with you up here and maybe watching something on the holo or learning a new kata."

"Oh thank goodness." Ranma nearly sagged with relief. "I thought it was just me." He shook his head as Shaak smiled up at him. "I mean, yeah the meal was good but really damn expensive, my fault I suppose, but dressing up was…"

"Far more trouble than it's worth." Shaak agreed, nodding her head emphatically. "I almost smacked the young girl who was working at the store I went to. She was just being helpful, but I really did not like the whole shopping thing."

"Er, for me there was no almost about it. So we're agreed this just wasn't us?" Shaak nodded and Ranma smiled, before leaning forward to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Not that other kinds of dates should be ruled out. But this whole dress up thing, we should just cross it off the list and move on."

"Agreed," Shaak replied, returning the kiss before leaning against his neck, biting playfully, though her instincts were again somewhat irritated in not being able to actually bite into Ranma's skin there. "But for now, we have an early day tomorrow, and it's already one o'clock local time, so…"

"Right, right, and I need to return this suit before heading over to CPR tomorrow." Ranma said, pulling back from the hug slightly. Shaak leaned in for another kiss, but nodded her head, and they both returned to their rooms.

The next morning Ranma left his room to the smell of someone cooking breakfast. He smiled, moving through the sitting area to find Shaak in the kitchen, making what looked like… "Are those pancakes?"

"These are called hotcakes here, but I assume that's another moment of cross evolution. They have several varieties of syrup here as well based around local berries, many that I've never seen before."

Ranma, nodded, moving behind her, putting his arms around her waist in a gentle hug. Shaak stopped, leaning back against him as Ranma kissed the area right at the base of one of her montrals. "I didn't think Jedi would be allowed such niceties as pancakes and syrup."

"We're generally not, which again comes down to not putting any attachment on possessions, though in this case it could also be cost. However, since you are the one paying for it…"

"Now I know we're in a relationship, you're already using me for my money." Ranma laughed, moving off quickly as Shaak turned swiftly, bringing her elbow around.

They sat in the sitting room for a moment, quietly for the most part as Shaak pulled out her data pad and read a few messages from the local Jedi left at their Galactic network account. "The Green Jedi not only want to see me again but I've been invited by one of them to join them on an excursion to Drall."

"Interested?" Ranma asked, having to wait a moment to clear his throat. "These pancakes are really good Shaak." They were quite a bit thicker than pancakes normally were, about the thickness of a pie, but the texture was the same as pancakes to his mind.

"Not very no, and thank you Ranma, it's my first time making them." Shaak replied with a smile. "As to their invitation, no, I have no interest in getting involved with the Green more than I have to. And frankly the idea of leaving you to your own devices for an entire day is a horrifying one."

"Ouch." Ranma laughed, holding his head over his heart.

Shaak rolled her eyes at him before turning back to her messages. "Master Windu sent a message to me saying that master Bulq has formally taken Quinlan as his student, the actual term is up in the air at present. Master Windu wants me to write up a message to send to Quinlan about Aayla's recovery from my own perspective. He feels it will be helpful to create a cleaner break between the two. I can do that easily enough."

Ranma nodded, not saying anything. He had been present when Aayla's padawan bond with Quinlan had been broken in a small ceremony. Warned of what to expect he had tried to feel something through his own senses, but hadn't felt anything. Something had happened, as Aayla had looked like she was in pain for a moment, then almost liberated but not quite. She had spent several hours afterward talking to Luminara and Fay, but he had no idea what they had discussed.

As they cleaned up, Ranma chuckled shaking his head. "Yeah, this was definitely more my kind of thing."

"I agree," Shaak replied quickly. "The clothing was nice, but as I said last night, far too much effort." she said diplomatically, though she made no mention about some of the other items she had bought. "And don't get me started about lipstick and other cosmetics."

"I always think that kind of stuff is for women who aren't comfortable in their own skin for whatever reason." Ranma shrugged. _I guess I had one thing right in Nerima, I do have a thing for tomboys._ "You really don't need anything like that to look beautiful Shaak, trust me."

Shaak smiled, leaning up to kiss him lightly on the lips, tasting a hint of syrup there, before turning to help him clean up. After that the two of them took a flight down together to the same landing pad they had used the day before, but broke off at the landing area. Ranma took HK's head with him moving through the city in one direction while Shaak was surprised to find that the Green Enclave had sent another Jedi with a hover car for her.

Having no indication of danger, Shaak did not have her senses extended into the Force at present. Because of this neither Shaak nor her companion noticed that a small traffic control droid was following them from a distance above them.

The trip from the landing pad to the temple was silent, neither Shaak nor the other Jedi interested in small talk. He was a young human male possibly just having started his padawan years judging from his braid, with a curved lightsaber that looked somewhat like the type master Dooku used at his side. Shaak found that rather pretentious, given Dooku had designed that hilt for himself after having proven his worth as a duelist for years, but wasn't about to comment.

They swiftly entered the temple's parking zone, a small internal bay which could open to take in air traffic as well as ground at need. Moving through its corridors swiftly Shaak arrived at the same conference room that she and Ranma had been in before. The boy stopped outside of it bowing. "The Green await you."

Shaak nodded her head graciously at him, rolling her eyes mentally at the unnecessary ostentation of that statement. Once more she found a place for her waiting, and sank onto the cushion without being prompted. Placing her hands in her lap, she looked around her serenely. "Gentlemen, you asked to me to return today. I presume you therefore have questions?"

"We do," said Master Grackel looking at her closely. She felt his Force senses reaching out towards her, as well as the others but remained still and calm, letting them see whatever they could. They pulled back quickly, and the man asked simply, "What is Ranma? We feel his effect on the Force, we have heard of his abilities, and we listened to what he offers the Order. What we want to know is the man himself."

"That is a simple question with a very complicated answer," Shaak said with a faint smile. _So, it's about Ranma, not about the messages I brought from you to. Good. No politics at the very least._ "He is not a Jedi, whatever we may wish to think trying to place him in that mold is an exercise in futility. He does not think as we do. I believe he is a breath of fresh air, a wind brought to reinvigorate the Jedi Order, possibly to help us, or possibly just to give us the tools to help ourselves. He is gentle at times, caring, combative, arrogant but not overly so, and frighteningly direct, but he possesses a code of honor which has many parallels with our own."

"About the vision master Yoda claims to have had, I wish we could say that we had similar ones, but we have not." began one of the other Jedi.

He looked irritated, but not disbelieving, rather he was irritated that it had been Yoda who had the vision in the first place rather than one of their own. _Politics! We are supposed to be above these things._ Shaak thought, though nothing about her body language gave her inner thoughts away as the man went on.

"Perhaps if you and Ranma stay here long enough one of our own could have a vision like that?" the other went on, making the statement into a question.

"I'm afraid not." Shaak said with a shake of her head. "Ranma isn't interested in staying here longer, and frankly, given what happened to us on our arrival it might be a good idea for both of us to get out of this system quickly."

"We have let our informants know how irate we were about that." said another master, bowing his head slightly in apology. "They have passed on the word, the local criminals will not act against you again. It was an internal matter apparently, a lieutenant taking an action the higher ups did not agree with. He would've been dealt with if you had not dealt with him during the altercation."

"In other words, while the money is still tempting, they don't want to spend the blood collecting it," said master Halcyon dryly. "And of course are worried about our own response, which has up to this point been constrained by our need to act within the law."

"It's much the same everywhere," Shaak said with a shrug of agreement. "You should try to contact master Ranicisis and Master Sicaria sometime, they run into much the same trouble. The Outer Rim territories are much easier to deal with in that way at least. There we carry the law with us rather than are constrained by it."

As a Core World Corellia had far more laws and rights guarding its citizens than most Outer Rim Territories did, and here local law mattered more than Republic law. Under Republic law, a Jedi's word could be taken as evidence in murder cases as well as other capital crimes. For things like embezzlement, money laundering, and other computer related crimes of that nature they could not be. And even in cases of murder, unless the person accused was the actual murderer, the Jedi could not give supposition as to who ordered the murder in the first place.

In Corellia it was slightly different, but not overly so. They still needed more evidence than a Jedi's word, though a Jedi's word could start an investigation. And Jedi could act as officers of the law in said investigation, which they could not in the rest of the Republic's Core Worlds, where such a thing was seen as a conflict of interest.

"He is too chaotic," said another master going back to the original topic. "I can feel the chaos, the Force swirling around that pillar of Living Force like the eye of a hurricane almost. The effect he is having might be positive, but it might not be, it is too soon to tell what the long term consequences might be, and we must always think about what is best in the long term. From chaos comes imbalance, from imbalance comes, conflict and from conflict the Dark Side."

"Perhaps, but also growth and life," Shaak said holding up her hand. "I've had this conversation many times, I will continue to have it no doubt many more times. Forgive me if it is getting a little worn. I have no desire to have this same debate again here. If you merely wanted my impression of Ranma you have it, you must make your own decision about what to do with Master Yoda's proposals, your opinion of Ranma matters little at this point. Were there any questions you wanted to ask me about anything else?"

"A few," said Master Halcyon. They asked her about her missions with Ranma, trying to get a handle about how his training had affected her beyond what their Force senses could tell. In the end though they came away with nothing truly negative. She was more emotional obviously, but she was in control of those emotions, much more like them than a regular 'city' Jedi.

One of them even said so chuckling slightly. "If you are the future of the Coruscant-trained Jedi, then we welcome this Ranma fellow, even if he is chaos incarnate to our senses."

Shaak smiled faintly. "I have come to the conclusion that much of the Ruusan Reformation was not wrong per-se, but put in place for the wrong reasons. Affection and love, friendship and fellow-feeling, we did not have to associate these with possession, jealousy, or split loyalties, or even see the last as an insurmountable problem."

After a few more questions about Yoda's new reforms and the training that was already being offered on Kashyyyk, the meeting came to a blessed end, and Shaak left retracing her steps through the temple. She still felt a lot of resistance toward bridging the gap between the green enclave and the rest of the Jedi, but that was all down to politics and Shaak thankfully wouldn't need to help broker any further agreements there.

She stopped once to stare out into a courtyard to watch a few younglings being put through some training before moving on, moving towards the front of the enclave rather than the landing port. It was a nice day, and she could meet Ranma by walking to the CPR where he bought the parts as easily as she could take a taxi.

In the main hall of the enclave she found several other younglings, balancing small balls of water in the air with their Force powers. She smiled faintly and had to resist the impulse to push against a few of them to see if they would splatter. _Ranma and Anakin's ongoing prank war seems to have affected my sense of fun somewhat._ She moved forward, pausing as their teachers said "Master Jedi, wait a moment."

Turning Shaak looked at the Jedi who had addressed her, one of the few non-human Jedi in the enclave, a young Selonian female who bowed quickly to her. "This one's students were asking this one questions much of last night about missions beyond Corellia, how other worlds differ from our own. This one was wondering if you could talk to them for a few moments."

Shaak nodded, bowing her head. "I would be happy to."

The children quickly gathered around them, and Shaak took around an hour to answer their questions. Most of them had to do with specific missions she went on, others had to do with the training and life beyond Corellia's borders, how Jedi were seen out in the rest of the galaxy. The training on Coruscant was much more intensive than these youngsters faced, but not overly so.

They all bowed to her as she moved away heading towards the main door. She bowed back, then exited walking out of the enclave and into the city beyond. The two Jedi outside also nodded to her, and Shaak reflected that perhaps the Green Jedi were not nearly all so standoffish as she had first feared.

Even without her Force senses attuned to look for it, Shaak still had enough presence of mind to feel a faint tingle from the Force warning her of danger. She stopped, looking around abruptly as she gathered her senses.

Behind her the two Jedi assigned guard duty also gasped suddenly, their hands flying to the lightsabers as they looked around. "What is it?" one of them asked, not certain what they were feeling but responding to Shaak's sudden tension.

"Danger," Shaak said "Diffuse, but aimed towards me I think. Something mechanical, I can't sense any living minds behind it. Watch out!"

As Shaak had been speaking two heavy grav trucks stopped outside a building to one side of the road leading to the enclave had opened, and over a dozen concussion missiles flashed towards her at once. Quickly Shaak began to analyze the situation. Bringing both of her hands up as one, she let her lightsaber drop to the ground for now. "Deflect them upwards, with me!" With more experienced Jedi or someone she had worked with before she wouldn't have had to verbalize that, but Shaak wasn't about to take chances.

The two Jedi behind her tried to do just that, reaching out with their Force powers. But none of the Green Jedi were really that good at telekinesis, the enclave preferred to emphasize the mental side of the Jedi teachings, a holdover from when they had mostly been from close-knit families which specialized in manipulating actual energy and lightsaber skills rather than telekinesis. They couldn't help her much, concentrating on two of the missiles each leaving the majority for Shaak.

Reaching forward with her powers Shaak created a blast of power which struck hard enough to activate the impact fuses within them, while reaching for others, redirecting them into one another in a show of subtlety, and split attention, that few Jedi Knights could've matched. Over a dozen of the missiles exploded, taking more of the missiles with them in a cascade effect.

Luckily there weren't any people around underneath them, but the blast radius still destroyed several of the park's trees. The debris also rained down, perforating still more

But it even so, several missiles flew through the flak towards her. Again the two Jedi behind her reached out thinning the herd, but at least ten more missiles were still screaming towards Shaak and the entrance to the enclave behind her.

Narrowing her eyes Shaak reached out with the Force again, redirecting all the missiles upwards, forgoing subtlety for the moment to catch them all in one go. But whoever was controlling them from out of range of her senses must've realized that they weren't going to hit her and sent a message to the missiles, ordering them to explode immediately. The flashing fury of the explosion rocked Shaak backwards, reaching down and towards her.

Desperately Shaak threw up a wall of solid wind in front of her with the Force, the wind billowing around her almost taking the other two Jedi off their feet as she redirected the explosion upwards, biting her lip so hard enough to break the skin as she exerted her Force power with extreme difficulty. Shaak could feel her Force powers straining to contain the explosion and control the wind around it, but she kept on, redirecting the explosion into the air where it would dissipate harmlessly.

Between one second and another it was over, and Shaak fell to her knees gasping as her body shuddered in response. The two Jedi from behind her, both human one man and one woman rushed to her, lifting her up quickly. "Are you all right?"

The door behind them opened and several of that Green Masters came out, with the two Jedi quickly filling them in on what it happened as Shaak gulped in air. "That is most impressive," said one of them wonderingly staring at her. "Few Masters here could've matched that kind of skill or power."

Shaak shrugged her shoulders, not comfortable with the amount of praise she was getting for simply not getting killed, especially since at that moment she had fallen back on pure Jedi skills rather than try and deal with the attack as Ranma might have been able to. A sudden flash of Force cognition however told her that this wasn't the main attack.

"This, this was a distraction." she said suddenly, pushing to her feet and away from the other two Jedi nodding almost brusquely to them for their aid. "This was meant to keep me here. Where can I find the CPR company, and how long would it take us to get there?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma walked through Coronet shaking his head slightly. _The more things change the more they stay the same. This place might not have the depth that Coruscant has, but it's like the cities at home. Simply add in the flying cars, a bit more height to the skyscrapers and some more trees. I suppose Kashyyyk and Dac kind of spoiled me, made me think every planet would be so awesome and cool._

He made his way through the city to the skyscraper which was owned almost entirely by CPR. It was smaller than most of the buildings around it almost squat, based around a large loading area in the back and apparently dozens of robotics laboratories. The top was studded with what looked like small anti-personnel guns, and the entrance had two rent-a-guards outside and inside it.

They eyed Ranma coolly but he ignored them, entering the building and moving towards the front desk. "Hi, my name's Ranma, I placed an order for droid parts and I was told they were ready?" He held up the head of HK, which was at this point deactivated. "I have the last part with me here."

A few moments later Ranma was being ushered towards one of the laboratories, pausing occasionally to stare at the robots which were on display through the thick glass. Though small CPR was on the leading edge of robotics technology, not mass-produced stuff, but one-off designs covering a wide range of styles and needs, and were proud to display their work.

 _HK really found the best company for this, which is good, but the price is gonna near bankrupt me._ Thanks to Padme's largesse, a few of the morons from yesterday actually having bounties, and the Order paying for the renovations to his ship Ranma had a goodly amount of money. _But after this, I might have to go looking for another pit fight, damn._

He listened to the saleswoman drone on about the company's history and the parts HK had ordered until they arrived at the laboratory where HK's new body had been constructed. Ranma looked at it thoughtfully, nodding in approval.

HK's body would stand about an inch taller at the shoulders than Ranma himself, but was much wider across said shoulders. It had thick legs, with heavily articulated feet, which looked as if they had folded clips to either side of their ankles, which could open to reveal magnetized claws. One arm had an articulated hand like any normal humanoid droid, the other had four large articulated claws which could be used as fingers or, of course, as actual claws. The back of the legs each had smaller repulsors on it, and there was a pack over one shoulder, which could flip up over the shoulder to reveal a heavy blaster cannon, larger and faster firing than the one Ranma had in his ki space. There were also numerous small plates on the body which could be magnetized to hold other things. All of it was simple metal silver now.

"Damn," Ranma said shaking his head. Looking at the head he was holding in one hand he turned it on, turning it so it could look at it's new body. "HK, this is incredible, I told you to get the best you could, but how much is this going to cost me?"

Before the droid could answer the saleswoman spoke up chirpily. "1.8 million Republic credits, or 1.7 million Corellian script."

"That pretty much wipes me out HK," Ranma said with a frown. "Damn, I really am going to have to go pit fighting again."

As the saleswoman spluttered at that, HK's head came online, first staring at its body avariciously. "Awed declaration: The body is lovely. Not quite as adaptable as my old one, but good enough for now. I'll have to make some changes to its configuration overtime but that will be simple enough once I have hands of my own."

With that out of the way the droid replied to Ranma. "Amused Response: Meatbags are easily controlled by monetary means, but they can do adequate work when properly motivated, and money works at a distance even better than fear. As to your concern, simply put me in some of those fights. I'll have fun, and you'll get your money."

"I don't think they'd allow droids in." Ranma said with a chuckle.

"Affronted question: In that case, how will they truly prove who is the best?"

"Well whatever, that's for later. let's get you situated, and then I'll hand over the cash I suppose."

"I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to pay first before we release the droid to you," said the saleswoman, losing some of her chipper attitude.

Ranma shrugged, moving over towards a nearby computer. A moment later, the company had confirmed the payment and he was given a code to actually enter the lab in question, moving over towards a few mechanics waiting for him.

"This job was somewhat irregular." said one of the mechanics, shaking his head as he stared down at the head Ranma was still holding under the crook of one arm. "Normally we build the entire droid, and the programming for the droid itself is unique, often times very difficult. That cut down the cost, but still it was unusual to say the least, to prepare a body complete with every internal program it required without the central control hub."

"I'm all about the unusual," Ranma said not really listening as he moved towards the body holding up the droid head. "So I just put it up here?"

Unlike Shaak, Ranma didn't have any warning before things began to go pear-shaped. "Warning" shouted a loud voice over the buildings intercoms. "Warning, our system's being sliced all security forces to their stations, all labs go to internal…" At that point it petered out.

Seconds later several other droids in the lab began to move, pulling away from the walls where they had been connected via multiple wires. Two of them were huge droids which looked like they were designed to be mining droids, another was a rolling ball thing which came up to Ranma's waist with several dozen ports which opened to emit arcs of electrical energy. Still a fourth looked like some kind of attack animal, a low slung dog-like creature.

As one they turned to Ranma. "Oh joy…" he said slowly, "HK…"

"Amused astonishment: Master, you really do attract trouble don't you? If we live through this, this relationship will be even more satisfying than I had thought."

"Hold this," Ranma growled, hurling the head towards one of the laboratory assistants who caught it but was thrown head over heels by the momentum to roll underneath one of the tables. This saved his life because a moment later laser fire from one of the mining droids crisscrossed through where he'd been standing, heading towards Ranma.

Ranma dodged to one side before kicking hard off the floor leaping up over the laser fire of the other minding droid. Grabbing one of the hanging lights set into the ceiling Ranma flipped himself to one side, kicking off another before falling downward dodging laser fire aimed where he had been and where he would have gone if he hadn't changed direction like that. A kick smashed into one mining droid hurling it back into a wall.

Before the second droid could turn, Ranma had grabbed it's arm tearing it off in a welter of sparks. He turned quickly, bring that arm up and around like a baseball bat to smash into the rolling droid. "Homerun!"

The rolling droid let out an electrical squeal as it left the ground like a beach ball to shatter against the lab's heavy outer wall. Smirking Ranma turned, crushing the second mining droid's head with his makeshift club. With that done, he finished off the first as the mechanics and engineers all looked on from their hiding spots in rising horror seeing their work be destroyed so easily.

The last droid in the lab hurled itself forward, trying to take Ranma from behind, but he turned at the last second, grabbing it around the neck. One of the engineers, faster to get over his shock and seeing a lot of their work being torn apart before their very eyes shouted "Wait! There's an emergency shutdown button underneath it's tail, don't destroy it!"

Ranma rolled his eyes, twisting the thing in his grip even as it tried to claw and bite him. Turning it entirely around he held the robot there in midair, one arm around its, neck, the other pulling the long, lizard tail out. "Well then you get over here and push it man, I've only got two hands!"

Gulping the man raced forward coming up to press the red button directly below the tail. The robot immediately went still in Ranma's grip, and he let it drop to the floor with a clang before glaring at the man. "You put its emergency shut down button where an animal's asshole would be. Why, I mean, just, why?"

The engineer looked abashed at that, but before he could answer or Ranma turn his attention to the rest of the current situation, they were interrupted by another voice coming over the intercom. "This is the Death Watch. We are here for the one called Ranma. No one else needs to die today, take cover where you can and keep out of the droids way. We have reprogrammed them to attack Ranma alone no one else unless someone else attacks them in turn. Your security forces have been dealt with, or will be dealt with shortly. I urge those few remaining alive to lay down their weapons. Ranma I would urge you to give up to save these people, fight us and more will surely die."

 _They're trying to use my sense of ethics against me? Or is this a real attempt to keep the damage to a minimum?_ Ranma thought coldly. _Whatever, they've brought the fight. I sure as hell am not gonna back down._

Several of the engineers had moved over to a series of computers along one wall as two more worked on the system quickly. "We're still getting the security camera feeds," one of them said. "But nothing from the managers is getting through and we can't get in touch with anyone outside the building." He frowned, looking over at Ranma.

"What do these Death Watch characters look like? Can you bring up a picture?" Ranma asked.

Punching a few keys the engineer pulled up the picture of the front lobby, where two security be teams were being dealt with by three men dressed in formfitting armor the likes of which Ranma had seen before in history texts. _So they really are Mandalorians. Good, at least this might be a challenge._

"HK," he said taking the head back from the bruised but alive scientist he had hurled it at, "Are you affected by whatever happened?"

"Prideful response: Negative master, I was not connected into the company's wireless network, and thanks to my perspicacity, my body hasn't been uploaded with any of its runtime systems either. Without that, there is no program the slicers here can use to take control of my body."

"Good. Here you two, help me with this." he said looking at two of the scientists. "The rest of you, get in touch with anyone you can reach, tell them to take cover, I'll handle this."

A moment later, HK was connected to his new body, and pulled away from the stanchions containing it, cracking its neck this way and that and moving its arms getting used to the body. "Are his weapons online?" Ranma asked.

"We normally have to input a command, but…"

"Amused contempt: Nevermind master, I have already overridden their primitive programming. I am fully armed and ready for glorious mayhem! Professional tone: What is the plan? I would normally say we wouldn't need one, but Mandalorians tend to be a cut above most meatbags in terms of constructive violence. In many ways they are the wolves to the Jedi sheep herder."

"I'm not a Jedi," Ranma said, even as he pulled out his light pike from his ki space.

It was around three feet long from one end to another. Both ends looked reinforced, and were, so Ranma could use it with the plasma blade turned off if he wanted to and the plasma blade could come out from either end. There were two loops of wood set into small inserts along it, and it also had patches of darker metal here and there. Those were the pieces of cortosis metal Ranma had taken from the Yinchorri, which was proof against lightsabers and even blaster bolts. He hadn't had enough of the metal for the entire staff, but enough for it to be useful.

There were a few other surprises Ranma had built into it, but they weren't visible to the naked eye just then. "I'm not a Jedi, but I do use some of their tools." Ranma went on, smirking as they began to hear the sound of heavy feet moving towards their lab from the ones surrounding it. "All right, HK you head down. I don't know if any of the other droids in the area will fight you, they might think you're one of them. If they don't attack you, leave 'em alone, the Death Watch are the primary targets."

"Gleeful reply: Excellent master, meatbags are so much more fun to eviscerate than other droids anyway."

"Take out any Mandalorians you run into. If you see anything denoting one of them as an officer I want him alive and able to answer questions if you can manage it, if you can't I can handle that. Protect the civilians in the other in the area if you have to, but other than that cut loose."

"Gleeful reply part two: Master, you say the sweetest things."

"Never say that again." Ranma said his voice deadly serious, which for that brief moment had nothing to do with the actual battle they were facing. Then it passed and he grinned like a wolf as he turned toward the door, kicking it off its hinges into the face of another droid, a large droid with huge grasping pincers for hands but no other weapons which had been about to rip into the door.

The droid flew across the hallway into the other wall as Ranma rolled to one side, dodging under blaster fire from four droids, a group of security droids that looked somewhat like the TF's droids only shorter and broader. They also carried shields in their off-hands, but they availed them not at all as Ranma brought his light pike around, activating it for the first time in battle. The plasma arc erupted from the end a pure white blade, slicing into and through the two droids on the right with no apparent effort.

HK barreled out after him, turning the other way, hosing down another the other two droids. "Analytical statement: the blaster works well enough, but the lock on time is a little deficient, I will have to work on that in the future." His claw hand punched out, smashing the pincer droid's head into pieces. "Amusement: That of course works very well."

"Let's go." Ranma said, turning down the hall, twirling his light pike to block a few blaster bolts from further down the hallway.

 **OOOOOOO**

On the roof Bo-Katan Kryze of the Death Watch gasped in shock as she watched their target tear droids apart with her bare hands. "What the hell, no human can be that strong!" She said aloud. "Our information didn't say anything about that."

"He's also fast and skilled too," said one of her fellow Mandalorians, another woman from her own squad. "That's wow!" she cut off, watching as Ranma bent his body backwards out of the way of a droid's punch coming at him from around a door. His lightsaber, some kind of weird long hafted one Bo-Katan had never seen before flashed out and cut the door and the droid behind it in two. "Amazing flexibility."

"He's supposed to be some kind of Jedi, but I don't see him using any of the normal Jedi tricks. Just speed and skill, odd. And some of those blaster bolts have gotten through, you can tell." Bo-Katan said, shaking her head at her friend's tone. "They've burnt off his shirt in places, but I don't think they've actually done any damage to him. Is he wearing armor under his shirt? And that droid is just deadly."

By that point HK had run into a few droids that weren't willing to just let him go through. In response he tore them apart as efficiently as Ranma could have, if not as quickly.

Another Mandalorian turned to them. "Chief Vizla is pushing his troops up through the building. He wants you to do the same, catch the two of them between us."

"Let's go then," Bo-Katan said, "We'll leapfrog down third squad you're on point first,then fourth when we reach the stairs." Even as Bo-Katan began to bark out orders about sending down scouts and not relying on the internal videos she wondered if maybe they had bitten off more than they could chew.

Deciding to plan for the worst, she opened a private channel with her own squad. "If we start to lose men here, I want us ready to break off. We'll meet up at a local restaurant called Iris's Eyes."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma and HK split off when they reached the staircase, not trusting the elevators. Ranma went up while HK went down, and for a moment neither faced any new resistance. Few of the droids sold on the floor above apparently had legs capable of handling stairs so were unable to come down to him. Several from the level above that had already been dealt with and those from below didn't attack HK bar a few, instead still heading up, trying to find Ranma.

The ones on the second floor were waiting for him at the entrance to the floor, but Ranma simply used his light pike to cut a portion of the ceiling away and leaped up, landing behind a group of droids waiting for him by the stairwell. Taking them from behind Ranma cut several of them, most of which looked like they were designed for underwater work, into pieces before they realized he was there.

The others turned and charged forward, but their makeshift weapons were no match for Ranma close in, even without his light pike. After finishing taking them out as swiftly as possible, he turned and once again cut a path up to the next floor.

There he ran into his first true opposition. Two Mandalorians had scouted ahead of the rest of the group coming down from the roof and took him under fire immediately. One of them held position at the end of the hall while the other used a few robots from this level as cover to close, his own blaster flashing occasionally.

Ranma leaped over a charging robot which looked like it was intended as some kind of pet, his light pike decapitating several more humanoid droids, all of which looked like protocol droids with specially toughened chassis. They fell but then the first Mandalorian was on him, and his pike was out of position.

The trooper fired his blaster on full auto, trying to hose Ranma down with fire to overcome his durability. But Ranma's body just took it, and he turned, kicking out. The Mandalorian used his rocket to flare off the ground, dodging the kick and watching in shock as it dented the floor beneath his previous position. He then shot out a rocket from one wrist and a high tensile wire from the other, hoping to either blow Ranma up or entrap him while his fellow took Ranma under fire from behind him.

Ranma deactivated his light pike as he landed, ducking under the rocket and whirling the pike in one hand, blocking and then gathering the wire to him. Before the other man could disengage the spool of wire from his vambrace he found himself pulled through the air into Ranma's waiting fist. That punch crumpled the Mandalorian's faceplate before smashing the skull behind it to pieces.

The second scout opened up with a flamethrower from his hiding spot before retreating down the corridor, using his backpack's rocket to blast backwards. But the flamethrower didn't reach Ranma, the ball of flame losing cohesion about two yards in front of him. Then before he was out of sight, Ranma had picked up his fellow's body and hurled it after him, pulling out his own heavy blaster. A series of bolts impacted the dead man's backpack, and it exploded taking the second Mandalorian out with it.

Looking down at himself, Ranma shrugged, pulling off his now ruined shirt which was more tatters than shirt at that point. "Damn good aim, decent soldiers, but not durable or fast enough to fight me." _Gotta wonder though if they had all the info they needed to heading into this, I mean it's a great ambush, but it feels almost hurried, not quite but still._

Shrugging his shoulders Ranma moved on, dealing with a few more robots with kid gloves, only doing enough damage as he needed to shut them down before his next real fight. One of them however was a fire fighting robot, and caught Ranma with a blast of cool water, which caught him on the rebound off of a door.

"Well isn't that just typical!" The redhead groused even as her tiny fist smashed forward, crushing the droid's head as her leg lashed out, taking out another one's legs, dumping the top heavy droid onto the floor. Leaving it there Ranma went on her way, putting her blaster away before searching in her ki space. "God please let me have an extra shirt or a water bottle in here, I know I had both there yesterday, but did I remember to put another spare in last night?"

 **OOOOOOO**

"What the…?" Bo-Katan and every other Mandalorean still using CPR's internal security cameras asked. Bo-Katan turned to her fellows unable to see their faces through their helmets, but knowing they were feeling the same shock as she was. "What the kriff was that!?"

And she wasn't just talking about the curse, but Ranma's ability to make things appear and disappear to their sight like that. They hadn't had a good angle to see where Ranma had kept his light pike in that first lab, but this time they did. Bo-Katan was about to get in touch with Chief Vizla to ask if he had any idea how their target was able to do that, and, more importantly, why they hadn't seen any information about it.

But at that moment Chief Vizla was having his own problems.

 **OOOOOOO**

HK had made it through the second level without even a bit of violence, the droids seeing him as one of their own, and the human noncombatants all having hidden themselves away. Even the pitiful remnants of the security forces had done so, which, HK thought, was sensible of them. Amateurs had no place in a meeting between true professionals in the art of violence.

He was almost getting bored by the time he broke out of the stairwell onto the ground floor. There the Mandalorians, who had taken time to barricade the front door from outside interference, had begun to move forward at last. That this wait would have allowed Bo-Katan to be the first to meet Ranma in person was also in Pre Visla's thinking. Despite this, he was no coward and his troops were ready as HK tromped out of the stairwell. " **Fire**!"

The Mandalorian fire was rapid, controlled and precise, forcing HK to back away quickly lest he take too much damage to his new, now no longer shiny, body. They were indeed very damn good. But HK was durable, and just as good. "Joyful Warcry: Rejoice meatbags, for very bad things are about to happen!"

With that cry HK send the command which brought his heavy blaster over his shoulder, the rifle clicking into place before sending the okay signal back to his central command hub. Heavier than the skimmer rated gun that Ranma carried, the weapon wasn't any heavier, but it's rate of fire was faster. He fired it at the roof above the Mandalorians which came apart in places raining down on them and breaking their fire for a moment.

The second squad behind the first was still in cover however and began to fire even more heavily at the entrance to the stairwell where HK had taken cover. But that was fine by him. With his claw hand moving the rifle from one target to another, he kept the Mandalorians dodging, unable to line up a shot for their small wrist rockets, while he used his other hand to grab at two batteries he had grabbed on his way out of the lab.

The only difference between a droid's battery and a thermal detonator was that one was designed to explode, the other had to be made to do the same by some heavy external force. But without being in a robot's protective shell, that was a lot simpler than most people realized, and they exploded beautifully as they intersected his fire. And these batteries were quite a bit heavier than most, and therefore more explosive.

The concussion of the explosions knocked many of the Mandalorians off their feet, though only one was close enough to actually die from it, his armored body smashed to the floor like a broken doll. Several of them still fired at HK when he came bursting out of his hiding place, but not enough, and thanks to the smoke of the explosion many of them even missed.

A second later HK was in among them. His claw hand slashed out, crushing armor plate, and his other hand clamped down on one of the Mandalorians blasters, pulling it out of his death grip to turn it on his fellows.

Two small rockets flashed through the smoke toward HK and he leaped backward, using his repulsors to move faster than his bulk would allow. Even so his claw hand reached out, snatching the head off another Mandalorian before he changed his direction abruptly, skidding into cover behind the reception desk.

From his position near the front entrance Pre Vizla scowled angrily, shaking his head. _One kriffing droid, one kriffing droid and I'm down four men! This was my fault, I thought our firepower and the distraction of the droids would let us pin down our target down, I never realized being inside would cut down our own mobility so much, or that the droid he was here for was a kriffing combat droid of this caliber!_ "Pull back by teams, keep a distance, wait for your lock on before you fire your rockets!"

HK heard these commands shouted in Mandalorian out over the noise of the battle rather than over the communicators, and actually nodded his head. That was a decent command under the circumstances, especially given in their own language which few would know. But that didn't mean it would work.

Kicking out hard, HK sent the reception desk barreling forward before dodging to one side his stolen blaster, much faster to lock on and fire than his own, lashed out, taking a Mandalorian who had using a piece of shrubbery as cover. "Bemused aside: why in the universe did you think that was adequate cover meatbag? Let us hope you have not had the opportunity to breed. Stupidity tends to be genetic."

HK skidded around the bit of shrubbery, turning and thrusting himself backwards as fast as his repulsors could take him, dodging two min-rockets which crisscrossed through the space he had been about to enter. _Mandalorians really are quite adequate at combat._ Twisting around at the waist, HK activated his heavy blaster and the bolts roared out, cutting one Mandalorian in two.

Two more fired their small wire riding gyros, which flew around HK, trying to pin him in place. But HK simply pulled one of them toward him, a fist smashing him into broken pieces, before ducking under the other, his stolen blaster firing and hitting several times but unable to find a weak point on the Mandalorians admittedly decent armor. Then he was behind cover once more in the doorway to a woman's bathroom of all things. HK noticed absently that there were both men and women hidden here and he let out a grating chuckle. "Amused Comment: Good little meatbags, stay under cover. This isn't over just yet."

 **OOOOOOO**

Several stories above HK, Ranma had run out of droids to dismember and run into the rest of the Death Watch coming down from the roof. Ranma grunted as very accurate blaster fire smashed into him as he (ki-space held water-bottles with built in heat tabs for the win) once more jumped up from making his own entrance to the next floor up, and he rolled away, lashing out with his light pike blindly to block what he could. _They must have seen my light pike as I cut into the floor, damn it! These guys are good!_

A voice shouted out, "Squad three rockets, now!" Several mini-rockets shot out immediately as that voice continued to bark commands. "Squad four switch off by teams, blaster, gyro-wire and flamethrower."

Bo-Katan had kept her squads together, leapfrogging as they made their way down toward Ranma, watching as he cut his way through the droids between them trying to analyze what she could of Ranma's style. The only thing she had realized however was the same thing Vizla had, that taking on Ranma inside a building had taken away more of their own mobility than Ranma's. Worse, his durability was far more than their Mandalorian armor gave them, giving him an advantage at range.

Ranma once again used his light pike's staff to wrap up one of the gyro-wires fired at him, looking at the little drill thing on the end curiously as it passed his head, which he hadn't noticed the first time. _These Death Watch characters have some interesting toys._ Even as he thought that he yanked hard, pulling a Death Watch trooper of his feet.

But the trooper in question went with it, his rocket pack firing and hurling him even harder down the hall towards Ranma. He only had a brief moment to notice the large missile on the back before it launched, and he cursed. "Well hell."

Letting his light pike fall behind him Ranma hurled himself backwards, letting the missile pass over him as he hung on the edge of the hole he had cut into the floor from the level below, which thankfully had already cooled to the touch. In a move few Jedi would have tried Ranma caught the light pike as it fell past him with one hand, flipping himself upward with his other even as he lashed out with it.

The Mandalorian he had previously pulled towards him was cut in two, but even as he fell the others resumed their fire on Ranma, and he could feel the stings of their blaster bolts. But thanks to his toughness training they were not much of a threat. He pulled his light pike up and began to deflect them with the cortosis metal, but only the bolts which would have hit his face. His eyes of course could not be put through the durability training.

"Damn it, this isn't working!" Bo-Katan shouted. _I kriffing knew we didn't have all the information! How the hell are we supposed to take him out when he dodges our missiles and our blasters… wait…_ "Squad three follow me in, close with vibroblades!" Squad four cover them!"

Ranma blinked in shock as some of the Death Watch closed with him while the others kept up a steady rate of fire. Ranma scowled, forced to split his attention between the charging people and the incoming fire over their heads for a second, then they closed just enough to block their fellow's blasts. Leaping up he was unsurprised when those little gyro thingies fired almost immediately but he weaved through them, his light pike flashing and cutting. The wires were cut, then the unpowered end of the pike smashed out, sending one Mandalorian down with his helmet and skull crushed.

Using that point of impact Ranma hurled himself over the charging groups head, landing between two more of the group which had kept up a steady fire at him. They tried to turn, but were just two slow. A kick and a punch sent them flying backwards dead before he turned bringing up his light pike to deflect the fire from the remaining two.

"By the oceans of Mandalore!" Bo-Katan cursed then activated her rocket. _KJirffing hell, he can shatter our armor so damn easily, we need to find some real beskar plate if we have to fight this kriffing bastard!_ "Pull out, pull out!" She zoomed down the hall, slamming into Ranma back before he could leap out of the way. "Meet up at the rendezvous point!"

Ranma grunted under the impact, and was carried forward through the hall, losing his light pike at the impact, but otherwise unharmed. Lashing out his hand slammed into the back of the head of the Mandalorian who had rushed him, but he hadn't been able to angle it right. Instead of crushing the helmet and the head within it merely dented, shattering the small radio antenna on the back as well as the bit that connected the helmet to the rest of the armor.

Bo cursed as her HUD died, but she continued barreling forward for a full second then cut out her rocket pack. At the same time she threw her arm back, her own gyro wire shooting out. Her memory was good, and it slammed point first into a metal doorway. The rope went taut pulling Bo to a stop.

Ranma hadn't tried to grab his assailant, and so was hurled forward for a bit through the air of the hall as the Mandalorian stopped. He flipped himself around however so that he landed feet first on the far wall of the hall, staring down it towards his attacker and two more Mandalorians. The others had all retreated at whatever order that had been given by the one who had rushed him.

The two remaining charged forward on their own rocket packs as the one who had charged him first struggled to pull off his helmet. Ranma had a brief moment to question that statement now, able to see that this warrior's chest plate was slightly curvier than you'd expect from a guys. _Crap._ "Mandalorians don't have any kinda rule about marrying the guy who beats them do they?"

The woman had just pulled off her helmet revealing a rather pretty face and orange hair now matted to her head with sweat when he said that, and she stared at him, startled enough to actually answer. "What no, why the kriff, wait!"

"Just a question!" Ranma shouted, then the other two were on him lashing out with long vibroblades, neither willing to use their flamethrowers so close to one another. But Ranma was faster and stronger than any target the Death Watch had ever faced. He caught one blade with his ki shield which appeared around one hand to smack away the blade, while at the same time he kicked out hard, catching the other man in the chest and hurling him backwards, his chest plate shattered. Ranma couldn't tell if he had also shattered the man's ribs, but he was down.

The man whose vibroblade he had blocked with his ki shield twisted his body suddenly, another knife appearing in his foot as he kicked out. Ranma ducked under that but then the man activated his rocket once more, barreling past Ranma. His rocket launched, exploding against the plexiglass window at the end of the hallway.

Ranma once more pulled out his large blaster rifle, firing on the fly, but the man had moved out of his sight before he could. Ranma turned quickly, only to find the woman and the other man gone. Frowning Ranma made his way down the hall and then up through the building, only to find the Death Watch had pulled back completely. "Well, damn. I wonder if they're the type to come back again? I hate having to fight people like that more than once, gives them too much time to get used to my fighting style."

On the top floor Ranma found a few men in good suits tied up in various rooms, along with a shattered window and four other men in rather disreputable looking clothing and wearing extremely high tech gear.

They too were tied up, and he frowned, looking over at the suits. Picking out the most expensive looking one he pulled him along behind him, toward the room which had the four men. "These four work here?"

"N, no, they don't. They came in with the Death Watch, I recognize one of them from a wanted poster, he's a slicer who specializes in industrial espionage!"

"Good, I could use the money." Ranma muttered untying the man before pushing him away. "I'd suggest you check with your people to shut down your toys, I just hope they all took the bastard's advice and stayed out of the way of the droids." That done, he grabbed the four men and began to drag them away, two over his shoulders and two actually being dragging behind him by their ankles.

By the time he had reached the entrance, Shaak had arrived, though to Ranma it looked as if she had arrived too late to help. HK turned to him, looking a little irritated. "Wounded pride: Master, I regret to inform you that not only was I unable to take prisoners, but that at least one of them got away, if not whole." He held up an arm in his claw hand, shaking his head. "Amused analysis: I believe I faced the leader of this assault, and I nearly had him for questioning as you had ordered. But the fool actually cut off his own arm with a vibroblade to escape me. So at least the meatbag in question had the intelligence to know when he was beaten."

"Good to know." Ranma mused, then looked over to Shaak as she moved towards them. Her own exhaustion was clear to his eyes, and Ranma's eyes narrowed as he caught a bit of blood at the corner of her mouth.

Nonetheless she was somewhat upbeat as she came close, shaking her head at him. "I can't let you out of my sight for a moment can I?"

Ranma laughed, reaching forward to wipe away the blood at the side of her mouth with a gentle finger pulling it away when her smile widened just enough to show her pointed teeth. "I could say you've had your own share of the fun today Shaak. We're gonna have to sit down and compare notes, but after we leave I think." Shaak smiled and nodded, leaning into his hand slightly before she turned to Master Halcyon, who had come with her, to help him direct the Corsec response to this incident.

"Anyone want to take these four off my hands?" Ranma asked, gesturing at his burdens. "I understand one of 'em at least has a bounty."

 **OOOOOOO**

Pre Vizla grit his teeth in agony. The tourniquet he had put on the stump of his arm meant he wouldn't bleed out, but wound was torture and he couldn't take the time to look at it now, he had to get as far away from the scene of the battle as possible. Still, he had learned a lot about the Hunter Killer droid, and was certain that out in the open they could have beaten both it and his master.

This was but the first attempt, that money was too rich for Vizla to ignore. Not to mention the… other aid… he had been promised by the mysterious man in black. Regardless of the loss of his arm he would continue this hunt. _I will be Mandalore and lead our people to greatness again, if I have to pave the way to that greatness in the blood of my own people to do it!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Later that same day Bo-Katan, sans armor and wearing what passed as good civilian clothing looked up from her spot at the far back of the restaurant she had designated as her squad's emergency rendezvous point. Beside her squad mates all stiffened as she did, before subsiding as their last fellow, another woman named La-Nara, entered. Her long black hair, which Bo always thought was a rather stupid style for someone who wore a helmet, gleamed in the light of the upscale bar. She grinned and raised a hand, which Bo replied to, and joined her fellows quickly.

They all calmly ordered their meals then made small talk until the waiter had come and gone. After that, Bo got down to business. "Okay, we kriffed up by the numbers but we need to get out of here." She said bluntly. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Back to Mandalore." Said La-Nara. "I got a call on my com, the chief got out, wounded but alive. He's ordering us all to look into somehow following the target from a distance, keeping an eye on him. I think he's thinking of trying again soon, maybe with the rest of the Death Watch."

Bo rubbed her forehead, then nodded. "Alright, I think we need more information about this Ranma character. Let's find what we can about him without trailing him. He travels with a Jedi and has some of the same tools, he might be able to spot us."

 _He's no Jedi that's for sure, none of those kriffers would use our own weapons against us like he did, and none of them are that strong. And he didn't use their tricks either, he blocked our blaster bolts with sheer speed, not that precognition crap of theirs. If so, I wonder…_

She remembered that odd question he had asked, and her lips quirked upwards involuntarily at that and the curse. _There's more going on here than I'm happy without knowing but that can be rectified, and I've always been good at dying my hair and wearing contacts is no hardship either._ "The good thing is he doesn't know what most of us look like, so it might be easier than we expect, so long as we can figure out where he's going from here…"

 **OOOOOOO**

It came as no surprise to Ranma that the Green Jedi, at the behest of Corsec apparently asked them, politely, to leave **immediately**. Despite Senator Bel Iblis, who had been impressed by Ranma and Shaak's part in liberating Naboo, vouching for the pair of them the locals didn't want to deal with the violence that Ranma was apparently calling down on himself. And since the senator was not on planet to speak in their behalf, Corsec's desire for peace had won the day.

That very night _Wild Light_ pulled out of its dock and into space, leaving Corellia's orbit and moving away towards the hyperspace limit. HK was with Tune at the controls for now while Ranma was busy in the kitchen putting away the food Tune had bought for them, the droid being unable to actually put the food away in its cubicles above the kitchenette.

Turning from that, he made his way to Shaak's room. Knocking Ranma entered quickly as the door opened, thinking to find her resting from her ordeal which she had told him about during a break between rounds of questions from the locals. Instead his eyes widened, and a blush began to grow on his face.

Shaak turned slightly, wearing her training shift and holding up one of the purchases that rather pushy woman in the store had thrust upon her. Though it seemed to cover more area, it really didn't, and the material was so silkily and see through it was amazing it could even be called clothing. She stared at Ranma, her own blush growing as Ranma stared at her in turn then she watched as his eyes rolled upwards and he fell backwards unconscious. Shaak continued to stare at him for a time then began to laugh as the _Wild Light_ continued on.

Later, after laying Ranma out on the sofa, Shaak woke him up by splashing him lightly with some cold water. "So, was there something you wanted?" She asked archly. "And I thought we had talked about boundaries."

Ranma glared at her, but couldn't stop another blush from appearing as she remembered the thin negligee that Shaak had been holding up in front of her small mirror. "Um, y'know, for some reason I just can't remember what it was."

Rolling her eyes Shaak leaned down to kiss the shorter girl's lips, marveling again at how different the feel of those lips was in this form. Not bad, but certainly distinctly different. "Focus Ranma, I thank you for the compliment, but focus please."

"You mean focus on something else right?" As Shaak made to smack her on the stomach Ranma held up her hands. "Alright, geez. Anyway, I was thinking about the whole bounty thing, and what you told me about the Death Watch and what their coming after me might mean in the long term. I know we can't really go hunting for them, there's too many bounty hunters and underworld groups gunning for us and neither of us can trace the money back to find out the person behind my bounty. But I remembered a line I read in a book once: a bad hunter tracks, a good hunter waits. So, what do you think about setting up an ambush of some kind on the next planet we visit?"

"Hmm… interesting." Shaak murmured. On the one hand, her Jedi instincts were rebelling against the very idea, the violence, the promise of more death inherent in the plan going against her Jedi training to always seek either a peaceful solution or the solution which would cause the least amount of deaths.

But her Togrutan instincts on the other hand approved entirely. In many ways Shaak Ti was an unusual Togrutan, feeling only a slight need for companionship rather than the deep need most of her race felt, and being more naturally calm and introverted as well save around those she knew well. But she was still a hunter deep down, she had hunted the akul whose tooth she wore on her forehead armed with nothing more than her wits and hands, and this plan called out to that part of her personality.

Still there were problems with it. "But doing so on Eshan might be a problem, the locals would take it poorly if we set something like that up without their permission. But it's a good idea. We leave there quickly, let everyone know we're heading somewhere else but commenting on it constantly in public and leaving an itinerary with the port authority. Then we leave heading to…"

She reached forward, pulling up the hologram device and after a few moments a star map popped up. She closed her eyes, reaching out to the Force for guidance, and she smiled as the Force responded, guiding her hand slightly. "Say we head to this system called Yavin after that. There is a very old report of ruins there which we can say the Order asked us to look into. The jungles might be perfect for your little ambush."

"Sounds like a plan." Ranma said, hopping to her feet and making her way to the cockpit.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

So violence, romantic development and character introduction and development in equal parts I think. A fun, amusing chapter, even if I had a lot of trouble fitting the Green Jedi into the rest of canon. I think it worked well enough however. As always I hope you all enjoyed it, and please review if you want.

I will try to get the other monthly winner, Gods and Devils, out by New Years.

I have also decided to give my p. A treons more say in what chapters I post per month. If you want to have a larger voice in that decision, and an impact on what characters, plots etc., I include in any of my stories, please think about supporting me over there. You will not only be able to influence my stories more, but you will get access to the first two chapters of my One Piece/Ranma crossover, and the next chapter of Herd in Space when I post it sometime this coming week.


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Ranma or Star Wars. Bleh.

February sucked. Just seriously sucked. I had barely two hours a day free due to family issues - working on flipping a house for my brother for at least five hours on top of work. To say I am exhausted after getting home is an understatement. Nonetheless I apologize to my fans/readers for getting this out so late. Those of you wondering about A Third Path, the majority of the chapter is finished, but I sent it to my Asgardian expert to look at, and he has not gotten it back to me. I will however have it out by Saturday at the latest.

Anyway, as most of you will know, Magic of the Force won the SW poll here on fanfic. However, Horse for the Force won HUGELY over on my Pat R Eon page. And as I didn't really care which SW story won, I decided to go with the overall winner this month.

This has now been betaed by ultimaflare0, so I believe you all will find it has far less mistakes in it now.

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Incorporeal Entities Behaving Badly**

Sidious smiled, watching from his observation perch while the sounds of lightsaber combat resounded around the hidden training room. Like most of his expressions when he allowed his mask of normalcy to fall completely there was little to no humor in the expression. It was a smile that was simply malevolent in both the detail and the totality.

What elicited this visual response was the sight of his new apprentice. She really wasn't his apprentice of course but he allowed Komari Vosa to believe she was. _She is after all, quite powerful, stronger in the Force than Maul was by a fair bit. But just like Maul she is all too flawed, above and beyond being a woman in the first place. Vosa allows her anger, and more importantly her hate of the Jedi who abandoned her, to rule her. Just like Maul she will never be a real Sith Lord, but she will be an excellent Sith Assassin._

He watched silently for a moment as Vosa moved through a series of exercises, learning the Sith style of Juyo. The original was flawed, badly by the need to control one's own anger, but Sith version used that unparalleled power to augment her offensive capabilities. Her defense would need more control, but that would come in time.

As he watched Vosa took a low-powered blaster bolt to the thigh, making that point for him. The next instant however she used the power of that pain to reach out and wrench the droids she had been fighting into pieces, a snarl on her lips.

"Enough!" Sidious growled. "This exercise is obviously over for now. The way you funneled your anger into your attack is… decent enough…" Sidious allowed, watching with amusement as the girl almost visibly preened from the faint praise. Thus she wasn't ready for the bolt of Sith Lightning that arced from his hand to impact her body.

It wasn't full powered of course, but Vosa still gasped for a moment. But that was all, she clenched her teeth and bore down, taking in the pain and funneling it into her anger, as well as a bit of pleasure, Sidious was amused to see. "Good! Remember, pain, anger, hate, these are the powers of the Dark Side. Control them and you will be unstoppable! Allow them to control you, as you just did when you destroyed those droids against my orders for this exercise, and you are naught but a beast."

Sidious watched as Vosa nodded, cutting off his torture a moment later. It would be some time before she reached Maul's level of control, but she was already showing progress, which meant she would reach that level quicker than the former Dathomiri born Maul did. That was good, considering she would not be the blunt object Maul was, rather a rapier, a true dagger in the Dark. "Good. Now rein it in, put it in the back of your mind, where you can bring it up later."

Teeth gritted Vosa did as she was ordered, and gradually the stark red of her skin and the yellow in her eyes began to fade from a bright glimmer to a dim light. "Adequate. I will be away for a time. Meditate on the nature of control. When I return I expect your passions to be under control, and for this control to be shown in your physical features."

He had told the girl early on about how she could reverse some of the changes her falling to the Dark Side had etched onto her body. Komari Vosa had originally been a light-skinned young woman with light brown eyes. But the tortures and the anger and hate she had felt as a prisoner of the Bando Gora had turned her skin red, her eyes yellow.

Sidious had corrected some of this with surgery, healing the scars from her torture and removing some of the pain receptors the death cultists had put in her as part of their torture. The red skin however, along with her eyes, would recede with control of her emotions. They could not be repaired cosmetically either, as any new skin graft would start to respond to her emotions just like the old had as soon as they were finished. The skin would change faster than the eyes, but the eyes at least could be covered over with contacts after a certain point.

"Yes master." Vosa replied, hesitating a second before going on. "Master… If you are gone for more than a few days, might I start creating my new lightsaber?"

Leaning back in his chair Sidious frowned, thinking about the question and letting his Force senses out, feeling out the woman's presence in the Force. Vosa had been using one of the many lightsabers Sidious' predecessors had left behind for this exercise, her own lightsaber having been destroyed or taken as a trophy by Jango Fett during his capture of her. _But is she at the level where I want her to have a lightsaber to aid in her training?_

"When you are done meditating, go through the archives here," Sidious said slowly. "I will want you to have two weapons, one for direct combat, and one for assassination, the kind that can be hidden on your person during infiltration missions. For that, non-lightsaber type weapons will be best, yet I wish to see what you come up with."

Komari's dim yellow eyes seemed to flare for just a second before she got control of herself. The idea of infiltration appealed to her, as it played on a few of the skills she had learned during her time as head of the Bando Gora. On top of that she felt it would be delicious irony to sneak up and assassinate a Jedi, who all thought themselves so all-seeing and wise. "Yes master," she replied, bowing her head.

Nodding Sidious stood up, staring down at the girl for a moment, wondering if he should take the time to dominate the woman sexually as well as physically and mentally, the better to prepare her for one of her possible tasks, but decided to put off that of for now. It was one certain way to tie a woman to you, as evinced by his senatorial aide, who would be more than willing to commit genocide for him at this point, given the changes he'd been able to make to her mind while her body was otherwise occupied. But here it was not necessary just yet and so he turned away, moving out of the room.

About an hour and a half later found Sidious once more under the guise of Shiv Palpatine, rising up over the rest of the senate on the Chancellor's hover seat. "Good beings all, we are here to discuss further reparations to be paid from the Trade Federation to the planet of Naboo. Up to now, the reparations paid have…"

The debate went on for some time, with Palpatine playing his role as elder statesman and neutral leader to a T, while also appealing subtly to those who felt Naboo had been wronged somehow, so subtly that those backing the Trade Federation, could not fault his neutrality. Here there were many voices speaking for the Trade Federation, and not just their bought Senators either. The Nabooan's trade ships were an immensely important part of many a system's economy. In others they were the only source of exterior food, and thus spelled life or death for the inhabitants. Yes, their tariffs were high, but they were the only game in town, so to speak, and that monopoly was in no danger of being broken.

Eventually the Senate reached the decision he knew it would: that the ships already turned over and the war material lost was enough in terms of monetary reparations. Naboo would not be paid a single dime more than it already had, though any goods or treasures taken from the planet during the Trade Federation's occupation would need to be repaid, so long as it could be proved they disappeared during said occupation.

In terms of people, the Board of Directors would all face jail time, up to fifty years for most of them. They would all be sent straight to prison with no actual trial needed, as the evidence against them was seen as so overwhelming, and the fear that they would either be able to escape or buy the judges if given enough time. Nute Gunray however would face a bare two years of house arrest, while retaining his position, being seen, like Palpatine knew he would be, as a moderate who had been forced into a bad position by power-mad Trustees.

Palpatine himself voted to have them tried before sentencing them to jail, wanting to show he was for the rule of law despite the current corruption seen in it at all levels. But he did so because he knew there was no chance of the vote going that way even with his vote.

There was a lot of muttering about both decisions, in particular from Senator Antilles and his faction, who Palpatine had voted with on this occasion. They always stood for the rule of law and ethics, but they were a small, if vocal group, who really didn't understand how the power structure of the Senate had begun to change. They were also somewhat naïve as well, and easily manipulated.

The senate ended on a rather vociferous note of condemnation toward the Trade Federation, but it was a growl with no real teeth in it. There would be no sanctions, no demilitarization, and the oversight put in place of the TF's military forces would be easy to manipulate and point in the wrong direction. Their military buildup would continue, and indeed be stepped up in the next few years.

After several hours of discussion the Senate broke up for the day, and Palpatine returned to his office. There he worked well into the evening, until he was interrupted by one of his guards informing him that Master Bulq was here to see him.

Pasting a welcoming smile on his face Shiv rounded his desk, his hand outstretched in welcome. "Master Bulq, how are you? I take it you are here to discuss the results of today's debate?"

"Indeed, though that should be debates, plural chancellor. The Jedi council feels that there are at least three points here that needs to be discussed: the lack of demilitarization, the decision to simply imprison the Trustees rather than hold a public trial for them, and Nute Gunray retaining his position."

"Very well, let us work through those points one at a time my friend." Shiv replied gravely, waving the master into a seat before sitting down across from him.

After explaining politics to the Jedi, making certain he sounded as irritated as they were about the amount of self-serving favoritism there was at work here, Palpatine paused, shaking his head. "Do not take this the wrong way Master Bulq, but surely masters Gallia and Poof already know this. Why are they not here instead of you?"

Bulq's lips twitched lightly. "Master Gallia is busy bringing Master Trebor up to speed on his duties. He is the replacement for Master Piell, who died during the mission to Naboo. Master Poof was sent with a delegation to the Vivenda Sector to handle a dispute there."

"Ah, see. I meant no offense, but you are renowned for your lightsaber skills, not your enjoyment of Senate-level politics." Palpatine nodded sagely then leaned forward, his features moving into an almost boyish expression of interest. "Indeed, the fact you came up with a style, in conjunction with Master Windu of course, is fascinating to me. Can you tell a layman such as myself anything about it?"

Bulq paused, looking at him thoughtfully before he answered slowly. "Vaapad is half-lightsaber style, half-Force technique. It is designed to turn your enemy's aggression, his emotions of anger and hate, against him. It seems a defensive style at first but it is actually an exceptionally strong offensive style. To use it to the utmost you must have incredible control and be able to simply take your opponent's emotions, letting them bounce off you, feeling them but not partaking in them."

"Ah so it is indeed control that is most important. But then tell me, if you can control your emotions like that, why then are you not allowed to feel them in the first place?" Palpatine asked almost innocently.

Bulq responded to this by going into the normal Jedi rote response to said. He made no mention of the new perspective about such things slowly spreading among the Jedi, since it was still being both discussed, derided and obstructed from members of the High Council on down.

At the same time Sidious subtly reached out into the Force via the Veil of the Dark Side. Here on Coruscant where the Veil was its most powerful it could allow him to influence the minds of even Jedi subtly, without letting any kind of trail back to him. But only if there was already an opening there to use, and with Bulq, there was.

As Sidious had predicted, Sora Bulq was not like Windu. Windu had felt the power of the Dark Side, and shut himself off from it, turning his back on the power of the Dark Side. But Bulq had, during their work on Vaapad, become fascinated by it, and Sidious could tell he had experimented with the power of anger and hate. Now Sidious fanned that tiny flame both via a subtle Force touch and his words.

"I have never understood why Windu gets so much credit for your style," Shiv said, seemingly changing the topic from emotions back to the original one of Vaapad. "Master Windu was made into the Master of the Order from it, yet you are not even as well-known as Master Dooku. Why?"

Bulq made no reply, and Shiv went on, his voice changing to a whisper, almost seductive. It was the kind of voice someone could imagine the snake in the tale of the garden of Eden would have. "I think it is because of those emotions you Jedi are not supposed to have. Windu fears you, because he knows your mastery of Vaapad is greater than his, that you deserve as much credit as him. Hence why he has pushed you to the side, belittled your achievements."

"That, no, I merely helped Windu develop the style, we were not equals in that exercise." Bulg replied, but his voice held no conviction.

"Perhaps." Palpatine's voice changed back, but his subtle Force probe continued as he shook his head. "Yet then we come back to Vaapad itself. If the style is so dangerous because of how close you come to this existential Dark Side, then does that not logically mean the Dark Side itself is powerful? That so long as you control it, it too can be… directed?"

Bulq stared at him, his eyes hard, but there was interest there as well. "I sometimes think the same thing, but that is not the Jedi way…"

"Perhaps not, but then the question then is, is the Jedi way, the only way?" With that, Palpatine pulled back his Force probe, knowing he had gone as far as he could for now. Bulq was hooked now, and interested, he would follow the lure back soon enough.

After walking Bulq out the door Sidious sat back at his desk sighing faintly as he allowed his Palpatine guise to fall once more, staring at the report he had been looking at when Bulq arrived. _Manipulating Bulq is somewhat time-consuming but relatively easy. Killing off the Chaotic Locus is not._

The report was from one of his spies on Corellia, telling how the Chaotic Locus and the female Togrutan Jedi had escaped the Death Watch. _That is irritating, but with the money and other resources I have 'promised' Vizla the man will no doubt continue the contract. But the Death Watch alone might not be enough, not even if Vizla brings their full power to bear. The Locus must be killed or captured before his effect on my plans can grow beyond my ability to plan for. The ripples in the Force are still causing me problems with seeing the future, both in the now and in the skein of the future._

With a flick of his fingers he began to compose a text message to several of his underworld factors, noticeably his contact in the slowly recovering Black Sun. He and Plagueis had sent Maul against the Black Sun fearing their growing influence in the area of corruption in the various world governments in the Core Worlds. Maul had decapitated the syndicate, killing all of their higher ups, and the Black Sun had fallen into infighting afterward.

Since then several Falleen had begun to take control, ending the internecine fighting. One of them was a young up and comer, who Sidious felt he could manipulate further. _And the Black Sun actually have more resources and men than the Death Watch too. Plus either groups could grow to be a threat eventually, so if they win or lose I still win. Just the way it should be._

 **OOOOOOO**

Elsewhere events were proceeding apace. Naboo, against Padme's own preferences, started to reconfigure the Lucre-Hulk ships they had taken into system defense ships. Dooku and his team of investigators had finally found a trail to the Dark Dreamer and were closing in on it. The Green Jedi opened up formal talks with Master Yoda to end the division between them.

And in the Inner Rim, the Ailon Nova Guard's high command met and discussed the events of Squad Unatri.

The Nova Guard was not representative of a culture. The Nova Guard **was** the Ailoni culture. Martial prowess was held in the highest regard on the heavily fortified world, and every Ailoni family had at least one, mostly more, members in the Nova Guard at any time. A lot of them were of course in the defense force of the system, which did not follow the normal Republic ideal of having a minimal military. They didn't have a massive fleet, so couldn't project power very well, but they always had at least six full corps of troops under arms at any time.

Many troops were sent out in squad or company size groups as mercenaries or research teams. The research teams were sent to other planets where the martial sciences were studied, like Kuat with its famous shipyards, or sometimes Eshan and other, more specialized planets. They would come back with the knowledge of other fighting styles and how the Nova Guard stood up against them.

The teams assigned to mercenary work would hire themselves out in any interesting small scale war or anti-pirate campaign that was going on. They had served in the Stark Hyperspace War, and in the Sepan and Telosian civil wars. At times they hired on as guards for ships in the Outer Rim where pirate activity was expected, and it was as that which Squad Unatri had been working as when they were stabbed in the back by their employer. Unable to pay them, Gardulla had put a soporific in their food, and then used them as some of her many gladiators.

This had to be addressed, as had the return of the squad itself by the Jedi.

Unatri had reported what he had seen, and how the Jedi had freed the slaves, making the Nova Guard be indebted to them. Despite Master Ranicisis arriving and trying to convince them that no such debt existed, that was not the Ailoni way. They believed in the rule of the strong, and refused to be in debt to anyone. The Jedi had proven they were strong, and so would be followed. In so doing the debt to them would be repaid.

"So we are agreed?" Master Ranicisis said serenely, looking at the High Marshall of the Ailoni serenely, while inside he had to hold back a rather fierce, predatory smile. "We will provide you with the transport ships, while you provide the troops?"

"We are." Said one of the High Marshalls. He had been introduced by his title rather than name, in this case High Strategist, which was in keeping with the Ailoni ideas of leadership and martial fervor. "The Hutts must be made to realize the error of their ways. The individual was punished, their activities have not been."

Ranicisis nodded. While invading Hutt space was practically impossible given the lack of local resources and hyperspace lanes, they did have several holdings outside of it, deep into the Mid Rim in fact, which the Jedi knew about andwhich were associated with the slave trade. The Jedi Council had lacked the influence needed to get the Senate to send in the Republic navy, but with the Ailoni providing the bulk of the military this was no longer a concern.

"Jedi will be sent here to join me along with the transport ships." Most of those ships would be coming straight from Kashyyyk, the Wookies wanting in on smashing some slaver scum, especially since one of the bases for Hutt-backed pirates was run by a Trandoshan clan. The others would be coming from Bilbringi and Corellia, bought and paid for by the Jedi Order for this mission. "We will provide hyperspace calculations which will put our attack groups right on top of the targets and then will provide point defense and assault troops during the attack."

The Nova Guard's commanders all nodded and then one of them asked. "And what of these new martial techniques? Will we be allowed to send a squad to learn from this discoverer of ancient knowledge?" That was the Temple public line when trying to explain Ranma's abilities: that his abilities were the result of ancient techniques rediscovered. The Ailoni believed it, or at least were not willing to question it.

"Yes." Ranicisis said simply. "I do not know how many of our ancient techniques non-Force users will be able to use, but I would be willing to talk to Ranma about sharing them. Of course you realize that it will be his decision to do so?"

After a few minutes of back and forth the Ailoni all nodded. They didn't understand how a single Jedi or whatever Ranma was could gainsay a command from his higher ups, but they understood allowance had to be made for other sentients cultures, no matter how bizarre they seemed. "That will do."

Ranicisis nodded his head in the odd, near full body movement of his people, and rose from his cushion without another word. _The Hutts will soon find that the universe has begun to change. Though the times might becoming dark, the Order can still shed some light in this galaxy._

 **OOOOOOO**

The trip to Eshan should have only taken a bare day thanks to the various Hyperspace lanes. However Shaak had insisted they stop so she could send a message via Hypercom relay at one point, telling Ranma she wanted to get them some backup for their trap plan. While she was doing that, Ranma went down to the planet and, with Shaak's ID, purchased quite a bit of supplies for said plan, sticking them on the ship and actually filling the sitting area from one end to another.

Much to the chagrin of HK despite this stopover the ship wasn't attacked en-route and came out into the Eshan system without difficulty.

Eshan was a planet of stark, high mountain ranges and scattered rivers moving down into small valleys situated around the planet's ocean, which was almost as blue-seeming up close as Earth's was from space in the pictures Ranma had seen of it in school and far larger. As the _Wild Light_ continued to descend through the atmosphere towards the planet's one space port, it looked also like it was nearly untouched by technology despite the several dozen orbital defense installations and the small but noticeable orbital industry.

That was only true in the mountains however. When they came closer to Outreach, the planet's capital and sole spaceport, they saw the city itself, which looked as high tech as Coronet had been.

The architecture was very different, the Eshani favoring two-story homes designed in squares built around open areas, a holdover form when every family would have their own, slightly different martial art style. Even their shops, office buildings, and factories followed this style of having only two stories, simply becoming more sprawling to accommodate their tasks. This of course meant Outreach covered a far larger area than Coronet. The outer edge of the city facing inland was dominated by massive fields of the local equivalent of wheat being worked by giant harvester droids, larger than most of the buildings. And there were several, slightly larger buildings built all along the one, large, (Ranma thought it looked wider than the Yangtze) river, which led into the ocean along one side of the city. The dock segment of the city was built out over the ocean, with massive metal girders holding the landing docks up out of the water along one edge while the other edge sloped down to the water's edge.

As the ship set down, Ranma disconnected his seatbelt and stood up, stretching somewhat. "So, what kind of reception should we get here?"

"A friendly one. The Echani martial arts is a staple of advanced Guardian training, and the Jedi Order has been looked on favorably here for thousands of years." Shaak replied, her fingers moving deftly over the control board as she and Tune shut the ship down.

"Doleful comment: You mean we won't face any combat here outside of those stupid hand to hand contests of theirs? Pity."

Shaak rolled her eyes, but didn't comment, already used to the bloodthirsty droid's need for violence. "No, at least not by the locals. There's always a possibility that we'll be attacked by bounty hunters of course, and then there's the questions about those Mandalorians. They wore armor like the Death Watch, which is not a good sign."

"Yeah, you said we could hook back up to the Hypernet here and send to the temple for more information on them right? I thought they were decently impressive, tough, trained, pretty much as good as regular troops could be. Though whoever was in command didn't do them any favors splitting his forces and fighting me inside like that where they couldn't keep the range open or use their jet packs."

"Indeed, we can do that easily. For now though, I can see some local officials coming towards us." Shaak replied. "Tune, shut down the engines and lock up behind us. When we get some local accommodations, you can move in there with us or stay with the ship, your choice." Her purple lips quirked as she looked over at the combat droid. "No you don't get a choice HK. I refuse to contemplate what you would do if left with no supervision."

"Scowling tone: Mistress, you have a remarkably accurate understanding of my character. Do not worry however, I have no interest in fighting those who cannot fight back, that would be most unsporting." HK replied, moving out of the cockpit and through the ship towards the ramp with Ranma

"That actually makes me quite happy." Shaak murmured as she followed.

The three of them quickly exited the ship and moved toward the group of four locals waiting for them. All of them had pale skin and pale-colored hair, light blond or light brown, with one man having pure white hair. They stood like statues, their faces utterly unmoving as they watched the trio exit the ship and come toward them.

The first was a sign of training, the second a sign of evolution: an Eshani's face was simply not as mobile as a normal human's, their faces far more gaunt, their lips and cheeks not nearly as expressive. Worse the Eshani all looked quite alike to outsiders, all of them having the same silver or light white hair, pale skin and black eyes, with very little variation in between.

There was a lot of speculation about why the Eshani had evolved along such narrow lines, but nothing definitive. What was known was that these physical characteristics had led them to create the Echani martial art, one of the deadliest martial art styles in the known universe.

As the trio made their way toward them however several small balls were tossed onto the docking bay from someone hanging over the side of it facing out toward the ocean. At the same time a heavily modified small cargo hauler of some kind roared overhead, firing down with what looked like two quad lasers.

"Stun balls!" Shaak shouted, quickly gathering the Force to her. Reaching out with the Force she grabbed all of the balls, hurling them away as she dodged the incoming fire.

Ranma ducked and dodged to one side away from the same fire from above as he tried to charge toward where the balls had originated. "HK take out that starfighter!"

That fire wasn't aimed to hit them however, but to separate the locals, Shaak and HK from Ranma. While the Togrutan Jedi did have a sizeable bounty on her from the Hutts, no bounty hunter in his right mind would even think about taking that bounty on. The prize on Ranma's head though was much too large for any Bounty Hunter to ignore, setting aside his bald-faced challenge to the Bounty Hunter's guild as a whole.

Nor were the stun balls, small balls that sent out pulses of stun energy, the only kind of attack launched against the trio off the _Wild Light_. There were also some smoke bombs mixed in with them, the same size and general appearance, but a very different effect.

The smoke bombs went off covering the tiny battlefield with dark gray smoke, but this really didn't do much to slow any of the combatants. Shaak relied on the Force, her lightsaber out now and blocking attacks from the ship overhead, while HK's systems were unimpaired, firing up at the ship with his shoulder-mounted heavy blaster. Even the locals didn't seem too bothered by the smoke, ducking and running towards a few blast shields set up along the near edge of the landing pad, away from the attacker.

The attacker in question, an Ikotchi bounty hunter of some repute, slipped off the rope carriage he had been hanging in waiting for his prey, pulling himself up onto the landing pad from his hiding place, his heavily modified blaster in one hand. He was already switching from stun to normal power, no longer thinking it possible to take Ranma captive and get away. Proof of the human's death would have to do.

With his eyes covered by infrared goggles the Ikotchi was able to see the human among his victims, humans having a slight but still distinctly different body temperature than Togrutans and Eshani, who were somewhat warmer and colder respectively. With no warning he began to fire into the smoke towards his target.

Ranma grimaced as the heavy bolts smacked into him, causing him some pain but not doing any damage. "Still it tells me where the attacker is! I've got him Shaak, HK see if you can…"

"BOOOM!" Ranma was interrupted by an explosion and even as he charged forward he stared upward, where the starfighter had just been blown up from fire from the _Wild Light_. The explosion began to rain bits and pieces down on top of them while also blowing away the smoke.

"Affronted Anger: Cog damn it Tune that was my kill!" HK's voice bellowed.

Realizing now he had no quick way to escape, the attacker laid down covering fire across the landing pad as he moved back to the edge he had just come from. But Ranma was just too fast for him, closing through his fire with no regard for the bolts that hit him. The Ikotchi's eyes widened behind his goggles and he pulled out a frag grenade intent on tossing it forward, but Ranma was already within range to hit him. Ranma's light-pike appeared out of his ki space and one end smacked the grenade as soon as it left the man's hand sending it over his head into the ocean behind him before disappearing once more.

Before the man could pull out a vibro-blade from his waist, Ranma had grabbed him by his flak jacket and hurled him towards HK and Shaak in an over the shoulder throw. He tried to roll with it, but a Force hold from Shaak and HK's heavy foot landing on his back stopped him. "Irritated tone: Master, might I finish him off, this battle wasn't nearly enough to interest me, and Tune already stole my target."

"Nah," Ranma said, smirking somewhat. "He was at least a little decent, and none of his shots went near the locals, so we can't just kill him. Humiliate and beat to a pulp, yeah, that we can do."

"Wait, wAGHh!" The Ikotchi shouted as Ranma reached down and pulled his goggles forward, stretching the elastic before letting them go.

Then Ranma tied the man up like a piñata in his underwear, with one of his own stun balls stuffed into his mouth. "Now, what humiliating message should we write?" he mused, popping the top off a permanent marker he had bought on Coronet, amused at the time that such low tech things still existed in this universe.

"Gleeful amusement: Master, humiliation like this isn't my normal way of dealing with anyone who foolishly attacks me, but it might just be as much fun. Can I have a go?"

A few moments later they were being led away from the docking port and deeper into the city, with Shaak waving off the locals' apologies. "Given the price on Ranma's head we can assume that we will be attacked everywhere we go. And at least two of our party enjoys that kind of thing."

The man across from her in the small aircar was named Magister Clemens, the Eshani equivalent of a mayor. He nodded his head slowly, looking from Ranma and Shaak once or twice. Any Eshani could read body language, and they were taught to do so from an early age even if only those who took up the Echani martial arts learned to use what they saw in terms of combat. He could tell the Jedi actually felt amusement at the attack, an odd thing to see in a Jedi at any time, and the other one, who was also supposed to be a Jedi acted nothing like one of the upholders of justice.

"In that case, we will simply house you for free during your stay instead of charging the Order for your rooms." He said at length. "But I have to wonder if we should be worried about further attacks. This Ikotchi carefully controlled his attack, but the next bounty hunter might not be willing to do so."

The Bounty hunter would spend the night in the Outreach's jail. During that time, his picture, taken when he was practically naked and tied up with the various messages HK and Ranma wrote on him, was posted and sent everywhere on the Hypernet. After a night in jail he would be released to make his way off-world as best he could, and Clemens doubted he would be able to continue work as a bounty hunter after that.

"Agreed, though I doubt that most bounty hunters will be willing to attack us here. Your people's martial history is too well known for most to attempt to attack us here once we are situated in among the city. If they do attack however, Ranma and I will deal with them." Shaak replied.

"Very well. But might I ask what has brought you here?" Clemens asked.

"The Echani martial arts style," Ranma said with a smile. "I've heard a lot about how you can read your opponents and anticipate their attacks almost like Jedi, so I wanted to see if I could incorporate that into my own style."

Clemens exchanged a slight uptick of the lips with another one of the locals, who returned it, bowing his head slightly. "We can set you on the right track there."

The house assigned to Ranma and Shaak was just like the rest of the city, a small two-story building based around an almost-castle like design with its own small enclosed yard. There was nothing in its architecture to set it apart from the rest of the city except for its interior. This was set up in the style of hotel rooms the universe over, with nice, uniform furniture and a distinct lack of anything resembling personalized touches.

"You know we could have just unloaded the stuff from the _Wild Light_ and stayed on board." Ranma said, moving over to look at the small TV that was part of the suite.

Strangely enough, at least to his eyes, the TV room was set in a small recess in the floor, you had to walk a few steps down into it from the rest of the house. He wondered why that was, but didn't care enough to inquire further.

"We could have, but then people would have seen said supplies. Even if we get the local government to help us stash them away we would be forced to answer questions, and I have yet to run into any government which does not believe in copious amounts of paperwork. Paperwork which people, again, could see. We want this to be a trap, we don't want people to realize that we'll be ready for them in Yavin." Shaak replied.

"Meh, I guess, I just prefer the _Wild Light_ to this place. It's a little too impersonal I guess?" Ranma said, thinking about the plan, and wondering if the Death Watch would be the only group they caught in their net.

"That makes sense." Shaak nodded, remembering all the little things they had done to make the interior of the _Wild Light_ seem more like home.

 _And isn't that an odd thought for any Jedi to have? The only home we are supposed to have is the Order, or at best the Temple._ _I wonder why that is? Trying to disavow attachments again perhaps? Yet I'm not attached to the ship,_ _but its owner_ she thought fondly as Ranma began to move some of the furniture around to create an open space for training purposes. It had just begun to rain when they reached the house so they wouldn't be able to use the open area outside.

Ranma flopped down on the sofa he had just finished moving, grinning over at her. "So if we start training tomorrow, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

In reply Shaak smiled, and with a little atavistic thrill, moved over to join him on the sofa. There Ranma pulled her into a gentle kiss, which quickly became quite a bit fiercer.

 **OOOOOOO**

Thanks to the stopover Shaak and Ranma had on their way to Eshan and the fact they had been overheard talking about going there while in Corellia Bo-Katan Kryze had been able to get ahead of them. Being half-Eshani, Bo posed as a student of the martial arts herself, wishing to get to know her mother's side of the family. Her mother had become Mandalorian after falling in love with her father on a mercenary mission he had taken part of, while she was part of a small personal security retinue working on the same planet.

Their romance had been just that, though in the typical Mandalorian and Eshani manner: lots of blaster bolts, lots of challenges and flirting as sparring. Her father, Dumac Kryze, emerged the victor having won both his mission, and the maiden's heart. Their love story had actually become something of a tale among Mandalorians, winning Clan Kryze a bit of renown beyond what they won on the battlefield.

 _And then my older sister had to drag our name through the kriffing mud with her New Mandalorians!_ Bo thought to herself fiercely, not for the first time, as she moved through the morning exercises, glancing up once at the thin waterproof awning covering the training area. The rain pattered against it in a strangely soothing manner, and she smiled faintly at the noise.

Bo had always loved the rain ever since she was a young child. Whenever it rained, her father would never allow them outside, since they lived in the mountains of Mandalore, and the rains signaled mudslides and also brought out various animals to hunt. Satine had enjoyed those same stories, but didn't seem to have gotten the same message out of them Bo had.

 _I wonder what our father would think of her now? On the one hand he'd probably be proud that she rose to such a position of leadership, but on the other, Dumac'd probably try to kill her himself. Better a kin-slayer than what she's done with the New Mandalorians. Spitting on our culture like that, turning her back on thousands of years of honor and trying to force the same thing down the rest of our collective throats by siding with the kriffing Republic!?_

A hand jabbed into the side of her face slightly, what should've been a killing blow instead coming as a light tap with just enough energy to turn her head slightly. "This is a dojo, not a place for woolgathering," said a stern voice beside her. "If you cannot concentrate on the forms leave. This is a place for combat, nothing else."

Bo-Katan turned, bowing quickly to the journeyman-level teacher who had seen her and began to move through the forms once again.

Bo had found a school willing to teach her quickly enough. The Eshani simply challenged her to a hand to hand fight and found her with enough natural ability to teach further despite being an outsider. The Eshani believed that combat, specifically hand to hand combat, was the purest form of communication that existed in the universe. Sparring to an Eshani was thus a part of nearly all walks of life.

Thus the master of the training center of course knew she was trained in the Mandalorean manner, and might have more reasons to being on Eshan than simply wishing to connect to her mother's side of her heritage. However the Eshani didn't care about that, since her desire to learn was genuine, and the Eshani were not ones to judge people's pasts.

Having been assigned to the apprentice level stung, Bo had thought she had learned her mother's style better than that. The master however had been rather brutal in his summation: Bo had gotten too used to wearing armor, which the Eshani eschewed, and to weapons which, while having their place, were not the basis of Echani, the Eshani martial arts.

A few moments later one of the school's masters entered the training room, clicking his fingers twice in the air to get the student's attention. That was a signal for all movement to stop, and both journeyman and apprentices turned as one, bowing slightly from the waist respectfully, something Bo-Katan joined in without reservation. The journeyman she knew she could take on with a reasonable chance of victory in a real fight. The master, an old man named Chud-ro she doubted she could take on unless she was able to keep the range open and simply fill him full of blaster bolts.

"Tomorrow we will be joined by two Jedi. They are here to study our martial arts. One of them is apparently a hand to hand expert, and wishes to incorporate our style into his own." He waited, letting that sink in before going on, his voice still soft and stern, like the best officers could use when on parade. Shouting was for sergeants, or in this case the journeymen, though of course Eshani didn't shout often, they simply challenged you to a spar and let their fists do the talking.

"I expect you all to act accordingly, and give them both the respect they are due. That is all. Carla, come up here." Chud-ro finished, using the name Bo had given them, just in case her real name was somehow known by the locals. Given that she had used that first name several times on scouting missions she was able to answer to it readily enough to possibly fool even the Eshani.

Bo-Katan bowed her head, very carefully keeping any expression from her face, as she moved through the crowd. Of course she had heard of her target's arrival, she even had literally heard the fire fight that had erupted when a bounty hunter tried to get the drop on Ranma and the Jedi who accompanied him. _Still wonder what he is, he said he wasn't a Jedi, and he sure as hell didn't fight like one, but he travels with one! If it looks like a rawl snake, and acts like a rawl snake, then it's a rawl snake. But sometimes it's a shadow rawl instead of a regular one._

Coming to a stop in front of the master she stopped thinking about such things, knowing the master would be able to see them in her face. Bowing her head slightly, she asked, "Master you have a task for me?"

"I am assigning you to be our go-between to the Jedi. It has been decided that being from off-world yourself you will be better able to help them acclimatize." Chud-ro ntoned, his face the habitual Eshani blank mask. "This will not be allowed to take away from your own studies."

"Of course not master," Bo-Katan said, bowing her head even more slightly, no expression but simple acceptance on her face. _Yes! Now we will see what we can find out about this mysterious non-Jedi warrior!_

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak woke up to the sound of singing in the room below. She stretched, moving out of her bed quickly, Jedi were after all very quick to wake up most of the time unless they were truly exhausted. Then she stopped as she moved to grab up her robe, listening intently, a faint smile on her face. This wasn't the first time she had he heard Ranma sing, the redhead had a magnificent voice, but was somewhat shy about using it around other people.

Walking down the spiral staircase that connected the bedroom with the main sitting room, Shaak stopped, watching as Ranma went through a series of martial arts moves as she sang under her breath. It was in Japanese, Ranma's original language, so Shaak did not understand the words. Reaching out with a gentle tendril of Force she connected her mind to Ranma's exterior thoughts, letting it be a gentle one so that Ranma could feel the connection and wouldn't react badly.

However before she could the song ended and Ranma came to a slow stop, his palms pressed together in front of her chest. From this close she saw that Ranma's shoulders and hair were still wet, and she shook her head looking out the window for the first time noticing that it was still raining. "You went somewhere?" she asked softly, reaching forward to gently touch Ranma's red hair, before moving it to the side and moving in close, her arms going around the other redhead as Ranma turned, hugging Shaak.

"Yeah," Ranma mumbled, her mouth pressed against Shaak's upper chest for a moment, her voice causing a bit of a vibration in Shaak's collarbone. Shaak shuddered slightly, shaking her head, her lekku twitching. She hadn't gotten used to how much Ranma's size changed from one form to the other. Yes, she was used to the actual sex change, and the change in hair color and everything else. But the height was still a continual surprise to her.

"I wanted to do some shopping," Ranma said after moving back. "I noticed the clothing the locals wear, and it's the closest to what I used to wear on my own planet that I've seen so far. At least in type of material anyway, you Jedi seem to wear the same kind of pants I did, though not the shirts, and don't get me started on those silly cloaks you all wear."

"Cotton is useful, durable, and cheap, while a cloak is at home in nearly any environment," Shaak said with a shrug. "Jedi are not supposed to form attachments to material things, something we have discussed numerous times before this."

"Except your lightsabers," Ranma quipped, his lips quirking into a smirk. "You know, that reminds me of a joke I heard in a bar about those things."

"I don't want to hear it!" Shaak said, shaking her head once more, setting her lekku to swaying. "I have no doubt heard every phallic joke about Jedi and their lightsabers you can imagine!"

Ranma laughed, and moved to the kitchen, grabbing up a cup of hot water before pouring it over her now suddenly himself. "Do we have time for breakfast before we go over?"

"I would assume so, considering that Desmond said they would send someone from one of the local schools. I get the impression this individual will also be our minder, as well as watching us for the locals."

"Makes sense," Ranma said with a nod. "The fresher station's free, grab a shower while I use that device Tune made to short our any listening devices 'k?"

Shaak nodded, returning moments later to find that Ranma hadn't found any listening devices, which pleased both of them. After that the two went about the business of putting together breakfast, moving around and with one another fluidly for a few moments, before they sat down at the small table with a local salad and several small fishes just barely charred in their scales.

Now that they knew they could talk without being overheard, Shaak and Ranma discussed their plans long term. After a few moments discussion Ranma turned away from the small table to a corner of the room. "HK wake up."

The hunter-killer droid stood next to a droid recharge station being too large to actually fit inside it. He had powered down pretty promptly last night. ("Annoyed irritation: that one bounty Hunter was probably the only one on-planet, which means any attack during the night is unlikely. If there's no action to be had, I would rather simply power down for a time.")

HK's eyes lit up, and he turned quickly to Ranma. "Expectant query: Yes master, who can I kill for you?"

"While were over learning the local martial arts I want you to look into two things for us. First, head over to the _Wild Light_ and check in with Tune. I know he said he wanted to stay there for our time here, but make sure he's still all right with that choice, then tell him to start looking up information on Yavin 4. Tell him to make it look as if we we're interested in the architecture or something believable."

Since the planet in question had only the barest mention of information as far as Ranma knew, that was going to be tough, and possibly futile. But searching for the information was just another way of setting out some bait.

"Affronted growl: I am not a messenger droid master. I assume that my own task makes up for that insult?"

"Go through the gear we've already bought, and if you think you can find anything to add to it on Eshan, see about purchasing it. Note I said purchasing, not stealing." Ranma said with a smirk. "And I would expect you to try and not leave a paper trail if it's anything that could raise any one's questions."

"Eager tone: That's more like it master! And if I find some kind of black market and need to work with them?"

Ranma frowned thinking then exchanged a glance with Shaak who shrugged. "The locals have a very hard judiciary system Ranma, if there is any kind of black market, it will have to be very well hidden. On the other hand, they have very liberal views about guns and other such things. Especially if you have a sailing license, some of the oceanic animals here have to be seen to be believed."

"That sounds like fun," Ranma said with a smirk. "We might have to go fishing sometime HK."

HK shrugged, a very odd sight in his massive robotic body. "Philosophical response: Violence against sentient meatbags is always more fun master, but I'll take what I can get."

With that the droid was out the door, and they heard his doleful tone as he realized it was raining. "Irritated drawl: Joy, if I rust master I'm going to blame you."

Ranma shrugged, and they went back to talking quietly with Shaak, this time moving on to the topic of what they would do after they sprang their trap. Ranma still wanted to explore, heading to random planets in the Outer Rim to find new martial arts styles to incorporate into his own.

Shaak was more ambivalent, she did after all have her duties as a Jedi. Despite her long-term assignment to follow Ranma around and keep him out of trouble, she would no doubt be assigned other missions occasionally, and wanted to keep their plans fluid so as to not conflict with that obligation.

They were eventually interrupted by someone buzzing the front door. They both stood, with Ranma pulling on a large parka over himself, hoping to keep dry so as to not change form again. Despite having gotten so used to his curse that it no longer really bothered him at all, Ranma loathed having to explain it all the time.

Shaak answered the door, finding a rather short local woman on the other side. She had straight-backed silver hair like many of the locals, light brown eyes and a very pretty face. "Master Jedi?" The woman asked, bowing from the waist very slightly. "I am Carla Kirari. I have been assigned to be your guide and go between while you are here on Eshan. Do you wish to do anything today? Or simply head over to the dojo immediately?"

"Does the dojo have some protection against rain?" Shaak asked. "And it is just Shaak Ti please, or Knight Ti if you must be formal."

Bo-Katan nee Carla nodded. "Yes Knight Ti we do have a small electrical shield against the rain. "

"Very well, the dojo first I think," Shaak said and two of the exited the building quickly following Bo-Katan.

Bo-Katan took the opportunity to examine them both. Thanks to her mother's teachings, she could see a lot in another person's body language. She wasn't nearly as good as the other students here of course, not having lived her entire life among the Eshani, but still good enough to read other outsiders somewhat.

To Bo, Shaak came off as a typical Jedi except she wore a faint smile on those purple lips of hers. While constantly aware of her surroundings, she also kept one eye on Ranma at the same time. She moved with typical Jedi confidence, but moved with an odd sort of serenity.

Ranma held the same confidence, only he was not anything like a Jedi. He moved like a walking swagger, not so much arrogant as with a sense of assumed superiority (there was a fine line there). But while Shaak trusted her Force senses, Ranma's eyes were constantly moving around the landscape, taking in everything not just because he wanted to, but because he was looking for dangers. Bo-Katan could tell the way his eyes stopped occasionally on what she knew where places an attacker could hide.

 _Interesting_ she thought to herself as they continued to walk for about 5 minutes before arriving at the training hall.

Like the rest of the buildings here seemed to be, this was a simple square building, two stories tall based around a single large in open area.

Ranma looked around the training area, and sighed faintly. "My kind of people." he said with a grin.

They stayed by the door for a moment while Ranma and Shaak watched the lessons going on in this section, observing and exchanging a few glances. Bo could tell they were not impressed just yet, and ushered them over to the group in the next training center.

Here actual spars were going on between advanced students and journeyman with master Chud-ro looking on. Again the two outsiders stopped watching for a few moments. Frowning slightly, Ranma began to pull at his ponytail thoughtfully.

Bo-Katan frowned at this lack of response. "Is there a problem, Master Jedi?"

"Er, it's just Ranma and something like that," Ranma said frowning thoughtfully then looking over at Shaak. "It looks like you were right, I might not be able to get much out of this."

Cocking an eyebrow Bo had to agree with that sentiment given what she had seen Ranma do with his bare hands back on Corellia. Nonetheless she gestured him forward, walking towards Master Chud-ro. "Master, these are the two Jedi, Jedi knight Shaak Ti and Jedi knight Ranma. The human one, Ranma, seems to be the hand to hand combat expert."

Ranma frowned, and opened his mouth, but Shaak elbowed him slightly in the side, before leaning in to whisper into his ear. "Don't bother, it just isn't worth the aggravation of attempting to explain your unique status every time it comes up."

While 'Carla' looked interested Ranma frowned but shrugged his shoulders, and Master Chud-ro simply looked at the pigtailed human. "You are not impressed." he stated as he looked at Ranma whose eyes had strayed back to the sparring going on.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "Not really, no. I mean it looks good, but I'm not certain I can get much of anything out of learning your style, no offense."

"None taken. I realize that our style often doesn't look very imposing on the surface of it, many enemies have thought that over the millennia. Our martial arts is based off reading miniscule tells and anticipating our opponent's maneuvers, understanding them from the inside out through combat. Inherently it seems a defensive style, but defense can be the best offense."

"Understood, and I'm not judging it by how flashy the moves are or anything, It's just…" Ranma frowned, still pulling at his ponytail, then he shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose I can just show you, I don't suppose you have another master around or a journeyman who doesn't have much of an ego and won't take offense if he gets clobbered?"

Shaak shook her head at Ranma's lack of diplomacy, while Chud-ro stiffened slightly, looking at the two Jedi. "If you are simply assuming you will win because you are able to use Force, then I tell you, you are wrong and your perceptions are wrong. Our abilities to understand our opponents through combat matches or exceeds most Jedi's talent with your Force perceptions. Power through the Force is a false promise only strength of the body is pure."

While Ranma looked over at Shaak at those words Chud-ro smiled, again slightly, though from an Eshani that was the same as a full on sneer. "However, far be it for me to stop a young one from learning through hard knocks rather than soft instruction."

He gestured with one hand, and the sparring all around them stopped. The groups moved towards the end of the edges of the sparring area, and the master gestured Ranma to step forward. With his other hand he gestured to one of his journeyman to step forward as well.

The journeyman in question was not a large man, built along the same basic lines as Ranma himself, though he was somewhat taller and broader than Ranma, with the typical Eshani white hair and thin face. He bowed to the young foolish Jedi, who bowed in turn.

For a moment the two of them stood silent and spell, then when Chud-ro lowered his hand they both sprang into motion. Ranma literally sprang, leaping into the air and launching a flying kick towards his opponent, who ducked, dodging by the most miniscule amount, his hand lashing forward. But Ranma had anticipated that, and his own hand lashed out, smashing into his opponent's. As that hand recoiled from the impact Ranma gripped his wrist for just a split second, which allowed Ranma to twirl his body around into a roundhouse kick.

Having seen the move coming the journeyman both broke free and was able to raise an arm to block the kick, bemused that his opponent was remaining in the air. But they were trained to fight Force users, so it wasn't that unusual.

Then the journeyman grunted as the kick landed on his forearm, shock and pain going through his mind as he suddenly found himself lifted off his feet and hurled away by the power of the blow. _**Strong**_ _, that blow should never have been able to have that much power behind it!_

Still without speaking the journeyman righted himself in midair, skidding along the mat before he came to a stop. But before he could set his feet Ranma was suddenly in his face. _And fast!_ The two exchanged punches for a few moments, neither landing a telling blow or so it seemed, with the journeyman barley able to keep up with Ranma's speed at this point.

But actually each redirected blow was slamming like a sledgehammer into the journeyman's forearms and hands, causing him to grit his teeth. Even worse was, despite being able to read Ranma's moves, he was not learning anything about him beyond the fact he was simply too fast and strong to anticipate accurately. _His style is so chaotic, so wild, I can't… "_ GAHH!"

At that point Ranma's fist had suddenly disappeared from where the journeyman had thought it would be to slam into his opponent's side. The journeyman **knew** he had been reading Ranma correctly, the younger man was good at not showing his tells but to a student of Echani Ranma might as well have been shouting. But now it seemed as if Ranma had learned enough about him, and was able to figure out a way to trick his senses.

Even so, the journeyman recovered quickly, and was able to redirect the next two blows. He couldn't block the next two, and the next punch after that smashed into the side of the journeyman's head, sending him crashing to the mat.

The journeyman groaned as he pushed himself to his knees, then stilled as Ranma's hand lightly tapped the back of his head. "That's sort of what I was afraid of," Ranma said with a shrug looking over at the master and Shaak. "He was able to see my tells and anticipate some of my attacks, but anticipating doesn't really matter much if your opponent is just too fast for you to block or too strong. He should probably get those bruises of his seen too by the way."

Ranma looked up, frowning as he realized everyone in the training area was watching him now, their eyes trained like so many lasers, a few of them showing shock, others something else he couldn't quite place. Even the master looked somewhat surprised, if his slightly widened eyes were any indication.

Neither Ranma nor Shaak understood how important sparring and understanding through combat was to the Eshani. They could tell a LOT more than just their opponent's next move. The Eshani could tell if someone was trustworthy, if they had good intentions or bad, if they were hiding something and numerous other things. Combat was the one true way to understand someone.

Even more importantly, the Echani style of martial arts was based upon mastery of the body. As Chud-ro had said, only strength of the body was pure. And Ranma had just shown strength of the body that was frankly astonishing.

Worse, they could tell he was holding back, along with a myriad other things that Ranma didn't realize he advertised even in a spar like this. His confidence, his wild nature, his mastery of several styles which he had merged into a single whole, styles moreover none of them had ever seen before. And above that, his love of the arts came through.

To the Eshani those were incredibly interesting traits. In fact for many, they were… desirable, and Shaak frowned, looking around at 'Carla' and the other female Eshani looking are Ranma now. _Oh no… I think we did not think this all the way through…_

After shaking his head Chud-ro stepped forward, his eyes now alight with eagerness to test himself against this wild one. "Let us see if I do any better."

'Carla' watched the match excitedly, along with the other apprentices, only to stare in shock as Ranma slowly battered the older man into submission. It took quite a bit longer, Chud-ro was not only somewhat stronger and faster than his journeyman, but also better at reading his opponent, giving him just a bit more of an advantage in anticipating where the his enemies attacks would come from. He had also learned, and was able to redirect more of the blows as well as dodging as often as possible.

Offensively however, Chud-ro could do nothing. Every time he tried, Ranma would use it against him, his tells changing in an instant, proof to all that Ranma had indeed mastered several styles and was able to even change how he thought from one moment to a next while fighting.

 _This is astonishing and rather disturbing too, not just about what it says about him but me. I thought that I had become close to the pinnacle of what the physical arts could be, but clearly there is another threshold I have yet to reach._ Chud-ro thought, though he was unable to focus much on that at present with Ranma pressing in.

Ranma finished the match with a leg sweep putting the older man on his back where he lightly tapped his foot down on Chud-ro's chest before backing away. After that Ranma backed away, looking at the man curiously. "That was interesting. Yeah, I can work with that…"

Chud-ro chuckled, rolling and pushing himself to his feet. "I think we can all see what we have to learn from you in return. Your strength and speed are phenomenal, well beyond anyone I have ever fought before, even other Jedi. I have fought several Jedi who have come here for advanced training, including Master Windu, and none of them could do what you just did even when armed with their lightsabers."

Ranma shrugged. "Jedi have a lot of other stuff they have to learn during their training, I only learned how to fight."

"I see," Chud-ro and with a nod, and he did indeed, he had seen a lot while fighting Ranma. Even more than the onlookers had been able too, and certainly more than his journeyman, who had panicked after blocking that kick.

The older man looked over at Shaak who smiled, pulling off her Jedi robes, handing them and her lightsaber to one of the nearby students. "I believe I have even more to learn than Ranma, though I am uncertain if I am at the same general level as he is in comparison to your school of martial arts, at least when it comes to hand to hand."

Another journeyman stepped forward bowing from the waist far lower than any of the locals had heretofore done to either Ranma or Shaak. "If it pleases you Knight Ti, I will be your opponent now."

Shaak returned the gesture, bowing just as low then the two of them moved as one, quickly exchanging a series of blows. Immediately it was apparent to the watchers that Shaak's hand to hand style was nothing like Ranma's. She didn't move nearly as much, and she didn't take the air is often. In that way, she was much easier for the locals to get a handle on.

They could also tell far more about her than they could Ranma, or rather what they saw wasn't so chaotic and misleading. She fought with the calm nature those who knew about such things expected from a Jedi, yet there was also a wildness to some of her moves, a controlled ferocity that was at odds with that, showing some aspects of her Togrutan nature. Like Ranma, she too enjoyed the contest.

And unlike a normal Jedi was able to rely on her physical skills in this match, not once showing signs of Force Precognition, something that won nods of approval from many of the watchers. After fighting against Ranma so often Shaak had no need to heighten her speed that way, and indeed found herself holding her strength back somewhat in order to not injure her opponent.

Added to her speed and strength, Shaak fought with an incredible precision. She launched numerous feints with only a few real attacks mixed in, but those invariably struck where here opponent was not prepared for them.

in turn whenever her opponent landed a blow on her, normally on the forearm or shin, they found that Shaak would simply shrug them off. This surprisingly extended to debilitating blows to the stomach or chest area. Shaak wasn't even pushed back by the impact.

Defensively, the journeyman did much better in this round than Chud-ro had against Ranma. He was able to keep up with Shaak speed better, and block or redirect most of her blows. However eventually the blows that did get through began to tell, and he was just a little too quick to respond to a blow to his already injured side. As he moved brought both his hands down to block that punch, Shaak's leg lifted into a kick that took the man in the chin hurling him backwards to land on his back with a groan of agony.

"Yes," Chud-ro mused as his journeyman groggily got to his feet, bowing his head even more respectfully towards Shaak than before. Indeed, his eyes were alight with something approaching interest as he took his position on the sidelines of the salle. "Yes, I think we all have something to learn here."

"Meh, maybe, if you've got enough…What?" Ranma trailed off as one of the other journeyman bowed respectfully to him. though in this case, it was a journey-woman.

"If it pleases you Master Ranma, I would spar with you." The woman said, her eyes alight with challenge and her body subtly bent forward in order to draw attention to her feminine features.

Ranma looked over at Chud-ro who shrugged, a faint smile on his face. "We Eshani respect skill of the body over everything. Everyone here wishes now to spar with you. Try to learn what you can from my more advanced students, while I call others of my own status. No doubt my words will galvanize them. Knight Ti, you may join a few of the other students who are going to return to their studies now, if they do not wish to be put on punishment detail."

The rest of the day was a series of spars, with Ranma first fighting all the journeymen level students in the dojo. After making a series of calls Chud-ro returned and began to make comments, pointing out where Ranma had missed this or that tell, what it should have told him about his enemy, and other things of that nature.

In response instead of being a full on spar, Ranma adopted a primarily aikido-based defense. This allowed Ranma to drag the fights out, watching his opponent watch him and learn from this how he was giving himself away. It would take a while, but Ranma knew he could learn quite a bit this way.

That this frustrated his opponents and amused Shaak, Chud-ro and the other masters who answered his summons was something Ranma missed entirely. His opponents, even 'Carla' when she took a turn could read enough in Ranma's fighting ability to realize he wasn't using his own style any longer, instead using one of the several dozen styles he had mastered. It was a show of superiority that either drew respect or irritation, and sometimes both.

At the same time Shaak began to work with a few of the masters, incorporating their ability to read tells into her own mental repertoire. She even trained against a few who had learned swordsmanship or staff-work.

Bo-Katan moved up to Ranma side after one spar, itching to take him on herself, but not at the level she needed to be to challenge him here in the training hall. "I have to say, you're not anything like I thought Jedi would be."

Ranma cocked his head at her, frowning as he replied, ignoring Shaak's earlier attempt to persuade him to not care about that comparison. "I'm not a Jedi. I just work with them."

"Work with them?" Bo asked, hiding a small smile. _Well now, isn't that interesting, on many levels. Though I still have to wonder what the hell he did to get such a huge bounty placed on his head._

"Well something like that anyway," Ranma said with a shrug. "It's not like they are paying me or anything, and most of my friends are Jedi, and we do share a lot of similarities. I just don't see the Force like they do, not exactly anyway, and I'm definitely not a part of the Order. Friend yeah, part of it, no."

Bo-Katan frowned, deliberately backing away a step, as did a few of those near enough to listen, though most of the students had turned back to their own instruction, and more than half the journeymen had left to get some small medical attention. "Considering how much history this planet has had with the various Jedi/Sith wars, perhaps you should explain that."

 _Not that Mandalorians see that history in precisely the same way._ In fact, most Mandalorians were far more favorable toward Sith, having fought alongside them more often than against them, certainly more often than they fought with Jedi.

Ranma frowned shaking his head. "Not like that, Dark and Light exist. I've seen examples of both, and I make no bones about it. But I use the Living Force, whereas Jedi, if they're even aware of the different kinds of Force, don't differentiate between that and the Unifying Force."

"What is that supposed to mean? I've never heard those terms before." 'Carla' asked frowning.

Ranma gestured at himself then her then around to the other listeners. "Living people, all living things have the Living Force within them. Anything that isn't alive, rocks, minerals, stars, gases that kind of thing has the Unifying Force within it. That kind of Force sort of binds everything together, and it's that kind of Force that most Jedi use most of the time. I never learned how to do that, I instead use the Living Force within me, and because of that I can do some things the Jedi can't, and vice-versa. Understand?"

"Only vaguely," Bo-Katan said frowning slightly, though inside she was simply listening avidly. If that part about everything living having this Living Force within them meant what she thought… "Perhaps a demonstration?"

Ranma shrugged, and turned to a training dummy that wasn't being used at present, set against the far wall. "Moko Takabashi!" As everyone around them stopped what they were doing to stare at Ranma or the training dummy which had been decapitated by the cerulean sphere, Ranma simply shrugged. "That's one of my attacks. I can't reach through the Force and grab things or anything like that though."

 _That was just a demonstration, something he did between one second and the next, and I bet that is only one of his attacks! And there's his durability, if that is some kind of teachable technique even the best Beskar armor would pale in comparison! The bounty can wait, I need to learn how Ranma can do that kind of thing, and if I can learn the how to do it too!_

With that in mind, and the fact the Bo, as Eshani and Mandalorian, found martial ability sexy, Bo went into seduction mode. Not full on seduction, Ranma's manner told her that would be a bad idea, but flirtatious. It was amazing how men spilled their secrets to the women they slept with after all.

"So, after this would you like me to show you around the city? See the sights, maybe meet new people…partake in some local delights…" Bo said, smiling and almost batting her eyes at the taller Ranma while all around her the women's lips turned downwards in an Eshani frown at how quickly she had moved in on Ranma. Not that they disapproved of her speed, only that she had beaten them to it.

Ranma shook his head, not understanding what she was implying. "Not just yet, Shaak and I might want to at some point though, for now, we'll probably stay here until nighttime, then see about some local clothing and food. I always need new shirts, and I've lost a few pairs of pants too."

Wondering if Ranma just had blown her off, or if he was simply not reacting to what she said Bo changed the subject slightly, her need to know the answer to this question overcoming her desire to wait and get to know Ranma more. _On the other hand if I don't ask, no doubt one of the others will_.

"Alright, just remember I'm supposed to be your liaison while you're here. My own off-world nature will help you interact with the locals more smoothly. But back to the original topic, you said **everything** has this Living Force within them?"

Ranma nodded, inwardly cursing his big mouth. _On the other hand, how likely is it even these Eshani can devote enough time to the art to build up their ki? Even the old masters here don't have much to speak of._

"Does that mean these techniques of yours can be learned by anyone?" Bo asked, trying not to sound like she was all that interested while around her literally everyone in the training area was trying to listen in.

Ranma frowned shrugging his shoulders, but his sense of honor wouldn't let him outright lie about the Art. "That's up to them, and it takes a shit load of time. It took me 11 years training to build up my own Living Force to the level I could start using it subconsciously, and it took me several more years beyond that to realize I could consciously use it like I just showed you."

 _Heh, and even then, I'm something of a prodigy,_ Ranma thought without any trace of false modesty. Ranma could do things with ki that no one, with the exception of Herb, who had a natural advantage, his age could do. Bringing out and using ki was literally the study of a lifetime, dozens of years devoted to a single goal, and very few martial artists ever achieved anything with it.

Staring at Ranma with her head cocked to one side Bo wondered if Ranma was lying there, or possibly making it easier than it would turn out to be.

They were interrupted as Shaak moved towards them. "Ranma, I am almost done for the day, I need some time to meditate on what I've learned here in order to fully incorporate it into my style. But master Chud-ro asked to observe our sparring."

"Fine by me," Ranma said excitedly, grinning at the Togrutan Jedi, perforce forcing Bo to turn toward her too. "Are you going to be using your lightsaber or not?"

"I think I will. Will you?"

Bo-Katan's eyes lit up at this as did many of the other locals. Even though most Echani users disdain weapons, there was artistry to lightsaber combat which they approved of.

But Ranma shook his head. "No, let's see if I can incorporate some of what I've already learned into my hand-to-hand style before trying it out with my light pike."

Shaak nodded, and the two of them moved over to the training salle. Bo-Katan and nearly every other Eshani bar a few apprentices held back by their teacher moved in the same direction, circling the sparring ring.

Ranma and Shaak stood across from one another as Shaak activated her lightsaber holding it up to her face in a salute while Ranma bowed his head. There were some mutters as a few of the journeyman noticed that Ranma didn't have a weapon, but more of approval than anything else. Bo however smirked internally, having seen his durability on display in the battle back in Coronet.

A second after saluting one another Ranma charged forward, keeping to the ground for a moment. Then as Shaak began her counterattack to his first feint he leaped into the air, his fists lashing out in a combo towards her head. Shaak used to lightsaber to this deflect or block his blows, riposting quickly, but Ranma blocked her lightsaber with his own hand, smacking it aside.

There were several frowns now among the onlookers, wondering why the Jedi was training in such a manner. After all, if Shaak's lightsaber had been on full power he would already have been disarmed, literally, many times over.

Bo-Katan however was not one of those frowning. She was simply watching avidly. She had seen Ranma take hits from blaster bolts, and it wasn't that big a stretch to imagine that his durability could stand up against lightsabers to for a second or two.

Then as Shaak forced Ranma to guard against a blow to his chest, the entire audience saw a brief flicker of light around his hand where it impacted the lightsaber. _What is that?!_ Bo-Katan thought, leaning forward. _He didn't use anything that looked like that against me and my squad, some kind of energy shield?_

"Hmm, that's new Ranma," Shaak quipped, her lightsaber creating a blur around her as the sound of sizzling and fizzing filled the air of the training hall. She wasn't speaking of the Force shield however, but the speed with which Ranma was bringing it out and then dissipating it.

"New, but not as worth it as I thought, stopping your lightsaber is still really draining even cutting down on the amount of time I have my ki shield up!" Ranma grunted, before ducking under a blow that had been aimed at his shoulder.

A second later Ranma grabbed the end of Shaak's lightsaber, intent on taking the momentum of the battle back. His hand glowed with his Living Force Shield as he directed a series of blows toward Shaak's body with his other hand and legs.

But she blocked a few of his punches with her own off-hand and legs, moving around him and wrenching her lightsaber blade out of his hand, bringing it up and down. At the same time she lashed out with two Force Pushes in quick succession, one subtle one trying to disrupt Ranma's footwork, the other an overpowered thrust sent solely at his right shoulder.

Ranma quickly adjusted to the footwork, but twisted his body with the blow from the Force so it didn't take him off his stride. This allowed Shaak to gain the upper hand for a moment, pressing him backwards.

Again and again Ranma batted aside or dodged Shaak's lightsaber, which was moving in an intricate pattern now, well above the skills most of the watchers had seen before and surprising even Chud-ro. _She is very good! I have not seen the like before. And her style even with a lightsaber is far more of a singular creation than I would have expected from a Knight. It is a mix of several different types, into one extremely effective whole._

Of course, that wasn't the only thing Chud-ro or the other Eshani could tell from watching the spar. There was enjoyment there, a desire to challenge, a sense of deep friendship, and something else too, something he had never thought to see in a fight involving a Jedi. _Interest in one another, and is that actual love I see?_ _Oh that was very good!_

That last thought was from a series of exchanges between the two combatants. Ranma had taken the offense again, a few punches having landed in Shaak's midriff while her lightsaber was out of position for a brief second.

But Shaak replied by Force grabbing both his hands and holding him still for a lightsaber strike to the upper shoulder.

Ranma broke her grip one of his hands rising and blocking the blow, but Shaak moved with his riposted flinging herself around to come in again lowdown, forcing Ranma into the air. And instead of trying to close or press her advantage, which Shaak knew was foolish, she sent a series of Force Pushes at him, trying to keep him away from her as she recovered her breath.

In response Ranma moved with the attacks, letting himself be moved here and there through the air, only using his ki to break a Force Hold at the very end, landing before hurling himself forward quickly.

Again and again the two met and sparks flew from his ki shield and her lightsaber. The match began to grind out into a stalemate, with Ranma having fun trying to incorporate his new ability to read his opponent's more subtle moves, and Shaak simply getting a kick out of fighting Ranma as she always did, her Force Precognition against his sheer speed and strength.

Bo-Katan looked around as she heard a gasp and a, "oh wow" from young neophyte next to her. He was a boy of barely 15, his features the normal Eshani narrow face and silver hair. He was blushing visibly, his white skin showing it easily, an odd reaction from an Eshani with their lack of facial expressions. Nor was he the only one, several other people around her were also flushed, and one man went so far as to actually lick his lips as he looked at Shaak.

 _Okay, what am I missing here? I mean I suppose the Togrutan is attractive, but not that attractive, and why the hells are some of the other women blushing too?_ Sighing and rather irritated to once more prove her ignorance in terms of the local customs, she elbowed an older journeyman who was standing next to her. "What is it?"

He turned to her, his eyes slightly wide before he remembered that she was of off-planet descent and hadn't been raised in the Eshani culture. "You know of course how sparring like is sometimes used as courtship among us?"

"Yes, of course." Bo replied, trying not to roll her eyes. _Of course I know that I'm the result of that type of courtship!_ She hadn't been shy about telling people who asked her past that either "but what about their body language bothers you so much?"

"Sparring can also be flirting, and that is what this fight is… Really, really good flirting."

Bo-Katan turned back, watching the fight more closely now, frowning internally.

Indeed now that she was looking for it, she could see a few signs which could be taken to mean what the locals seemed to be seeing. Ranma and Shaak danced around one another their limbs flashing into attack or defend. But occasionally one hand or the other touched side, chest or shoulder, in a way to indicate a blow, but also in a way a small caress. Then there was the look in their eyes, especially when those eyes locked on one another, and those smiles…

 _By the Ancients, they're right! But, but the Jedi aren't allowed to form attachments! What the hells is going on here!? Does Shaak even realize what's going on? Does he?_ She thought, remembering how Ranma hadn't seemed to notice her attempts to flirt with him. _This is very strange._

"Enough! Enough! I'm afraid I can't allow you to monopolize our sparring area for much longer my friends," Chud-ro said clapping his hands and bowing slightly over them, the Eshani way of paying respects.

Which he was, and for far more than the martial skills on display. He could tell that this couple was indeed a couple, and Chud-ro was immensely happy for them, the love they seemed to share was obvious to him. He was also pleased that a Jedi would be willing to feel emotions like that and let them show. It spoke well of Shaak personally, and possibly of a change to the Order as a whole which could only be to the good.

Ranma and Shaak paused, with Ranma having grabbed one of Shaak's hands and pulled her against his chest, his other hand having pushed her lightsaber up and out, holding it there as he stared down at her with a grin on his face. Now consciously aware of their audience for the first time since the fight began both flushed slightly, moving away from one another quickly, not realizing that it was far too late for anyone in this particular audience to not be aware of their feelings.

As they did so however, the awning that protected the open air training area ripped and tore, letting the rain inside. This of course meant that everyone present was witness to Ranma's transformation with the now normal reactions following quickly.

"Oh come on!" Ranma shouted, shaking her fist at the sky while Shaak sighed moving over to pick up her robe, carefully hiding a small smile at her lover's misfortune.

Sighing Ranma turned to the crowd. "It's a weird ass Force curse, yes I was born a guy, no nothing important changes mentally and yes everything works. Any questions, no? Good!" Ranma sighed again, looking down at her shirt which thankfully had been black but not so thankfully was rather formfitting now. _God I am so sick and tired of explaining that!_

Later the rain finally ended, allowing Ranma and Shaak to take the evening to walk around Outreach with Carla to escort them. Watching their local guide answer a question from Ranma, Shaak pondered the other woman for a few moments. There was something about Carla which was ringing as false through her Force senses, but she was not dangerous to them, nothing overt anyway. There was just something there telling Shaak that Carla was more than she appeared.

She wondered about that, but not enough to bring them up her suspicions up at the moment. After all, Shaak was also a little leery of the girl because she seemed interested in Ranma, and she wondered if the Force was telling her something about that or if she was simply seeing too much into that, letting her concerns color her Force senses.

Ranma stopped outside a store, indicating Shaak shouldn't follow him, and came out wearing some of the local clothing. Bo-Katan stared, smirking slightly as her eyes roved up-and-down Ranma's body, shaking her head. _I know I should be more interested in learning his techniques but damn if he doesn't look good! Pity about the curse or whatever it is, and that he's the Death Watch's target. It'll be a shame to kill him._

She tried to keep that thought away, burying it under her appreciation for Ranma hoping that the Jedi hadn't felt that or whatever it was they did to souse out secrets and liars. She knew that their Force magic powers weren't all they were cracked up to be, after all the Mandalorians had quite a bit of success fighting them over the years, but even so….

"Hmm, good material I need to look into getting a few more shirts myself," 'Carla' said, reaching forward to touch Ranma's shirt. That this allowed her to run her hands down on of his pecs was just a bonus, really...

She felt Shaak watching her, and cocked her head to the Togrutan Jedi before changing the subject. "By the way, how long do you think you'll stay on Eshan?"

"What do you think Shaak?" Ranma asked, turning to Shaak as well, a smile on her his face as he did. "And you've got the most to learn here I'm sad to say, so you should be the one to decide how long we're here."

"I think you look good," Shaak said simply shrugging her shoulders. "And given how much damage some of your shirts of taken, it might be a good idea to gather some more up. As for how long, a few months possibly. Depending on how long it takes us to learn the local martial art, and incorporated into our own styles.

"You realize that we will be learning just as much from you?" Bo-Katan asked. "The master asked me to mention that, as it is seen as bad form to take techniques from other styles without the owner's permission."

"Why would that be?" Ranma asked cocking his head in sheer incomprehension. After all, the Anything Goes style was based off taking moves and techniques from others, and doing so while learning from said or during a spar was simply the way the world worked to Ranma. Stealing scrolls of other hidden techniques of course was beyond the pale.

"It's called manners Ranma, don't worry we'll sit down and I'll explain it to you someday. Possibly with some kind of visual aid." Shaak said drolly.

Ranma rolled his eyes pushing Shaak's shoulder lightly and Shaak smirked, causing Bo-Katan to frown at the interplay. _He can't be with her, can he? Besides, humane and Togrutans can't breed! All the parts lineup, but nothing happens._ She then smirked, her memory going back to the fight on Corellia and the sparring she'd seen today _Besides, he's a warrior, he doesn't belong with a bleeding-heart Jedi, he belongs with…_

Bo's thoughts broke off and she shook her head. _I can't be_ _ **that**_ _interested in him already, can I? Damn Eshani heritage!_

 _Remember the mission_ , she thought, deliberately turning away so that neither Shaak nor Ranma could see her face. It was thought among Mandalorians that being able to read a person's expressions made Jedi powers more accurate. _I can't be falling for him, I barely know him! Okay, yes he sexy as hell, but he's younger than me, and he's our target! Remember that Bo-Katan Kryze, learn from him sure but then forget about it and remember the mission!_

Shaking her head she turned back to Ranma and Shaak, putting on her 'helpful local with off-world blood character once more. "So, do you want to pick up some food for your stay or ae you going to eat out every night? And are there any other sites you want to see?"

 **OOOOOOO**

While one of their members was getting close to Ranma and Shaak, the Death Watch was busy elsewhere gathering their numbers. At full strength, the Death Watch currently had 1,200 blooded warriors on the roster, along with several starships. They didn't have a real fleet, and only twenty of their ships had any kind of combat ability, the jewel of which were four nearly new Z-95 headhunters. They were goodships, decent shielding, with decent armament, given to one of the Death Watch's companies by one of their clients in lieu of coin.

The other ships were cargo ships of different types retrofitted to transport people. Their shields had been heavily modified over the years, but there was no way to add much offensive capability beyond a few quad lasers here and there while also hiding their purpose to any Republic inspector.

However bringing all of those warrior together was proving difficult even for Chief Vizla, the titular leader of the organization. While he had a core of eight hundred or so warriors willing to follow his lead whatever he wanted, the others were not so quick to obey him.

Chief Vizla scowled shaking his head as he looked across the table at one of the holographic projections, one of several who were protesting his recall. "I understand your reasoning, but you didn't fight him. This target is insanely dangerous. Imagine the greatest Jedi scum you can think of then multiply his abilities fivefold."

"Apparently neither did you." said the man across from him, one of the other higher up Death Watch officers. He was a newcomer named Tanner, but as he was also heir to a clan he'd been given his own squad command immediately. Since then he had successfully lead a few mercenary operations, but Vizla didn't trust him to understand what it really meant to be in the Death Watch. "By your own report you fought a droid, not the target himself."

"True," Vizla said after a moment, spent clenching his teeth. "I fought his droid, a droid that fought us, an entire squad of Death Watch veterans and made us retreat while another squad ran straight into its master, and was badly mauled. I might not have been in on that fight, but I can tell you about his android. And if this Ranma's abilities are anywhere close, to what reports I now have access to, we will need the numbers."

"All of us, 1,200 Warriors? You can't be serious." The younger man scoffed.

Vizla stared at the man, then around at several of the others. All but his staunchest supporters were looking a little poleaxed by his decision to bring the entire Death Watch together. They'd have to break several lucrative agreements with a few crime lords here and there, including one with the seemingly slowly reconstituting Black Sun, which might be a bad thing in the long term. The rest of the underworld knew not to cross the Death Watch, but the Black Sun, if it got itself all pointed in one direction again, might be too big and too spread out to care about reprisals.

Wordlessly Vizla shook his head. "I've gathered new information about our target," he said slowly, tapping a few buttons on the table in front of him. That sent out several hundred lines of notation to each of the men taking part in this discussion along with a few security recordings. One of the security recordings was from the fight on Corellia, which he had acquired right before leaving the system.

All of the other Mandalorians leaned forward, watching the footage for a few moments, then silently reading the information. One of them growled shaking his head. "Why didn't you have this information in the first place, surely whoever is behind this bounty must have known most of this? You lead your men into a battlefield that favored your enemy far more than your own troops!"

"The information were still being compiled apparently," chief Vizla said, his own tone showing what he thought about that excuse. "But we have it now, and can plan accordingly.

The other man nodded while a few others looked interested in precisely where the information came from, but Vizla didn't say anything further. Truthfully, with what he was being offered long-term, even if he had to go in blind against Ranma he would've done it. He'd be willing to feed the entire Death Watch into that fire blind if he had to. "Does anyone else think we won't need the full Death Watch for this?"

"No," said the man who had initially questioned him, Tanner Kildreen of clan Kildreen. "No I understand that. Especially if he's traveling with a Jedi. Still, I'm wondering if we're beginning to overanalyze this. If he's that good and durable for whatever reason, then surely trying to fight him in space would be a better idea?"

"It would if we had more starfighters," chief Vizla said with a shrug, to which everyone there nodded and he continued. "I already have a spy watching this Ranma character and his Jedi minder, though the planet they are on is not a good place for us to try and attack them. Eshan."

More than one Mandalorian winced. Eshan would be a nightmare for any attacker, even if you were only there to attack an individual. The locals would take any attack on their planet poorly, with disastrous results for the attackers, something the Mandalorians knew very well, having attempted that very thing during the first round of their wars of conquest.

"Sound planning there." said another commander, frowning thoughtfully. "Very well, I'll agree to bring my people in."

One by one the other holograms all nodded, and disconnected.

"Nearly 1,200 Mandalorian warriors, all of them veterans for the most part," chief Vizla said aloud in the now empty room, smiling proudly. "That will be more than enough to kill this bastard, and after, with everything I've been promised, the New Mandalorians will suddenly find themselves with a very real threat to their highhanded control of Mandalore."

He'd actually wanted to gather more men, but the Death Watch name was still against their recruitment efforts. Let a few more years past, let the New Mandalorians be in power for another decade and then Vizla would see how many people were willing to sign up with even the Death Watch if it gave them a chance to still remain real Mandalorians.

 **OOOOOOO**

The Death Watch was not the only group interested in taking Ranma's bounty of course. Beyond the normal Bounty hunters were entire groups of criminals, gangsters, criminal organizations of all sorts were interested, sending out feelers searching for information on Ranma, his whereabouts and his abilities. The amount offered for his head was literally insane, you could buy a fleet with just one of the bounties being offered on Ranma's dual forms.

And since the 'mysterious bounty offeror' knew not to include the details on the curse lest the bounty lose credibility, it was an even more tempting target. You could buy a planet if you could get both the redhead and the black haired targets, especially since the Hutts offered almost as much for one or the other, thinking they were both the center in the Hutt's change of fortune of late and knowing they were behind Jabba and Gardulla's death.

Many thought to turn the redhead in alive to the Hutts since they would have the most fun with her. Then they could hand the man's body to the other group, whoever was actually behind that bounty. Across the Republic, thousands of ne'er-do-wells, gangsters, bounty hunters, and even a few mercenary groups saw that bounty, wondered, sent out feelers, and began to plan…

 **OOOOOOO**

Dooku frowned thoughtfully as he stood in front of the entrance to the ancient temple the Anzati had apparently raised to the Dark Dreamer over the centuries. It was proof the Dreamer's voice went back far longer than the Jedi had ever considered, which was not a good sign.

Around him the three fellow Jedi who had been assigned to this task waited, wary. They had been attacked twice since landing by feral Anzati, and it had only been Dooku's ability to sense the attacks coming that had allowed them to beat them off.

Reaching forward with his force senses, Dooku's frown increased dramatically. There was a Dark Side user in here, of a different sort perhaps but one just as powerful as the Dark Side user Ranma and the others had faced on Naboo. That was to be expected given what they had thus far discerned about the Dark Dreamer and its effects on the Anzati who hear its call. What was worrisome was the second Dark Side user near the first, far less powerful but of the same race.

"I fear we have found young knight Tyris." He breathed sadly, shaking his head. "As for the other…" Dooku closed his eyes for a moment, and was suddenly having to push back a mental assault from inside the temple. It struck quickly, like a master Makashi attack against his mental defenses, aimed at his primal fears.

Dooku quickly brought up his Force powers, defending his mind from the attack, while the others around him gasped and defended themselves as well as they could. Master Tholme, assigned to this mission because of his knowledge of the Anzati, bore up well under the assault, beating it back with little difficulty.

Knight Sofani, a young human male assigned to the mission as both pilot and a decent tracker, nearly succumbed but regained control of himself. Beside Sofani Knight Clorio, a middle-aged Ishi Tib whose padawan had died recently in a freak shuttle accident, went to one knee. His body was shivering and shaking but he eventually threw off the attack, gasping with the exertion.

"GRAHHHHHH!" At a signal through the Force a horde of Anzati emerged from the jungle all around them. Goaded into attack by the voice of their god and their own hunger for the Soup they charged, their faces and hands bestial, their small tentacle feeders stretched before them like the fangs of mindless beasts, which was in fact what they had become.

"Defend yourselves!" Dooku bellowed, moving through the others, his dueling style lightsaber activating as he brought it up into an on guard position. Then with no warning just as the Anzati reached them he lashed out with a Force push of monstrous power, smashing the horde away through the air back into the woods.

Tholme cocked an eyebrow at the older master. "That was… impressive."

"Not impressive enough, they will return. But the mindless Anzati are not our true objective." Dooku replied briskly. "Come, into the temple."

The others nodded and moved into the temple with Dooku in the lead. Tholme, knowing the others could guard him, tried to reach out through the Force to feel out what they could be facing once more, only for his senses to be blocked almost immediately. It was as if the Dark Side, whose power had been on the rise throughout the Force, had gathered even more strongly here, blocking all attempts to pierce it. "Whoever is down there is now blocking our senses," he said aloud.

"Indeed. But before, I sensed at least two Dark Side users, a master and an apprentice. Do you agree?" Tholme asked.

"I do. And like you I am sad to say the apprentice feels like our wayward knight." Tholme replied, shaking his head.

As Tholme finished speaking they came out of the tunnel into a small open area inside the temple, where the tunnel split off into three. One went straight ahead, the others to either side at right angles. From all of them came more feral Anzati, but these were all armed with large vibro-swords and came forward in a far more controlled rush.

"Knights work together to the left, Master Tholme if you would take the right, I will endeavor to take the middle." Dooku said calmly.

"Agreed," Tholme replied just as calmly, moving to take that position as the two knights moved to the other, their lightsabers, both blue, moving as one. Both knights were followers of the Soresu style, which allowed them to work together easily despite never having done it before.

Tholme was a proponent of the dual forms of Shien and Djem So. Djem so served him decently well against bladed opponents. He had also studied with the Anzati Brotherhood of assassins, and knew what to expect. "They will use their weapons to try and engage yours then try to grapple with you in order to drink your Soup, do not let them." He said calmly even as his lightsaber flashed forward, bisecting the first vibroblade and the Anzati holding it.

Dooku nodded, but then moved forward, his lightsaber flashing so fast that even Tholme had trouble following it. The first four Anzati found themselves dead before they even knew they were within range of his weapon and he moved on, slashing hacking and dancing around his enemies.

On the other hand, the two Jedi knights barely held their own, and were slowly pushed back into the area where the three paths converged. Tholme and Dooku both felt this, and fell back in turn hoping to help them if need be.

Then from the entrance came another bestial roar. "GRAAHHHH!" More feral Anzati had arrived.

Tholme found himself back to back with Dooku as the two knights fought desperately nearby. "Forge down one of the passages and hold them! we can't let ourselves be attacked from four directions at once!"

"Indeed, together then?" Dooku replied calmly.

Nodding Tholme reached out with the Force, merging his own Force Push with Dooku's. The Force Push slammed into and through the attackers that had originally come from the left side, scattering them. The two beleaguered knights quickly followed the two masters, killing the downed Anzati and racing ahead of their pursuers.

"We must cut off the head of this particular snake," Dooku said still running ahead of the others.

"Agreed. Do you think you can handle them? I fear neither of our fellows would survive if we leave them alone.

"I believe so yes." With that Dooku turned to the wall of the temple, his lightsaber flashing as he cut into it and the floor. Lifting out the chunk of stone with the Force he hurled it down the tunnel towards the Anzati, but even the ferals had enough presence of mind to dodge the rocks.

He then leaped down to the next level only a few yard below him. Above Dooku the Anzati closed in, the majority of them now coming from one direction toward the weakening, slowly tiring Jedi. But some came from the other side too, which forced the knights to face that direction for a time while Tholme held back the main rush.

Landing he made his way toward where he had initially felt the two Dark Side users, which thankfully was down one side of the corridor he found himself in. And even better, the near and completely feral anzati had concentrated their numbers on the floor above them. _Why is it that no one, not even many Jedi, remember that lightsabers can be used to make our own way around buildings? Ahh well, their loss, my gain._

Soon Dooku found himself exiting the tunnel out into another open area, this one much larger than the intersection above. Indeed it was set up like a throne room almost, with an actual stone throne set on a dais at the far end. In the center of the room several chains hung from the ceiling, with what looked like a loop of iron connecting two of them. It was obvious they should have been connected to the other two as well, but the metal there had been sheared clean. Scattered around the floor directly beneath and around it was what looked like pieces of crystal. It looked as if either an explosion had shattered a giant crystal, or someone had cut into the giant crystal in a haphazard manner until it just fell apart.

In front of the dais stood two Anzati, watching calmly as Dooku entered. One of them was an older man looking somewhere around Tholme's age, though of course as an Anzati that was undoubtedly misleading. He had long dark black hair and gray skin with deep-set eyes. He wore a traditional Jedi's robes though in drab black and grey rather than the normal tan or off white. At his side he wore a jet black lightsaber hilt.

The other was young, but in himit was certainly a correct representative of her age. He wore a normal Jedi outfit, and had a silver lightsaber hilt at his side. His eyes were vacant as he stared toward Dooku, almost but not quite as mindless seeming as the Anzati above them. "Welcome Master Jedi. Welcome to my former prison, and the seat of the new Anzati Empire."

Dooku cocked his head, his lightsaber ready at his side as he walked forward. "Master Karkko, your likeness is still kept in the secret files of the Jedi Praxium. I had hoped that the tale of your sealing was an exaggeration. Alas I see it was not."

"Indeed not. My fellow Jedi masters feared me, but refused to kill me, thinking that if they but keep me from the Soup that I would return to the Light. Fools! As if any who truly felt the power of the Sith would ever return to the weakness of the Light."

"And young Tyris?" Dooku asked, moving toward the other two, who slowly separated as he came, looking to encircle him. He stood, smiling faintly now as his Force senses began to reach out, fighting against the miasma of Dark energy that engulfed the entire temple-like structure.

"Niko heard my call, but unlike most of my worshippers he knew it for what it was yet still came to search me out, to learn from me. He freed me, and in return I have taught him much already and will continue to teach more. He will be my general as we rise to Empire!"

Karkko chuckled madly shaking his head as he and his new apprentice activated their lightsabers as one, their humming joining that of Dooku's to fill the throne room completely. "I can feel the Dark Side, it's power is far more now than it was when I was imprisoned! I cannot feel the reason behind it, but all that power is just waiting for a hand, a **Sith** hand to control it! I will be unto a god!"

He sobered as the two of them moved toward Dooku, now only separated by a few yards. "You can join me Master Dooku. Yes, I know who you are as well, young Niko mentioned you very favorably as a Jedi who has questioned the Order's methods of late, and who is acknowledged as a master duelist. I could use you in my empire."

 _So, not only is Karkko not the one behind that Dark Side user from Naboo, but he has no insight into who it could be. And Tyris doesn't know anything about Ranma or what new techniques I have. Excellent._

"I think not." Dooku said aloud. Then without any warning or even a sign of his readiness Dooku lashed out with a Force Push along the ground of the throne room.

The bits and pieces of crystal were all picked up and hurled toward Tyris. He dodged backward, his lightsaber flashing and blocking the pieces, cutting them further but not blocking them with his own Force powers, something Dooku noticed before turning his attention on Karkko.

Karrko launched his own distance attack, a blast of Sith Lightning that Dooku parried away into the floor before trying to send it right back at Karrko. The Sith Wizard stopped that attack and came in with his lightsaber swinging high then low in an intricate display of Shi-Cho and a few attacks from Ataru.

Dooku backed away, taking up a defensive stance as he felt the Anzati master reach through the Force battering against Dooku's mental defenses, trying to instill him with fear while pressing him physically. Makashi however was an excellent style for one on one fights like this, and Dooku was its acknowledged master throughout the Order, which allowed him to concentrate half of his attention on the mental assault. "Hmm… you seem to have slowed down while in your stasis, whatever that might have been. Or were all Jedi masters back then so poor in their dueling skills?"

"You know nothing!" Karkko snarled, locking blades with Dooku. "We could do things with the Force your neutered Order could never do, would never allow! You are weak, too afraid of the Dark Side to truly understand power! I slew several Council members of my own time, and you are nothing to even the least of them!"

"Yet here I still stand." Dooku commented his voice still strong showing no sign of the strain he was under, even tucking one hand behind his back while he used his lightsaber one handed as always. The act wasn't a hindrance to his lightsaber style it was simply a show of contempt.

Indeed, it wasn't the physical contest that was bothering Dooku, but the mental. After so long trying to reconstruct Ranma's speed techniques and training his Force Precognition and body to keep with the pigtailed youth Karkko was no physical threat.

The mental side was another thing entirely. The mental assault, the sense of fear Karkko was trying to send directly into Dooku's brain, kept Dooku from pressing his physical advantage, and battered against his mental defenses so much his Force Precognition was hampered badly. It was a show of control that was simply incredible.

In return Dooku was trying to set up a trap, using his own Force Precognition to hamper Karkko's and hiding his intentions while also needling the man, backing away and using as little physical energy as possible, letting his mastery of Makashi do its work and hopefully tiring the ancient Anzati Master out.

But then young Tyris joined in, having finished off the last of the crystals Dooku had thrown at him. He charged forward, his lightsaber lashing out and down at Dooku out of an attack from Ataru. He began to bounce and jump around, looking for openings from every side.

Dooku shook his head slightly, lightsaber flashing faster now, blocking both of them as he kept circling, stopping his two assailants from being able to attack him from both front and back at once. His lack of movements and controlled style seemed to throw both of them off their attacks occasionally, but for a time Karkko's mental pressure kept Dooku from taking advantage.

Then as he leaped up over a low assault from Karrko, Karrko made a mistake. The mental assault cut off for a second as the self-taught Sith lashed out with Sith Lightning instead, intending to fry Dooku as he was in the air.

But Dooku lashed out with the Force, grabbing Karrko's hands and forcing the attack upwards while at the same time lashing out with his lightsaber, blocking Tyris's attack. Their blades locked and then Dooku's hand came out from behind his back to smash with punishing force into the young Knight's head. He fell backwards, shaking his head woozily and Dooku landed launching into his first attack of the battle.

His lightsaber flashed here there and everywhere, slicing slashing and thrusting, pushing Karrko backwards. Now it was Karkko's turn to try to regain his footing, unable to summon up the concentration to renew the mental assault being pressed back as he was physically.

"As I said, I think your abilities faded overmuch in your imprisonment, or simply were never, what is the phrase, up to snuff? What they were cracked up to be? Or perhaps your reliance on your Sith abilities has kept you away from practicing your actual lightsaber skills?" Dooku taunted as he kept up the assault, still mindful of the knight behind him.

Karkko tried to set himself, tried to overcome the master duelist, and when Tyris rejoined the battle he took the chance. Backing up he blocked an overhead blow from Dooku, locking their blades as he tried to direct his Force power into a renewed mental assault.

But Dooku felt him gather his Force powers and, ducking under an attack from Tyris stepped backwards, letting the momentum from Karkko's attack push him away in a circle so they were both in front of him. Before the Ataru using Knight could move away, Dooku launched himself into a new attack with his lightsaber flashing into the speed technique that he had developed after fighting with Ranma.

His own Force Precognition screaming at him Karkko backed away, letting his lightsaber fall in order to try and bring up a Sith Lightning assault. But then he screamed as his hand was sliced off just below the elbow, the limb burned clear through by the plasma of Dooku's lightsaber. "ARHHHH!"

Karkko fell back and Dooku whirled, his speed assault swiftly overwhelming Tyris but he didn't go for the kill. Instead Dooku knocked his lightsaber out of position then actually kicked out, taking the younger man's knee out and then lashing out with a Force Push, sending him flying headfirst into the far wall with concussion inducing force.

The Anzati Knight fell boneless to the ground and Dooku whirled, his lightsaber coming around in a vicious arc. Karkko had just grabbed up his lightsaber in his remaining hand, but he couldn't interpose his blade in time. Dooku's lightsaber cut him in two from one side to the other right above his belt buckle. "GUUhh…."

Dooku stared down at the dying self-proclaimed Sith, shaking his head. "Unlike the masters of your original time, I never had any inclination to imprison you again." He said coldly, watching as the Anzati's eyes dimmed in death.

Sighing faintly Dooku took stock of his body, shaking his head at how… good he felt. A fight like this should have exhausted him, especially on top of the battle to get here in the first place and the two ambushes they had fought through before even reaching the temple. _My word, Ranma's training certainly has helped my endurance, I haven't felt this good, this young in years!_

Shaking his head, Dooku made his way over to the downed knight. After making certain he was unconscious Dooku ripped off a portion of his robe, covering his jaw and mouth and tying it tightly around his head so that the proboscis the Anzati used to drink 'The Soup' could not pop out. It was a temporary solution of course, but Dooku could only hope the man hadn't actually tasted any of said substance while under Karkko's influence. If he had, there might be no hope for him.

 _But that thankfully will be something the Healers will need to decide. All I can do is keep him under control._

A commotion near the entrance to the throne room drew his attention for a moment as Knight Sofani and Master Tholme entered. Dooku frowned, looking at Tholme. "Knight Clorio?"

"Clorio had passed on. He was pulled down by a feral Anzati he thought dead, and the Anzati fed on Clorio's Soup before we could come to his aid." Tholme shook his head. "The ferals are dead or fled however, which at least means we might have an easier time of it getting back to our ship. And I see it was Karkko as we feared, and you, you dealt with both Tyris and Karkko…"

Tholme moved to kneel down next to Dooku while Sofani guarded the entrance just in case. Tholme took out a few manacles, which he quickly put on Tyris. They were gene-locked, only he could ever open them. As he was working he looked at Dooku with something approaching shock showing through his habitual Jedi dourness. "You took them both on? Karkko alone was supposedly a match for the entire Jedi Council of his own time. And Tyris is supposedly a decent blade for a knight."

"After sparring with Ranma they were both rather slow and weak actually. It was Karkko's mental attacks and his Sith abilities which made him a real threat. But I was able to compensate." Dooku replied dryly, shaking his head. "Now, how do we help young Tyris here? Should we head to Anzat or back to the temple?"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day after their arrival, Bo-Katan nee Carla showed up at the house assigned to Ranma and Shaak Ti, eager to try to get close to Ranma. She couldn't help it really, she was just too damn interested in his abilities, and his body. Ranma's abilities, and the fact they might be learnable by someone didn't have the mysterious Force was a lure no Mandalorian or Eshani could ignore. His curse was… odd, and Bo really had no idea how to react to it, but for now that was a minor issue.

She knew that Shaak had gone shopping alone that morning, hoping to pick up some pants for herself the better to fit in with the Eshani, since she had no wish to show off her normal training garb around that many people. Bo-Katan had hoped to catch Ranma alone that morning because of this, only to find him gone from their rooms.

HK answered the door and from his towering height (HK's body was about 8' 6", while Bo was on the short side at 5' 9") glared down at the Eshani who was not an Eshani. "Rote response: Hello, this is the temporary residence of Ranma Saotome. Are you here to challenge, attack, or woo?"

"Um, what?" Bo asked, her voice deadpan, despite being somewhat intimidated by the large assassin droid, knowing it had taken on Chief Vizla and his squad.

"Amused Tone: my master has told this one and the Mistress of how often he was challenged or attacked at home when he was younger, so the Mistress and I decided to be proactive in responding to similar occurrences. Given how often my master was challenged to sparring matches last evening alone it seems to have been a good idea."

"Yes, well around here choice one and three are nearly the same thing at times," Bo said, shaking her head. "So am I to take it Ranma's not here?"

"Bored response: Of course not, else I would not have answered the door. He left this morning to see about organizing a trip up into the mountains."

Sighing irritably Bo turned and left without another word. After all, why would anyone waste social niceties on a droid? HK let out an electronic noise, the android equivalent of a snort, before closing the door once more.

Moving through the city Bo tried to think about where Ranma would have gone. After all, she hadn't been here for that long herself. About five blocks away from the hotel house she stopped, seeing a flash of black hair bouncing around the rooftops to the left of where she was walking. "What… the…"

Curious Bo moved in that direction, jumping up onto a car and then from there jumped again, her hands grabbing the edge of the rooftop. She pulled herself up easily enough then made her way over to where Ranma was apparently hiding from someone on the streets below, his head barely peeking out over the lip of the roof as he stared at them. "What are you doing?"

"Gahmm!" Ranma twitched, nearly falling forward off the sloped roof as one hand rose to stifle his mouth from the shout of surprise Bo's arrival had caused. He quickly turned and glared at her, then moved away from the edge of the roof. "Don't do that!" He hissed lowly.

"What are you doing?" Bo repeated, one eyebrow rising in amusement.

"Just look for yourself." Ranma groaned shaking her head.

Bo did so, frowning as she saw a group of six young Eshani, four girls and two boys. They were all looking around them, obviously searching for something. She looked up at Ranma and he shuddered. "Fangirls."

"And boys too, I note," Bo said with a grin, now understanding what was going on. "Well given the Eshani view of strength of the body you probably should have expected something like this."

"How?!" Ranma groaned, and Bo laughed.

"Strength of the body is beauty here, Ranma." Bo shrugged. "You have to understand how intrinsically connected the martial arts ideal is to the Eshani culture. Everyone here learns Echani to a greater or lesser degree, and the idea of knowing someone through combat is the bedrock of a lot of the interaction between Eshani. Strength of the body is beauty here." _And you're pretty damn handsome on top of that…_

"Ughh… any way to discourage them?" Ranma asked, turning away and moving over the roof to another corner.

"Most men would be happy to have several women after them…" Bo teased as she followed him, though mostly to see what his reaction would be. After all, if he really was somehow with the Togrutan Jedi, then this would tell her that.

"Not me," Ranma said bluntly, shaking his head. "I had to deal with 'admirers' before of both genders, I really don't want to have to deal with them here."

"There's a story behind that, you'll have to tell me sometime. I…" Bo stopped speaking, watching as Ranma leaped over the two of three yards of the street below them to the next roof over without any kind of buildup. _I know that shouldn't shock me after his show yesterday but damn!_

He stopped as she stopped speaking only to turn to her with a grin. "You coming?"

Bo growled at the challenge in Ranma's tone, then backed away from the edge of the roof, getting a run up before hurling herself forward over the gape, she landed, rolling forward for a second before hopping to her feet, glaring at him.

"Meh, not bad, at least you're not afraid of heights." Ranma laughed. "But answer the question, any way to discourage the fangirls and boys?"

"Probably not in terms of them challenging you to spars. And sparring is flirting here, so no to that. Being serious about chasing you down, maybe." Bo shrugged. "Get with the various masters and get the word that you'll only accept challenges from masters, that could help, especially if you set up a time every day where you'd be open to everyone. I'll tell people that when you're not actually at one of the training areas you don't want to be challenged, but I doubt that will make much of a difference."

"Argh. Ah well, I guess that's what I get for not looking further into the local society. So long as I'm not going to find any boys or girls trying to ambush me in the shower or bed for a spar or, um, other things," Ranma blushed, stuttering for a moment before going on. "Then I suppose I can deal with it."

"No one would do that, they are interested in you, that doesn't mean they're stalkers or sluts." Bo said with a laugh then she leaned in lightly, cocking one white eyebrow. "So, what're you up to now?"

"I was trying to find out how to get up into the mountains, I love mountaineering, all high spaces really, so I figured it would be fun. It turns out that there's actually not that much traffic going into most of the mountains, certainly not the areas I'm interested in. Figured I might find some hermits or the local equivalent, martial art masters that had retreated up there to commune with nature, there were a lot of those where I was from." Ranma shrugged. "Again, turns out that isn't the case here. Still want to go mountaineering though."

Bo laughed, shaking her head. "Why don't I look into that for you? After yesterday you're a minor celebrity Ranma, so it's doubtful you could do anything so simple without attracting a lot of attention. Even Knight Ti would probably have an easier time of it despite being possibly the only Togrutan on the whole planet!"

As Ranma laughed ruefully in turn Bo leaned forward, capturing his hand in her own, squeezing it hard. "In the meantime, I'd like my own chance to spar with you if that's alright? Not just in unarmed combat, but armed too, I prefer weapons frankly."

Within minutes the two of them had moved back to Ranma's current domicile and into the small, open-air training area at the back. Bo had stopped for a second at her own rented apartment to grab up a few training weapons, a long blunt knife and a gauntlet with little electrical shockers fit into the palms and fingers. She grinned, taking up a stance with her knife held down low the point facing towards Ranma as she held her hand up by her face, palm open.

Taking in her stance and weapons Ranma frowned, the sight niggling his memory for a moment, but he couldn't place it. _Meh, probably not important._ "HK, want to count the time?"

"Apathetic drone: If I cannot participate, I suppose so. 1, 2, 3."

At three Bo shot forward, her knife held low in a feint before she whirled to the side in a spinning high kick. Ranma however didn't fall for her feint, and simply caught her foot as easily as if she was a child, tossing her aside. "Yeah see, this is why I said I wasn't certain how much I could get out of the local martial arts styles."

Bo grunted, rolling along the ground before kicking off and coming in on the attack again. _Damn it, he's so strong! And I'm not good enough or fast enough to keep up! The locals might be able to read his responses, but I can't, and my weapons don't even seem to worry him at all!_

The reason for this became apparent when Ranma caught the blade of her knife between two fingers, then made a twisting motion with said fingers, shattering it. The sight both astonished and enraged Bo. "Damn it, that was my knife you kriffing bastard!" she shouted, aiming a kick to Ranma's balls.

He of course blocked it, backing away slightly. "Sorry, didn't know it was your own weapon, I just wanted to prove a point. Yah can see I won't get much out of fighting you like this. I don't mind helping you train though, so long as you don't bother me all the time about it."

"Tsk, is it that much a hardship being around me?" Bo asked, her hands on her hips as she glared dangerously at the taller Ranma.

"Nah, ya seem fun and all, but I'd still want some time to train myself. Even the best has to keep training to remain the best you know." Ranma replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay, I can understand that sure. You're going to really have to come up with some schedule though the locals will all be after you all the time if you don't." Bo replied, scowling. "Now, let's get back to it."

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak sighed, shaking her head as she once again firmly rebuffed the offer of a spar from one of the locals. Master Chud-Ro had explained some of the impact Ranma and her exhibition had on the locals, but she still was a little bemused to find men flirting with her despite her Jedi robes and lightsaber. _It is very odd, is this what other attractive women have to deal with all the time, or is it simply because the locals equate physical martial talent with attractiveness? Regardless, I don't think I like it. And I would have thought that if they had decided I was not a 'typical' Jedi, they would also have realized that Ranma and I are together._

That thought as always brought a smile to Shaak's face until she felt eyes on her. Looking up, Shaak saw several more of the locals, all journeymen from the day before coming towards her. There were both men and women among them, which struck Shaak as odd though perhaps down to Ranma's curse, which of course brought her mind back to how the locals should have realized they were a couple.

 _Now, what would Ranma do here?_ Her smile widening at that question Shaak suddenly turned leaping up onto a nearby rooftop and away, leaving her would-be suitors behind.

Ignoring the front door, Shaak bounced down from the roof of their hotel house to the training area in the back, landing and staring.

Their local guide Carla and Ranma looked up from where they had been in the midst of a spar apparently. Carla was on the ground, her leg flashing out into a kick which Ranma had just jumped over. Her outstretched arm, on which Shaak noticed the woman was wearing a gauntlet of some kind, had been caught by Ranma on the outside of the arm right behind the gauntlet and held there.

Ranma had stopped moving as Shaak jumped down from the rooftop, but Carla had not. She twisted her hand around in Ranma's loosening grip her hand grasping Ranma's own arm. There was a sizzle and a smell of ozone for a moment and Ranma yelped, wrenching his arm free. "OW, what the hell Carla!"

Shaak raised a sardonic eyebrow, a flare of jealousy going through her for a moment at the thought this human woman had been alone with Ranma. the sight of HK in one corner watching the activity calmed that feeling down somewhat, but it didn't go away, nibbling at the back of her mind.

For her part Carla was simply staring at Ranma, shaking her head. "That, that was a shock set to kill, you just absorbed every level of discharge this glove is rated for one after another and you don't even look singed!"

"I told you, you need to forget any sort of 'normal' physical limitation when it comes to me." Ranma laughed ,thumping his chest mock-arrogantly before turning to Shaak, his smile becoming noticeably warmer, with just a hint of teasing to it as he turned his full attention on Shaak.

That smile caused the knot of jealousy at the back of Shaak's mind to disappear, and she shook her head with a faint laugh. "Indeed, Ranma wouldn't even be able to spot normal if you gave him hints."

"Like you would?" Ranma laughed, shaking his head. "So, did you have any trouble with the locals?"

"No, which was rather off-putting, my Jedi robes were no help in staving off their interest in me." Shaak sighed, shaking her head, saying her earlier thoughts aloud. "I would have imagined they would have realized you and I were together though."

"Wait, so you really are together, as in a couple?" Carla asked, flipping up to her feet. She was drenched in sweat from head to toe, her white exercise shirt nearly see through now showing off a tight black exercise bra underneath it.

Shaak noticed that, though Ranma didn't seem walking over to put an arm around Shaak's waist and lean his head against one of her montrals. "Yep."

"Huh…" Carla nodded, her eyes looking back and forth as Shaak tried not to feel smug about Ranma's simple declaration. "That's interesting. Might not stop the locals though."

 _Nor me,_ Bo thought, Ranma was way too damn interesting, and not just in terms of the skills he could teach her, for her to leave him with a stupid, pacifistic Jedi. _Probably just lays there in missionary and takes it anyway, I can show him what a real lover is like! But I'll have to be careful, subtle if at all possible though judging by how he's reacted to flirting so far that might not be possible. Still, best not to do anything to really rub it into the Togrutan's face that I'm after her man._

All ideas of simply getting close to Ranma in order to target his weaknesses had disappeared in a bare two days interaction. Not that Bo realized that just yet. She shook her head now, stretching her arms above her head, becoming somewhat annoyed that Ranma didn't seem to notice, before asking, "So, how about working out that schedule?"

With 'Carla's' help, Shaak and Ranma got in touch with the more prominent Echani masters, working out a simple schedule which was then sent to each of the cities training halls, as well as a few others elsewhere on the planet. In the mornings, Shaak would head to one of the local halls to train with the masters of said hall while Ranma would spar with HK in an open area for half the morning, taking on journeyman and above after that until lunch.

The two would meet up for lunch, sometimes with a few of the locals, sometimes not. In the afternoon, while Shaak meditated, Ranma practiced on his own or trained with the local masters. The evenings were spent exploring the city or, on several occasions, heading out in one of the local catamarans to explore the ocean. Bo set that up, and occasionally joined them, not often enough to seem intrusive, but enough so that she could continue to get closer to Ranma.

Shaak also used this time to hear cases of justice in any locals affairs those involved wanted a Jedi's opinion on. Thankfully on Eshan these were few and far between, and mostly involved off-world businesses not understanding the local society.

'Carla's' prediction that they would have problems with the locals proved accurate on two levels. One the one hand, the locals did indeed challenge both Shaak and Ranma whenever they could, and sparring was indeed flirting to the Eshani. Luckily on their fourth day on the planet Ranma made his feelings toward boys hitting on him/her very plain:

Ranma, once again in his female form, stood across from one of the youngest masters he had yet to meet, a man named Gilbridd in his own training hall. Ranma routinely changed from one form to another, in order to not get rusty with one of his bodies and to make certain he incorporated any new techniques into his various styles.

This had thrown many of the locals off, until they sparred with him, where the found out that Ranma's entire combat approach changed with his bodies. Ranma as a man was more laid back and reactionary for the most part, while in his girl form Ranma preferred to be on the attack, always taking the initiative and holding it, overwhelming her opponent unless she had a reason not to. This wasn't universal of course, Ranma could change his style between one second and the next, but those underlying principles did tend to remain the same.

Gilbridd was taller than Ranma's male body by a good foot, and wider across the shoulders than most. He was strong, fast and skilled, and unfortunately knew it. His stance showed a certain amount of arrogance, much like Ranma's own, and he crouched down his hands open as his eyes analyzed the redhead. He had heard about Ranma's Force curse, but had yet to see it in action, and even if he had it would not have bothered him, believing that he could awaken Ranma to the pleasure of his female body. "Are you ready?"

Narrowing Her eyes, Ranma twisted her body to the side, providing a smaller profile, one hand forward low, the other up high around her neck. "Yeah. On three?"

Ranma taking a stance at all would have been a warning sign to anyone who knew him, and from the sidelines Bo surprisingly picked up on this. The disguised Mandalorian winced, backing away from the edge of the training salle.

"one, two, three!" With that Gilbridd charged forward, aiming to take control of the center of the salle quickly, lashing out with punches but few kicks, always keeping control of his body as Ranma met his attacks, making certain he could pull back at any time so as to not let Ranma use the momentum to take to the air. The locals knew that like a Jedi Ranma was dangerous in the air, indeed she was more dangerous there than on the ground.

Moving around slightly Glibridd let Ranma press in, trying to maneuver the redhead into striking out at his upper body. Ranma noticed this but didn't understand why Glibridd was giving him those openings. A few moments into the spar, Ranma decided to bite and see what happened.

Ranma's fist sped past Glibridd's defense, slamming into Gilbridd's shoulder. But her taller opponent went with the blow slightly, while the arm he'd tried to defend with shot out skirting along the front of Ranma's chest as he grabbed at her side, bringing her into a grapple, his other hand coming down and around her at the same time.

Or he would have, had Ranma not broken his hold easily then before Glibridd could think Ranma's other fist slammed forward, crashing into Gilbridd's chest. Gilbridd's body lifted into the air, shooting backwards as if he had been fired out of a slug thrower over the heads of the crowd, to slam into and through the far wall of the training hall.

Ranma glared around her, pointing at the now twitching body of the young master. "No grappling, understood?" Even the minimalist Eshani found themselves nodding their heads rapidly, their eyes twitching from the short redhead to the Gilbridd's twitching body.

Even Shaak had to deal with a few fanboys. She however would simply ignore all of the signs of interest, not responding at all to them. When she trained or sparred her face and body language closed down, becoming a wall the locals threw themselves at in an attempt to get her to respond as she had to Ranma that first day, failing miserably. Then when she sparred with Ranma, her Jedi control would fade before she even stepped into the salle, and the two would once more put on a display of martial prowess and emotions that made the locals watching blush in awe.

Unfortunately, the second part of the local culture that got on Ranma and Shaak's nerves was that 'Carla' had been correct in another way too. Outside of sparring, the Eshani were actually somewhat prudish, and the Eshani were so similar to one another that anyone from off-planet stuck out like a sore thumb. This was doubly so for Shaak, given her exotic Togrutan features, and Ranma had become something of a local celebrity after that first day. So wherever they went in public, even out on the catamaran, they were watched. Shaak was somewhat used to that, having seen the same thing on many planets given her lightsaber and Jedi robes, but found it very off-putting when she was looking forward to a nice time out with her boyfriend.

Carla's attempts to flirt also irritated Shaak. Unlike the locals, Bo was subtle, never pushing the envelope, simply always around, showing off her body and trying to grab Ranma's attention. Every time Shaak saw Ranma with Carla jealousy would grow within Shaak's mind, and she found herself having trouble dealing with it. The only thing that made it go away was the fact Ranma didn't seem to notice.

One evening after deciding to stay in for the night, Shaak decided to broach this subject with Ranma. "Ranma, have you noticed how Carla tries to flirt with you?" _And is there a reason why you haven't shot her down yet?_ Shaak thought worriedly.

"Huh?" Ranma said, turning from where he had been flipping through the channels on the TV. "Uh, no, does she?"

Shaak stared at him, then began to giggle, shaking her head as her jealousy once more left her in a rush, leaving her almost but not quite feeling tired mentally. Then she frowned, cocking her head. "You reacted to Aayla and Luminara a time or two on Kashyyyk. And that human Jedi knight what was her name, the one with the rear to die for?"

"Heh, that's a loaded question Shaak, like that whole 'does this dress make me look fat' thing women sometimes ask." Ranma shook his head in turn, his hand reaching up to run his fingers over Shaak's lekku, causing her to twitch and moan at the sensation. "I suppose I reacted to Aayla and Luminara because I had gotten to know them, and I suppose I've worked up a certain level of immunity to purely human women."

Then he laughed, his fingers still tracing up Shaak's lekku. "As for the knight with the 'rear to die for' she did trip us both and fall down onto me when we were sparring Shaak! Of course I reacted when her rear was right on top of me. It's not like I could have stopped myself, it was a purely physical reaction, and I pushed it down the moment I noticed it was happening."

"True, you did." Shaak sighed faintly, leaning into his touch, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Ranma, this whole jealousy thing bothers me occasionally. I just don't have enough experience dealing with it."

"Heh, wish I could say the same. I still feel it though, whenever I see any of the locals try to flirt with you in their weird ass way." Ranma smirked. "Then they fail to get a reaction out of you so miserably it makes me smile."

His smile turned gentle and he stopped touching her lekku his fingers tracing to her jaw instead. "Their attention you doesn't matter to me Shaak because I know, I **know** , that you won't respond to them. What we have, it goes way beyond the physical, right?"

Shaak's eyes opened, locking with Ranma's own, understanding what he hadn't given voice to, and she nodded wordlessly, leaning over to kiss him lightly before pulling back. "Yes, it does, and their attention doesn't matter, nor Carla's to you. Only our attention on one another."

With that she leaned in, kissing him ardently as their arms went around one another. Slowly pulling away from the kiss, Shaak trailed kisses down Ranma's jaw as he bucked lightly beneath her. Then as she reached his collarbone Shaak bit down hard as she could. But once again her sharp teeth couldn't penetrate Ranma's skin. None of her training with him helping her jaw muscles become stronger.

She pouted before opening her mouth in a low moan as Ranma's hand trailed down her back lekku, one hand gripping her rear and pulling her onto his waist, her legs going to either side of him as he lightly pulled at her back lekku with the other. Leaning down slightly from her new vantage point Shaak kissed Ranma open mouth to open mouth, her tongue out and trying to dominate the kiss, only to find it impossible. Ranma took control for a few moments, breaking off only when they needed to breath.

Now it was his turn to trail kisses down Shaak's check and jaw, tracing her white markings for a moment, his hands busy squeezing her rear and back lekku respectively. Between kisses he asked, "Why in the world do you keep trying to bite me Shaak?"

"Mhmgmm… it's, it's my Togrutan instincts. Togrutans always try, try to mhhhm, to mark our mates I suppose. It's, it's a pure instinctual act." Shaak moaned her hips working against Ranma's waist.

"Huh…" Ranma said then leaned back, the hand on her back lekku abandoning it to move to take up one of her front lekku. As Shaak watched, still gulping in air Ranma brought the tip of the lekku up to his mouth sucking at it, his tongue twirling around the edge, causing Shaak to moan even louder, throwing her head back, her back arching.

Ranma grunted a little as this put more pressure on his physical response to her body. Shaak felt that and began to move her core against him deliberately rubbing into and down on it, her lips found his neck sucking and nipping at the skin as hard as she could, once again losing control of her Togrutan instincts.

In response Ranma bit down on the end of Shaak's lekku, sucking at the same time. Not hard of course, Ranma didn't want to break the skin, just lightly bruise it. But that was enough.

Shaak went wild, her voice rising into a near shriek as her body just went crazy, her hips rising and falling without any input from her brain as once again, Ranma caused her to orgasm, though this time it was without any kind of buildup, striking her body almost out of the blue.

Ranma grunted again, pulling back from his ministration on her lekku tip so he could grit his teeth as, with a final shudder, he too finished. He leaned back against the sofa's back as Shaak fell forward, her head practically lolling for a moment.

"Oh blessed Force that was… oh wow…that was surprising…" Shaak groaned, slowly pushing her body off Ranma's to stare at him. Ranma looked back, his eyes clouded with the after effects of his own body's reaction. Shaak leaned her forehead against his for a moment before leaning to the side to gently kiss him once before nuzzling into his neck.

The two of them fell asleep there, unmindful of HK"s return or the TV or anything else, just lost in one another.

 **OOOOOOO**

Carla sighed as she once again made the short trek to the hotel house Ranma and Shaak were using. The past few weeks had been the most physically tiring she could ever remember, even more than her training to be squad leader or her earlier training to become a Mandalorian Warrior. She had become leagues better in the past two weeks then she had been before arriving here, and had learned how to incorporate more of her mother's Echani into her Mandalorian style than ever before.

But for all of that, her personal mission to get close to Ranma had not been going anywhere. He simply didn't notice her flirting with him if she was at all subtle, and if she wasn't he just looked uncomfortable instead of reacting as a real man should. _It should be simple, I'm a woman he's a human man, there shouldn't be anything Shaak has that I don't, and I know I would make a better lover than any prudish Jedi, but he just… doesn't… seem… interested! Arghh!_ That was a major blow to her pride as a woman.

 _Worse, I still don't know how I think about his female form._ That was a major sticking point for Bo. She had experimented once with a woman when she was younger, but hadn't enjoyed it at all. The other woman's curves and her kiss had actually turned Bo off, she liked hard muscles and sharp edges, not curves, and the feel of a woman's lips was also too different for her to enjoy.

Despite this, the difference in her skill from simply sparring with Ranma over the past few days was huge. Before arriving on Eshan, Bo would have rated herself an only fair to middling hand-to-hand combatant. She was far better with a blaster in her hand and her rocket pack on her back. But now, Bo felt she might have been able to take on any of the old hats at hand to hand. _And this is just the tip of the iceberg, Ranma said you don't need to force to become as strong or as fast as him, and I believe him._ Bo had in fact forgotten her original mission here entirely in the face of Ranma's skills.

About to round the last turn to the street where Ranma and Shaak were living Bo's thoughts juddered to a halt as she heard the two of them talking ahead of her. But it wasn't just the words, but the topic. "I do not understand why you have this fascination with the Mandalorians Ranma. I understand you wish to know your enemy, and with the Death Watch possibly gunning for you I can understand that, but your interest seems to go deeper than that."

Steeling her mind from the flare of sudden interest she had felt, Bo rounded the corner, allowing one eyebrow to quirk up as she saw the two of them. "Hello you two, I was just about to stop by and get you. Chud-Ro's training hall is closed for the day, the ground needs to be repaired after yesterday's spars. So I'm supposed to show you to one of the others."

"Gotcha," Ranma replied as Shaak nodded her head to the other woman, having the grace to look somewhat abashed. She and Ranma had gotten into it quite a bit yesterday, and a lot of the damage the ground had taken had come from Shaak's lightsaber and her Force attacks.

As 'Carla' fell in beside the two of them, she cocked her head quizzically. "You are researching the Mandalorians? And have one of their strange factions after you?"

"Yeah, though I wouldn't call the Death Watch a faction, that gives them too much credit in my mind." Ranma growled. "Pirates, raiders and cowards the lot of them. I've been looking over some of the information about them. Their credo says they want to return to the old ways of the Mandalorians from their wars of conquest. I could almost understand that, my own people went through a time where they had similar beliefs."

He snorted harshly. "Of course the difference between the ideal of honorable conquest and the reality are two different things. The horrors we inflicted on our neighbors was about as far beyond the bounds of the code of the Samurai the modern martial code of the Japanese army was supposed to be based on as anything could be. The rape of Nanking, the horrors we inflicted on our prisoners or our Philippine conquests. I've no doubt the Mandalorians of old did a lot of the same things, especially once they began to lose. Honor tends to go out the window under those circumstances."

Bo hoped to the ancients that Shaak wasn't reading her thoughts or emotions like the Jedi were supposed to be able to, or if she was, that she would think Bo's sudden spike of anxiety and interest would be about the things Ranma had just mentioned rather than his attack on the Death Watch and the ancient Mandalorians the Death Watch was supposed to act as. "I haven't heard of any of those places, or any group called the samurai, though you've mentioned a time or two about not being from around here. These samurai were warriors I suppose?"

"Yeah, a caste group which dedicated themselves to the art of combat, primarily with the sword and bow, as well as the arts like painting and other things of that nature, just to retain their humanity I suppose. They were never as honorable in person as they were supposed to be, but they were supposed to hold giri and ninjo, that is personal honor and the honor of duty to their lord, higher than anything else. The horrors the second one could lead them into often made them ignore the first."

Ranma chuckled suddenly. "Actually they are rather like the Mandalorians in other ways, they were known to wear armor complete with helmets, and specialized in wars of movement."

"The parallels are indeed interesting, though I am more interested in you translating that one book of yours Ranma, the Art of War? The bits and pieces of that you've shared are intensely thought provoking." Shaak said, smiling slightly, though her eyes were on Carla as she spoke.

"I'd be interested in that too, but what made you say the Death Watch are worse than the ancient Mandalorians were supposed to be?" 'Carla' asked, trying to keep her voice level as if it only mattered as much as any intellectual question would have.

"There's quite a bit about the Death Watch scattered around the Republic, and thanks to Shaak here I was able to access a lot of it. This new version of the Death Watch don't seem to care about what they fight for just like the last one: Protecting drug dealers, working with criminal groups, guarding slave ships and even taking and selling slaves themselves. They aren't honorable mercenaries and I doubt they have any kind of honor code they keep to. And that doesn't even consider the little civil war they had with the True Mandalorians, stabbing them in the back and forcing them to fight the Jedi, or the fact they might be behind a few terrorist style attacks throughout the Mandalore sector."

It was all Bo could do to keep her face straight. _Drug dealing, slaving!? I've never heard we've been involved in that kind of thing! And what's this about stabbing the True Mandalorians in the back?_ "You realize of course that any kind of information like that you get via the Jedi Order would be tainted by the distrust and dislike both the Republic and Order naturally feel towards their old enemies." She said lightly.

"Yeah, I realize that, but where there's so much smoke, there's got to be some fire, you know?" Ranma said with a shrug. "No, the Death Watch is irredeemable in my eyes. Course, the New Mandalorian faction which seems to be in charge of their planet is kind of… bizarre to me too, but that's just me. Pacifists like that only really thrive when they are protected by people with very big sticks, and unfortunately the longer you deride the people with the sticks, the further you distance yourselves from that protection."

"Huh. You know, we've talked about martial arts, styles and techniques a lot, but never about codes of honor before this. It's an interesting topic I have to say. If you look down on the Mandalorian's code, what's yours like? Do you share the Jedi's?" 'Carla' asked, unable to stop herself, but she was able to keep her tone and thoughts mellow for the moment, hopefully fooling the Togrutan.

"Heh, uh, no." Ranma laughed, but his blue eyes were serious as they nailed Carla to the pavement. "I follow the Code of the martial artist. Defend the weak if you can. Strive to your utmost in the Art. Follow your own set of right and wrong, never let anyone else dictate them. Let your deeds define you, not the opinion of others. Hold life as sacred, only take it if you must." His lips twitched into a wintry, self-deprecating smirk. "That last one's been going through some revision since I… left home."

Shaak wordlessly took Ranma hand in hers, and the walk continued for a time until Carla spotted something she could use as a change of topic. "Shaak, how did you hurt the tip of the that one lekku?"

Over the next few days, Bo went out of her way to strike up conversations about the Mandalorians and the samurai every time she could get Ranma alone, along with her continued low-key flirting campaign. Said campaign hit a bump when Ranma was splashed by some cold water from a busted pipe just as Bo was going to lean into his back. To feel and see the sexy man becoming the shorter redhead was a major turn off to Bo.

Bo was careful to not broach those subjects whenever Shaak was around, even more careful than she was about flirting in front of her because B didn't want Shaak to be any more suspicious of her than she already was. Bo decided there were indeed a lot of parallels between the Mandalorians and samurai. Mandalorians were more tactically flexible, better soldiers overall and placed personal glory and honor first. The samurai were specialists, more about service to their lord and clan, and also less expansionistic.

She also kept on asking a few scattered questions here and there about the data on the Death Watch. To her horror, a lot of it looked legitimate. Indeed, she had talked to other Death Watch members who had been to a few systems named though they had never said what they were doing there.

Assassination, bounty hunting, those she was fine with. If you were important enough to assassinate you could pay others to defend you. If you had a bounty, you were dangerous enough to look after yourself.

But drug dealing, or protecting drug dealers from the law? Taking slaves and selling them to the Hutts or to some random fat slug of a senator? Attacking pleasure yachts, killing everyone aboard and lauding your attack as if you had boarded a Republic cruiser? That last, Bo had actually heard about from one of the braggarts. And if the report was the truth, then the others might be as well.

That left Bo-Katan Kryze, Mandalorian Warrior of Clan Kryze, questioning what she had done with her life, and her place in the Death Watch, let alone about the idea of taking Ranma's bounty which frankly didn't look at all possible, even if they used the entire Death Watch to the task. Which didn't even consider the rest of her discussions with Ranma about the nature of honor, and what it meant, which just so happened to not at all accidentally touch on his abilities and techniques.

Wanting to get some clarity on her feelings towards Ranma at least Bo-Katan went by the training hall where Shaak was learning from a few of the masters. She bided her time, training with a few of the journeymen, her speed and accuracy somewhat above her fellow apprentices' level. The journeymen still handled her easily enough in simple hand to hand, but put a shock gaunt and a knife in her hand and even if they were similarly armed it was a different story.

When Shaak was free and about to leave the training hall to head back to their house for a time, 'Carla' walked up to her. "Do you have time to spar with me Knight Ti?"

Shaak looked at the other woman for a moment then slowly nodded her head. "Very well. Hand to hand or weapons?"

"Full on, weapons," Bo replied somewhat tersely, already taking a stance.

Slowly nodding her head again Shaak used the Force to summon a training sword to her hand, not her lightsaber. Carla didn't have Ranma's durability or ki shield after all. A second after her weapon hit her hand Shaak raised it, blocking a blow from Carla's own weapon, a long bladed knife of some kind with an odd slight angle to the blade.

Wordlessly the two of them began to exchange a few blows. Shaak knew this bout was about more than just Carla wanting to challenge her. For the past few days she had been getting odd flashes of powerful emotions from the other woman, but she hadn't looked closer, leery of abusing her Force powers for her own gain, given how the other woman had been making a play for Ranma practically since day one. The emotions though painted a strange picture, guilt, desire, shock, sadness, Self-recrimination, and now, as they were crossing blades, a strange need for closure.

Shaak brought her blade up into an intricate series of assaults, switching from small, controlled sweeps to thrusts in an eye-blink, forcing Carla to change her own style to defend against it. In reply Carla began to use punches and kicks, trying to keep in close so Shaak couldn't use her weapons longer range to best advantage.

Shaak however didn't even try to back away, using her own off hand and her legs, in particular her knees, to counter Carla's. And when Carla's shock gaunt struck her, Shaak barely even twitched before smashing that fist aside with her own. That opened up Carla for a pile driving kick that sent her skidding backwards.

She attempted to move with it, actually backpedaling out of range before trying to come in low pushing herself forward knife first, but Shaak's blade lashed out downward, substituting speed for cutting edge. Carla's weapon, whatever it was, was sheared in half and she stumbled forward into a roundhouse kick that smashed her to the side.

Shaking her head woozily, Bo pushed herself onto her back as she analyzed the fight, substituting her weapons with her normal blaster, armor and rocket pack, while also giving Shaak her lightsaber. _Maybe if my armor was real Beskar steel I could fight her, as it is…no, don't say that. She can already use a lot of the skills Ranma talks about, and I've seen her take a few punches from him that would have shattered bone on anyone else. Maybe if I had been the one to meet Ranma first, and maybe if he didn't have that bizarre curse, but as it is…_

Only half of that last thought had been about their actual physical combat, but the end resolution was the same. Bo-Katan shook her head leaning back on her arms, staring up at Shaak. "I never stood a chance, did I?"

Shaak allowed her purples lips to quirk slightly, cocking an eyebrow quizzically. That comment had been about far more than just the match, and a part of her, the part of Shaak Ti was Togrutan woman rather than Jedi Knight, was happy to see it. "Would you like me to apologize?"

"I'd punch your teeth in if you did!" Bo-Katan said shaking her head and sighing before pushing to her feet. "Ah well, that at least solves one of my problems, the rest, the rest I suppose I'll have to work out a solution on my own. Thanks for the spar Shaak."

Shaak Ti nodded, her eyes remaining on the woman as she left. _I hope that means she has given over her pursuit of Ranma. As much as I know Ranma is not attracted to her, I still dislike her chasing after him. But I also don't want to see even Carla hurt from his ignoring her attempts._

Two days passed since that confrontation, and Carla had indeed backed off from her flirting with Ranma though she also began to push him into training with her as often as she could. This was fine by Ranma at this point because he had absorbed as much as he could of Echani. Teaching Carla was interesting because she was not nearly as wedded to the local style as the full-blood Eshani were.

Unfortunately as Ranma had known all along it really wasn't a style Ranma would be able to utilize fully. He was able to see the various tells pointed out to him in the upper and lower body, but the Eshani had taken this to a level he would never be able to reach. The Eshani, with the sameness of their features and the way they were normally not emotive in any way had raised that ability to the study of a lifetime, able to discern an opponent's style in any single move or gesture..

Worse in a way, his opponents simply were not getting much out of it in return. Every day Ranma would spar with the masters of the various local schools and drub them. Even the meanest student could tell that, and while they took it good naturedly, they'd began to be depressed, unlike Bo, who took her being so overwhelmed as a challenge. Here was a martial artist who had taken the idea of 'strength of the body', which was the bedrock of the Eshani belief, both martial and societal, to a level none had ever imagined possible. And they could but dream of reaching it, and could not help him further on that journey.

In contrast, Shaak had learned quite a bit, becoming far better in hand to hand combat. She and Ranma sparred full on every evening with their lightsabers, and both could see her progress in reading her opponents on a daily basis. But even she had reached the point where she was starting to see limited returns, and so Ranma and Shaak began to make plans to leave.

At this point, Ranma at last organized an outing up into the mountains. The two of them, Carla and a local guide took a powerboat up the river and out of the city to trace its path through the mountains. HK went with them too, simply because he had been making noises about being bored, and neither Ranma nor Shaak had any wish to see what the droid would take it into his mind to do in that state.

The boat trip was a bit on the boring side at first, then the river's current picked up, and they began to see some rapids and rocks here and there. These were massive outcroppings of some massively dense local stone, sticking out as bare as bone, the river having worn away every other rock around them over the millennia.

"We call that stone Effishica, teeth of the mountain!" the local guide shouted over the roar of the river. "It is super-dense, and even the smallest of those boulders would weigh as much as eighty tons!"

His listeners barely nodded, enjoying the trip now save for HK. Ranma however was at the front of the boat, whooping in joy as was Carla. Even the normally calm Shaak was enjoying the trip, and showed this despite her Jedi self-control.

The rapids went on for about forty minutes, then as they finally entered the mountain proper, the river deepened dramatically, and the current slowed. For a time the river kept on, moving further and further into the mountains, the forest around them slowly disappearing to be replaced by a rocky, mountainous area. After that, the river entered a canyon it had warn out of the mountains in some ancient eon. The sides of it were made of varying shades of grey with one or two striking shafts of green rock.

Ranma and Shaak took in the view and smiled, before looking at one another, their smiles widening. This was something they shared, the love of nature like this. Bo noticed this, and frowned. Despite having consciously given up chasing Ranma she still had some attraction to him, and seeing him look at Shaak like that bothered her.

Luckily for Bo something happened just then that took her mind off such thoughts. Near the prow of the boat Shaak stiffened, her lightsaber suddenly coming to her hand and activating, blocking a series of blaster bolts from one high. From a few places along what had looked like a sheer cliff what looked like fifteen attackers opened fire on the boat. Four of them concentrated on Shaak, but the rest didn't.

Bo cursed luridly in Mando'a under her breath for having no blaster to return fire, before leaping over the side avoiding several blaster bolts by the skin of her teeth, holding onto the side of the boat for a moment. She watched as their local guide was perforated before Ranma could turn and push him out of the way. Several bolts hit Ranma too, but did no damage she could see beyond burning his clothes, just like back on Coronet.

As the guide died, Ranma turned from his attempt to push him into the water leaping up and away from the boat. His feet hit the side of the canyon and Bo watched as Ranma bounced off it to the other side, heading up. Shaak did the same, though far slower, using her lightsaber to block and blaster bolts coming towards her.

Even HK was on the move, first firing back and killing at least one of their attackers before turning and firing off a grappling hook from his newest toy, an underslung solid shell projectile launcher of some local type HK had taken a shine too. "Joyful pronouncement: Ahh this day just took a turn for the better!"

 _Oh hell no, no way is a Mandalorian Warrior going to sit by and be the only one not taking the fight to the enemy!_ The idea it might have been a group of Death Watch didn't occur to her, despite having informed Chief Vizla of their targets arrival here weeks before.

Reaching up, she grabbed at one of HK"s legs as he passed her by, letting go before the violent droid could kick her off when they reached the canyon wall. She climbed up the side of the canyon quickly, Faster than the heavier HK could move despite his grappling rope, her hands finding handholds the larger droid couldn't use. Soon she also found a small trail, hidden from below, leading upwards. Pulling out her knife, she followed it, keeping her eyes scanning all around her, hunched so as to not provide a larger target.

Below, HK had followed her, muttering imprecations against all meatbags as he did, but stopped, taking fire from across the canyon from a few people, who turned on him, thinking him an easier target than Ranma and his impression of a bouncing ball. HK's blaster came up over his shoulder, and he fired back, pushing both of his attackers and a third back into cover, the rocky outer side of a similar path to that Bo had followed up.

Ranma reached a ledge where three of their attackers had been firing from. Two of them turned away while the third continued to fire down at Shaak, who was now hanging onto the canyon wall, unable to progress at present due to the weight of fire on her forcing her to concentrate on her lightsaber skills.

Ranma landed, his hands flashing out and grabbing the guns of the two had turned to deal with him, pushing them to facing one another just as they fired. Tossing their dead bodies over the side he kicked out hard at the third one, sending him over the edge screaming to the river far below. Then he used his own heavy blaster from his ki space, perforating several attacks across the canyon before they could turn their attention away from Shaak.

Without those shooters, Shaak was able to concentrate on moving again, and leaped off the wall of the canyon aided by a massive Force Push. She landed on another mostly hidden walkway, her lightsaber flashing from defense into offense as the men around her backed away.

By this point Ranma had left the ledge he was on behind, heading up a path of his own, chasing after four of their attackers, who had retreated up it from another ledge higher up the canyon, and Ranma realized that these pathways must have been created at some point, they were far too regular. Two of them fell to Carla, who turned up from around another bend in these interconnected ledges, blasting them off their feet with a few well-placed shots from a stolen blaster. A third fell when Ranma hurled a small stone at him, crushing the back of his head.

The fourth made it around a bend in the path and Ranma and Carla both moved to pursue him but then there was a scream, cut short. "GAAAA-!"

Carla and Ranma looked at one another and Carla bowed slightly. "After you, Mister I'm Immune to blaster bolts."

"Your sarcasm disturbs me…" Ranma mused, even as he moved ahead of the half-Eshani girl, not noticing how proficient she seemed to be with a blaster. With Ranma in the lead the two of them moved further away from the canyon's walls and up into the mountains, coming out eventually a ways away from the canyon onto the mountain side.

A moment later they were joined by Shaak, who had been caught on the other side of the canyon at first, but had found her own way out on the other side of the canyon now. Leaping across with the help of the Force she shook her head at Ranma. "HK is busy pursuing a few of the survivors, who, I note, were all wearing the same uniform and were all Aqualish. I think there is a bounty hunter team of Aqualish, so this might well have been them."

"Let HK have his fun, we heard something when we were pursuing one of them, and" 'CLANG!' Ranma's hand had thrust out quickly as something large shot reared out from between two large boulders sticking out of the of the mountainside to try and attack him.

The thing was thrust backwards, servomotors whining as well as something else. Staring after it, Ranma frowned, staring down at his fist then at the beast. "What the hell did I just punch?

Carla's eyes widened and she raced forward shouting at Ranma who looked like he was about to attack the thing. "Don't!"

The strange robotic creature was huge. Covered in armored plate, of standing on its four feet it would be nearly nine feet tall at the withers. It's head was a mass of weapons and sensors set on a wide, powerful looking neck, which in movement looked like a that of a dog. It had two wide optics set far back and away from what must have been its main weapons set, those and the large claws which dotted its feet A few other weapons dotted its massive shoulders, and there was what looked like a place for a saddle set far back on the beast.

The beast was obviously an attack droid of some kind, but just as obviously ancient and falling apart. Large areas of its outer armor were gone, revealing wires and electronics which fizzled and sparked. One of its back limbs seemed locked in a crouching position, rusted solid, while rust, moss and lichen marked its body everywhere. Most of its weapons were broken, shattered of bent to uselessness. It's eyes were dim, but still tracking the three sentients in front of it.

To 'Carla' it was easily the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and it was all she could do to not let loose with a girlish squeal. _It's a_ _Bes'uliik! Oh my god, an honest to the manda_ _ **Bes'uliik!**_ _Why in the world, how in the universe did it get here!? I know Mandalorians attacked Eshan during the wars, but surely any Bes'uliik would have been collected afterward. Whatever it's here now, no way will I just leave it!_

She held her hands forward, making a soothing clicking noise in the back of her throat, speaking Mando'a, hoping Shaak didn't recognize the language. She knew the Jedi translated via some kind of mental technique, but did that help them actually recognize a specific language?

Regardless, Bo had more important things on her mind right now. "Shhh, great beast, shhh, we are friends here, not enemies, calm your diodes…"

It might have been her tone or hearing the language of its masters after so long, but regardless the creature laid down, it's head thumping into the ground at its rheumy optics locked on her. Bo moved forward, running her hands along the robotic creature's sides, still. "Look at you it's been a while since someone looked after you, old beast. Still nothing a lot of tender loving care won't cure. Would you like that?"

"Really?" Ranma asked deadpan as Shaak translated the normally tough-as-nails Carla's words. "What the heck is this beastie that's got you so enthused?"

Shaak frowned, cocking her head. "It looks oddly familiar, as if I'd seen it before, but I can't bring it to mind it was so long ago. From a history text when I was an initiate I think…"

Thinking quickly Bo spoke up before Shaak could try and bring the image to mind, outright lying and hoping that Shaak wouldn't pick up on it. "Oh, it's an ancient guard beast from Corellia or Kuat originally I think, not certain." She actually couldn't remember where the Bes'uliik were originally from, so maybe that would cover the rest of her lie. "My home planet of Codia almost venerated them for a time. I have no idea how it appeared here."

Shaak's eyes narrowed lightly, sensing some prevarication there, but not enough to call the woman out on. _I have to be careful to not let my own ongoing irritation with her cloud my impressions of Carla. It's obvious she is hiding many things, including where she is originally from, but she is not a threat to Ranma or I and I cannot justify using my powers on her any further than I have in the past._

Not knowing anything of Shaak's inner thoughts, Bo looked at Shaak and Ranma. "Look, I can't just leave this beastie here. I'll call in a few favors and get a ship to come up here and help me with him, but I need to get him to trust me first, not just let me near him. That'll take some time, but there's no reason you two need to wait for me."

Ranma shrugged disinterest and looked at Shaak who stared hard at Carla, thinking hard. After a second she nodded, once again telling herself to be wary of letting her emotions guide her. Then too, there was a sense here: a sense of some kind of crossroads or a chance playing out. Nothing as clear as a Force vision but still, Shaak decided to follow that impression and see where it led. "Very well. We will see you when you get back into the city I suppose."

With that the two of them walked off, leaving Carla there to continue to croon to the odd robotic creature. She continued to earn the Bes'uliik's trust, wiping off the lichen, repairing the wires, and doing what little she could for it with no tools. She wasn't normally mechanically inclined, but Bo was going to make an exception here.

Eventually the beast trusted her enough to lead her away from the canyon over the mountains to where it had been hiding for the last few thousand years, only moving out whenever it heard the signs of battle. The reason for this was obvious the moment Bo entered the large cave and saw the ancient remains of a Mandalorian Warrior. After so long there was nothing of its body left, but this left the most ancient looking version of her people's armor that she had ever seen.

For a moment Bo simply stood there, staring. After a moment she leaned down, to touch the corpse's gauntlets, holding them up to look inside them. She stared hard at them for a moment before shaking her head, fighting back a near hysterical chuckle. _Crush gaunts, Vizla's the only man I've ever met who has a pair! If this and the Bes'uliik aren't a sign from the manda that I'm supposed to try and forge my own faction to stand against his, I don't know what else it could be._

The manda was an odd concept to non-Mandalorians. It was the name Bo's people gave to a sort of collective gestalt, a over-mind created by the souls of warriors who had died, hence their somewhat simplistic ancestor worship. It also covered the idea of fate without touching on the Force the Jedi and Sith used. Bringing up the idea the Force and the manda might be one and the same would get you attacked by any Mandalorian who heard you.

Bo returned late the next day, only to find that Shaak and Ranma were preparing to leave Eshan. She told them as little as she could about the Bes'uliik, but Shaak still seemed to sense something but why whatever it was brought a faint smile to the Togrutan's face was beyond Bo.

The Mandalorian warrior was surprised however to see that several Nova Guard had arrived to talk to Ranma. According to him, they had been sent to observe him and question him about his techniques. This made Bo's conviction firm further. _No way will I let another warrior culture learn Ranma's skills before mine!_

After staying her farewells, Bo watched the Wild Light lift off heading to space. When it was out of sight, she turned away resolutely. She had a few people to talk to and several dozen calls to make.

 **OOOOOOO**

As they left the planet's atmosphere Ranma sighed while following Shaak's instructions, having them head out-system rather than jump to hyperspace after they left Eshan's gravitic shadow. Shaak had told him that morning that the people she had called during their stop-over had both responded and sent a ship to meet them her in the Eshan system. "Well, we're away, I just hope this planet of ours works. That last Bounty Hunters attempt on our lives was a little bit much."

"I know that look Ranma, what are you thinking?" Shaak asked warily.

"Well we've got our plan to trap anyone who comes after us. But with the size of the Republic I don't think even the rumors of us wiping out whole armies would stop Bounty Hunters from coming after us. And after that attack, I'm thinking of doing a little hunting of my own, not just trapping."

Ranma smirked, but it was a wintry rather than humorous expression as he remembered how the Bounty Hunters had killed their guide in the attack yesterday. "Did you know that the Bounty Hunters Guild has actual guild halls in some systems? I figure showing up in a few of those, beating up everyone inside and stringing them up by their ears for a bit might get the idea that I am **displeased** with them into their brains."

Shaak thought about it, laughed, a rippling sound of laughter which reverberated around the cockpit as she shook her head leaning over to kiss Ranma on the lips for a moment before pulling back. "That sounds like fun! You have no idea how much issues there have been between the Bounty Hunters Guild and the Jedi Order since the Senate allowed the Guild to become an actual accredited union. Worse is how little oversight there is in terms of bounties they take! Forcing them to realize there are some bounties they shouldn't touch is an excellent idea."

"Glad you approve," Ranma said, leaning his forehead against hers for a moment staring into her eyes, so blue against the background of the white marks around them. "But before that, I think I'd like a few days just us yeah?" He asked somewhat tremulously. They'd only gone on one date over the past month, and outside of that brief biting moment, as Ranma thought of it, they hadn't actually had that very many romantic moments at all.

Or at least what the two of them thought of as romantic. The Eshani were decidedly against public displays of affection outside sparring, and it had made both of them rather uncomfortable to even hold hands at times. Worse in a way was how much the two of them apparently told the onlookers whenever they sparred! It was almost like the two of them had been on display, and not in a good way. Added to that was Carla's near constant presence.

"Oh my word yes…" Shaak whispered, before leaning forward to kiss his nose, an impish smirk on her purple lips as Ranma scowled, reaching up to wipe at his nose. "I still have to find a way to reward you for that one time after all." Shaak had actually thought up a way to do so, it was simply figuring out the appropriate moment to go through with her idea that was bothering her.

"You haven't even told me what I did right!" Ranma laughed, his hands snaking up to Shaak's waist where she was leaning over between their seats.

"Disgusted tone: Master, if you and the Togrutan are going to fornicate right here, can I at least turn off my optic sensors first?" HK groused from where he stood by the entrance to the cockpit.

"Way to break the damn mood HK," Ranma growled, turning to give the droid the finger. Thankfully that human expression had passed well beyond humanity, and its meaning was understood the universe over.

Shaak laughed again, shaking her head at the irrepressibly violent and antisocially caustic droid then looked over to Tune as he spoke up from below where she had been leaning over between the two pilot chairs. She absently noted the droids voice had settled down now, into a young boy's voice with a distinct Chandrillan accent, his A's and O's almost lyrical. "Master, Mistress, I hate to agree with the decrepit one, but if you wish to flirt, could you please not do it right above my dome? Also, the Nova Guard ship is pulling up alongside us. Their astromech is querying me about our course."

"Good," Ranma said with a grin. "I like those guys, and I know they'd hate to miss the party."

"I can understand that, unlike your near-fascination with the Mandalorians." Shaak said shaking her head.

"We've been over that love," Ranma said

Shaak chuckled again and said "I'm not a Jedi" chorusing the words as Ranma said them, then laughing lightly as he looked at her in surprise. "You've said that often enough my dear."

"Okay, but have you actually realized what it means? My sense of honor is a lot closer to the Mandalorian code than the Jedi's, at least as its practiced today. I also don't have any preconceptions as even you do when thinking about the Mandalorians Shaak."

That caused Shaak to frown thoughtfully, falling silent. _Jedi must not allow preconceptions to impact their thoughts, must not let their personal opinions impact their actions. Ranma's right, I need to look beyond the bloody history both ancient and recent between the Order and the Mandalorians. To allow myself to be influenced like that is something I cannot allow._

 _I also might be allowing my reaction to Carla and her flirting with Ranma to color my emotions, against something as a Jedi I cannot allow. I've become far better at controlling my emotions, especially when they could impact my connection to the Force, but I need to keep getting better at letting jealousy and possessiveness in particular impact my connection to the Force and my thoughts._

"Alright, I understand that Ranma and I will keep an open mind about the Mandalorians in the future. So long as they are not actively attacking us anyway." Shaak replied after several moments silence. Then she leaned forward, staring at the radar screen. "Interesting there is a second ship out there."

"You are expecting only one?" Ranma asked.

"I was expecting only one at most." Shaak shrugged. "The people I contacted don't really have access to a lot of technology at the best of times, let alone actual starships."

"Are you going to come clean and tell me who these people we're meeting are now?" Ranma asked, leaning over to touch the montrals closest to him lightly.

"Well, I don't know who out who is on the second ship, but I called in a favor from a Barabel clan."

Ranma looked at her blankly then looked over at HK. "HK?"

"Interested surprise: The name does not ring a bell to me master." The murderous droid replied.

"That's interesting," Shaak murmured, looking at the hunter killer droid as well before turning her attention back to Ranma. "The Barabels are a species of reptilians like the Trandoshans. They don't look much alike however, and I would be very, **very** careful about making that comparison in front of a representative of either race, it would not be good for your life prospects. They loathe one another almost as pathologically as Trandoshans hate Wookies."

At Ranma's nod Shaak went on. "I cannot say every representative of the Barabels are honorable or decent, but they revere the Jedi because early on in their introduction to other races a group of Jedi stepped in to save them from a civil war which might well have wiped out most of their population. We have also stepped in several times since to help them retain their independence since then against various corporations who wanted to exploit their planet's resources."

"Do you think they'll have enough room for our supplies," Ranma asked gesturing past HK into the living area the main sitting room of the _Wild Light_ , which was still packed from one side to another with barely enough room for the HK to pass through on his way to the landing ramp.

"I have no idea," Shaak said with a shrug.

It turned out that the Barabels in fact did not have enough room for even a meeting, let alone the supplies Ranma and Shaak had gathered. But the Nova Guard did, and when asked allowed representatives of the other three ships to come aboard. Soon they were all were seated around a room on the Nova Guard's ship, which was a heavy modified Corellian transport.

The Barabels were, as Shaak had said, reptiles with green scales, a flat face and wide, fanged mouths and yellow slitted eyes. They stood about six feet tall rather than the eight feet or so Trandoshans normally stood, with wider shoulders and a stouter frame than a Trandoshan as well. They were powerfully muscled and wore what looked like leather vests over carapace armor. They wore some odd knives at their sides, with wide hilts and serrated, slightly curved blades coming out from both ends. They also had rifles slung over their shoulders.

The two representatives from the unknown ship were almost as much of a surprise: a human and a Wookie. The Wookie was tall for his race and rail thin, but Ranma knew even so his strength would be surprising, with russet-colored fur and the normal bandoleer across his chest. The human was on the short side, barely standing taller than Ranma's female form would, but he was well-built and armed, with a blaster riding at his hip and a few knives as well. His eyes were brown, and his face seemed rather a grim sort, but at present he was smiling.

"Master Yoda sent us," the human said one of them, stepping forward and holding out his hand. "I'm Richard Calixes. My parents were both slaves of the Hutts. They escaped a few years after I was born thanks to that Hutt losing a war with another Hutt, but I never forgot my years as a slave. This is Liarnicshoo, call him Liac. He is the chief of the clan three of the Wookies you helped escape belonged to, and when Master Yoda made it known that you might be running into some trouble, he and his warriors all volunteered to help."

"How many of you are there?" Shaak asked, smiling and shaking the man's hand before gripping the Wookies arm and squeezing with surprising grip from a Togrutan.

The Wookie answered this time, which Shaak automatically translated via the Force, though she had to translate verbally for Ranma. "24 Wookies and 175 humans and Twi'leks, all of them former slaves or sons and daughters of slaves."

Richard nodded then leaned forward conspiratorially. "Master Yoda wanted to send a few Guardians help you but it was felt that if they did, it would give the game away, whatever that is."

"Shaak," Ranma asked contemplatively as he sat down nodding at the Barabel and the two Nova guard already sitting there. "Did you tell Master Yoda what we were planning?"

"No," Shaak said sitting next to him and smiling at both Richard and Liac, who sat down quickly in their own chairs. "No I didn't, indeed, I've only communicated with any of the Order twice since leaving Corellia. Which means either Master Yoda sensed it through the Force which would be very odd but possibly a good sign given how such things have become difficult of later. Or he has an amusingly accurate understanding of your personality and your impact on mine."

There were some chuckles at that, and the Barabel bowed his head, his clawed hands pressed claw tip to claw tip as he did. Even the Nova Guard representative chuckled a little, his voice rather tinny coming through the helmet he always wore. But it was the Barabel who spoke up first. "Grand Masssster Yoda, a most wissse individual, ancient and learned, ressspected as such. We ressspect all Jedi, yet we are here to repay the Knight Shaak Ti for her aid."

He looked at night Shaak, his eyes slowly blinking once. "Jedi ssserve all it isss true, but your ssservice wasss more personal. There is a debt of my clan to you and your massster, and we are here to ssseee it paid."

Ranma looked at Shaak, and she shrugged, uncomfortable with such praise. "A Techno Union wanted to open up a chemical factory on Barabel, but it was feared they had both undercut the locals of their part in the profits and had lied about their profits or had been cutting corners. My master and I were sent to investigate, and found they were poisoning some of the local water. I helped to not only prove that, but helped to heal a few of the locals with my limited healing skills."

"The Jedi, a force of **justice** they are in the galaxy. Have helped us in the past many times. Not alwayssss ruled in our favor of courssse, sssuch would not be jussstice, but alwaysss jussst are the Jedi. Aid them we will, if called upon." The Barabel replied, smiling a fang-hiding smile at Shaak's lack of ego.

She had in fact been badly poisoned herself while investigating the factory in question. Her subsequent Force Healing from that had helped her master in healing the locals from the slower acting poisons they had been infected by through their water supply.

Wanting to move past the idea that the Barabels owed her in particular Shaak went on briskly. "Very well, here is the plan. As may or may not know, Ranma here and I have bounties on us. What you might not know, is that the initial bounty on Ranma it does not come from the Hutts. Or at least we think so, it seems to be far too high for the Hutts to pay even for the death of two of their own. We believe that he has angered some up-and-coming criminal organization, and they wish to make an example of him. But, they haven't had much luck so far."

In fact Shaak and Ranma both wondered if the bounty on him came from the possible Sith that might still be out there, but had no way of finding out. Either way however they hoped to inconvenience or discredit the individual behind the bounty by wiping out anyone coming after them with this trap.

There were some nods of agreement at that, but they were still looking at Shaak quizzically. "Do you know where this criminal is hiding? Is that why Master Yoda said you might need help?" asked Richard.

"We don't unfortunately, but we do intend to defang him by setting up a trap for anyone coming after us." She pressed a few controls on the computer set on the table between them all and after a few minutes a Galactic map popped up, following by a small red dot appearing as she input the coordinates of Yavin 4. There wasn't anything written about the jungle moon in the galactic histories or even the Jedi archives save for a brief mention of it being the sight of a battle against the Sith Lord Exar Kun. Given how many times since that period the archives had been destroyed that was understandable.

She waited a moment then went on. "We will stay there for a time, and draw in anyone after Ranma's bounty. In particular we are concerned with a quasi-mercenary group known as the Death Watch."

"The Hutts are going to send whole armies after you," Liac warned, his dew claws popping out for a moment in a Wookie expression of disgust as Shaak translated for the others around the table. "The Jedi order has been following your example of moving against the slaving industry as have others, and they have lost a lot of their holdings outside their own space."

He looked over at the Nova Guard who nodded. "That was known to us, but others are handling those operations. Our job is to observe Ranma Saotome's abilities and take our observations back to our people, while also earning the right to learn them if at all possible."

The Barabel nodded. "It issss a good plan, and it may well defang not only thisss hidden enemy, but othersss too. We are with you," he said, pulling out his knife and holding the blades in both hands, holding the blade up to his forehead in some kind of purely Barabel gesture. It was in fact how a Barabel began any hunt, a benediction to god to bless his weapons, not strike true or anything of that nature, but for them to just not fall apart or otherwise fail. The Barabels were a rather pragmatic people, and their iron had never been the best quality.

Moments later the three ships left the system together, and came out together three days later in Yavin. The moon, which circled a massive gas giant, beckoned them forward with its bright green and dark blue coloring. They hovered over the moon, their ships sensors probing down into the atmosphere while Shaak did the same with her Force sense.

"Interesting, that looks like a temple of some kind," Shaak said after an hour or saw, staring down at the image on their screens. I did not think that anything would be intact here. Not after so long, and certainly not after this place was the scene of a battle against a Dark Side user."

Ranma frowned. "Tell me again what happened here?"

"Yavin saw a battle between the Brotherhood of the Sith under Exar Kun and the Jedi Order. Other than that brief mention I don't know anything else, the Jedi Order's history of that time is disjointed at best since Ossus, the Jedi Order's main library planet, was destroyed during that war."

Shaak fell silent then, frowning as she concentrated on what the Force was telling her. She could sense something here, but couldn't quite get a handle on what it was the feeling slid away from her senses every time she tried to concentrate on it.

Beside her Ranma frowned, looking at her closely suspicion dawning on him. "Shaak exactly why did you choose this planet for our ambush?"

"It was close to the Eshan, off the space lanes and uninhabited, other than that I chose it randomly as you saw." She opened her eyes to see Ranma staring at her askance, and she shrugged. "I asked the Force for guidance of course, that is what any Jedi means when they say 'randomly'."

"Riiiiight," Ranma muttered, shaking his head. "I just hope the Force didn't have some kind of ulterior motive for suggesting it."

"The Force has no ulterior motives, it simply is," Shaak said primly, then looked away as Ranma barked a harsh laugh, before beginning the ship's dissent.

After doing a flyby over the area until they found a likely swamp where they could hide some of their ships, the _Wild Light_ and the other three ships set down in a stone-floored parade ground next to the temple, which thanks to the stone was mostly free of the jungle overgrowth. After unloading, the _Wild Light_ , the Barabel ship and the ship Richard and Liac's group had flown in all lifted off again, before settling down into the swamp.

Ranma looked at the swamp, shaking his head as the last few bubbles of the Barabel ship's passage disappeared. "Are you sure that will work?"

Shaak shrugged, gesturing Richard to reply. "It's an old trick," the older man said, shrugging his shoulders as he reached down to pick up a backpack. "Everyone will suspect we have more ships around given our numbers, but in no one will be able to see those ships underneath the cold water of the swamp from orbit, and the swamp's water is too thick for any flyover to see through.

Ranma nodded then looked around at the rest of the view. "Jungle, jungle everywhere. I still have to wonder how this whole single environment planet thing works, but it's certainly a good location for a trap isn't it?" he said smirking over at the Barabel, who chuckled a wheezing sort of laughter at this strange human.

Later he and the fifteen other Barabel part of this hunt watched their lizard eyes far wider than normal as they watched Ranma heft loads of explosives, chemicals and other things from the _Wild Light_. A human who was physically stronger than one of their own was astonishing.

Over the next few hours the odd group broke down the work along natural lines. The Wookies began to work on a few anti-air defenses scattered throughout the jungle randomly, each one running on its own small independent source of power, good for only a few shots but that would be enough. Since they had brought along half of those, that was fine, and the Wookies knew more about technology and hiding weapons from orbital detection than anyone.

The Barabels mapped out the area, and began to plant traps throughout the jungle near the temple, which everyone agreed would be the first target of any attackers. It was an obvious landmark, and controlled decently large and almost clear landing area. The humans handled setting up a few supply depots with the supplies they had brought along with those of Shaak and Ranma. These would be small supply points scattered throughout the jungle. At the same time the humans began to map those points, while also doing the same with the Barabel's traps, mapping them out along with the antiair guns.

HK was given the task of setting up traps inside the temple itself. They would leave a few electronic devices here to make it seem as if they were living in the temple to any scanners from orbit, but that ruse wouldn't last for long. he also began to place mines throughout the parade ground, courtesy of Richard's group.

After helping with the unloading, Shaak and Ranma began to scout around, racing through the jungle's canopy at a speed none of the others could dream of matching.

Within about five minutes of leaving the temple's environs, they were almost out of sight from the few lookouts stationed on top of said temple. Not that either of them noticed that, having found what looked like some kind of downed spacefighter. It wasn't a type Shaak was familiar with. It was in ancient looking however, and overgrown with vines. Inside the cockpit of it they found the decayed body of a humanoid, still in what Shaak did recognize as ancient Republic Navy garb.

Moving further away from the temple they found other signs of the ancient battles which had occurred here scattered throughout the jungle. Odd shaped trees, their branches or trunks having been shattered in some ancient destruction and grown anew. Scars in the very land where heavy weapons had dug deep into the earth of the jungle, now overgrown with bushes and even trees, small in comparison to the monsters of the rest of the jungle, but still large. A few even were still somewhat clear of growth, though not many.

"Why am I getting the impression that this battle was a lot bigger than you thought it was?" Ranma muttered, coming to a stop next to Shaak on one large branch.

Shaak shrugged, her arm going around his waist for a moment as Ranma did the same, staring out over the jungle. "Even so, it is a beautiful planet. I could say that the growth we have seen even over the scars of that ancient war is a good anecdote for how life must always evolves and grow. But I won't."

"Good," Ranma said laughing lightly. "I'd have to smack you."

Shaak chuckled, shaking her head before bumping her hip against his. "I didn't think you're into that kind of thing."

"What kind of thing, Shaak?" Ranma asked, his face blank.

Shaak looked at him sharply then realized he was having her on by the twitching of his lips, and laughed again, kissing Ranma hard on the lips.

Before they could go farther than that, they were interrupted as around them a loud screeching went up from several dozen throats. "Oh come on!" Ranma growled, wheeling away, his hands flashing to catch the barbed tongue of some kind of animal that had snuck up on them.

Shaak sighed then frowned, wondering why she hadn't sensed the attack, before several giant rodent-like creatures flitted through the jungle's upper growth towards them. But these were not normal looking animals. Some of them had scales growing through their fur, others had multiple eyes, barbs or other strange growth. They look like mutations almost and she shuddered as her Force senses washed over them.

Pulling her senses back she swiftly activated her lightsaber. "They have been touched by the Dark Side!"

"Just great!" Ranma quipped, punching the first one who'd attacked them out of the tree they were all on, as the others closed in. "Watch out for their tongues, and I think their front paws might also be poisoned!"

"I see that!" Shaak replied as she danced in place, whipping her lightsaber this way and that around her in an intricate defense, while Ranma took the air, bouncing up and around the tree tops, smashing the rodents down one after another with well-placed blows. But some of those blows only seemed irritated to them, the ones with scales were far more durable than Ranma had expected, and he began to put more power into his punches, which worked better.

There were over sixty of them however, and the lovers began to be pushed away from the direction they had come from, almost but not quite herding them. Neither Ranma nor Shaak noticed this embroiled in the fight as they were.

Not even Shaak with her Force Precognition now stretched to the limits realized that because several other mutated animals had joined the fight, including one that looks like a sort of odd predator-kind of rhinoceros creature. It was larger than the other creatures by a wide margin, and wasn't arboreal in nature, but it was also massively muscled, with a wide mouth filled with teeth and two huge horns protruding one on top of another from its large snout.

It slammed into and through the tree Ranma and Shaak were fighting in and the tree began to topple quickly. They leaped away, but it followed them, crashing through tree after tree, as more and more rodent like creatures appeared on the ground beneath them. But even worse were the hundreds of little, tiny beetle like creatures that were following them, skittering over the jungle floor but thankfully unable to climb trees.

"We have to find a clearing!" Ranma said, ducking under a blow from behind that he had seen coming through the jungle foliage. "We need more line of sight!"

"I'm open to suggestions!" Shaak said, cutting through a tree limb and a mutant rodent that was perched on it trying to claw her eyes out, before leaping over another which had just try to claw her legs out from under her. Her lightsaber swooped down, the heat of the lightsaber searing through the creatures head and into a second's leg, sending that beast caterwauling to the floor of the jungle. Then they were off again, as the rhino creature smashed through that tree.

Ranma leaped up, kicking off the back of a rodent creature to get even more air for a moment. From this height Ranma saw something they could use then let gravity once again try to assert control over him. Even as he came down though, Ranma made a point of killing several of the beasties attacking them, and landed on top of the rhino creature.

"Yee Haw!" Ranma laughed, his legs clad clamped around the beast's middle, as punches in quick succession smashed into its back armor while it tried to buck him off. Then his fist flashed a third time, smashing deep into the creature's back and crushing its spine.

While the tiny bugs began to crawl up the dying beast's body towards him Ranma jumped up and over it as several of the rodent like animals that made up the majority of the attackers descended on the body. Engaging a few more in a nearby tree Ranma noticed that groups seemed to forget the fight for a moment, their claws carving bloody chunks out of the dead rhino creature until they fell in turn to the beetles, screaming in agony.

Nearby Shaak whirled in place, her lightsaber a blur as it flashed through every creature that attempted to attack her, sending body parts even less identifiable bits away smoking and sizzling. The battle wasn't really trying her just yet, but she couldn't count on navigating her way through the treetops, her opponents and deal with the bigger danger, the bug swarm following them.

"I found something!" Ranma said, leaping over two of her attackers to land on one side of her.

Shaak had turned away from that direction, bringing her lightsaber up and around to slice into another creature, the Force having warned her of his impending arrival. "Good, lead the way, I need space to deal with the beetles, or whatever local equivalent they are!"

"Got it!" Ranma said, before launching a few ki attacks around, earning them a bit of space, but only a little before the rodent creatures pressed in once more.

With Ranma leading them the duo forged their way through the ongoing attack. Shaak's lightsaber and Ranma's fists were unassailable now, and Ranma had even broken out his own lightsaber to help cut their way through the upper foliage for a bit, using those pieces of foliage to hinder their assailants or even as projectile weapons occasionally.

The bit of landscape Ranma had seen was what looked like another temple in the distance, a smaller one than the large temple they'd landed at, but still of some appreciable size. It's entire surface was nearly covered with vines and moss, but it would still allow them to get some distance both from the rodent creatures, which seemed to not want to come down to the ground.

That made sense of course given what the beetle swarm could do to them, though Shaak wondered why the beetles did not climb up the trees in turn, until she saw a few climb up the vines, which seemed to cover every tree in sight. The vine's length suddenly sprouted several dozen small mouths, too small to do much to the rodent creatures, but large enough to, gobble up the little beetles, and the mystery was solved.

The lovers landed astride the rocky side of the temple clinging there with one of Ranma's techniques he had taught Shaak, using the Force to actually grip onto the side of the temple like their feet had become coated with glue. Shaak had laughed when Ranma had told her the name of the technique, but the Scared Spider Maneuver once again proved its' worth here.

As the rodents hesitated where the larger trees ended and smaller ones began around the temple Shaak let her lightsaber fall to her side as she gestured with her free hand toward the hundreds of tiny beetles which scrambled towards them through them through the smaller trees. At her gesture the Force rose up around her and a massive wall of air slammed into the beetle horde, throwing them back. Their tinny bodies were caught by the vines or shattered on impact with the trees beyond them. Five times she did this, until the horde was dealt with, the last few beetles retreating now.

But that threat dealt with let the rodents move forward in droves, fully forty of the beasts closing in from all sides now, even over the top of the pyramid-shaped temple. The fight was now fast and furious, with the mutated beasts trying to close with them even more violently than before, but Ranma and Shaak worked in tandem, moving through and around one another working like a machine slicing, dicing, punching kicking, Force Pushes and ki attacks all working in unison.

Eventually the mutant rodents attacking them began to peter out, the last few trying to jump up over Ranma to get at where Shaak was busy with a few more higher up the temple wall, which was a mistake. Ranma leaped up to meet them, killing two with his hands and feet while his lightsaber skewered another.

A fourth enemy however actually reached the wall behind him, its tongue lashing out towards Shaak. Ranma's follow up blow missed, smashing into the rocky outcropping with stone shattering force while Shaak ducked under the assault, her lightsaber stabbing. As the temple's wall began to collapse around the place Ranma's fist had hit, The two of them leaped away to land on the jungle's floor.

Watching this, Shaak's lips twitched in an attempt at humor. "You need to watch where you're punching."

"I normally don't miss what I aim at!" Ranma retorted to the backdrop of falling rocks. A moment later however the rocks had subsided enough for them to stare into the space of the temple now revealed.

The inside of the temple thus revealed was far larger than the outside, the single room descending into darkness for a moment. Ranma pulled out a few glow sticks and after activating them, tossed them inside.

This allowed Ranma and Shaak to see the interior of the temple, which was one large room, interspersed with a single giant column of stone which rose almost the ceiling where they now stood. Near the column's base A series of chains held a skeleton of a humanoid suspended between them. Nearby a series of ruined computers, racked with age and disuse, were set into the column as well. It looked as if the man had died somehow suspended there, though how he had died was a question.

That was all Ranma could see, but Shaak's Force senses were telling her something even more disturbing. "Something is here," she said, activating her lightsabers as she stared down into the pit of the temple's interior. "Something Dark."

"I can't feel anything," Ranma said with a shrug. Even though he was willing and able to reach out to the Force, he still couldn't get that kind of sense from it. "I will say though this place has a kind of atmosphere."

But even as Shaak concentrated on her Force senses, the feeling disappeared again just like it had in orbit. "I can't sense it now. I have no idea what is going on here." She murmured shaking her head. "Some kind of Dark touched animal which is able to spread its taint perhaps? The feeling felt like an animals at first, but now I question even that."

"You said the Force might've guided you here right?"

"Yes," Shaak replied almost absent-mindedly, still trying to concentrate on the Force.

Ranma nodded his head slowly. "If the Light Side of the Force had a physical body right now, I'd give it a spanking." He said shaking his head. "I am not it's damn toy!"

The odd feeling in the air of darkness disappeared then as an even stranger feeling of Light Side Force suffused Shaak's senses for a few seconds and she shook her head. _That almost like a blush, except it was coming from the Force!_

"Ranma what in the universe..." she said aloud, and she stared at Ranma for a moment, then laughed before shaking her head and becoming serious once more. "If we were sent to take care of this issue, then we were poor choices Ranma. I can't sense whatever it was now, and even if I could, if this is some kind of Dark Side Force Ghost, I don't have the skills to deal with it."

"Oh well, then the Force better find itself some other flunkies." Ranma said shaking his head with a smirk.

Shaak growled at that, smacking his shoulder lightly. But even as they joked around, they were still very serious as they began to search around the temple for any hint of what they had stumbled into.

 **OOOOOOO**

His name was Exar Kun and he was the greatest Sith sorcerer in all of history. Originally a Jedi, Kun had always been more powerful than his peers as well as prone to anger and as such felt he should have access to teachings and histories that had long been prohibited to most Jedi. His search for knowledge had eventually led him far from the Jedi temples, to a Sith holocron and a Sith Ghost named Freedon Nadd. Eventually after several betrayals and years of education Exar Kun emerged as a Sith Lord in his own right.

Soon he corrupted other Jedi and created the Brotherhood of the Sith, which he sent out into a universe already rife with war against various smaller Sith groups, the first years of the Mandalore Crusades, and various other, small scale wars. The Great Sith War absorbed some of these factions like the Mandalorians, suborned others, and began to spread until they began striking deep into the Republic, even as far as Coruscant.

Eventually they were beaten back, but not until after hundreds of planets had been ravaged, a super nova set off to annihilate others, and trillions had died. The final battle occurred over Yavin 4. The victorious Jedi and Republic forces had come, led by Kun's estranged apprentice Ulic Qel Droma, to finish Exar Kun and his Massassi warriors off via orbital bombardment. The Massassi had been so mutated by the Dark Side that they had no wills of their own, and any invasion would have cost thousands of lives.

But Exar Kun had one last trick to play. Like many Sith, Exar Kun was motivated by a desire for power and immortality and he was a Sith Sorcerer of the first degree despite his young age in comparison to earlier Sith. He had come up with a Dark Side Sith ritual which would give him immortality, but the ritual needed the energy of thousands, millions of deaths. He had such a source of energy in the Massassi.

As the Jedi fleet began its bombardment, the Massassi began to sacrifice themselves in their thousands. The ritual went off, and the splash of Dark Side energies formed as a fire that engulfed the entire planet, destroying much of the surface and further fueling the ritual with the lives of the rest of the Massassi, leaving the Sith temples standing alone in what was then a fire-scorched wasteland. The Jedi felt the splash of the Dark Side of course, and saw the results. They knew that Kun had died, seemingly killing himself.

While Exar Kun did indeed die physically, his soul was ripped out by the ritual and let loose into the Force as a Force Ghost. Unfortunately for Kun, he was still stuck on Yavin 4, unable to move away from the planet's surface without possessing someone. And for more than 3 and 1/2 thousand years he remained there, watching as the planet's forests and jungles slowly grew back from a few small isolated valleys spared the splash of the Dark Side.

 _It has been eons since a Force user has come here I must, gah! But she is such a creature of the Light Side!_ But he could feel this Togrutan's feelings, her emotions of 'love' and affection acting on his ethereal body like the burning of a sun on skin. She if full of the Light! It was disturbing in the extreme to him, but she **was** a Force user. _She can be taken, she is my way away from my prison!_

The ghost of Exar Kun tried to move forward, try to move towards the Jedi. But he couldn't, he couldn't get past the feelings and the positive emotions she was feeling overriding the feelings of fear, irritation and concern, of which Kun could have used only fear as a pathway into the Togrutan's mind. The feelings of love, serenity, affection and selflessness acted like a defense against him, and he was too weak to try to enter the blank wall of the Other's mind.

He too was a Force user, but it was as if there was a barrier between the Unifying Force and the monstrous pillar of Living Force within him. _By the Dark Side, if he had been among my Massassi tools he alone could have powered a full third of the ritual!_ It was the strangest thing Exar Kun had ever sensed, but that didn't matter either since Kun couldn't get past that bizarre barrier.

 _And I am too weak to reach out to the more distant beings I sense at the moment, none of whom have a lick of Force within them._ _Sith take it, I overextended myself directing my pets. I should've waited, waited until the others were here, but the power of these two, it was too tempting after so long slowly fading over the millennia into madness! But now that it comes to it, I cannot possess the Jedi, she is too strong in the Light and I too weak._

 _The Dark Side of the Force might be coming stronger, but even if I could reach out to it past this planet's atmosphere, I wouldn't. I can sense it is under the control of someone else, and I refuse to draw any of_ _ **that**_ _one's attention._

Sighing faintly, Exar Kun faded into the shadows further, so much so that even a Jedi Master trained to sense the Dark Side would have been unable to find him. He would watch, and he would wait. _I have waited millennia for my chance at life, I can wait a bit longer._

 **OOOOOOO**

After a few hours fruitless searching around the Temple and within, Ranma and Shaak returned to the temple where they had originally landed to meet up with the others. The only things they had found were a few computers which had long since rusted into uselessness and a few equally useless weapons.

They told the others some of what they had run into, not about the feeling of the Dark Side thought since none of the others had any kind of defense against it. Instead they painted an even uglier image of the mutated creatures, marking their hunting grounds in a wide area around the buried temple. This way the others knew to stay the hell away from that area entirely, moving all of the traps that were even a mile nearby out, piling them up even denser outside that area.

After that, while Ranma joined the Barabels in setting up traps, eager to see if he could add to his own repertoire, Shaak elected to stay at the temple, using her Force senses to try and figure out what kind of Dark Side presence was here.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several days later as the hundred plus men and women were putting together the final touches of their various tasks, two ships came out of hyperspace. Moving towards Yavin 4 they began to broadcast in the clear. "Attention, Jedi Knight Shaak Ti and Warrior Ranma, this is Bo-Katan Kryze of the Mandalorians requesting permission to land, for a parlay."

In the cockpit of the Nova Guard's ship Shaak and Ranma looked at one another then Shaak shook her head, groaning mentally as they both recognized the voice. "We should have realized it."

"I suppose we should've," Ranma said with a shrug. "She always seemed a little too interested in the Mandalorians when I talked to her about them, and maybe a little too friendly too."

"I detected no deception from her about that though I felt she was hiding something minor before that. I wonder if by that point she had realized she no longer saw us as enemies." Shaak mused.

"Maybe so, heh, she wouldn't be the first friend I've made after fighting her."

"Too true, but let us hope she is a more faithful and true friend than any of the friends you made in your past life." With that gentle barb sent Ranma's way Shaak reached forward, taking the communication device from the Nova Guard member who had been operating it. "This is Knight Shaak Ti to Warrior Kryze, permission granted to land for purposes of a parlay."

About 15 minutes later, around forty people, mostly the humans working around the temple to bait the trap there, congregated together to watch as the two ships came down. Both were tramp freighter's, small ones which had been obviously heavily repaired over the centuries. From them came forward two dozen Mandalore warriors, fully kitted out in their armor with their helmets underneath their arms. And in the lead…

Ranma cursed volubly shaking his head. "I really should've seen the resemblance. Shaak this girl's one of the one's I fought on Corellia."

"Yeah you should have," Bo-Katan said with a smirk, one hand rising up to run her fingers through once again orange hair. "I dyed my hair and put in some contacts, added a fake scar on my jaw, and suddenly you didn't recognize me. If was a vain sort of woman that would irritate me."

"Irritated mutter: I dislike the fact that I let the leader of that attack go. Perhaps Master you would let me repair that deficit here?"

HK raised his shoulder cannon, but Ranma smacked it back down with a negligent wave of his hand. "None of that."

He stared hard at Bo-Katan, as did Shaak before looking over the other Mandalorians behind her. Her Force senses reached out, and they told her that all of the warriors here were feeling wary but eager. Despite the lightsaber at her side and her general garb marking her out as a Jedi they also didn't hate her on sight, which was a good thing given how much hatred existed from the Mandalorians to the Jedi and how much wariness exited from the Jedi in the other direction.

"Why're you here Bo-Katan Kryze of Mandalore?" Shaak asked, almost closing her eyes as she bent her will to the Force to detect if the woman tried to deceive them. An outright lie she could easily feel, prevarications and misdirection were harder, but now that she was looking for them she would spot them regardless of the woman's attempts to redirect her.

"How much do you know about the Mandalorians as they are now?" Bo asked, seriously as her followers spread out behind her, looking at the people with Ranma curiously and respectfully in a few cases. Wookies might not be natural Warriors, but when roused they were incredibly dangerous, and more than one of the Warriors here had tangled with the Nova Guard on the opposite side of merc contracts in the Outer Rim or expansion regions. The Nova Guard had never had the numbers the Mandalorians had fielded in their history or the tactical and strategic flexibility, but their social structures were somewhat similar.

Ranma looked Shaak, who replied. "I know that they are currently ruled by a group called the New Mandalorians, a group which espouses pacifism and rejects any kind of violence at all. The Mandalore system was subjected to heavy bombardment near the end of the Mandalorian wars, and again when a faction of Mandalorians sided with the Sith in the New Sith Wars, and it hasn't recovered even a thousand years later in many ways. You don't have any large military establishment, but you are still clan based as a society. Is that about right?"

"You're right about the clan based society but not so right about our so-called rulers. The problem is, they are in charge, you're right about that, but they are because of two things: economic pressure and the backing of the Republic. The NM's controls several of our most heavily industrialized cities, including our capital. This gives them tremendous economic clout. But they don't actually speak for a majority of the population, only a small and vocal minority. And they received recognition as the planetary government because they were the only ones to care to go to the Republic and ask to be recognized as such, another black mark added to the fact they receive aid from the Republic. The title Duchess or Governor isn't even Mandalorian!"

Bo shook her head, deliberately putting thoughts about Satine out of her mind. "But the New Mandalorians concept of pacifism is killing our people's way of life! We have been warriors literally since before we went to the stars, and we can't, turn our backs on that history, which is what the NM's want to do. More and more Warriors are beginning to look for an alternative."

"They aren't quite desperate enough to look to the Death Watch just yet, but the number of dissatisfied people number in the tens of thousands. We are going to be looking at an open, and large scale civil war if things keep going this way. But I can't honestly say that the Death Watch it is the way forward any longer, not after our discussions about the end never justifying the means, and what slavery or drug abuse really meant."

"'Tens of thousands'?" Shaak asked somewhat weakly. "Surely the New Mandalorians have more public approval than that."

"They might have initially right after the New Sith War, but not since most of the planet recovered. There's too much of our society that is based upon being a warrior culture, on the following the tenants of the Resol'nare, for pacifism to make much headway." Bo-Katan replied honestly looking at Shaak earnestly.

Shaak might be a Jedi, but she was a fighter, Bo knew that having crossed fists with the other woman. She hoped that Shaak would understand.

Shaak nodded slowly then squeezed Ranma's hand. "I believe her.," she said simply. " I believe them, they all agree with her. They truly believe that their people are moving towards a civil war, and that they need to return to their ancient ways."

"Those ancient ways however," she said turning towards Bo-Katan again. "was the way of conquering and subjugating your neighbors by force, so I can't see the appeal of returning to them in their entirety."

"Agreed," Bo replied swiftly. "We don't have the numbers to sustain that kind of thing, and even if we did, how much honor could we win in a war of conquering the weak?"

"How exactly are you going to stave off that civil war?" Ranma asked Bo, though Shaak already thought he had an idea.

"I want to give the common Mandalorians who want to retain their Warrior soul a third option to back," Bo-Katan replied honestly. The Death Watch is going to come after you, if we help smash them, literally wipe them out, we can take their place as the option for true warriors going forward. That and your teachings Ranma, they could become a symbol of the Reborn Mandalorians!"

"I don't actually like the idea of helping to train your entire society like that but…" Shaak and Ranma looked at one another for a long, long time, then Shaak bowed her head slightly in acquiescence and Ranma went on "But we can see what happens eventually." He smirked then looking over at the Mandalorians behind Bo-Katan. "Besides, this'll let me see what you guys can really do against enemies your own weight class."

Bo-Katan growled a little, but shook her head as laughter rebounded around them. Shaak simply smiled, letting her old irritation at the woman fade as she held out her hand to the other woman. "Welcome aboard," she said simply.

 **OOOOOOO**

Two days after the Mandalorian under Bo-Katan arrived, the makeshift radar of one of their ships, which had been set down by the temple then made to look as if it had engine trouble, picked out several hyperspace flashes.

Looking over the information the radar was relaying with Shaak, Ranma and the other leaders Bo smirked. Ranma almost smirked too. Despite the knowledge that this would be a fight to the death, and that many people would die on both sides. Despite his gentle nature, Ranma was a man of action and the past two days had been boring. Even exploring the jungle just wasn't as interesting alone while Shaak used the Force to search for it.

Shaak simply sighed shaking her head, folding her hands inside the long sleeves of her Jedi robe for a moment as she stared at the plot. "Is it just me, or are there quite a lot of them?"

"Actually, yes…" said Liac slowly in his own language which as always Shaak translated for the others. Liac had been the one who had rigged up the radar, making it stronger and able to see farther up the gravity well then it normally would have. "We don't have any accurate account of their numbers all we can see at this distance is a large sort of blob. We should get more definition when they close with the planet."

Which the ships did a few moments later, having spent a few moments doing something among themselves they couldn't detect from this distance. Whatever it was, it didn't stop the giant blob from closing with the planet and as it did so the blob became dozens upon dozens of red dots, each of them a starship. "Well, someone really doesn't like you!" Bo laughed.

"Doubt that it has anything to do with me, more to do with cash they're being offered for my head." Ranma quipped, but his face was grim as was Shaak's. With those kinds of numbers, say each ship carrying a fifty or more men, this was going to be a heck of a lot harder than he had feared.

"All right people," Ranma said looking over at Shaak who nodded her head. "We all know what to do, let's get going before they get close enough to actually pick us up on their scanners. HK," he said turning to the droid. "You're up. Bleed them."

"Attempted musical tone: oh happy day!" HK replied, straitening up and clenching his hands, both his normal and clawed.

Everyone in the room turned to the droid even the Wookies staring and HK let out an electronic huff as he turned, quickly leaving the ship heading toward the temple. "Irritated mutter: everyone's a critic."

"That droid gets stranger every day," Shaak said shaking her head and staring at Ranma. "I wonder why?"

"Oy!" Ranma groused, shaking his head as everyone else in the room laughed, even the Barabel. "That's a little below the belt Shaak. He was already weird way before I woke him up."

Buoyed by that moment of levity, the leaders went on their way lighthearted for the moment. Despite the sheer numbers coming after them, they were confident that they could win this.

 **OOOOOOO**

Chief Vizla scowled angrily as he turned off the communication device of the slam of his hand. He had just been warned off, warned off by common criminals, scum of the galaxy who thought that because they had greater numbers than his troops that they had a greater right to be here! _As if scum like that could kill our target! I didn't bring a thousand two hundred trained Mandalorian warriors together to fight someone who could be taken out by such as them._

With a sigh he opened up the communications to the other Death Watch ships. "Let our new erstwhile allies land first as they wish to. I'm getting the feeling we're walking into a trap here."

Whatever else could be said about him, and there was a lot given what he had turned the Death Watch to over the years, Vizla was a veteran soldier. He had seen dozens of small battlefields and even one war in his time, and had developed good combat instincts to go with his training as a Mandalorian. Something about this moon was screaming ambush to him.

The four Death Watch starfighters zoomed down into the atmosphere along with a few dozen other ramshackle starfighters and even two high-end starfighters from the human Kuat and a personalized Alderaanian yacht of all things. That one was actually the most heavily armored ship in the fleet outside two of the Death Watch ships, with four heavy turbolasers, and two Quad cannons. It lacked any kind of concussion or torpedo system, but the Z-95 headhunters had those in abundance for such small fighters. The other ships were freighters of varying size and age and varied just as much in combat ability.

The first ten freighters landed right on top of the temple where their readings spotted a power source, and troops began to disgorge as chief Vizla's own ship began to descend into the atmosphere. It was still hovering there when the first of the mines went off. Vizla watched from the cockpit of his ship's forward facing viewport as the ships which had already landed began to explode.

The effect on the ships waiting to land was instantaneous. More than one ship opened fire on their fellows fearing treachery was behind this sudden turn of events. Four ships exploded under the fire of a few more, and two ships nearby actually almost turned their guns on the Death Watch thinking they were behind it. But the Death Watch didn't respond, instead firing on the top of the temple. Around them other ships began to follow their lead, and for a moment order, such as it was, began to gain momentum.

Moments later the first two dozen gangsters out of the ships made it to the entrance of the Temple only to fall back immediately under heavy fire. Behind them stalked the same hunter killer droid that chief Vizla had lost his arm to. It raced out of hiding, having apparently added a short barreled grenade launcher to his repertoire. A grenade went off among its attackers before they could separate too far, and more than half died in the explosion. The others joined them in death as HK mowed them down with his hand gun.

Anger filled Vizla as he grasped his robotic arm with his one real one right below the elbow and he glared over at his communications officer. "Order's to all our ships, open fire on the droid down there, take that thing out!"

 **OOOOOOO**

HK had hoped to stay within the Temple's environs for a time, but whoever was up there was slightly more on the ball than he had hoped. They had immediately began to fire at the top of the Temple rather than continue to land, and HK did the mechanical equivalent of shrugging philosophically before fighting his way out.

He looked up as a barrage of heavy fire came down towards him, then began to duck and dodge this way and that. "Irritated statement: Someone up there doesn't like me. I do hope we will be able to discuss our differences further in person."

Using the repulsors in his leg HK changed direction randomly several times then dove headfirst into a bit of the jungle underbrush, his metallic body twisting at the waist as much as possible when HK forced his ungainly body into a roll away from the incoming fire. His new body wasn't quite as dexterous as his original one from what he could remember, but it was somewhat more durable.

That served the droid well now. HK took stock of himself as he continued on his way through the jungle. He had been hit several times, but the only thing he had lost was his shoulder mounted blaster, whose barrel had been sheared off hallway down its length.

HK's legs continued to pump forward, pushing the droid faster and faster through the words far faster than most living creatures could've it moved, until he was well away from the battle zone. Slowing slightly HK allowed his legs to keep moving forward on their own turning his upper body entirely around so he could look back toward the temple.

He could barely see it through the woods at this point, but when he sent the signal, he certainly heard the detonation of the explosives in the temple itself. "Introspective reflection: That was an interesting beginning, but only a beginning. This campaign will hopefully become even more interesting as it continues."

 **OOOOOOO**

While his ship continued to fly patterns over the temple, chief Vizla stared out from the now open landing ramp, allowing him a better view of the carnage below. Thanks to his helmet, he was able to see quite a bit more detail down there than his unaided eye would've been able to, and he shook his head. "Pilot, take us back up and around, we'd have to drag most of those ships out of the way to keep using this is a landing area. Communications, get me the leaders of the surviving groups. This is the last time I want us any of us to walk into traps like that."

A few moments later, Vizla was back in the cockpit talking to the various leaders among this ragtag band. Most of them had no problem working together now, shaken by what had occurred. They were gangsters, bounty hunters, killers, murderers, rapists, smugglers of drugs and slaves. They were not trained soldiers. This level of violence was beyond most of them. Even some more honest smugglers had decided to try their luck at the bounty game, though most of those had taken one look at the carnage and had already pulled out, heading out and away from the planet before going to hyperspace.

Vizla had no care for those cowards however, what he cared about was getting this motley troop to move and act like a single unified group.

Two of the captains from a criminal group that called themselves the Dread Wind of all things from out near the Dalonbian Sector took umbrage at the fact that Vizla was assuming command. "Why the hell should we listen to you! You're all murderous scum, no better than the rest of us so don't act so high and mighty just because of those fancy suits of yours!"

"Our Mandalorian armor is the sign we are superior in comparison to you scum in any way you could imagine." Vizla said calmly. "That includes conflict resolution. Coloro, kill them."

A millisecond later, two concussion missiles flashed out from one of the Mandalorian fighters, slamming into the two ships that had tried to argue Vizla's assumption of command. Both of them shattered, exploding and killing all aboard. Vizla glared at the other leaders, each of their faces set in a small square on the communication screen. "Does anyone else want to argue the point?"

After a moment of silence Vizla went on. "Good, now my survey team has found another spot we can put down. We will do it in groups, while several of our ships fly around it to provide air support just in case. I expect you all to follow my orders from now on. The debacle down below should've shown you that this target is not only different from any target you've ever taken on, and that they're waiting for us too. I shouldn't have to paint a picture as to what that could mean."

The captains all nodded dumbly, a few of them even respectfully at the ruthlessness Vizla had shown, while others were simply shocked at the sudden death of their fellows.

"Criminal scum," the Death Watch commander murmured as he turned off the communicator. "More used to having brawls in bars and brothels than actual combat. Still, they'll do for cannon fodder."

"True enough," said a voice from behind him, and he turned to see captain Tanner.

Nodding at the younger man, Vizla reached out to grasp his hand. "You'll be in charge of the third echelon when we land," he said simply. I'm going to go down with the first, set up a base camp and command center."

"The scum won't like taking the time to do that." The other man warned.

Vizla shrugged. "I just got done lambasting them for thinking this was going to be easy, we're here for the long haul. If they don't like it, they are free to go their own way, but I doubt many will. Not with the remnants of our allies down there still smoldering."

 **OOOOOOO**

Exar Kun felt the deaths through the Force, felt their fear their impotent anger as they died. _"Oh yes,"_ he murmured, unheard by any. _"Yes, this I can use, their deaths will empower me as the deaths of my Massassi followers fueled the original ritual!"_

With that thought Kun reached out to the Dark Side, slowly siphoning the Dark side powers the deaths had caused, but slowly, losing much of the power of their deaths but that was alright. His caution allowed him to take in the energy with neither the Togrutan Jedi or anyone else from farther away feeling it. Kun had no idea how long a reach whoever was behind the rising power of the Dark Side had, and no desire to find out.

Not for a long time at least. _Eventually however,_ he thought to himself as he concentrated on the empowering himself further, _eventually though, we will see who is the true Sith!_

 **OOOOOOO**

From where he was hiding, Richard raised his binoculars to watch the distant glade the attackers had decided to use as their landing area, watching as more and more troops unloaded. He stopped counting at around 1,900 men, and there were several dozen squads of Death Watch out there too. _This isn't going to be easy, but then again that's good. The more scum we draw in here, the fewer there are elsewhere._

He looked up at the sun, and estimated they only had a few more hours of daylight left. That means the first day of this campaign's done, but if they think that means their troubles are over for now, they are dead wrong. Because when dark came, it would be the Barabels turn to do their part.

 **OOOOOOO**

That evening the now once more confident criminals, Death Watch members and mercenary bands began to press out into the jungle, setting up a perimeter for their landing area. Behind them, other groups began to unload equipment, if they had any, or simply kip out in their ships, waiting for dawn to come so they could start the hung. But that night, it was the Barabels who went hunting.

Like many other reptilian species, Barabels could see in the dark, and moved through the jungle like wraiths, their dark green hides acting like natural camouflage. In many ways it was simply a slightly dryer version of their own homeworld. And they had already hunted out many of the beasts in the area. The survivors knew to keep away from the voracious reptiles.

Each Barabel went out armed solely with their twin-bladed knives and armed with their regular night vision and instincts they ambushed several of the security guards walking the perimeter. Some twenty men died that first night, never even having seen their attackers.

They didn't have it all their own way however. One Barabel ran into two Death Watch troopers who were moving through the jungle almost as silently as he was. Worse, their helmets allowed them night vision. "Sentry team five!" shouted one of them in Mandalorian, their arms coming up as they fired their blasters at the apparition try to sneak up on their right. "We are engaging what appears to be a reptile type sentient, he is armed, and obviously not local!"

The Barabel grimaced as a blaster bolt caught his shoulder, but like the Trandoshans, a Barabel could take a **lot** of damage. It hurt like blazes but didn't impede him. He slipped behind a tree, then rolled away quickly into a deeper shadow, behind a dense bush.

"Hrakak!" He cursed as more blaster bolts followed him, impacting around and through his temporary hideaway, one catching him a glancing blow along one side of his head. The Mandalorians had shifted position taking cover themselves while one of them changed his helmet's visor from night vision to infrared, and they had been able to spot him easily despite his hiding spot.

Grimacing in real pain now he pulled out a small flare grenade the ex-slaves had brought along, lobbing it towards his assailants. It went off blinding both of them and he quickly retreated through the woods.

Despite that minor setback however, the Barabel raiders retreated into the jungle having done quite a bit of damage to the attackers. Twenty men had died in their attacks, and any attempt to scout the jungle past the landing area stopped the moment the Barabel's presence was reported back to Vizla.

But they were a bit of a sideshow in comparison to Ranma and Shaak's own mission. Both of them were able to sneak through the woods even easier than the Barabels. While Ranma had disappeared under the Umi-Sen-ken, Shaak was using more normal Force powers to mask her presence along with her physical stealth skills. She had to pause occasionally when she spotted a nonhuman sentient that she didn't recognize, or ones that she did recognize and knew might spot her.

In particular there was a group of seven Toydarians among the mercenaries, the little flying aliens moving through the jungle canopy as if they had been born there along one side of the base camp, patrolling with the others and setting up a small camp of their own. Nonhumans like that were immune to Jedi mind tricks, which a part of Force Stealth was based on, directing sentients attentions away from the user. The other half of the technique was more physical, bending light around the individual so as to blend into the background. But alone either version could be overcome by a wary enough mind.

Their mission however wasn't to kill. While Shaak was willing to do so, ambushing someone like this out of the dark smacked too much of needless killing to her, which skirted close to the Dark Side, aggressively taking another's life when it wasn't necessary. She was a Jedi, a Guardian yes, but not a soldier, and that kind of killing was anathema to her.

Frankly, the sheer numbers that had come after Ranma had startled her, and right now she would be much more happier to simply scare most of these people away. After all that kind of fear would stop other people from coming after them just as much is simply killing them. Wouldn't it?

Ranma had the same idea if for different reasons. He didn't think of it as leading to the Dark Side, it simply wasn't honorable to kill someone out like that, from ambush when they had no skill or strength to fight back. And he wasn't willing to do it.

No, their mission was instead information gathering: Liac and a few of the Wookies had come up with several listening devices, which would let them both listen in on what was going on in the camp and what was being sent over their com gear. The Wookies had been a gold mine with that kind of thing.

Thanks to their stealth skills the two of them were in and out with no one the wiser… right up until they began to move through the outer perimeter again. "Halt! Jedi! Jedi near the Blue Streak's ship!"

Shaak stared aghast up into the canopy of a tree above her and spotted a Toydarian who had been hiding in among the leaves. He pulled out a tiny blaster made to fit his smaller frame, and quickly began to fire down at her. The noise attracted the attention of several more, along with six Death Watch members who were patrolling nearby, coming in from all directions.

The Death Watch members came from both in front of and to the right flank of Ranma and Shaak's current position, and Ranma groaned as he saw the Death Watch coming at them out of the darkness, illuminated by the flash of their own blasters and the Toydarian's. "I'm going to use you as a freaking soccer ball your little flying fucker!" Ranma growled, coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken and bringing out his blaster to return fire at two of the Death Watch. The Umi-Sen-Ken couldn't stand up to someone using a blaster or plasma weapon while within its cloak.

Now that they were caught, Shaak also cancelled her Force technique, activating your lightsaber and bringing it up to block the Toydarian's blaster bolts. She also reached out with the Force towards one of the Death Watch members racing along towards them, from the direction they had been moving toward, subtly tripping him up. He tripped magnificently slamming his helmet-clad head into a tree, knocking himself out despite the helmet's protection.

Two more barreled forward, flaring their rocket packs now as they zoomed through the jungle towards the two would-be spies. Their blasters fired on full auto as one of them brought up his other wrist, firing one of the Mandalorian's tiny gyro-weapons.

"Oh no you don't!" Ranma ducked, grabbing the gyro rocket out of the air from right behind the end of it, his fingers clamping down on the back of the rocket rather than the wire connecting it to the Mandalorian, pulling the other man towards him as he wrapped it around a nearby tree. The Mandalorian's rocket pack continued to thrust him forward, and he couldn't disconnect the wire fast enough, slamming at full tilt into the tree.

The tree, a small one, shattered at the impact, falling with a crashing boom to the jungle floor. But around them most of the other Death Watch members who had already responded to the alarm went to ground, unwilling to close further while more people began to converge on the disturbance.

"Ranma, flash bangs!" Shaak shouted, still deflecting blaster bolts coming towards the pair of them.

Ranma nodded reaching into his specially emptied ki space where he pulled out several dozen flash bangs, hurling them into the air.

Seeing the tiny balls in the nighttime air thanks to the strobing blaster fire all around them Shaak whirled away from where she had been blocking blaster bolts. Leaping up over another Death Watch member who had tried to close with a vibro-knife, her lightsaber stabbed down into the man's skull from above while at the same time she reached out through the Force towards the balls. They flew off in different in different directions to smash and flash all around them in a kaleidoscope of sudden brilliance that blinded their attackers, both the Death Watch and the normal criminals who had rushed out to join the battle form the nearest ship.

There were screams and cries and more than one man cursed. The Death Watch members who felt themselves blinded immediately went to ground, ducking towards where their memory told them the nearest shelter was. The other gangsters didn't even do that, and continued to fire, killing several of their own men and even one unlucky Mandalorian, unable to even remember where Shaak and Ranma had been standing a few seconds ago.

The little Toydarian who had spotted Shaak and started this action blinked away tears from his eyes blinded as the rest of them by the sudden shatteringly bright light. He looked up through watery eyes as Ranma appeared, visible against the backdrop of the nighttime sky having jumped from another tree towards him.

"Goal!" Ranma shouted as his foot connected with the small flying imp. The Toydarian shrieked as he felt himself smashed through the jungle back towards camp.

Despite the recent combat Shaak almost, but not quite giggled in a very un-Jedi-like manner as Ranma rejoined, his personal mission accomplished.

 **OOOOOOO**

Despite their setbacks Vizla began to herd the rest of the scum out in earnest early the next day. Groups of 100 moved out in every direction, with orders to radio back to the main group when they ran into any strong opposition. Each group was led by 10 Death Watch, while he kept most of his own men back.

He would push them forward when they finally found their target, but the preparations that had gone into this battlefield, which Vizla knew was now a trap, warned him it wouldn't be easy. The sighting of the reptilian alien, and the trapped temple, told him that. Better, most of the other mercenary commanders, if not the gang leaders, agreed with him, at least on that point.

"Just because you're in charge doesn't mean you'll get the lion's share of the bounty you know," said one of the other mercenary commanders, his tone almost conversational as his troops began to move out. "That'll belong to whatever group or individual takes the target's head."

"That's fine," Vizla said with a shrug, somewhat more polite to another mercenary than he would have been to one of the leaders to the criminal gangs. "Frankly, I don't really care to count money I don't have, and neither should you."

"Hah, true enough!" The man, another human from Coruscant nodded his head, gesturing his troops out into the jungle beyond the landing area. They were not as well armed as Mandalorians, but competent for all of that.

As the man walked away Vizla turned to another one of his men. "Keep up our air cover. Our target has help, but air superiority will win us the day. Eventually he'll run out of help, and we'll have him. But until then, let the scum do the dying."

"Understood," the man said with a nod. "But some of the trees here are tough bastards. They might foil our sensors from up high and even block the ship's blasters."

"I don't want a miracle, I just want competence," Vizla replied mildly but the man nodded his head quickly and moved off to obey his orders.

Three starfighters of various types moved to cover over each group as they began to move through the jungle. But as Vizla had known, they almost immediately began to run into trouble.

Booby-traps went off here and there throughout the woods, taking out one or as many as six of the pirates and other criminal types as they simply didn't know what to look for. Here and there even a few mercenaries lost their lives to particularly well-hidden traps, and in particular tripwires. The foliage here was so dense, and there were so many vines it was almost impossible to spot the tripwires, and explosions continually rattled the jungle here and there in a wide area around the landing zone.

But Vizla was adamant, and continued to push more of the scum forward on ever widening arcs through the jungle.

 **OOOOOOO**

Midday found Ranma hidden once again under his Umi-Sen-Ken. He didn't like it, it made him feel uncomfortable cut off from everything like this now, he had gotten too used to feeling the Force around him, even if he couldn't use it like Jedi could. However, it was proving handy, able to mask his presence from any scanners and even the sight of species immune to Jedi tricks.

"Their starting to pull back now, consolidating further. They're trying to find a way through our traps I think." He murmured into a com. bead.

"That's to be expected. We're not dealing with complete idiots after all." Shaak's voice replied, somewhat loud in his ear, but they couldn't modify the volume much on the cheap com. beads they had bought.

Normally Shaak would have been out with Ranma, but she had felt something last night through the Force and had tried to get a handle on it this morning, but whatever the feeling was, eluded her. Despite that, Shaak's intuition told that whatever Dark entity was on the planet had somehow gotten stronger over the night.

"Pity about that," Ranma quipped, shaking his head. But Bo had been very specific when describing chief Vizla and how he led the Death Watch. Whatever the other groups might be, the Death Watch were professionals. "Scouts call in, does anyone have an eye on any Death Watch."

A few voices responded in the negative, but one of the Barabels replied after a few moments with something else. "I have eyessss on another mercenary group, five Trandoshans and humans who are wearing uniforms of ssssome kind. "

As he finished speaking, there was the sound of blasters firing in the background and a second later, the com. bead went silent and Ranma cursed. They just had their first casualty. Moments later, the mercenaries began to push through the rest of the rabble.

Shaak, Ranma and Liac's Wookies hit them hard here and there, coming out of their hiding spaces in close before the mercenaries could realize they were there. The Wookies had spread out in small four Wookie teams, with four humans on heavy weapons nearby to provide antiair cover. Their howling warcries rebounded through jungle, and more than one attacker quailed, breaking at the sight of the Wookies suddenly in their midst.

Launching himself forward Ranma's punch almost liquidated Trandoshan's head. At the same time he grabbed another's arm with his other hand, ripping it out from its socket with a ferocity that few in Nerima would have ever credited to him. But scum like this was the backbone of the slaving industry and their entire culture seemed based upon not only that the strongest should rule, but that they should prey on the weak. That was anathema to a martial artist like Ranma, and he had no qualms about making his displeasure known.

Having moved forward to join the engagement mere moments before it began Shaak was even more dangerous. Her lightsaber flashed deflecting blaster bolts all around her, assuming a Shien defense as she did so, the return bolts battering their owners and slaying several. While not nearly as ruthless about it, Shaak felt just as strongly about the slaving scum. "HK, if you would please?!"

From his own hiding place a little further along the route this band of mercenaries had been following HK opened up with his grenade launcher before the mercenaries tried to spread out. Before they could the grenades landed, killing over a dozen and wounding others.

As the screams of the wounded began Shaak and Ranma then faded back into the jungle with HK laying down covering fire until they were away before following them. "Joyful mutter: violence, glorious violence!"

Leaping down into one of the scars left over from some ancient orbital bombardment, Ranma and Shaak hid themselves there for a moment. Above them the now battered and angry mercenaries raced past them trying desperately to find their attackers in the dense jungle undergrowth. The two waited a bit, then moved off, heading through the jungle to wear Shaak's senses told them another band of mercenaries were moving.

Throughout the rest of the day the defenders set up numerous ambushes like that. Yet despite the several hundred deaths they caused among the criminals and mercenaries, Ranma had to call that first day a loss. That first Barabel, whose name had been K'thca, was not their only loss that day.

They lost one man and two women from Richard's group and two Wookies from Liac's tribe. They had been caught by overhead fire while pulling back from a successful ambush. The overhead fire wasn't often very accurate thanks to the dense jungle, but this time it had found them in a tiny clearing. Another two men had gone missing, presumed dead.

The two Wookies had gone down fighting, taking seven Trandoshans with them. But at the sight of the Wookies that band of 20 Trandoshans had gone mad, rushing forward despite the cover fire from two other humans to grapple with the Wookies, eventually literally tearing them into pieces.

"We need to spread out more," Ranma said shaking his head that evening as Liac and Richard told him and Shaak about their losses. "We need to fade faster, don't get caught in any pitched battle. We'll have to rely on our traps to split them up into smaller groups. they'll to wise up to them soon but they'll serve for now. Remember, we've got an entire jungle to play with, let them keep thinking they're winning by pushing us back, as long as they do all the dying."

Shaak nodded firmly looking around at all of their friends, her face somewhat drawn. The feeling of so many deaths through the Force, and the continued feeling of something just out of range of her senses was wearing on her. Even so, her voice was strong as she spoke, soft but warm. "We have lost people today, and there are far more of them than we ever expected. If any of you wish to leave, we will endeavor to try and get you back to your ships to do so. If the mercenaries and criminals see Ranma and myself somewhere else, they no doubt will ignore anyone trying to escape the planet. "

"Screw that," Richard said shaking his head as the other leaders did the same, the Nova Guard's sergeant just shaking his head silently.

Liac went further, reaching out to grab Shaak by the shoulders and shake her gently as he spoke, the others needing no translation. "We are here because we are friends, because we wish to be here, because this is a fight worth fighting, and this scum has darkened the galaxy long enough! We will not retreat."

The Barabels all shook their heads in unison. "The Jedi have helped us, and Jedi stand for justice! We will stand with the Jedi. "

"I'm not even going to deign to answer that question," Bo said, flipping the female Jedi the finger. "What kind of message would I be sending to my fellow Mandalorians if we pulled back? We're here to stay. Besides, we haven't even gotten it stuck in yet."

Shaak nodded her head humbly. "Thank you my friends."

"Then tomorrow will be your day, Bo. You and the Nova Guard. I'll fight with the Nova Guard, HK, you go with the Mandalorians. Hit and fade on a larger scale, but remember to beware their overhead cover." Ranma said and everyone else nodded. "Liac, your clan and the Barabels can pull back and start making up more traps. There's that weird vine fruit thing that can explode, see what you can do with that sort of thing."

The next day, Bo and her Mandalorians struck. With HK's help, they opened fire on two of the starfighters providing air combat patrol over one of the groups that hadn't been hit yesterday. Their hover-sleds provided mobility the rest of the defenders lacked, allowing them to move through the undergrowth until they were well ahead of the attacking column then coming back towards them on foot to set up their ambush.

Her jungle camouflage painted Mandalorians moved through the jungle silently, taking up positions here and there in well-hidden hideaways as their targets came within sight. HK was further back, waiting on Bo's order to open up on the starfighters along with three of her other men with heavy weapons.

The first this group knew of that was one of theirs pilots screaming. "Something got a lock on mEEE!"

An instant later an explosion rippled through the air as a concussion missile launched from a handheld cannon much like HK's grenade launcher shot up from the jungle. It slammed into the starfighter's unprotected rightmost wing, this Ugly not even having shields. The impact sent the starfighter cartwheeling away into its fellow in a moment of serendipity that had to be seen to be believed. Both of the starfighters exploded, and suddenly the third was all alone, under heavy fire from HK. It had shields however and began to peel off, panicking.

"Fire." Bo said simply, and her men opened up.

The front of the column moving through the jungle disappeared under their fire, fifteen people going down almost immediately. Three Death Watch members at the head of the column survived that ambush and pulled back quickly, using the rocket packs to zoom up into the jungle overgrowth or to the sides faster than most could track.

One of them still died under concentrated fire from a few of Bo's men, but the other two closed with her own right flank, firing back desperately, as one of them shouted "Aruetiise (traitors)! We're facing our own out here!"

That had been sent over the communicators of the attackers and in the clear. In reply Bo smiled, knowing chief Vizla would know what was going on now even as she too opened fire on the two trying to flank her men, killing one with a shot through his visor as the other crumpled, his legs scythed out from under him.

Four other Death Watch members had been further back in the line. Now they rocketed forward up and over the rest, ignoring their responsibilities to give the others orders in favor of trying to close with the group that had ambushed them.

In reply Bo activated her own rocket pack, zooming in that direction, broadcasting an open frequency as she met them alone, letting her people keep on firing at the enemy line. "This is Bo-Katan Kryze! I was of the Death Watch, until I was force to recognize the truth: the Death Watch has fallen almost as far as the New Mandalorians think we have! We have become the scum of the galaxy, uncaring of what we fight for or who only that we fight! That is not the Mandalorian way! Even in our conquests we fought against strong opponents, we did not fight those so weaker than ourselves, we never **enslaved,** we never took money to sell drugs or protect those who did, we **ruled!** "

"Now look at us! We fight to guard drug dealers, to take and sell slaves, to fight security forces so that the filth of the universe can make their money! We tell ourselves it doesn't matter because it as a means to an end, to keep our skills and follow the tenants of Resol'nare as best we can, but the ends do not justify the means!"

She whirled around in midair between two trees, deactivating her rocket pack and rolling forward, whipping out her gyro rocket to entangle one of the Mandalorians attacking her. The wire tied him to a tree and she cut it off, her wrist launcher automatically loading another gyro rocket. Her blaster in Bo's other hand took the leg out from one other Warrior, then Bo swung herself around hiding behind the barrel of another tree.

"We have to care about why we're fighting, we have to care about the cause, not just the fight! We have to fight for honor and glory, to return dignity and honor to our people! Join me!" Bo shouted, her vibro-blade flicking out from her suit's forearm, quickly clashing with another opponent for a moment.

With their blades locked Bo kicked out, catching the man on the leg. His form stumbling Bo grabbed his outstretched arm flipping him over him over her shoulder for to slam back first into the ground. Instead of replying, verbally however the Mandalorian Warrior beneath Bo activated his jet pack, boosting off of the ground and taking her legs out from under her for second.

But Bo had anticipated that, leaping up just before contact so she was unharmed. Flipping herself in midair, just like Ranma had showed her a time or two, she reached down with her crush gaunts, grabbing the man's head and crushing the visor of his helmet as her body bore him to earth, the two of them skidding along the jungle floor before his rocket pack cut out. "Join me!" she shouted, now straddling his waist. "I don't want to have to kill any more Warriors then I need to!"

"Go to hell traitor!" The man said, trying to bringing up his wrist with his own gyro rocket.

Bo's hand lashed out, catching that arm in her grip and crushing his forearm bracer, before she shook her head and flipped her blaster out of its holster at her side. She fired once into the ruined facemask.

Looking around and at her HUD, which told her where her squad was, Bo took stock of the wider battle. Realizing that her people were in danger of being enveloped now as the rest of the attacking group had begun to push forward on all sides she scowled, opening a channel to just her own troops. "Away! Pull back and rendezvous at the hover-bikes!" she shouted in Mandalorian, turning and activating her jet pack.

"Jaundiced interjection: I assume that means me as well, or were you speaking in your native tongue in an attempt to through me off?"

"You understand Mandalorian?" Bo asked HK in shock, zooming through the upper foliage now.

"Amused response: Of course, I was owned by a Mandalorian at one point at least I think I was. He certainly was wearing one of your helmets, though admittedly it was a rather peculiar design…"

"That is a good sign he was a Mandalorian yes," Bo said, shaking her head as the around Bo her squad zoomed through the jungle foliage at breakneck speed, only their trained reflexes keeping them from smashing with bone breaking force into the trees all around them.

"Do you think that will have any effect?" Ranma asked later as Bo led her troops through the jungle on their hover bikes. She had lost only one man dead, another wounded in this exchange, though they hadn't been able to stay and scavenge blaster packs, which Bo knew they would need to do quickly.

At the same time that fight had been going on, Ranma and the others had pulled back from the area they had previously been fighting, spreading out further through the jungle. And like Ranma had suggested, Liac's clan and the Barabels had already begun to set more traps. These were more low-tech, but the two races had a knack for this kind of thing, something which hundreds of attackers would learn in the next few days.

Above, the sky began to open up and rain began to pour down, further covering the noise of the hover bikes, and putting a positive damper on most of the combatants eagerness to continue the fight today. Shaking her head and once more thankful for her helmet, Bo replied to Ranma's question even as she zoomed on with her company. "I don't know. A lot of the Death Watch will follow Vizla whatever happens, but others, others might begin to question why they're fighting here right now. Especially with the information we'll be broadcasting soon."

About an hour after the rain began more communications were sent out in the clear. Half of these signals carried data packets containing information on all the illicit dealings the Death Watch had fallen to over the years to fund itself or just to make connections in the criminal underworld. The other half were recordings of Ranma showing off his durability and skills, and the phrase 'we could learn this too' playing over and over.

Later on the Nova Guard got into the act, taking out three starfighters and several dozen pirates, wiping out one pirate crew almost entirely before fading into the rain. Immediately following that battle, they mouse-trapped a force of Death Watch that tried to follow them, pinning them down with Bo's aid and wiping them out before once again fading into the jungle.

All in all, it was a very bad day for the attackers.

 **OOOOOOO**

"I'm putting my own bounty on that kriffing traitor!" Vizla shouted, his crush gaunt slamming down hard enough to destroyed the communication terminal in front of him. Luckily the crush gaunt was turned off, so it only damaged the communications device slightly rather than tearing through the entire thing. "There is no place she can go, no pit deep enough to hide an aruteii to the Death Watch!"

"What about her words?" said Tanner, pulling off his helmet to stare hard at chief Vizla face to face.

"Bah! She just wants my leadership position, that's all this is, a power-play. She's trying to use this whole thing and in efforts to kill me so she doesn't have to challenge me herself!"

"And her accusations against the Death Watch?" Tanner went on coldly. He had never been sent on those kind of mission because Vizla feared he was still naïve about what the Death Watch had to do to in order to fund itself.

"We are fighting for the warrior souls of our people!" Vizla said glaring at the younger man. "Yes, the Death Watch name might have a bad history behind it, but that is pure propaganda from the New Mandalorians! And if we have to occasionally get our hands dirty so that we can get said hands on the weapons we need, so be it."

Tanner nodded, seemingly taking Vizla's word as simple truth. But that night he and forty-six other Death Watch members faded into the jungle, eventually making contact with a few of the Barabels, and then Bo.

Vizla heard of this desertion the next day, but the numbers didn't matter in the great scheme of things. They were made good along with much of the losses they had sustained by more incoming bounty hunters, pirates and smugglers. True a few of them had come to blows in orbit, but others had come down, willing to work with the forces already here, at least for now.

It irritated Vizla true, but what irritated him more was trying to figure out a way to pin these people down. He didn't have nearly as many hover bikes as he should to be able to patrol the jungle at any speed. That had been Bo's area of expertise, her Night Owls squadron had specialized in hit-and-run tactics and had the majority of the hover bikes the Death Watch had. No, speed was impossible here.

"It looks as if we are here for the long haul," he said aloud, then began to create a map of the jungle and the various areas where they had already clashed with the defenders. He also began to mark in other areas, slowly developing an actual map of the jungle even better than the one Ranma, Shaak and their group had. He didn't question this, simply thinking that he was doing so from the reports of his scouts, but he wasn't, not entirely.

There was now a little voice in his head, whispering in his ear. Exar Kun had found a mind that, while not Force sensitive, could help him regain his power in other ways. And this one's mind was as easy to manipulate as MandaloreIndomitable had been.

Four days went past with various groups clashing throughout the jungle. Ranma and his people refused to be pinned down, hitting and fading, always pulling back away from the attackers landing area further into the jungle. They did after all have an entire jungle to play with as Ranma had said. They traded space for lives, but never in the direction of the temple where Shaak and Ranma had run into the Dark-mutated creatures.

Nor, thanks to Bo, were the attackers the only ones to receive reinforcements. Other Mandalorians arrived to join in the battle who had not been affiliated with the Death Watch, eager to see if this way to return to their roots Bo had promised was all it cracked up to be. Though others elsewhere did take notice of this…

 **OOOOOOO**

Duchess Satine Kryze, leader of the New Mandalorians, the peaceful faction that had begun to lead the Mandalorians out of barbarism stared at her chief advisor. "What do you mean Clento and the others have disappeared?"

"I mean they're gone my lady, four clan chiefs and over four hundred warriors all told have just disappeared off the grid. They were among those that have begun to mutter about your our continued policies of disarmament and nonaggression and doing away with the outdated honor code, so we had them under observation. However we lost them for a few days, and since have discovered they have left the system entirely." The man said, bowing his head slightly. Satine was not one who liked too much deference, formality yes, obsequiousness no.

"Where could they have gone?" Satine muttered, then shook her head, looking back out over the city and up past to the interior edge of the bio-cube to the moon which had just risen up over the planet. "Could it be connected to wherever the Death Watch went?"

"I have not forgotten that the Death Watch pulled back from their moon base Duchess, but there is no evidence to link that to the disappearance of Clento Ka Rogn and the others who have begun to speak against our policies." Her advisor replied. "There is rumor that they have attempted to take on a specific and rather tremendously large bounty, but surely that is a rumor only. They would not near their full complement of troops to take any one or even any three bounties."

"Do we have any information about these new disappearances? Anything they were talking about, any long term plans they might be putting into motion or had to stop to take care of whatever this might be?" Satine asked, turning away from the moon and the dead-end past those banished to it represented. As the ruler of her people she had to face the future, and that was with her party of New Mandalorians.

"Very little I'm afraid, Duchess. We know they were in communication with someone, a single someone, but both ends used scramblers, and our listening devices couldn't break it. There was only one call in the clear conducted by the four clan leaders, a call for a return to the Resol'nare and a symbol of some kind they are rallying around, an ancient beast. But what that could act actually mean in real terms, we do not know."

Scowling Satine turned away, staring out over the balcony of her viewing room to the city beyond. **Her** city. She and her party had dragged the Mandalorian's economy together again after the last rounds of conflict, and were slowly bringing the rest of their society out of their warlike ways and onto the enlightened path of pacifism, which was the way forward for the entire galaxy.

Satine would prove it, her people would prove that you didn't have to be killers trying to cloak your sadism with bare cloaks of made up honor to prosper. They had been showing this for years and would continue to do so. Anyone who thought differently was simply wrong, uninformed, or worse, a throwback to the kind of warmongering barbarian that a majority of the Republic still thought Mandalorians were.

"Keep me apprised," she said aloud, shaking her head. "If this is some sort of new recruitment push from the Death Watch we will need to be aware of it. And if this is some kind of new political party harkening back to the bad old days I'll want to know, and be ready to move against them the instant they give me an excuse."

 **OOOOOOO**

Over three weeks passed as Ranma and his group fought a guerrilla war against their enemies during which both sides were reinforced astonishingly. The reinforcements for the attackers came as no surprise, more mercenaries, smugglers, and other criminal sorts trickled in, sometimes small groups, sometimes large ones. Many of them came to blows before coming down to the planet, and still others left quickly, unwilling to get involved with a fight as serious as this one was.

Ranma had no idea how many people had survived to join the fight to take his head, but it was way more than even he had thought would come after them in so short a time, and Shaak had never considered it either. Their trap plan had really spiraled way out of control, but they were now stuck here, and that was all there was to it.

At the same time, a large group of Mandalorians flocked to Bo-Katan's call to create a new brotherhood, the Reborn, giving her around eight hundred warriors of her own near the end of the first week of the campaign. They blasted through the thin airborne forces operating under Vizla and went to ground before anyone could stop them.

There were a lot of hard questions from them about Shaak Ti. The enmity the Mandalorians felt to the Jedi was very real. However when they saw Ranma in action, and learned they too could possibly learn how to be as strong or tough as he was if they put in enough time and effort, they were onboard.

There were still a lot of questions to be answered long term, but talking to the various warriors, young and old, Ranma understood Bo had told the truth about the growing resentment toward the so-called New Mandalorians and how they acted as their planet's government. Because of that and Ranma's own abilities Bo had been able to bring these men and women together on their side despite sharing her last name with the hated poster woman of the New Mandalorians. They were that desperate for an option which would allow them to keep their warrior's ethos and not force them to join the Death Watch.

Of course when Vizla learned about this he hit the roof, pushing his 'troops' forward en-masse towards where the newcomers had landed. The newcomers had lost a few ships before they could hide them in various ways, but had wiped out more pirates and other groups in a single day than the rest of the defenders had done up until then.

This disaster had forced Vizla to change tactics. He had established several different small base camps scattered throughout the woods as fast reaction forces. He had also begun to use his Death Watch more than the rest of the loose alliance as scouts, bringing forward the forces from the small base camps into whatever fight his Death Watch found swiftly in order to envelope the defenders before they could fade away.

Ranma and his friends had lost men because of this tactic, another Barabel, two Wookies, and fifteen of Richard's men and women. But Bo and the Mandalorians had suffered worse, with over fifty dead to this tactic and the fighting when the newcomers arrived.

Worse, despite HK's and the other heavy weapons teams best efforts, air superiority was still telling whenever it could be called in time. It had cost the newcomers under clan chief Rogn several hundred people, and another Wookie had died at the same time. Ranma honestly felt more remorse for the Wookies death, as he had known the Wookie, a near-black-furred young man name Salmar, than the Mandalorians, and felt rather bad about it despite knowing that was simply human nature.

Even with their new allies the defenders were in a bad way now. Supplies had begun to dwindle, not food thankfully for the Barabels and Wookies. But the defenders were running low on bandages, water sanitizers, blaster packs and other supplies. They were entirely out of concussion missiles for their anti-air weapons or even HK's giant slug thrower.

Ranma and the other leaders knew by that point they were actually slowly starting to lose. _I knew we were going to face a lot of people coming after me, but this is freaking ridiculous! I never realized before, at least not in my head, how_ _ **huge**_ _the Republic is and how quick people can get from one place to another. Any criminal band that tossed this many people into a meat grinder would have been wiped out but we ain't fighting one band, were fighting dozens, hundreds maybe by this point. This trap of ours has turned around and bit us on the ass! And that doesn't even consider whatever Shaak's been feeling…_

 _We need to counterattack_ _ **now**_ _, and I think we can. But we need to be a little sneaky about it, and we need to change our own tactics, radically._

He groaned for a second, kneading one shoulder where he had been hit by a turbolaser blast from another attack from on high, this one from the yacht which had come down with the first bunch. The ship had died from a Moko Takabasha and a concussion missile from one of the heavy weapons teams, but that heavy weapons team, Mandalorians all, had died. And Ranma had only escaped with his arm intact thanks to the heightened toughness training he'd gone through on Kashyyyk.

Moving through the small, well-hidden camp he, Shaak and two of the Barabels had set up, he saw Shaak sitting Indian style on the ground underneath a camouflaged awning, her hands tented in front of her as she meditated.

She opened her eyes and turned to watch Ranma, and he carefully hid a wince at how weary she looked, not fatigue of the body but of the soul. The deaths and the feeling of the Dark entity slithering just out of her perception had begun to drain her.

"I'm sorry I got you into this Shaak," Ranma said sitting down next to her, reaching out to tenderly run a hand down her cheek. "Even now I'm sort of enjoying this, the challenge of combat, the adrenaline of it, but you're not, are you."

"No, and I don't think I would be a Jedi any longer if I did. Oh, I can admit to enjoying the challenge of combat, but not on this scale." Shaak sighed, her eye closing again as she leaned into his touch. "Jedi, even Guardians like myself, are not soldiers. We feel deaths through the Force, and in a battle like this that feeling builds up, which the Dark entity is using of course. We can be warriors, but we act as police more often than not, upholders of law rather than soldiers who must withstand the stress of constant combat. I would not have realized the difference between the two mindsets before this."

"For me, it's never been about upholding the law but about acting in accordance to my own Code, which is different than a Jedi's of course. I don't revel in death, you know that. But the challenge of even this kind of combat is something I enjoy." Ranma replied, looking somewhat repentant of that admission.

"That sounds more like a Mandalorian point of view than a Jedi," Bo-Katan said from nearby, coming out of the dark of the jungle with four of her Night Owls around her.

She gestured with her head towards the south. "We hit one of their small fast reaction outposts while the troops were away trying to find a few of the Barabels. They didn't and we took their supplies and ambushed them when they returned. There were only a few Death Watch among them, the group was mostly a merc band with a red heart encased in a drinking cup as their patch. I've never run into them before, but they weren't very good in any event, took out more than twenty before we had to fade."

She plopped down, looking physically exhausted as most of them were these days, but her eyes were still bright. Like the rest of the Mandalorians of both genders she was enjoying the constant warfare. A campaign like this despite its relatively small scale would bring her and the others a lot of glory if they won.

"So, what're we talking about?" Bo asked, sprawling out on the ground. One of her own squad mates, the Night Owls, came over. She winked at Ranma and Shaak as she handed out a meal made from one of the local flowers, which had a sort of meaty texture to it but a taste like whatever sauce it was boiled in. Ranma thought of it as the weirdest kind of mushroom he'd ever heard of, but it was quite tasty.

"Pressure, exhaustion and the Dark entity we told you about," Shaak replied, smiling thanks at the Night Owl woman.

Bo grimaced, shaking her head as she looked out into the slowly lightening darkness beyond the camp. "I still don't understand what this Dark Entity could be, but I'm not a Jedi thank the manda! Why can't you deal with it though?"

"My Force senses are not strong enough to find it, no matter how hard I try. I've attempted to nearly every waking hour when I'm not actually fighting, but I cannot. I could wish Master Yoda, or even better Master Yaddle had felt the need to join us, but we are stuck with just me." Shaak replied, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I'll say it again, for just guiding us here the Light Side of the Force needs a spanking." Ranma joked, causing both Mandalorian women to chuckle. "Still tell us what you can, maybe another perspective will help."

Shaak nodded, her smile widening noticeably as she felt that shivering of shock and almost-but not quite blush through the Force. "I know whatever entity is here has grown stronger, feeding off every death that has occurred since this campaign began. I can tell there is a distinct intelligence there, and I think it is a masculine one, but that is about all I can tell for certain. He is malevolent, intelligent and still growing in power. I think… I believe I could put a name to the entity, but I still cannot find it."

Ranma frowned then nodded slowly. "Exar Kun himself? Old Kieran said they never found his body after all, and you said this was a sight of a battle against his Brotherhood. And frankly that'd make far too much sense given my usual 'luck'."

"Yes that is what I suspect." Shaak replied. Another individual might have used the word 'feared' but Shaak was a Jedi and while she had come to understand her own emotions and the need to feel them in the first place, speaking about fear and other Dark Side emotions was still not easy for her. "I think he somehow cheated death, becoming some kind of Force Ghost. But whatever it was he did backfired, keeping him here on Yavin instead of letting him roam freely."

"So he wants off the planet. You think he's strong enough to entirely take someone over and get out using their bodies like in that bizarre 'Ghost Creeper' movie series?" Bo asked, now more than a little concerned as her friend shook her head quickly removing herself from the conversation. Exar Kun was a name every Mandalorian had heard, and for the most part it wasn't in a good way being one of betrayal, backstabbing and defeat snatched from the jaws of victory because of treachery in the Brotherhood or a sudden change of objectives.

"I have never heard of that movie series, Jedi do not normally keep up with modern culture." Shaak replied, shaking her head. "As to your question however, I believe he has already taken someone over, but not entirely yet. He wants to remain here, gaining strength from the deaths of the campaign until he is ready to leave."

"Wait, would he be able to use his Force powers if he takes someone over who isn't a Force user?" Ranma asked, frowning.

"I do not know, that is one of many things I do not know about this situation." Shaak said, almost growling the words as she showed Ranma her teeth for a moment. Then she frowned. "I do think he would rather try to take me over if he could, so that might be the goal of his taking in so much power."

"If we find whoever he's currently possessing and kill that person would this ghost thing die?" Bo asked bluntly. "It did sometimes in the 'Creeper' movies, but you had to use holy oak to do it."

"Not going to comment on that concept, but as to your actual question I don't know." Shaak sighed then, clamping down quickly on her irritation at the lack of knowledge she was operating under. She fell silent, thinking about it for a moment before going on. "I think the ghost would be weakened, but not killed. Not unless we can somehow dissipate the ghost itself, which means I need to become a target, draw it in and defeat it mentally."

Ranma growled angrily at that reaching over to take Shaak's hand in his. "Are you sure that's the only way to deal with this Kun bastard?"

"Yes." Shaak replied, the concept firming swiftly in her mind as she squeezed his hand back. "Yes I am certain. But first we need to find out who he's inhabiting and force him out."

"That's easy anyway." Ranma said with a shrug, letting go of her hands while Bo nodded. When Shaak looked at them both in shock Ranma laughed. "Use logic rather than trying to find Kun with your senses Shaak. If you were a Force Ghost and you wanted to take someone over in order to cause a lot of deaths but were still worried about being found, who would you try to take over?"

Shaak looked at him blankly, an expression on her gaunt face that caused Bo to cackle for a moment shaking her head. After a moment Shaak recovered enough to reach forward, bringing one of Ranma's hands up to her lips, kissing it lightly. "Hmm… logic, a thing that Jedi are not known for normally. Certainly not something I would expect from you either. But yes, that makes sense."

"Heh…" Ranma chuckled, bringing one of Shaak's hands up to his own mouth to kiss her palm before leaning back, becoming serious once more. "Anyway, before I came over here I was thinking about talking to you about the overall battle, and this information just makes that more important. I think we need to change our tactics."

Shaak and Ranma smiled evilly. "I actually hadn't just stopped by to see you Shaak, but because I think it's time for our counterattack. Thanks to Vizla being so helpful in pushing out those small quick reaction bases of theirs, they have left behind most of their ships at the landing site, well out of range. They still have air superiority flights out, but not enough and they're out of position."

"HK," he began turning to the droid, who had remained silent, his eyes gleaming. "Can you get to the lake without being spotted?"

"Affronted response: Master are you trying to be insulting? Of course I can! Giddy delight: Does that mean what I think it means?"

"It does indeed. Weapons free HK, it's time we start turning this around."

"Bo, you and a few hundred Mandos and I will set up a defensive redoubt here," Ranma said pulling out a map of the area they had been painstakingly creating ever since they had landed. The attackers seemed to also have decent idea of the land, which, Ranma reflected while he pointed at a spot on the map, should have given them a clue.

"We want to look like a big target. We'll spend today and tomorrow night radioing in the open, about how we're running out of supplies, which they have to already know, then pull back, let the Barabels and Wookies and Richard's troops go to ground entirely for a time. Let them concentrate on us, and pull back slowly throughout the day and night to here. Let them think they can concentrate on us, encircle us…"

The place Ranma had chosen for his mock last stand was a giant granite outcropping, well back from where the battles had been going on thus far. It had a somewhat open area around it but no overhead cover, hence why they hadn't been using it before this. "We drag them in, let them think their air can pound us into rubble, then jump on them in turn and turn it around on them. And with the _Wild Light_ , we can cut off any further reinforcements that arrive. That'll let the rest of your people to get their own ships into the air."

"And once we can stop any reinforcements and have air superiority ourselves, we win this fight!" Bo said her eyes lighting up in response as she reached to trace Ranma's jaw her eyes lighting up as the sun crested the horizon, her emotions suddenly running away with her despite her resolution to not pouch. "Are you sure you don't want to join us more… permanently? What a Mandalorian you would make!"

"Nope," Ranma said with a shrug moving away slightly as Shaak's eyes narrowed slightly in their white markings. "I'm a martial artist, not a Mandalorian, not a Jedi, just **me**. On the other hand, trainings always fun."

"Oh hell yes," said more than one of the nearby Mandalorians, eagerly to learn Ranma's skills. Even after only three weeks of training with them, Bo's abilities were head and shoulders above the rest of her troops, and it would be years before she had built her Living Force up to the level where she could use it.

"I agree it sounds like a good plan," Shaak said approvingly. "But while you do that, I think Bo and myself need to headhunt Vizla."

"Agreed," Bo said, shaking her head. "When the _Wild Light_ and the other ships start to bombard them we'll need to make certain he doesn't try to run. I want to make certain that darmanda (Not Mandalorian) is dead. The rest we can probably just strand here, but him, I want to see his body, beyond wanting to force Kun's ghost out of him."

All three of them chuckled, and got down to more serious planning, getting in touch with the other leaders. It was time for the counter attack.

 **OOOOOOO**

It took them about a day to prime the trap. Ranma pulled back from the fighting for the entire day, moving back to the rocky outcropping to clear away as much space around it as possible, doing alone in a day what would have taken the rest of their forces the same amount of time to do.

At the same time the Wookies, Richard's irregulars, and the Barabels began to retreat through the jungle in small groups. This left the Mandalorians and Nova Guard to bear the brunt of the combat for now, something they were happy to do despite losing people in little trickles throughout the day. The attackers lost more, and no reinforcements arrived to replace them.

During the night, the Barabels and Nova Guard went out, wreaking havoc on a few of the small forward bases only to 'retreat' after a bit without taking any supplies. This, the day's actions, and the bases they hit seemed to do the trick, and Vizla started to push all of his men in the direction those bases had faced, straight toward the rock outcropping.

The next day, Shaak opened her eyes from where she was leaning against a tree trunk high up in its branches, staring out as the sun came up. She hadn't actually slept, instead meditating through the night, preparing herself for the coming mental combat. It wasn't something any Jedi had ever needed to do as far as she knew, taking on someone entirely in their own mind.

But there were some parallels she could use to deduce what she might be facing. The first and most obvious was he pressure another Force user, and in particular a Dark Side Force user could put on an individual, pushing at their victim's Force Precognition and other senses with their own hate and anger. Shaak felt she could handle that well enough, and after sparring with Ranma for so long, Shaak knew no amount of dun moch was going to get under her skin.

The second place she could take inspiration from was two of the Knight trials, the Trial of Spirit and the Trial of Perception. While her perception wasn't able to discern where Kun's ghost was nor stop him from taking power from the deaths of the combatants, she believed once face to face she could at least discern when he was trying to cloud her senses. The trial of Spirit had made Ti face her own innermost fears, and in so doing had given Shaak an idea of how to control her perception of her inner mind and thoughts.

Despite this, Shaak admitted, if only to herself, that she was uneasy. Exar Kun had been a Sith Lord, and a master duelist too when he was alive. She wasn't certain that she could match his mental powers, or even how the mental combat would play out at all. Would it happen on her mental plain, as had the Trial of Spirit? Or would it be more a thing of feeling and pressure?

Shaak looked up as Ranma bounded up the tree to crouch next to her, one hand coming up to whip her hair back over her shoulders. Cocking an eyebrow Shaak noticed that the redhead's hair was rather wet, but they hadn't gotten any rain yet today or the night before. And Ranma had dressed in the slightly shorter pants and shirt she routinely used when in female form too. "Ranma?"

"Grrrr… been spending too much time in female form lately, it added up again." Ranma growled, flipping her body around slightly so she could plop herself down onto the same branch Shaak was on, laying her head in the Togrutan's lap. "Blech, but at least this way I can take it out on the Bounty Hunters and other bastards out there."

Shaak smiled, leaning down to kiss the short redhead tenderly on the lips before pulling back. "I think I have a bottle of pain medicine in my ki space if you want it Ranma."

"Took some already, but if you don't mind I'll take some more later." Ranma nodded, groaning a little. "At least the queasiness doesn't seem to be that bad this time. The pain though, is somewhat worse to make up for it…"

Even as Shaak commiserated with her however, Ranma was staring at her lover thoughtfully. "You're worried." She said bluntly after Shaak finished speaking. "This whole idea of getting to attack Exar Kun is bothering you."

"Yes." Shaak replied simply, smiling at how easily Ranma had begun to read her emotions. But when she went on she was serious once again. "Ranma, Exar Kun faced Jedi Masters known for their combat abilities, and he was a vaunted user of Sith sorcery. He was also known for the power of his voice. What if he beats me?"

"He won't. Shaak you've fought me enough that your combat abilities is probably in the top five of your Order right now." Ranma replied soothingly, trying not to flare up at Shaak putting herself down like that. her own emotions all over the place. "You can beat him, trust in yourself."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence Ranma, and if this was a physical contest I would agree. But it won't be, this battle will be entirely mental, and that is an area I've never trained in." Shaak said, looking worried.

Cocking her head thoughtfully Ranma stared up at her lady, thinking. _She needs some inspiration, not an actual pep talk._ Ranma's lips quirked for a second and she asked, "Hey Shaak, you remember that song I was singing that first morning on Eshan? Do you still want to hear it?"

Shaak blinked a little, leaning backwards as Ranma sat up, turning her body around to sit opposite her. "I remember it yes and of course would love to hear you sing. But what brought it to mind?"

"Heh, you'll see." With that Ranma fell silent for a second, cracking her head this way and that, touching her throat gently before beginning.

"At the beginning, bringing back the light, take your animosity shove it into the pitch black night…" Ranma began, her voice clear and strong. "This is your creation, the world is your slate, let's paint it all anew now. It's not too late! I'll be your bright, white liiiiight!"

Shaak jolted as the lyrics hit her, her eyes widening as Ranma continued. The wording and the beat of the song was unlike any she had heard, but it was certainly uplifting. "Brighter than a white hot fire, louder than a crashing tide, bigger than a mountain spire, higher than the wind you ride! Until your voice is heard, go change the whole damn world! Never giving up the fight, gonna be the bright white light!"

Ranma went on staring into Shaak's eyes. Neither noticed that many of the nearby Mandalorians and the few others nearby had stopped what they were doing to listen to the redhead sing a song that, for all its odd words, was clearly a call to battle.

"Rise from the ashes, pure of flesh and blood. Free yourself of hatred, swallow it up and call it done. We are connected, never be apart! Reach out to one another, go heart to heart! Embrace the bright white liiiiight!"

To Shaak it was something different, an inspiration and, as the lyrics of the next refrain penetrated, a love song too.

"Even if you bare your soul, even if you shake your pride, nothing's going to crush that hope, nothing's gonna dull your shine the time for change has come, watch as the colors run. Never givin' up the fight, gonna be the bright white Light! I'm gonna shine bright, I wanna be the whiiiiite!"

Shaak's smile widened and she closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them once more, she threw her shoulders back, hurling her self-doubts and worries off like an ill-fitting cloak. Shaak's eyes began to shine as she centered herself once more, pushing past even the mental exhaustion the constant deaths had caused her. Leaning forward she took Ranma's hands, staring at the redhead with love in her eyes as Ranma finished the song.

"Nothing's gonna stop true light, separate wrong from right. Never leave a stone unturned, do it for the world you yearn! Just know that come what may such beauty can't be stained! Never givin' up the fight, gonna be the bright, white light!" Ranma belted out the final verse, holding the last note for a time before letting it fade.

The moment Ranma finished singing Shaak leaned forward, capturing the redhead in a kiss pulling the shorter girl against her. When they separated, Shaak murmured, "Thank you Ranma, thank you for reminding me of my courage."

 _Come what may I will face it with courage and determination, I will not let my own worries or fears control me. I am a force of Light and I will not falter no matter how strong the Dark becomes around me._

The moment was ruined by a few catcalls from some of the Mandalorians and a few of Richard's people. Who then had to scatter for cover as Ranma, her emotional control gone, shrieked and started to throw branches at them with punishing force and cries of "Perverts, the lot of you!"

Behind her, Shaak shook her head, then began to laugh, shaking her head. "There's never a dull moment with Ranma, is there?"

 **OOOOOOO**

HK moved through the jungle silently, the servomotors of his legs barely making noise even to his own senses, let alone anyone else's. He did not engage the few scattered sentients he saw here and there, deserters or scouts that had somehow gotten turned around from the groups that had moved on from their starting point, pushing Ranma and company back. He paused occasionally, waiting several times as starfighters roared overhead.

The attackers had thirty two ships at this point, given the combat losses and new additions. Seven of them were up patrolling the air at all time, mostly starfighters, while there were at least ten ships which had landed since the start of this campaign that were pure transport vessels with little to no weapons of their own.

 _And those transport vessels are now utterly undefended. And the ships in the air are no threat to the_ _Wild Light_ _. My master's plan is a good one,_ HK thought. _I just hope that I can get back afterwards in time for the final battle. Missing such as that would displease me, violence done second hand is never as satisfying._

Moments later, HK reached the edge of the lake where the _Wild Light_ and the remaining two ships of their party had been stored. Without hesitation HK continued to walk forward, entering the water and heading downwards, disappearing into the water with barely a plot.

After only being attacked once by some kind of underwater predator, HK reached the side of the _Wild Light_ , where he entered a code for the outer airlock. Soon after that, he marched up into the cockpit, leaving droplets of water along the way. Tune's voice spoke up from where he had been ensconced, the droid bleeping and warbling at the older droid. "You get to clean those up."

"Affronted shock: How dare you, I am not a menial! That is your role, not mine. Besides I imagine you had nothing but time off these past few days."

"Do not act as if you did not enjoy it," the younger droid muttered then connected into the _Wild Light_ 's computer and the _Wild Light_ 's engine began to rev up. He had been stuck here the entire time, unable to even pick up radio signals through the water around him, but he had agreed with Ranma when they hid the ship that an astromech would be a liability in a jungle fight. "I take it by your presence Master Ranma has decided on a use for the _Wild Light_?"

HK sat down with some difficulty in one of the pilot's seat after all he was quite a bit wider and taller than the human norm. His one normal hand reached out to the controls as the claws of his other hand gently tapped the control board right below the buttons for the ship's weapons. "Giddy Anticipation: He has indeed. Prepare for slaughter!"

Moments later the _Wild Light_ burst out of the water like a giant whale, which given the fact that its creators had evolved from a water planet was oddly appropriate. Immediately it was picked up by the raider's radar, but all of the ships they currently had in the air were, as Ranma had known they would be, out of position.

 **OOOOOOO**

Vizla glared angrily from behind a downed tree to the large rocky outcropping where he could see the aruteii and their target, in his female form. He still wasn't certain he believed the strange water-based curse wasn't some kind of elaborate Jedi trick, but he had seen enough reports about it to know the redhead bounty head was the same person as the black-haired one.

At the moment said target was standing in front of the rocky outcropping her strange lightsaber in hand. Above and beyond her were at least a hundred and fifty Mandalorian warriors, a few scattered Wookies, humans and Twi'leks, and two groups of Nova Guard situated around two crew served heavy blasters. They were all well hidden among the rocks, which itself was a very dangerous defensive position, about four stories tall at its shortest point, with a commanding view of the surrounding area.

An area that had been cleared out, all the trees around the original open area that had surrounded the rocky outcropping to just beyond blaster range. A lot of the tree stumps and trunks had been left where they had been knocked down, but even so, the amount of overhead cover was minimal.

That wasn't good, as was this sudden change of style. Vizla's instincts warned him that this was some kind of trap. Yet despite that, he decided to move forward, something inside him urging him on despite the number of people he was going to lose. After all, most of them weren't really his people, were they?

So he ordered the chekar (scum) forward, pushing the mercenaries in after them, but letting that part up to their own leaders. He kept his own Death Watch back, pushing them forward slowly in squads, telling them to keep as mobile as possible, while also looking for an opening to close.

Watching for a few moments as the defenders opened up, he nodded his head grimly. They were doing just as well as he thought, but there didn't seem to be any more of those portable concussion missile launchers. That pointed to there being some truth to their needing to change their style of warfare due to running out of supplies. _And without them, our starfighters will rip that position into pieces._

He was about to order the starfighters in from where they had been hovering out of weapons range when things began to go wrong.

 **OOOOOOO**

A bare few seconds later the _Wild Light_ roared over the attacker's landing area, where a few injured and malingerers who had remained behind began to run for their ships. Too late however. With a deft hand HK sent the ship into a barrel roll, allowing him to fire downwards from the two Quad laser turrets. His attacks destroyed the parked ships as they roared overhead, their targets exploding one after another.

By the time they were he was done with that, the starfighters providing air support for the assault on Ranma and Bo's position had roared back in a desperate attempt to save their transport ships regardless of Vizla's orders. By the time they entered weapons range however the destruction was done, and HK gleefully turned his attention to them. He used two proton torpedoes to destroy the first two starfighters coming towards them, their shields unable to stop that kind of impact. Then he used his quad lasers on the next two, their shields dimming then dying under his fire before they could break off.

The final three each peeled off in a different direction, trying to divide his attention, but with Tune doing the driving, HK was free to do the killing. Tune twirled them around on a dime, the two quad cannons targeting one ship first, it's shields dimming within seconds, then the plasma rounds perforated it. A second proton torpedo locked onto the second to last ship, and another ship died.

The third had gotten behind them for a moment, but broke for space as Tune completed his maneuver, the Quad cannons coming around to face in that direction again.

"Should we pursue?" Tune asked, his assumed voice emotionless.

"Crisp professionalism: Negative. We have targets on the ground below. The aggressors have had air superiority for this entire fight, now it is ours and it is time to, as humans often, say do onto them. Exultant warcry: Let's get killing!"

With that the _Wild Light_ plunged down to the fight going on around the rocky outcropping.

 **OOOOOOO**

The attack on Bo and Ranma's position came apart almost immediately after the starfighters had tried to turn towards the landing area in an effort to save the transport ships. Hearing what had happened over the radio a lot of the pirates and other groups broke off almost immediately en-masse, racing back to see if they could save their ships. Even some of the mercenary groups did, but some, along with the Death Watch were made of sterner stuff than the rest, and continued to battle on.

The Mandalorian warriors swooped here and there through the air, trying to flank the defenders only to be conquered by their fellows, who knew how they thought and fought. The heavy weapons couldn't find a target among the rocks, but also continued to move frequently with only a few falling to the defender's fire. Mobility was the hallmark of Mandalorian warfare, and it showed now even among the defenders, who routinely took to the sky as well or shifted position among the rocks.

Ranma had remained standing in front of the rocky outcrop out in the open since the fight begun, a target and a symbol. Her light pike flashed deflected blaster bolts as she practically danced in place, her hair flying looking like some kind of ancient goddess of war. More than one of the Night Owls and other Mandalorians had to remind themselves that Ranma was really a man with a weird Force curse watching this. A very, very weird Force curse, which served as a warning to most Mandalorians that the Force was much more trouble than it was worth.

From where he was taking cover and shooting up at the rocky outcrop, Vizla heard the roar of a ship's engines in the air above him, and he knew that it wouldn't be their own starfighter returning. Looking out into the practically open ground around him, he cursed before activating his helmet's communicator. "Death Watch close with them! We'll lose less troops to their fire than we will to that ship!"

It was a good, quick response, but that just brought them within range of Ranma, who leaped up into the air. The Mandalorians tried to get away, but one of them made the mistake of frying his gyro rocket at Ranma, who somehow slid his body over it, then used the wire like a tightrope, racing along it. The warrior cut the wire, but Ranma was already close enough to leap forward, her light pike smashing out with its plasma beam off at present.

That blow gave Ranma enough momentum to twist and turn up to attack another while her first victim fell to the earth, his rocket pack broken right behind the fuel tank. Now among them, the Mandalorians had to try and fight her in close as she had a field day, bouncing from one to another, her mastery of air combat serving her in good stead and flummoxing the Death Watch. Both Ranma and the defenders had a field day, and over a hundred Death Watch died before the others touched down.

Vizla touched down, his vibro-blade out and stabbing, killing one of the kriffing traitors as his blaster came up, killing two more, whose clan markings, subtle marks on the shoulder plate among their jungle camo, he didn't recognize. Then he was forced to roll forward along the small rocky ledge, activating his rocket pack to travel up to another as Bo-Katan slammed down where he had been standing. He turned, his blaster coming up only to lose it to a gyro rocket shot from another angle.

Bo's own gyro rocket trailed straight on toward his chest, her blaster gone, lost somewhere in the battle. Vizla dodged that to the side, but the gyro smashed into the rock behind him, bouncing off and into his back. Vizla stumbled slightly, but got his hands up quickly enough to smash Bo's punch aside. His own punch crunched into Bo's side, carrying her out into space. "Die traitor!"

"I'm not the one who's betrayed the Resol'nare!" Bo grunted, activating her rocket pack and slamming back into Vizla, smashing him back against the rock behind him. "Slaving, drug dealing! You and your clan betraying everything we hold dear, acting like common pirates and reavers!"

"Bah! All that honor osiikis nothing! All that matters is power, money and making war!" Vizla grunted, activating his crush gaunts and trying to punch down at Bo's collar bone from where she had actually lifted him up slightly against the rock.

But Bo replied, her own crush gaunts, which Vizla didn't realize the girl even had, smacking his punch aside. She didn't block the next blow however, a knee to the chest that knocked her back despite her body armor.

Rocketing up to a higher and larger outcrop the two began to circle around one another. Taking a brief moment to look around them, Bo saw the rest of the Death Watch found themselves overwhelmed by the defender's. Bo grinned inside of her helmet. "You've lost Shae, surrender and you might be granted an honorable end!"

Of course that was more taunt than real offer, and when Vizla roared forward, she dodged to one side. Vizla however dodged with her, and they grappled, gaunt to gaunt, muscles straining. Bo found herself surprised by the other man's strength and speed, she had thought her training with Ranma would have brought her a greater advantage. _Could that Kun ghost be helping him along somehow?_

Ranma landed nearby, one eyebrow raised in query. "Yah need any help Bo?" Behind him the _Wild Light_ continued to assault the now broken raiders. They had lost their ships, they had lost thousands of their friends and most of them hadn't really anticipated a battle like they'd been facing since arriving anyway.

Elsewhere in the jungle the other Mandalorian ships rose from where they had been hidden, heading for space. No new contacts had arrived that day or the day before, but better safe than sorry.

"Kriff off!" Bo growled, then grunted in pain as Vizla took advantage of her momentary distraction, taking her legs out from under her with a sweep kick, pushing at the same time. Bo didn't let go of where their hands were locked together, but with her on her back Vizla quickly gained the upper hand. He tried to let go with one hand, but Bo kept their gaunts locked tight, forcing him to use his elbows and knees.

This was fine by Vizla. At a particular twist of his leg a knife popped up from his knee. But before he could bring it up to stab underneath her chest armor, Bo allowed him to overpower her arms for a moment. This threw off his balance, and he found himself hurled over her head as she bucked underneath him.

Vizla rolled, but Bo simply twisted her body around, activating her rocket pack and slamming into him before he could set himself. He was however able to turn toward her, and now as Bo slammed into him Vizla punched hard with his crush gaunt, shattering Bo's shoulder plate and shoulder. But his own ribs screamed at him a second later as Bo did the same.

But it was Bo who collapsed to the side, Vizla's knee blade having somehow come up to slam into her thigh, the vibro-blade cutting through the cheap Mandalorian armor they were all forced to use these days with Beskar so rare. Vizla stood over Bo and Ranma made to move forward, only to stop as Vizla suddenly stumbled, his legs somehow wilting under him for just a second as Shaak appeared on the scene.

The Togrutan Jedi stood there her hands clear for the moment as she stared at Vizla, her eyes serene. He had been nearby preparing for this confrontation as best she could, which wasn't very good truth be told, but Shaak knew it had to be done, and she would do it. "Exar Kun, I know your name."

Despite the danger of attempting to take over a Force user, Exar Kun could not turn away from the challenge inherent in Shaak's words. He was powerful now, **far** more powerful after the days of death and hate and rage felt by the Death Watch and their allies during this campaign. _I can overcome her! And a Jedi of such power, her body will be the perfect conduit for my revival. I could have hoped for a male body, but that will come in time. Certainly better than that freak with his odd Force curse._ The spirit of Exar Kun solidified suddenly in the air in front of Shaak and then zoomed forward into her body, invading her spirit and soul, leaving Vizla behind.

Not seeing any of this Bo had taken advantage of the opportunity Kun's sudden exit afforded her, punching up hard. Her blow caught Vizla in the guts, crushing his armor and then his guts. Vizla gasped in agony and then Bo was on her feet, another punch slamming into the visor of his helmet, and Vizla of the Death Watch died, betrayed himself in the final moments of his life. There was a bit of ironic justice in that.

But if the physical battle was finished, the mental combat was just beginning.

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak found herself now standing in a grey, blank plane, with nothing around her. "Interesting," she murmured, then concentrated, imagining her lightsaber in her hand. The mental representation of her weapon appeared. She activated it, looking around her thoughtfully a small smile appearing on her face. _Oh good, It's going to be an actual battle, not an abstract one._

"Come out! To take my body you must defeat my mind, my spirit. My body is not big enough for the both of us!" she said with a laugh. Beyond even Ranma's earlier aid, for the first time since the death and the killing had begun here on Yavin Shaak felt almost free. This was a fight that she as a Jedi she could fully embrace. _I am a Jedi, I stand against the Dark, come what may._

In front of Shaak a man coalesced. Taller than Shaak by a few inches, slightly broader in the shoulders as well, he was dressed in formfitting black clothing, with a black cloak about his shoulders falling to his ankles. He had black hair, gleaming yellow eyes and some kind of tattoo on his forehead. In one hand he held a long hafted lightsaber reminiscent of the one Ranma had reported 'Dark Clown Face' had used, the nickname coming to Shaak's mind just then making her smile widen even as the man spoke.

His voice was a deep, almost hypnotic baritone, commanding the listener's attention. Shaak could tell it could have been a weapon on its own under other circumstances. "You are a fool to challenge me here. Better to have surrendered meekly and lived on as a ghost young one. Do you think a mere Knight such as you is any challenge to a master of the Dark Side like me? That is the most arrogant thing I have ever heard!"

"I might not be a master," Shaak said, her lightsaber coming up into the en-garde position. "But I think you'll find that I am not as weak as you believe. Else you would have tried to take me over long before this."

"We will see." Exar Kun scoffed and with that he attacked, his lightsaber blades flashing in a modified style of Ataru and Makashi perhaps, the speed of the attack almost catching Shaak by surprise. Almost. In comparison to fighting Ranma Exar Kun was merely fast, not frighteningly so even on this mental plane.

A second later her lightsaber came up and around in a tight arc as she batted aside both blades one after another. The last riposte threw her around and she went with it, bringing her blade around to almost take Exar Kun's leg off at the thigh in a Shii-Cho riposte.

Kun disappeared for a moment, blinking away to appear elsewhere, and she huffed irritably. "Of course, never trust a Dark Side user to play fair."

"That was indeed quite good. I can feel the power in you, you're right, you are powerful…" Exar Kun said almost respectfully now circling her lightly his pleads humming as he whirled his double-bladed lightsaber in his hands, letting his voice do the work for a moment. He was surprised the Togrutan had enough mental strength to imagine her physical skills so accurately here on the mental plain. "Tell me, have you already run into the jealousy of your peers? Their fear? Despite their attempts to ignore the Darker emotions Jedi always fear those who become powerful 'before their time' or who stand out from the mold."

He circled to the right, launching a series of attacks more to probe Shaak's defense than anything else. Shaak however attacked strongly, forcing him to backpedal, matching his Ataru with her own. Even so he kept his voice soothing, comradely almost as he tried to weaken her conviction. "You are different, I can feel it within you, your love for your friend. That will turn against you, just as the Order will because they fear those which rise too high."

"The Order is not as flexible as I might like," Shaak said with an eloquent shrug, though Exar's use of one particular word there had caused her to stumble for a second. "That does not matter to me much. I am loyal to people, rather than the Order itself. As for my … my love, what would you know of love?"

"I know much. Even the Jedi in my time were allowed to feel love. But it was passion that they could at not understand, the power of it. We Sith though, we have always understood that from powerful emotions can come great power. I could show you such wonders…" Exar nearly crooned even as their lightsabers locked, sizzling and crackling, both their spirits imagining the sound into being here almost absentmindedly.

"Tell me, have you felt jealousy? The jealousy you feel when someone else looks at your paramour… yes, I can feel you have. He will betray you, you know, love always betrays you unless you are powerful enough that the one you love would not dare to try. I can show you such power, power to forever bind this Ranma to you. Power to possibly even lock him in one form unless you wish it."

As Kun spoke, he pulled images from Shaak's mind to play in the nothingness all around them. While their duel went on the memories replayed: the times Shaak had noticed Bo or someone else checking out Ranma, the times he had noticed Aayla or Luminara, the times Bo had flirted with him or just talked or sparred with him.

But to Kun's surprise, Shaak was able to divert enough attention from their battle to replay some memories of her own. Her first meeting with Ranma in the Temple's garden was first. Then a few memories from their time together on Dac. Their first kiss. Their date in Coronet. The times they had laughed together, sparred together, argued, talked, and held one another. And finally the memory of that morning, with Ranma singing to boost Shaak's spirits going into this battle.

Kun flinched at this, the emotions searing at him and Shaak laughed, shaking her head as she disengaged, a Force Push separating the two of them. "What could you show me, oh mighty ghost? Ha, the Sith know naught of love! The Sith's promise of power and glory is nothing to what can be achieved by the Light."

Enraged at his ploy failing Exar Kun charged forward, his lightsaber staff flashing for a direct thrust then whirling into a series of arcing blows as he flashed all around Shaak, trying to keep her on the ground. But Shaak was fine with that, having fallen back into a defense from Soresu, mixing up a few attacks from Makashi occasionally, simply absorbing Exar Kun's attack and not allowing her own balance to falter.

"You know nothing! Many of my followers had lovers, even I toyed with the idea. But in the end, such things are ephemeral! Only power matters, power and the will to seize it! There is no dark, there is no Light, only power!"

"You only know the way of hate, anger, and self-deception. Power is the true illusion, it alone matters not at all." Shaak said calmly, never allowing her attention to waiver from the fight, their lightsabers slamming and slashing against one another in an endless tumult of sound and fury. Despite Exar Kun empowering his body further and further away from the level his physical body had ever attained, Shaak matched him. "I am a Jedi, and you will not tempt me."

"one way or another, I will still win! I am immortal, the ritual I'd used bound me to the Force in its entirety! Now that I am in your mind, you cannot get rid of me. Eventually you will falter!"

"I will not," Shaak said still calmly, a faint smile on her lips. "The river does not falter, the river does not even band. It simply flows."

Enraged beyond all reason at his words being either ignored or simply turned aside by Shaak, Exar Kun attacked with more and more rage fueling his style and speed.

Yet even as she spoke Shaak knew the apparition was right. Even if she fended him off this time, Exar Kun could simply dissipate back into the Force, either to try and leech off her or to return to the Force of Yavin and remain there, waiting for his next victim. _But this is my mind, and in my mind I wonder if I can do something about that, as I did to bring up my memories before._

Analyzing her foe's style, she nodded her head internally, and then as Exar Kun deflected her lightsaber aside with one blade before thrusting forward with his other, Shaak ducked underneath it instead of trying to correct and bring her lightsaber around to block. Shaak's offhand flashed forward, her palm pressing against Kun's chest and suddenly, her love for Ranma and her friends poured out of her in a never-ending torrent of bright piercing light as Shaak, at least in her head, re-created Force Light.

"GYYAHHAH!" The spirit of Exar Kun screamed as the Force Light ate into him. Desperately he tried to escape, tried to flee from Shaak's body, but Shaak reached out, a Force Grab holding him in place as the attack continued.

He tried to bring his mental version of his lightsaber to bear, but Shaak's lightsaber, now wielded entirely by her mind rather than by her hands, blocked his assault while Shaak added another hand to her Force Light assault.

Exar Kun screamed. "No! No! I cannot die! You cannot kill me!"

"You have been a leech on the Force for some time, I think it is past time that you finish your journey to the afterlife." Shaak said grimly, now forcing more of her Force power into the attack even as she felt her concentration beginning to waver.

"NOooooooo!" Exar Kun screamed, and, finally, died, the Force Ghost unable to keep his form in the face of Shaak's attack.

Coming back into her physical body, Shaak slumped forwards only to be caught by Ranma. "Well that was interesting," she said, frowning thoughtfully as the redhead stared at Shaak then over to the body of chief Vizla, which Bo had just finished off. "Let me guess, that wasn't nearly as easy as it looked out here."

Shaak chuckled, raising her hand up to touch Ranma's face lightly. "Oh yes my love, you can assume that."

As Ranma blushed at the word 'love', trying and failing to form words to respond in kind, Bo chuckled weakly, shaking her head. _Yep, I lost that fight, no way would I be comfortable with showing that kind of affection to Ranma in that form._

With the death of Vizla and Exar Kun, though most of course didn't realize Exar Kun was part of it, and with the _Wild Light_ overhead, the fight was over. Most of the surviving attackers ran, or threw down their weapons and surrendered. There weren't many however who lived to do so. Most of them were among the scum of the universe type rather than the mercenaries and the Death Watch, possibly as few as a hundred men. Far more escaped in small groups into the jungles, but with no intact ships, they might well be stranded here for the rest of their lives.

Of the four mercenary companies that had joined the Death Watch, nearly 15 people tried to surrender, and they would be returned to the nearest Republic planet for trial. Others, including a group of fifty or more Trandoshans, broke off the attack as soon as the _Wild Light_ arrived, racing off into the woods. Only 10 Death Watch made it out of the fighting alive. But over 250 had switched sides along the way, giving Bo a decent fighting force in terms of the Mandalorian clans, and the single largest complement on the planet.

Ranma, Shaak and the other leaders decided not to spend any energy trying to finish the escapees off. Let them try to escape if they wished, if they were able to the tales of this battle would spread and hopefully convince other criminal gangs not to try for Ranma's bounty. If they didn't then they could live out their lives here and no one would be the poorer for their loss. Even the Barabels didn't care enough to hunt them down.

That evening they sat around several dozen scattered campfires in a large clearing made when one of the starfighters had crash landed. The groups had split up for the most part, the Mandalorians dominating a large swath of the clearing as they celebrated the victory, telling tales and bragging or just drinking.

Elsewhere the Wookies were laughing and talking with the Barabels with Tune doing the translation through a few portable speakers. The two clans had bonded somewhat over how both races were hunters, if very different types.

Richard and his group were more somber, sitting around a single campfire and singing sad songs to themselves, man and Twi'lek alike happy they were alive and the battles done, but sad for those who had passed. The Nova Guard were somber too, but also extremely proud. Few in number they had lost fully half of their number in the campaign, but had acquitted themselves very well against the better-known Mandalorians and other mercenary groups. The fact at least seven mercenary groups had been wiped out in the fighting here would also be good for the Ailoni in the long term.

Ranma felt him/herself… ambivalent about the entire thing as she/he had throughout the fight. There was a part of Ranma that had loved the battles, the fighting from beginning to end. Then there was the side of Ranma who had hated it, hated having to kill, hated having to watch his/her friends die.

 _At least it's over with for now. This universe is a lot bleaker at times then I was used to back in Nerima. Or was that just because I was too damn naïve to read much into the news from around the world?_ It wasn't the first time Ranma had asked herself that question, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

Sighing Ranma moved toward where Bo stood, having heard the Mandalorian woman shout her name. She smirked as she saw Bo standing a little wobbly on her feet, waving her hands wildly in the air to signal Ranma.

Ranma made his way over, only to flinch back as Bo grabbed her arms leaning close, her breath reeking of some kind of alcohol. But when Bo spoke, there was no slur or any other sign of her being drunk. "You need to make a speech of some kind."

Ranma nearly pulled away, but Bo didn't let the other short woman go, still whispering into the true redhead's ear. "Seriously, remember why I wanted to be here in the first place. Gaining honor is all well and good, but it won't matter if this faction doesn't become a real entity from now one. Your words will carry a lot of weight."

Staring at the other woman, Ranma saw she was serious and sighed, nodding. Moving forward she stared around at the Mandalorian leaders and their seconds, smirking a little at Tanner, who looked a little green around the gills as he looked at her. Bo had told Ranma about the other Mandalorian's reaction to hearing about Ranma's curse and it had both amused and relieved Ranma.

Setting that observation out of her mind, Ranma thought for a moment, then spoke. "I'm not good at speeches, but then again you lot aren't the type to like them anyway."

That won her some laughs and Ranma grinned before sobering. "I know why you're all here, and why Bo-Katan's messages about trying to form a third faction to challenge these New Mandalorians drew so many of you. I won't reiterate the discussions me and 'Carla' had about that…"

Again that won a few chuckles, especially from the Night Owls present in the wider audience.

"But know this. I have no respect or liking for warmongers, for warriors who don't care why they are fighting only that they fight." That statement sobered them and Ranma went on more quietly. "There is honor in the defender, in the warrior who searches for opponents to challenge himself against. There is no honor, no glory in the warrior who preys upon the weak, the defenseless, who wishes solely to conquer for the 'glory' of victory. Become that type, and I will stand against you. My own Code would demand no less."

Ranma's bright blue eyes stared around her, and spines stiffened or broke among her listeners as they tried to meet that gaze. Few succeeded, save Clento and two other clan chiefs. Eventually Ranma went on. "But if you make this new faction, if you retain the warrior ways of your ancestors but take them in a new direction, then I will be glad to call you friends. And I would be happy to help my friends get stronger."

 _The carrot and the stick, ugh, I hate politics, but I suppose quasi-politics has its place in moment's like this._

"Does that mean you will come with us back to Mandalore?" Bo asked, her eyes earnest. Ranma as a willing ally or even as a symbol with his/her skills coupled with Bo's own new skills and her pet would be a key to a possible bloodless coup among the Mandalorians.

"In a few days or a week, sure, but not right away." Ranma said, then grinned. "But for now we party!"

Bo laughed as cheering erupted from the Mandalorians beyond the circle of leaders and turned away, nodding once at Ranma to indicate her words had been enough. Relieved Ranma turned away moving off for a moment until she saw Shaak. She had distanced herself from the groups after the battle ended, wanting to make certain no hint of Exar Kun's spirit remained.

Now Shaak moved through the crowd, and Ranma smiled much more naturally at the sight of her, seeing Shaak's face, the lines in it from the constant fighting gone. Moving through the crowd the redhead held her hands out to her. Shaak took them, and as the music rebounded around them, some kind of techno-pop thing that Richard had chosen they danced through the fire lit night.

Over the next two days all of the disparate groups began to leave. The Nova Guard was first. They had a report to make. Ranma had told them they might be able to learn some of his tricks back on Eshan, and now having seen them in a wartime setting knew they had not been a fluke or a trick. Ranma and Shaak Ti of the Jedi had proven themselves strong, and the Nova Guard would continue to ally with the strong, as they always would.

To the surprise of everyone, Shaak and Ranma were in no hurry to leave the planet just yet, though they did tell everyone they planned to move away from this area of said planet. There'd been too much death and destruction here, but neither of them was looking forward to getting back to civilization. They both wanted some time to themselves.

Ranma had something planned, Shaak didn't know what, only that he had mentioned wanting to make something, but what that was she had no clue. She did notice him leaping out over the treetops however while carrying a tree trunk over his head. He was now a 'he' again, his period having ended that morning to the relief of both Ranma and nearly everyone around him. The redhead's humor had been rather uncertain and no-one wanted to get on her bad side with no enemy around for her to take said bad side out on.

Bo held out her hand to Shaak, pulling Shaak's attention back from the retreating form of Ranma even as several of the Mandalorians stared at the man as he went shaking their heads and muttering about wanting to get to that training as soon as possible. However they had to change some of their ways of thinking. That training would be well worth it if it was at all possible to learn. And even if not, simply the experience of fighting against Ranma would pay off tremendously, as it had for Bo.

"Ranma said you two would be coming to Mandalore after this." The orange haired woman said.

Shaak sighed, but nodded. "I will have to take some time to get in touch with the Order, see what their opinions about the New Mandalorian faction is, and what the Republic's stance on it and your planet in general is like at the moment. My place within the Order is a little rocky at present save for Master Yoda's backing, so I have no wish to add to the number of toes I am stepping on."

Bo nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense, you don't want to trample over old allies in order to make new ones no matter how powerful you are or how dissatisfied you are with your old ones."

"I wouldn't put it exactly like that, but I suppose in a way, yes." Shaak said with a faint smile. The fact that she personally felt the New Mandalorians were probably closer to the ideal the Jedi Order would wish to see from the Mandalorians was something she wasn't willing to say aloud.

Nor was she wiling to say that it really wasn't the Order's place to approve or disapprove one way or another. Shaak was willing to give out rulings in cases of law and justice, but this case was about a full societal change, and one which didn't seem to be in that much in favor with said society. That was an area no Jedi was qualified to make any kind of ruling on.

"You might want to get in touch with a few Jedi in particular, I don't know their names but I know that there was an assassination attempt on the Duchess' life a few years back that was foiled by a few Jedi. There were rumors that she got a little close to one of them actually, though before I met you I would've dismissed those out of hand." Bo said.

"I'll look into it," Shaak said with a nod though she too found that idea unlikely at best.

For a moment the two women stared at one another. Finally Shaak simply nodded, and turned away as Bo did the same. There was a lot they could say to one another, but at this point, little of it would've been polite. While they were somewhat friendly to one another, Bo's attraction towards Ranma was still between them, even if Bo had realized she would never be comfortable with Ranma's curse.

"We will see you in a week or so," Shaak said at last, and backed away as Bo did the same, turning her head to shout at her warriors.

The next group to leave was Richard and his people, along with the Wookies with whom Shaak exchanged many back slaps and hugs with. The Wookies were very touchy-feely as a people with those they cared for, and Shaak had become quite popular among them over the past few weeks.

Then came the Barabels. S'luk approached Shaak, bowing his head, his claws clacking together in an intricate display that conveyed some meaning that she didn't quite understand even with the Force helping her. "Much honor hasss bee won in thissss campaign, much honor it hassss been to sssserve along the Jedi. We will remember and we will continue to honor Jedi in the future. Call on ussss if you have further need of hunterssss."

"I will. You and your brethren proved to be the most excellent hunters we knew they would be, and we thank you for your aid."

S'luk nodded, and as one the surviving Barabel slammed their hands to their chests bowing formally. Shaak returned the gesture, and remained in that position as the Barabels stood back up and turned away without another word heading back to their ship.

Shaak straightened up and watched the ships go one after another rising up into the air and up into space before disappearing as bright dots, each ship going into hyperspace as quickly as they could. She remained there for a time, before slowly sinking into a meditation pose.

She meditated her way through all that had happened here, not just the fighting and what it had done to her spirit, but the death of Exar Kun, how it had happened, and how close she had come to falling to his blandishments. She then conjured up the same feeling she had done in her head when she attempted to use Force Light on the creature, and came back into her body smiling faintly as her hands began to glow a solid , bright white. "I want to be white, white Light…" She sang softly, her voice cracking. Shaak, unlike Ranma's female form, did not have a good singing voice.

With the a sigh she let it go, and turned in the direction Ranma had gone. As she had known he was via the Force she saw him now leaping his way towards her. He landed a second later, smiling at her and putting his arms around her shoulders. "So the last of them left?"

Shaak nodded, burying her head lightly against his shoulder, one of her montrals scraping against his shoulder lightly as one of his hands trailed down her other lekku. "Yes, they're gone."

Squeezing her shoulders slightly he gave voice to what had heretofore been an unspoken agreement between them just to make certain. "So, do you want to stay here for a day or two? Just the two of us."

"That sounds delightful," Shaak murmured, then smirked at him. "So what have you found? And what did you do with that tree trunk you were carrying? The Mandalorians thought that was most impressive by the way."

Ranma leaned down and slightly kissing her on the lips before pulling back. "Why don't I just show you?"

After telling HK to help Tune back to the _Wild Light_ , the two of them leaped away over the treetops, a feeling of near-gaiety filling them after the days of violence. Shaak followed Ranma, then stopped, staring at what he had found: a tiny inlet connected to the ocean beyond by a tiny-seeming stream, with deep blue water. On the shore of the inlet was a small wooden ship built for two people to sit in complete with oars.

"A date on a lake really?" Shaak laughed, shaking her head and leaning up to kiss Ranma's cheek before stepping into the ship looking at him expectantly. Ranma grinned, and began to push the ship out into the water before leaping after her, landing lightly so as to not rock the boat.

For a moment, all they did was eat some of the leftovers from the last evening's party, staring out over the lake into the jungle. This area of the planet had not been touched by the battles, except possibly a few of the local animals having been scared away by the noise in the distance. Nor was there any sign of the few scattered deserters having come this way.

After they finished eating Ranma began hesitantly. "You, you said my love earlier, after you've finished with Kun's ghost. Did, did you mean that?"

Shaak leaned away slightly from Ranma pushing herself up and away from him to turn so she could look into his face. She saw worry there, though worry about whether or not she had been exaggerating or had not meant the words she couldn't tell. After a moment she nodded her head slowly one hand moving to gently caress his cheek.

"I meant it," she said simply. "I don't know if I would have said it if… well I told you about how Exar Kun tried to weaken my resolve. But while those memories might've brought that feeling to the fore, love has been building in me for some time. I just didn't know how to say the words."

"Me too," Ranma said quickly, his own hands coming up to gently cup Shaak's face, rubbing his thumbs along the white markings around her eyes which closed to near slits at the sensation. "I mean, I thought I was in love once, and it wasn't love just infatuation. I didn't know how to, I, I love you too! It's been building in me too, I just I just couldn't figure out a time to say the words, I thought it had to be this kind of perfect moment, and the words just wouldn't come."

"I suppose with words like that saying them at all is more important than saying them at the perfect moment." Shaak murmured, then fell silent as Ranma's lips from hers and his arms moved down from her face to her shoulders and then to her sides pulling her in. Shaak went willingly, her lips parting, her tongue question out to find his as their bodies began to move together.

They were interrupted then as a giant creature barreled out from below them in the lake, capsizing the boat. It then chomped down on the bit that suddenly didn't have them in it, both of them having quickly kicked off and away, Shaak via a Force Push and Ranma with his own two legs.

Neither could reach the lakeside however and fell into the water where the beast began to circle. As it reared up, attacking the piece of prey with red fur Shaak began to laugh, as Ranma shouted, "Oh come on, why'd the Force not warn you about that huh!?"

 **End chapter**

* * *

The song Ranma sings in this chapter is White Light from Tales of Zestiria, the translation of which is by Sapphire.

A reviewer mentioned a while ago that they thought Sidious wasn't humanocentric - ie racist, or sexist. Um… have you read the SW books? The only women in places of real authority had to sleep with him to get it: Ysanne Isaard, Mara Jade, the other Hands… As for being humanocentric, I believe that was proven in the books too: how very few aliens were allowed into the Empire's higher echelons, how he sent his greatest general, Thrawn, out into the Outer Reaches rather than keep him close, how his propaganda detailing the fall of the Jedi pointed to how they had begun to fall when they started to take non-humans into their ranks.

Anyway, to the actual chapter. I have to say the trap sort of kept on growing, and kind of ran away from me for a bit. This will however be the last giant battle chapter for a while in this book. Most of the action from here on will be smaller and more scattered. And unfortunately for Ranma there will be more politicking too, and a return of a problem from his past, Nya.

Next month I intend to put out the next Magic of the Force chapter. As stated in my forward it won the poll here on fanfic but lost hugely over on my Pat R Eon page. I intend to ride this SW binge my muse is on, but I might well switch off from here on, we'll see. I will also put up a poll in the next few days for the next small chapter story.


	11. Chapter 11

I am not named George or Rumiko. Meh.

Alrighty, I know I've said a time or two that I would rather not update my two SW stories in a single month, but that is just what happened this month for various reasons. For one thing, Magic of the Force won by more than three hundred votes here on fanfic, and had a series of scenes I really wanted to write out, so it got the author's votes too. But this story, Horse for the Force, won by a landslide over on my PN page. Because the votes were so separate, and because of both the fact they placed first and third in the combined poll and my own interest I decided to update both SW stories this month. Since I won't be updating either story next week due to it being an ATP update month, it seemed doable.

Anyway, hope you all like this!

this was betaed by ultimaflar0, but if you see any mistakes and point them out to me I will do my best to correct them quickly.

 **Bold** \- emphasis

 _Italics_ \- thoughts

Underline \- written words

 _Italics, underline -_ specific ship names.

And now on with the show!

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Discussions**

"So, are we agreed that this planet is bad luck even with Exxy-kun gone?" Ranma quipped, pulling off her shirt and wringing it out **again** , as she stared glumly up into a sky that was currently raining cats and dogs. They had just gotten dried off in front of a fire, over which they had been cooked the remains of the beast that had interrupted their date when the sky had opened up abruptly, so abruptly even Shaak hadn't felt it coming.

"And I think this shirt is done," the redhead muttered, staring at a large rent in the back, which basically had taken out the entire back of the silk shirt.

"You can't sew Ranma?" Shaak asked, confused. He had after all lived on the road for years, and had picked up a grab bag of survival skills there.

"I can do patches and things like that, but not a major repair like this." Ranma replied, shrugging and tossing the sodden, ripped mass away. She quickly pulled out another one from her pants pocket's ki space, not because she was embarrassed at Shaak's appraising gaze, she had gone shirtless several times both in this from and his/her birth body but because she was wet and cold, and every little bit helped.

Shaak nodded then turned her attention back to the sky above them from where they were sheltering in one of the larger trees. Its foliage was so heavy that it actually was relatively dry. "That looks like it's going to go on for at least a few hours." She groaned, rather unhappy.

The date had been going so well even after they'd had that fight with the water monster. They could have recovered their romantic atmosphere and had been in the midst of doing so, but no, something else just had to come along to ruin the mood. "You realize, the number of dates we've been attacked on outnumber the number of dates where nothing has gone wrong?"

"I consider it lucky that we've had a few dates that've gone right at all Shaak," Ranma said with a faint laugh, leaning back against the tree trunk as she too stared out over the pouring rain. It was somewhat nice, a great view and all, but Ranma would have felt better if she was watching it while she herself was dry and warm. She'd been wet, cold and uncomfortable far too often on the road to enjoy days like this.

Shaak leaned back, trying to settle her head against Ranma's soft chest, but her montrals and back lekku got in the way. Shaak shivered at the feel of the other woman's bared breasts scraping along either side of her back lekku, as she moved up, so that she leaned her head back against the tree next to Ranma's. They were silent for a few moments, then Shaak asked, "So what do we do from here? I need to check in with the Order, about what went on here of course."

"I'd like to head out to this planet called Copra. I looked it up on the Hypernet back on Eshan when I was looking at what other planets had their own personalized martial arts styles, and particularly any of them based around grappling or disarming your opponent. Grappling's an area I haven't studied much, so I figured I'd find some place based on that. But I'd guess you want to report in person right?"

"I haven't heard of that world, but you're right I would prefer to report in person. By Hypercom I have to talk through the high Council on Coruscant, and of course we run the risk of someone listening in on our mail. If we choose to go back to Kashyyyk however I can give my report to Master Yoda in person. And we do need to do so, about more than just Exar Kun's ghost. Your involvement with the Mandalorians is a big deal Ranma." Shaak replied, understating that last point by quite a bit.

"I can see why," Ranma said with a shrug. "But on the other hand I don't think it's any of their business what I do. I mean I'm happy being friends with the Order Shaak don't get me wrong," the redhead said, leaning over to kiss Shaak at the base of one of her horns. "But I am not willing to let them control what I do or who I talk to."

"Have I tried to do either of those things?" Shaak asked tartly, turning slightly to stare at the shorter woman in the eye.

"No, but you can't tell me that a lot of the Council members would like to do that just that."

"No I cannot but Master Yoda certainly has no wish to do so, nor does Master Dooku. If for very different reasons. Dooku I think is enjoying the way your abilities have changed how he personally views combat and the chaos around is amusing at a distance. Yoda, I get the impression he realizes any attempt to control you would backfire horribly. He's most wise like that," Shaak said, her voice dust dry.

"Dooku is not part of the Council, and I'll see your Yoda and raise you Mace Windu and Eeth Koth, or as I think of them, the baldy and the bastard!" Ranma said with a laugh, hurrying on before Shaak could take umbrage at his nicknames for such 'learned' Masters. "Besides which, Copra is nearer here than Kashyyyk. You can drop me off there, go back and make your report then come back and join me. I really would like to see if I could work some grappling into my style."

"We'll see," Shaak said, unwilling to give up the argument just yet, and the idea of leaving Ranma being rather an uncomfortable one in many ways. But the Order did need to know what had occurred here. "However, we need to talk about our involvement with Bo Katan and her faction. You have to understand Ranma, we are going to face a lot of opposition on this, even if the New Mandalorian's grip on their planet is as weak as she says."

"I know," Ranma said with a wince. "But I think the Mandalorians could change if given the example. And if they are heading to a civil war anyway, getting ahead of it, and finding a faction to back that has a chance of winning a popular vote is a better idea than trying to bolster a regime that won't ever have that."

"True, but getting the Order and the senate to see it that way will be the hard part…" Shaak's lips twisted into a grimace, and she turned away. "That is going to take a lot of talking, and I just don't know how it will go. Or, or what my position within the Order will be afterward."

Ranma nodded silently, understanding this issue was more important to the Jedi than the redhead could easily understand. The antipathy between the Mandalorians and the Jedi went back so long and was based on wars of a scale he couldn't get his head around it. But he/she was still unwilling to not go forward with his plans with meeting Bo Katan again and said so. Shaak merely nodded, understanding her point, unwilling to try to change his mind, though still worried about how the Order as a whole would take it.

After that they fell silent, simply basking in one another's presence as they stared out into the rain, occasionally exchanging chaste kisses, though neither were in the mood for anything more. Both of them were no longer thinking about the long term issues they would have to deal with, instead they were both silently thinking about the same thing: their relationship.

The declaration of love they had made had been some kind of threshold in their relationship. For Ranma, it meant that he/she had finally said the words he'd wanted to say for a while now, despite not having that good an understanding of what it meant. Where they went from here was still a question, but that they would do it together for the rest of their lives was not in Ranma's mind, because that was what loved ones did.

 _Need to think about something special to do. Shaak told me she loved me first, so that means the next gesture needs to be mine right? It makes sense anyway, but I need to look up what I can find about Togrutans and heh, mating rituals. Weird ass universe, but I guess it would be even weirder if every race out there was like humans._ The redhead snorted, but when Shaak looked at her she waved it off, going back to watching the rain.

For Shaak Ti, giving voice to the depth of the emotion she shared with Ranma had removed the last smidgeon of doubt she had in her current course. It was as simple as that, as long as she was alive now Shaak would be two things, Jedi and in a relationship with Ranma, whatever the formal name of that relationship might be.

 _I wish I had any close human friends outside the Order to talk about things like this. Is there an equivalent of a promise gift, and would it be appropriate for the woman to give it to the man? I know it wouldn't in my own culture, though admittedly that is among the few things I know about it._ Despite being very much an equal opportunity society, indeed Togrutans had been so since their earliest written histories, in terms of courtship it was expected to be the male who took the lead.

 _Or perhaps I should concentrate on somehow taking our relationship to the next level physically? I know I will have to be the one to do so given what Ranma has dealt with in the past, and I am ready for it I think._ Shaak's lips twitched. _More than ready in many ways, certainly intrigued._

When the rain let up for a time they made their way back to the _Wild Light_ , where the two droids had made their own escape from the rain quickly.

HK stood in the ramp leading up into its they, sitting area, looking out into the rain. "Irritated grumble: I had enough of getting wet when I had to tramp through the swamp to the ship before that final battle. This is just irritating."

"You're telling us," Ranma groused, as Shaak laughed, moving past the droid and dropping her still soaked outer robe on the floor. Before Ranma could say anything she had already entered the bath, winking over her shoulder Ranma who growled, snapping her fingers irritably before sitting down, shivering a little.

The case Shaak gave the redhead after coming out of the warm water from the shower however made up for having to wait.

By the time Ranma was both warm and male again, Shaak had made herself comfortable on the couch wearing her normal underthings. Ranma stood there in the doorway taking in the view for a moment until Shaak turned, smiling at him and taking in his bare chest in turn for a moment before making a gentle come hither moment with one finger. Smiling tenderly Ranma moved over and sat next to her, leaning down into a kiss. The kiss turned ardent even though HK was still staring out at the rain from the open ramp to one side of the sitting area.

They both were oblivious to the droid's presence until the droid turned just as Ranma was about to gently push Shaak back down onto the couch. "Disgusted query: Master, could you at least wait until I am in the cockpit, or have shut down my audio and optical sensors? I would prefer not to try to erase my short term memory of events of this nature, given the damage my long term memories have taken it could lead to further degradation of my skills."

Ranma growled, twisting so that he was now sitting on the couch and Shaak was in his lap, his arms clasped around her waist. He muffled his voice into her back, interspersing his words with kisses to her back lekku which, thankfully for Shaak's present state of mind wasn't quite as sensitive as her front two. "What… is…with…today…and…people…interrupting…us!"

"True. I am afraid that today the Force seems to have it out for us. Let us just admit it and move on," Shaak said reluctantly standing up from his lap and heading towards the cockpit.

Ranma followed her, grumbling once more about giving the Force, "or Lady Luck, whichever is fucking with my life for shits and giggles" a spanking once more, which caused again that bizarre blushing feel in the Force for a moment. That in turn brought a smile to Shaak's face and she sat down in the cockpit in a remarkably upbeat frame of mind.

Not 15 minutes later the ship entered hyperspace, coming out into a regular Republic system with a Hypercom relay several hours later. There Ranma, before Shaak could do anything quickly punched in information on Copra, only to quickly stop and stare.

The Copragan were giant six armed beings, with massive hands each of which looked as large as Ranma's entire head, and six fingers too.

Shaak began to chuckle, leaning over to stare at the image, before reading off a few lines next to it. Ranma's ability to read Republic still wasn't very good, though it was getting better thanks to her off and on tutelage. "It says here the Copragan are heavy grav worlders who literally can't live on planets without more sulfur in the air than humans can live in."

"I've not run into them before," Shaak mused, scrolling down. "Ah, here is why. It also says that the entire species suffers from an extreme case of claustrophobia. So they can't wear bodysuits or helmets like other gas breathers can. That is interesting. So still want to go?" she asked brightly, knowing she had won the argument of where they would be going next.

Ranma mock glared at her, then laughed shaking his head. "Heh, no. I'm tough, but I'm not tough enough to breathe what these guys can, and I might not suffer from a fear of small places, but I sure as heck wouldn't want to be wearing a helmet for that long."

"Good. And now to Kashyyyk?"

"I did say I would get in the way of you doing your duties, I just had hoped, well, whatever." Ranma shook his head, a little irritated for getting his hopes up. Some nice sparring and new techniques would have been just what the doctor ordered after the combat on Yavin 4.

Shaak shook her head with a smile before reaching over, taking Ranma's hand with her own. "There will be other planets out there who have martial arts styles you can learn Ranma, don't worry." Ranma nodded but was still pouting, and with a giggle Shaak leaned over, kissing him hard on the lips.

The way Ranma quickly returned the kiss made her roll her eyes, knowing his irritation had at least been partly feigned. This didn't stop her from opening her mouth almost immediately however. Their tongues began to dance around one another in her mouth then his, despite the noise HK made of someone being violently, if robotically, sick.

Ranma's deep blue eyes were twinkling as Shaak pulled away before leaning forward to kiss her lightly on the lips before she could pull away. "As a consolation prize that certainly would take some beating."

"I, I should hope so!" Shaak said with a laugh, wondering if now would be a time to try out what she wanted to in order to take their relationship to the next stage. But it wasn't a very romantic moment, so she shook her head deciding against that for now.

A moment later the ship once more entered hyperspace, bound on the first of six jumps which would take them once more to Kashyyyk. Yet while Shaak was perfectly correct in that she had to report to the Order what had happened on Yavin 4, she really should have remembered that Wookies always liked to brag about battles, hunts and other valorous deeds…

 **OOOOOOO**

Yoda made his slow but certain way through the trees towards Rwoookrrorro's landing area, chuckling quietly at the latest escapade from the younglings learning in this, albeit smaller Jedi temple. They had taken the idea of using pranks and ambushes for training purposes to heart, and even without Ranma here to be their victim they were still acting out at times. But because of that, and because they were having so much fun with the learning process, their abilities were growing slightly faster than normally would be the case.

That wasn't to say there weren't issues with the clans being trained here on Kashyyyk at the moment. Occasionally their jokes and pranks went too far or occurred at an inappropriate time. The teachers had come down hard on a few cases of that, but all in all the education of the clan was continuing apace.

This despite the teachers, Consulars almost to a man, pulling their hair out at the changes Yoda had railroaded into the curriculum. Metaphorically of course, these were Jedi after all, and some of them were aliens who had no hair, but the point still stood. None of the teachers here or in the main temple on Coruscant agreed with the need to change the way they were teaching their charges unwilling to admit that times were becoming dark or that the traditional training, with its emphasis on diplomacy and meditation was not up to the demands of the Dark times ahead.

Still they were obeying, and at least here on Kashyyyk Yoda could personally make certain they were following the new curricula. And he trusted Master Windu and Master Giiett to do the same on Coruscant.

Yoda took a moment to pause, staring out into the foliage around him as he thought of one ongoing issue that had nothing to do with his fellow Jedi's unwillingness to change their ways. Young Anakin Skywalker, he of the massive potential and a background and general attitude that made Yoda leery of him, had not been able to make friends with his peer group, acquaintances yes thanks to his leading them in pranks, but no close friends.

Admittedly his peer group was quite a bit younger, since Anakin had not been found and taken into the Order at the normal age he'd been Forced to start with the younger group. But even more so, his life experiences were far beyond anything they had ever dealt with. The only exception was a few younger students who had somewhat more of a greater world view, having been left with their families for a time for various reasons, mostly biological or logistical, after having been found. And there Anakin's coming in after the clans had already formed told against him.

Anakin's skills with the Force also set him aside. He could do things already with the Force that only advanced younglings or newly made padawans should have been able to do. Despite Yoda's injunctions to treat him just like all the others this had gotten around and Anakin had begun to show an air of assumed superiority when dealing with his fellow younglings. It was not a good attitude for prospective Jedi to have but until he tripped up there was little that any of the teachers could do to curtail it beyond stern injunctions about arrogance being beneath Jedi, which normally went in one ear and out the other.

Thankfully however Master Jinn was able to deal with him. In return for Anakin's good behavior and his not showing off in classes, Qui-Gon gave him some personal instruction. Not that Yoda was happy to see that, since in the long run it only served to exacerbate the issue in the long term.

 _Yet, Master Jinn, the only proponent of the Living Force we have on planet, allowances, made for this must be alas._ The rest of the teachers like the vast majority of the Order believed in reaching out solely to the Unifying Force rather than the Living Force, to reach out into the future and try to guide their steps from that rather than from the 'sensation of the now' as Master Jinn put it, which seemed in some ways to tie into the ability to utilize one's own Living Force as Ranma did.

Master Yoda hadn't realized that so few of the teachers even understood the idea behind the two types of Force before looking into it here on Kashyyyk. Master Jinn's understanding of that topic made up for a lot, even his coddling of Anakin.

Yoda's thoughts changed abruptly as he came out of the small tunnel between one wroshyr tree limb and the next onto the landing pad, moving forward to join a few Wookies already standing there. They all turned and bowed respectfully, the chief among them speaking quickly in his own tongue. "Thank you for coming Master Yoda. As you know, a clan of my people acted on your suggestion to search out Knight Ti and Ranma in order to help them against a foe."

"Senile I am not!" Master Yoda groused, smacking the giant Wookie lightly on his calf with his gimer stick. The Wookie took it in stride chuffing in amusement at the ancient Jedi's crotchety nature. "Returning they are, felt that I did. Certain I am, a story they have to tell."

The group of natives all nodded at him eagerly. Wookies always enjoyed tales by the fireside, especially of faraway places and hunts in far off woodlands. Fights not so much since despite their violent tempers and the incredibly deadly ecosystem they had evolved from, Wookies were not a warrior species. They didn't have to be given the fact they had the strength to tear most species apart with their bare hands of course, and sometimes even battle tales had their places in the fireside.

Moments later the Wookies and the ex-slave ship touched down, with the Wookies quickly absconding from it, moving forward as a group. Yoda's ears flopped down low as he noticed seven of Liac's clan were missing, but was grateful to hear that the ex-slaves at least had been already dropped off at their various planets, mostly Alderaan and two of its colonies.

"Greetings Chief Liac," Yoda said as the other Wookies finished their own welcome, which involved backslapping and many hugs fit to crack most species' ribs. The Wookies were an effusive people, and Chief Liac and his clan had many friends here, other clans they had married into, other large families they were allied with.

Chief Liac bowed deeply to the ancient Grandmaster, his hands clenched and dew claws drawn in so as to indicate extreme respect as he did. "Master Yoda, your prediction was correct! Great deeds were done these past few weeks, and my clan and I were a part of it because of your word. We have tales to tell Master, of a great evil vanquished, and of mercenary groups not just brought low, but wiped out!"

Master Yoda blinked slowly, nodding his aged head as he tapped his glimmer stick on the ground, his Force powers translating the Wookie's language with the ease of centuries of practice as the sector Jedi. "Know this I did. This great evil, sense that I did not, interests me it does. The tale telling, when begin it will?"

"I have injured I would like to see to, and I must see my wife. But say this evening?"

"Agreed." Then Yoda actually smiled. "Send a few Jedi to hunt I will. A fire we will start on the temples roof. For tale telling, a good position it is, hrhrhrm."

Normally campfire tales would happen in the main wroshyr tree that housed the clan doing the tale. To have it elsewhere was unusual and a sign of respect, especially if it came from one larger clan to a smaller one. To host the tale telling in the temple itself was like Master Yoda was saying that the Jedi clan welcomed Liac's clan as an equal.

Chief Liac bowed again, even more deeply, as did many of his clansmen. "We will be honored, Master Yoda."

That evening, Aayla, Master Unduli, and several dozen other Masters and Knights joined Master Yoda on top of the temple. Many of them looked a little bemused by the sheer barbarism of the moment, but they were there to hear about what had happened after Yoda had asked that aid be sent to Shaak Ti.

The reports the council had of the incidents on Corellia had been alarming so no one had argued with Yoda when he was able to discern that Shaak and Ranma would need help. The Death Watch resurfacing after a little over a decade was the reason for that. Everyone on the council, even their newest members, knew what had occurred during the Mandalore debacle. Seeing a faction of Mandalorians who believed that any kind of combat or killing brought them honor was a concern for any right-thinking Jedi. On top of that was this 'great evil' which Yoda had not foreseen.

In the center of the roof blazed a central fire about three feet wide. Stuck on traditional small sprigs of wroshyr wood a few of the local animals were roasting. Set along with them were scattered bunches of herbs and local fruits. Outside of one or two of the haunches, it was up to the individual how they seasoned the meat, or what they ate at all. Of course these were Wookie herbs and spices, so few offworlders could stomach them.

Aayla sat near the fire with a few of the Wookies, eagerly tasting things as they pointed them out. Her Twi'lek palette was strong enough to deal with the Wookie's traditional food and she was actually having fun. The Wookies were no threat to causing her to have a flashback and Luminara had decided she was far enough along in her treatment to be allowed out to mingle in a mixed gender setting in any event. Luminara sat elsewhere, keeping an eye on her charge, but otherwise willing to sit back and enjoy the convivial atmosphere. Everywhere Jedi and Wookie intermingled in the small crowd, setting on woven fiber cushions.

After everyone had some food, chief Liac stood up, moving around the fire to stare out into his audience as he began. He outlined what occurred, from start to finish, including how they had set up a trap for any bounty hunting group that came after them, specifically mentioning the Death Watch because of the attack they had launched on Ranma while he was on Corellia.

There were some mutters from the Jedi at that, which Master Unduli's put into words for the Wookies. "Despite the attack on Shaak and Ranma on Corellia we had hoped this was a small band of survivors from the original Death Watch, which was supposed to have been wiped out."

There were actually a few rumors, unsubstantiated ones admittedly that a single Mandalorian warrior from their former enemies in the Mandalore Civil War had wiped them out in a series of ambushes. Yet it seems as if that was not the case. Only Master Dooku had truly believed those rumors, though most of the Order had agreed that the Death Watch were no longer a threat to the Republic's stability.

Liac nodded, and began again. Master Yoda also noted that the Nova Guard was involved, and made a mental note to talk to Master Ranicisis about that. His diplomatic efforts with that group must've borne fruit. But his ears flopped down to his skull when the Wookies told them about Bo Katan Kryze and her group arriving. There Yoda had to stop the tale, asking Liac several pointed questions about Bo Katan this group and its long-term goals.

Learning that she had gotten close to Shaak and Ranma was disturbing, and there was more than one leery glance shared among the Jedi as they listened to what Bo Katan was trying to do, and Master Ard Nugien, one of the librarians assigned to the new temple turned, looking steadily into Master Yoda's eyes. "You see, Ranma is chaos incarnate! He as much as agreed to share his techniques, his skills with Mandalorians! And if non-Force users can learn how to do what he can…"

Yoda shook his head quickly. "Learn them quick they will not, decades, centuries of training it would take. While learning his abilities, the use of the Force a leg up it gives us." Besides. Yoda paused thinking. "Chaos creating chaos yes hrhrhrm, but possibly positive changes, come from sudden quarters they can. Watch closely we will, very closely, but making a decision before all facts are known, a mistake it would be."

The tale continued. There was much growling and snarling from the Wookies as chief Liac made certain to go into detail on each time they had an encounter with the Trandoshan mercenaries, and Yoda reined in a sigh with some difficulty. The antipathy between the Wookies and the Trandoshans was just shy of religious fervor, though he couldn't blame the Wookies really. Yoda might well have felt the same if some race decided that the skin of Jedi made fantastic coats, and they themselves made fantastic slaves or good eating as the Trandoshans had the Wookies before either species had joined the Republic. The fact that their raids still continued even now was a sad state of affairs and short of trying to change the Trandoshan's entire society it was impossible to stop.

But he was more interested in the tale of this darkness that Shaak had told the other leaders about, and which continually drew her away from the physical fighting in order to try to hunt down. It worried Yoda that he had never felt such as that when he decided to send Shaak and Ranma aid. Although there were some unsubstantiated records from the Great Sith War that mentioned Yavin 4. But there was no connection to that and…

"Apologies!" he said abruptly, as the tale began to wind to its conclusion and a name registered. "Repeat that name, you will."

"Exar Kun." said Liac grimly. "None of us had any idea how or why he remained as a ghost on the planet after the Great Sith War, but we did not question Knight Ti when she said it. And occasionally we and the Barabels would run into animals that were… warped, malformed, diseased. "

At the name of Exar Kun every Jedi Master there stiffened, even those who had not been paying attention much to the tales of valor and combat. That name was a name from the darkest annals of the Order's history, not only for the deeds he'd done, but for the fact that he had revived the Sith Order and had been among their brightest lights before his fall.

Yoda shivered, wondering about the comparison between that and a few others who had fallen to the Dark over the millennia. _The brighter the flame, darker the shadow underneath it is_ , he thought musingly. _Keep in mind this with young Anakin I must._ He looked over at Master Jinn, noting the human master's eyes narrowing, and realized he too had noticed it. _Good._

The tale reached its conclusion, and Master Yoda's eyes actually widened in shock, his normal self-control leaving him for a moment. Shaak had **banished** Exar Kun's ghost?! That kind of thing was impossible! It should not have been possible for Jedi Knight or even a Master who was not prepared for it to face a Force Ghost of that strength in their own mind and defeat it. Yet judging from chief Liac's tale, there was no doubt that had in fact occurred.

 _Possible it could be that training with Ranma, allow her to grow strong enough mentally? Strange if so, physical abilities Ranma's mostly are._

From there the tale slowly reached its conclusion, with the Death Watch leader dead, after having apparently been the host of Exar Kun's ghost until it attempted to take over Knight Ti. The change in tactics was mentioned approvingly by most, given the straights the defenders had been pushed into over the weeks of action.

Of course there were details that chief Liac did not know. He did not know about the song that Ranma had sung to Shaak in order to raise her spirits. He did not know how Shaak had battled Exar Kun in her head. She had shared none of that except the fact that she had won with anyone but Ranma. Nor had Liac noticed how the ongoing combat had worn at Shaak. And he only knew the bare minimum about the agreement Ranma had made with Bo Katan to journey to Mandalore in a week's time.

That evening, Master Yoda sat alone in the council chamber on Kashyyyk, the roughhewn of the room matching the rest of the temple somehow pleasing him in a way the council chamber on Coruscant did not as he imputed a code into the Hypercom communication device. This opened a connection to the Temple, but quickly shifted from the high council's Hypercom address to two others, Master librarian Jocasta Nu and Master Yaddle.

The two of them answered quickly though Jocasta looking a little irritated, and dressed as if she had been in bed. Yaddle was not. Yaddle occasionally spent half the night meditating, rather than sleeping since their species could use either to sustain themselves. "News I have had," Master Yoda said before either could speak. "Knight Ti, been to the moon of Yavin 4 she has."

Jocasta frowned thoughtfully, her fingers moving out of the pickup of the Hypercom as she muttered under her breath. "Yavin 4, Yavin 4… here it is. It was the sight of a battle against the New Sith Order. One of the last ones according to this, but that is all our records have on it. Did she find anything you want added to the records?"

"Information you have on it, share with us now you will," Yoda said simply. "All, even restricted histories."

Jocasta looked up sharply at that, but Yoda was Grandmaster of the Order, and had been so for **far** longer than Jocasta, a woman pushing 83 at this point, had been alive. At the site of the ancient met Grandmaster staring at her she only could shake her head and nod before diving into her work. The two green skinned aliens remained silent as she worked, and she frowned suddenly. "That can't be right. It's not directly connected but there is a rumor in here of some kind of Dark Side user being caught in a bombardment there and killed, but the records are so disjointed from that period I can't tell you anything more about it Master."

"Dark Side user, Exar Kun he was. Die in the bombardment he did not. A ghost he became. Exorcised it, Shaak Ti apparently has." From there Yoda filled the two of them in on what Liac had been able to tell them about the Dark Side ghost. Finishing the tale he asked the two research experts, "True it is, exorcised such a thing could be?"

Jocasta sighed faintly leaning back, scratching at her wrinkled neck. "Weak Force Ghosts can be banished back into the totality of the Force if need be yes by a combination of Force power against of their ethereal bodies, and the destruction of their physical anchor if they have such a thing. I know of only three documented cases where it was needed in all our history since Force Ghosts are not a normal phenomena and they are almost always Jedi Masters when they fall, returning to fulfil some purpose or pass on information."

"In two cases the Jedi in question was slowly corrupted by the Dark Side of the area they died in, becoming a threat to anyone nearby and propagating the Dark Side power. The last was reportedly an ancient Sith Master who had somehow lived on, only for a Jedi whose description matches that of Nomi Sunrider to banish him, though our histories of that time are… disjointed at best." She looked as if those words caused her physical pain. Jocasta had never liked the fact there were numerous gaping holes in the Order's history thanks to the number of times their libraries had been destroyed.

"But it sounds as if Exar Kun had no anchor, and wasn't a naturally created Force Ghost." Jocasta frowned thinking hard. "If the Jedi at the time had any idea that Exar Kun had done this thing, they could have exorcised it then I **think** , but after so for much time?" She looked over at the screen showing her Master Yaddle. "What do you think?"

"Properties of Force Light, not well understood. Among the Order, esoteric power it has always been, hard to teach, harder to learn. Yet powerful technique it is. Possible it could be used mentally to destroy a ghost. Effect on a ghost of such power, unknown it is. Join you I will on Kashyyyk to question Shaak Ti when return she does. Learn firsthand I would of this." Yaddle said, her voice nearly rapid-fire with her excitement.

"I wish I could join you, but I can't get away from the Temple right now. I am helping Master Dooku in that little project he's working on," she said obliquely, unwilling to mention via Hypercom that Master Dooku and Master Windu were heading the ongoing project to see if they could find any sign of there being a Dark Side user still out there somewhere.

They weren't unfortunately having much luck out in the physical world. They had found numerous leads, but all of them had been dead ends. At the moment the only physical clue remaining they had might be the Dark Sisters on Dathomir but the Order was unwilling to force things there. The Dark Sisters might be Dark Side users, but they were not completely evil and they kept to their own planet which allowed the Jedi to somewhat ignore them.

With the physical trails leading nowhere they had turned to the Jedi records. The two duelists were running Jocasta ragged looking through old records trying to figure out where and how a Dark Side user could've come from and if they had any clues about such before the Zabrak's appearance. They could now attest that at least a few mysterious Jedi deaths could be laid at the Zabrak's feet, including one of the Lost 19, but they hadn't turned up anything they could use.

"Apologize for that I will not," Master Yoda said sardonically, and Jocasta chuckled, shaking her head. The two of them often did not see eye to eye on many things these days. Yoda had begun to be far more flexible than he had previously imagined he could ever be, rolling with the punches and living in the now more than any follower of the long term thinking Unifying Force should be. Whereas Jocasta was all too certain about feeling that the past was more important than trying to discern the future.

"See you when you arrive I will Master Yaddle," he went on, addressing the younger member of his species. She nodded her head agreeably, but knew she would not be getting any sleep that night.

Irritatingly Yoda didn't get much sleep that night either, because he was woken up early the next day by one of the young knights who served the temple as general messengers. "Master Yoda, there is a call from Master Windu and the high Council for you."

Yoda nodded, getting out of the giant pillow that he used as a bed, quickly following the younger man out the door to the council room. He found the other Masters already gathered, and astonishingly a large portion of the High Council was also in attendance via the specialized holographic program. Master Windu was standing as Yoda entered, silent and turned away from the others as he stared out over the landscape of Coruscant, though of course all Yoda could make out was the fact that he was turned away.

Two Yoda's surprise, Master Dooku was also present. He was sitting in one of the chairs left empty at present since Master Giiett was not present, busy with teaching the younglings.

The tall Korun native turned back as Yoda entered, bowing formally to the Grandmaster, before sitting down and gesturing to Adi Gallia. "Master Gallia, you called this meeting."

"We have an unusual situation in the Senate, a small one at present, but one that bears watching, and which has made for quite a bit of gossip." She said the last word somewhat distastefully, though it was at best a front. Listening in on gossip and the feelings and emotions of it was one of the ways Jedi gathered information after all, and Master Gallia was one of the best when it came to navigating political waters.

"The New Mandalorians have appealed to the Senate for Jedi arbitration with the terrorist group called the Death Watch, a name we have not heard of for years." Gallia went on. "Duchess Satine Kryze fears that they will restart their old terror campaign against the New Mandalorians in order to seize control of Mandalore's government. She is also worried they will cover this through a push against the government in the political field. Any move to put the Death Watch or any other like-minded group in charge of Mandalore is a cause for concern, both for us and for the Senate."

Yoda held back a groan, but more than one of the other Masters not physically present on the Kashyyyk did not have his self-control, and Gallia looked around at their faces. "From your reactions I understand that you have some information on this?"

"Dead, the Death Watch as we knew of it is," Yoda said bluntly as the other Masters around him turned in his direction. "A trap Ranma and Knight Ti sprang on them, numerous other mercenary groups and gangsters also involved they were. Stronger the Death watch were than we knew. But wiped out the Death Watch were, except for a group under Bo Katan Kryze. Wish to create a new way of keeping to their code, they do."

"The New Mandalorians are pacifists," said another Master, named Presten Var, a human male. He was filling in for Master Ranicisis on the Council while he was still out in the Ailoni system. He had apparently felt the presence of a Force sensitive child on the planet and had decided to stay there and hunt down the feeling. Since it was every Jedi's duty to do so, no one had made any mention of it.

Right now however, Yoda was wishful for the other Master's reserved controlled presence. "Pacifism is always more welcome in a government, especially one such as that. We should try to put a stop to this new faction gaining ground. A mixed mission, part anti-terrorism, part political aid seems necessary here, though we would need to tread lightly on Mandalore given their antipathy towards Jedi."

"Thoughts on this you have padawan?" Yoda asked, looking over at Dooku.

Yoda briefly reflected on how Ranma had a distinct effect on Dooku because before this he would've taken umbrage at the gentle needling of Yoda calling him padawan. Now he merely arched a sardonic eyebrow, visible in the hologram, before looking around the temple's council room.

When Dooku spoke, it was in terms of extreme neutrality. "I have had more dealings with the Mandalorians than any of you and I have to say I am ambivalent about this. Neutrality is indeed a better and more desirable form of government than any other. However, a democratic government cannot survive if it does not speak for the majority of their constituents. And even during the debacle with the Death Watch and True Mandalorians we saw some signs that the New Mandalorian's government might not be as popular as they like to think, hence the so-called Clan War, which pitted many traditionalists backing a clan based government against the direct representational government that the New Mandalorians put in place. This new conflict might well have been festering ever since the end of those two clashes."

Dooku's lips twisted as he said that, not liking what he was saying at all. Nor did he like the fact that that so-called Civil War had been more of a clash between two relatively small factions than an actual civil war simply because it had never really called upon a larger majority of Mandalore's population. It had been bloody and violent, but small in scale. The Clan War in contrast had been more of a series of political clashes, with few examples of direct combat.

"While democracy is all well and good, I think that we need to seriously consider whether or not it is appropriate in this case," said Coleman Trebor, the council's newest member, shaking his head. A Vurt male, he was charismatic, well-connected in the media, and one of the best diplomats in the Order who did not deal with the Senate directly.

Despite that when he spoke it was not in favor of more talking. "We cannot simply forget the evils the Mandalorians perpetrated in their wars of conquest, we cannot simply believe that this new group will be able to create, let alone keep to a new code of conduct because of their interaction with this Ranma fellow. I haven't met him so I do not know the effect he can have, but surely his chaotic effect is not so great as all that."

"We're not saying we should, and they're not even attempting to say that," said Master Depa Billaba. "But you didn't hear chief Liac speak about this Bo Katan woman. I did. It was secondhand admittedly, but I think Bo Katan has had a personal epiphany, and I think that her opinion about her people's history has changed too. The Mandalorians might well change because of this, might change into something positive for the universe. A sheepdog instead of a wolf."

That analogy won many blank stares and the human Master rubbed her forehead. "A guardian instead of a predator," she said slowly. Everyone nodded at that, and she went on. "I realize that we as Jedi should be leery of the Mandalorians returning to their combative ways. It was we who did most of the dying to stop their wars of conquest. But can we in all good conscience turn our back on the idea of controlling this possible change for the good?"

"You're speaking of control in conjunction with something that Ranma's presence began," Dooku said, kneading the bridge of his nose for a moment. "I am struggling to figure out whether or not you're speaking from ignorance, or simply blind optimism."

Depa actually laughed at that and Dooku went on. "We are also forgetting the fact the hatred Mandalorians in general feel toward Jedi. The Mandalorians led by Bo Katan might have been willing to overlook the fact that Knight Ti was a Jedi Knight because of her association with Ranma and his teachings however we should not blind ourselves to the fact that we are not exactly popular among their people. Our very presence, no matter how soft we tread, might poison more Mandalorians to the New Mandalorian's cause. Furthermore," he paused, then shook his head leaning back staring over at Master Mace, who stared back.

The two lightsaber masters shared a long slow look, and Master Mace eventually nodded. "Yes," he said simply. They did not share what that long slow look had imparted. They did not share the fact that they needed to be aware that they might have a secret enemy out there which could turn this to his or her advantage. They were still operating under secrecy of that concept, and this was not the time or place to break it.

"Neutrality must be kept," Yoda said thoughtfully, also giving voice to those thoughts. "Tied down into another small-scale war, we cannot afford to be. Yet to arbitrate we have been asked to, do so we will."

Master Windu nodded thinking. As part of his process of revamping the Council of reassignment and its methods, he had gone over hundreds of thousands of mission reports over the past few months. "In that case, I suggest we call in Knight Kenobi to be part of the delegation. He and Qui-Gon were part of a delegation that helped save the Duchess Satine from an assassination plot early in her tenure during the so-called Clan Wars. Why Mandalorians call it that I have no idea, but they do. At any rate his knowledge of her and of the planet in general might well be helpful in diffusing any tensions and can also give us insight that is not tied in to either side or its version of what is going on."

"A good idea, but I would caution you about sending him alone, and remember we should not send an actual diplomat. It would be an insult to send a known diplomat, since the Mandalorians other than the NM's would have little respect for him, and the stigma of being a Jedi will make this task even more difficult."

"Master Plo Koon?" asked one of the other Masters. "He could serve. He is a known lightsaber duelist, he has been involved in several of the wars in the past few years, and is also known in diplomatic circles."

"An excellent suggestion," Mace said with a nod. "And Plo is even known to Ranma and Knight Ti." He looked over at Master Tiin, who was the only other Master present who had also been part of the mission against the Yinchorri. "Am I correct in remembering that Ranma had a good impression of Plo?"

"Quite good yes," Master Tiin replied with a smirk. "They got on well, though they didn't talk often. And Master Plo Koon has also talked a few times with Knight Ti I know of."

"A decision reached we have then," Yoda said with a nod. "Need more information we will about this Bo Katan woman, the truth behind her words, before plan going forward we can form."

 **OOOOOOO**

"I hate flying, I hate flying, I hate flying!" Obi Wan muttered to himself in a very non-Jedi manner as his _Sprite_ swooped down into the landing bay of the space station they were assaulting, one of its engines shattered. Thankfully the space station's shield had gone down before he had passed through that area of space and his crash did not end in his ignominious death by splatter.

"Why did I ever agree to pilot a starfighter in the first place!?" then Obi Wan was too busy using the Force to keep himself in his cockpit's seat as the starfighter tumbled end over end. The glass of it's canopy shattered on the first impact, and as the second began he quickly hit the eject button, launching his chair up into the air of the docking bay.

Unlatching himself Obi Wan used a Force Jump to hurl himself away from his chair before the rockets in the ejection seat could carry him up to splatter againt the ceiling of the hanger bay. Even as he did so, Obi Wan's lightsaber activated, deflecting several dozen blaster bolts as they came at him.

Slipping into form three with the ease of months of practice and several extremely hard missions in midair would have been impossible for many masters, but Obi wan did so, and landed unharmed. Then as a torrent of fire from the pirates began to train on him, his lightsaber began to return that fire directly at his attackers, flinging their bodies backwards dead by their own blaster bolts.

When Obi Wan allowed himself time to think about it, there was a kind of brutal irony in that maneuver. _Live by the sword die by your own sword or in this case plasma bolt,_ he thought now, rushing forward. Tapping his headset, he asked, "Siri are you there?"

When she replied the other knight's voice was almost breathless, but she seemed to be calming down from the initial rush of battle while even more pirates began to rush into the hanger bay. "I am, though I have to say your mode of entrance leaves much to be desired from this side of things."

"You should try it from in here!" Obi replied, his lightsaber flashing again and again all around him. To relieve some of the pressure he reached out with the Force, pulling a few loose pieces of equipment into the throng of pirates, knocking them down. Their fire lessened enough he was able to close and get in among them. The next second, he had enough time to ask, "How goes the battle outside?"

"The rest of the pirate group tried to run, but Ord Duvac patrol ships caught them before they could calculate their jumps. Two of their ships still got away, but on random jumps and several patrol craft are already jumping out after them. This system's numerous navigational hazards might have protected their pirate base from detection, but it also means that their attempts to escape aren't going to be as easy as they could have been otherwise," she said her voice almost silky smooth.

Obi Wan carefully hid a wince. Siri had not enjoyed their current mission or rather she had not enjoyed dealing with some of the slaver scum they had been dealing with. The two of them had posed as a pair of murderous psychopaths named Gilver and Clorde, thieves, assassins, and bounty hunters of a sort even the guild would never allow on its books. They had acted the part very well, and through the use of Force powers had been able to get out of proving their bona-fides in any way until they had the information they needed. But the opportunity to take out the Soul Eaters had brought them up short of their original goal.

This particular pirate band had been operating for over three decades now. It was organized, large, and powerful, a full branch of the diseased tree that had been Black Sun. it's ships preyed upon the people, both the shipping and the planets of five sectors in the Colonies. They also had a habit of leaving particularly dirty bombs behind if forced to pull back, and of not leaving many survivors. Hunting them down had been a standing Jedi Order for decades, though this was the first real break the Order had gotten which could well lead to shutting the entire group down.

It felt **good** to be on a mission like this. These kind of missions sent a very powerful message to everyone involved in the underworld that the Jedi order was taking an interest. It was somehow cleaner than any diplomatic mission could be, Siri mused to herself.

"If that is so, could you please get in here?" Obi Wan grunted, diving aside and flashing his lightsaber around to partially deflect a quad laser burst. "These pirates don't know when they're beaten!"

"…SO Ord Conro's patrol ships have the Pirates, and their computer technicians are going over the data." Obi Wan reported to the council over two hours later, his voice and stance showing how weary he was from the constant combat. The pirates had never surrendered, knowing what awaited them in the local courts, where piracy was a act punishable by death. He, Siri Tachi and three companies of Republic guard had to winkle them out, and the guard had paid for it with over forty percent casualties. The green kids who made up the companies just hadn't had enough training to deal with live combat.

"They've already discovered a few other bases in the area, and will be heading to take them out quickly and in short order," Siri Tachi said from where she sat in a chair next to Obi, her voice and body drooping with exhaustion. "We hope you understand why we decided to end this operation quickly Masters. I realize a lot of work went into our cover stories but…"

Master Mace held up a hand, smiling for a change. "Do not concern yourselves with that. It has been a very, very bad few months for pirates and slavers throughout the Republic, and I for one am pleased that the Soul Eaters will no longer be a problem. Well done the pair of you."

He paused then, before going on more seriously. "I wish I could say that you'll both be having a few days off once you return to the Temple, but I'm afraid I can't. Obi Wan we have another mission for you. I understand you have a connection to Duchess Satine?"

Obi Wan blanched hoping that his emotions did not register for a moment, and knowing they did as soon as he felt Siri Tachi's gaze on him, her eyes speculative. "I do Master," he said delicately and began to describe from his own perspective the mission.

The mission had been to provide bodyguards to the then somewhat young Duchess Satine, during what amounted to a social shakeup of huge proportions. Her New Mandalorian party, perhaps the first purely political party had begun to piece together Mandalore's economy and infrastructure, which had been shattered hundreds of years before during the Mandalorian Excision, reaching out to the Republic for aid in doing so.

In so doing they had shattered several long standing traditions, and come under attack both for that and their pacifist platform. That they had also reached out to the Republic, the body that, like the Jedi, the Mandalorians saw as being the aggressor in that Excision, was a factor in their hatred. Satine had ascended to the position of leadership of her party via an off-world education, skillful diplomacy and charisma. A charisma that had thoroughly ensnared a young Obi Wan Kenobi, something Obi Wan was almost painfully aware of at present.

"Good," Master Windu said with a nod. "You will be seconded to Master Plo Koon, the two of you will join Knight Ti as our representatives in a arbitration that we have been called upon to do on that planet. There is some question about the legality of the New Mandalorians government, and apparently a growing movement to revert to a more warlike footing. Your job will **not** be to bolster the New Mandalorians government Obi Wan, but to gather information."

"We must know first how widespread the disdain for the New Mandalorian government is, how dangerous this new movement could be to the peace of the sector, and how best to stop it. We cannot be seen as unilaterally acting here, even if the locals wish to act out against the Republic government. You will receive a full briefing when you arrive on Kashyyyk, and we expect to see you there as soon as possible."

"That is a very thin line you're asking us to walk Master Windu," Obi Wan said, carefully keeping any expression off his face as he scratched at the stubble he was starting to grow. Siri had said that he might look good with the beard, and the grungy look had helped their cover. "I will however try."

 _Going on a mission that might bring me in direct opposition to a girl I had feelings for while leaving my current girlfriend, friend with benefits, whatever Siri and I are, behind. Joy. And now if Siri's expression is anything to go on I have to explain the emotions she felt. Somehow I just know that Ranma is involved in this…_

 **OOOOOOO**

If he were one to give into even his darker emotions Sidious might well have been twitching with fury at present. _The ripples are spreading, Force curse the Chaotic Locus! How is he, she, whatever it was originally, doing this anyway!?_ With a visible snarl on his lips Sidious pulled his control around himself like a jacket, separating his thoughts from the fury and hate threatening to overwhelm him.

 _To be certain, many things are still going my way._ His control of the Senate, clandestine of course for the most part, was now rock-solid. The Senate would of course never move in lock step but all its factions could now be used as he wished them to be, dancing to his tune like so many marionettes on strings. And he had begun the long process of turning Sora Bulq to the Dark Side. Indeed, Sidious estimated that within a year or two the man would agree to become his apprentice formally. And with him, would come several dozen other Jedi.

Indeed, Bulq might be able to create a true schism within the Order. From that, who knew how many other Jedi could fall into Sidious' lap? Such Dark Jedi would of course be limited, a tool could not overcome a lifetime's indoctrination and immediately be as useful as someone trained from an early age in a second sect. However, they would be good tools, both in the long term against the Jedi physically and against the Jedi's public persona once he could begin working on turning them in the first place.

But the source of his current fury was that the Grand Plan was starting to come apart in places, small ones for now, but from small things came large avalanches. First was that several dozen of the hate groups he had begun through several hundred cutouts were no longer responding to any commands, become mere terrorist groups in turn. Their violence was feeding the Veil for certain, but he could no longer predict their actions, and he had nearly lost local politicians on two Core Worlds who had long been in his pocket because of that. This was strange, but such people were uncontrollable by their very violent nature, so he had made allowances for it.

The Mandalorians training teams which Jango Fett had slowly been bringing together to start training the clones once the first batch was born suddenly leaving he had not planned for. They had handed the money paid them back to the clone Masters before heading home for some reason. It had taken him some time to learn the reason behind that: the destruction of the Death Watch, and the rise of a new faction to challenge the New Mandalorians control of their planet.

Even Jango had been interested in getting involved, only the rumors of a Jedi possibly being involved had stopped him from following his fellow Cuy'val Dar, or 'those who no longer exist'. That, and alone of all of them Jango knew and agreed with the real reason behind the army's creation: to kill the Jedi Order. Sdiious had nurtured the hate in the man, making it grow to the point where it had superseded his loyalty to his people.

The Death Watch being destroyed was of no moment, his circuitous method of communication with their previous leader would never be traced back to him. And while the loss of several mercenary companies he could've used for various clandestine operations was irritating, there were literally thousands where they came from scattered across the galaxy.

No, it was fact that he needed that clone army to be as deadly as it could possibly be, not only as an army, but as an anti-Jedi force. The Grand Plan had long hinged on the idea of playing both sides of the Civil War, in order to stretch the Jedi Order thin enough and wipe them out in one fell swoop. There were simply too many Jedi scattered across the Republic, over 10,000 of them to his certain knowledge, for anything else to work. Yes, the small-scale conflicts he and his Master had been fueling for the past two decades or so worked to thin the Jedi numbers, kill a few here and there, but that was small potatoes in comparison to the Order as a whole.

And even a small portion of Jedi survived and had enough public support they could then rebuild and Sidious would be faced with yet another round of the interminable war between Sith and Jedi. He didn't want that. Sidious wanted to wipe out the Jedi and reign forever as Emperor of the galaxy. That was his destiny, the Grand Plan the Rule of Two had been working towards for its entire existence. Sidious knew it had to be him. The time was right, and all the pawns in place, just like the cloning cylinders he had stolen and stored on Wayland.

The Veil of the Dark Side was in place, it would only grow more powerful. Now it was blocking any Jedi from seeing too far into the future. Within a handful of years anytime the Jedi tried to use the Force to any long term direction, Sidious would be able to manipulate what they saw. They were going blind, they would soon be deaf. They had neutered themselves in numerous ways since the Ruusan Reformation. If Sidious couldn't wipe out the Jedi now the way the Order was even with the Chaotic Focus' help, then no one could.

 _The hatred between species is still allowing me to heighten the tension in the Core Worlds, hiding the growing division between the corporations, the Outer Rim Territories and the Core but it is slowly becoming uncontrollable, even for me. If I cannot make it die down, it will start to impact my control in the Senate, and then it will start to take away from the unity the Core Worlds will need to stand against the Secessionists when I let them off their leash._

 _Admittedly, I know that at least four Jedi have died on recent missions to worlds with such tensions but if I cannot control it then how can I aim it solely at the Jedi? Worse the hate groups do not represent a large enough enemy for me to be able to seize the power I need in the Republic as a whole or to enact the broad sweeping changes I'll require as well as to build the Army the Republic will need. Of course I could use the Mandalorians as a threat, but they don't have the numbers to be the single visible threat I need. True I could use them as a scare factor, but…_

Sidious growled, shaking his head. He would have to look elsewhere for trainers, and build up the army's numbers further as well. _If I do that, and I also subtly start pushing the Senate to assign the Order more negotiations, push the Order further and further into the limelight out in the Outer Rim and beyond the Colonies while dealing with the hate crimes myself, I can strengthen my position in the public eye, sidelining them in the Core Worlds and also make them seen even more as the tools of the Senate out there, regardless of how those missions go. That will offset the good will they've been gaining thanks to their current operations, and my control of nearly every news agency will allow me to minimize that even further, though it will be difficult._

There were two other things however that were also worrying Sidious. One was that the Order definitely knew about the Sith now. He had known that would occur of course, if Darth Maul had died or even been seen it was obvious. But instead of clamping down on anything beyond the narrow focus of their Oaths, looking inward for their enemy and becoming more reactionary as the plan had called for, the Order was not in fact doing any such thing, at least not as an organized body. There was growing reactionism from many Jedi, but just as many were not doing so, simply going on with their duties.

Instead, Dooku and Windu at the very least were working different angles to try and find any sign of another Dark Side user out there. The death of the old Sith sorcerer Karkko to Master Dooku was a blow, he could've been useful in time, once he had been properly shown that he was no longer the Master in the equation. And Windu's methodical nature was… worrying. They could not be allowed to find the Clone Army until after the Secession War, whatever it would eventually be called started.

Sidious knew they would never find him, there was no connection between Darth Maul and him that they could find, no chance of them finding the secret Sith Temple here on Coruscant, no chance of them even realizing his old Master was a Sith. _But the fact that they are searching for us in this way rather than simply reacting as they should by becoming more reactionary, is… disturbing. It shows the way many Jedi think are changing, in ways I cannot predict. The Veil is still in place however, and with that and my control of the Senate the end result is assured. I just need to find out how to predict their actions now…_

At its core all of Sidious' concerns was very simple though he was psychologically unable to realize it. If everything had been going according to plan, Sidious could've been using the Dark Side of the Veil and his own prior planning to anticipate the moves of his enemies, turning them aside or turning them to his own purposes. Now events were cropping up, he was changing his plans to match. He was handling the changes well enough, but the fluid manner of many of the small scale events leading up to the end game was starting to get to him. Sidious was realizing he was, despite his control of the Veil, still only human.

 **OOOOOOO**

The trip to Kashyyyk forced the _Wild Light_ to jump in and out of hyperspace four times in order to orient itself to that system without intercepting any navigational hazards. The last jump out was a short jump from a nearby lifeless and utterly uninteresting brown star which had no planets and might never have had any according to what Tune's sensors were telling him. But as the ship began to turn to reenter hyperspace on its new coordinates HK at the sensor grid shouted a warning. "Exultant shout: Master, we seem to have bandits incoming! And I thought that this trip was boring!"

"Incoming from where?" Ranma asked, even as he grabbed the controls and began to twist the _Wild Light_ into a corkscrew, an evasive maneuver which forced the ship downwards and away from any attacker on the same plane of space they had originally been on. Tune warbled a protest having just about entered the coordinates for the next jump, and been revving the hyperspace engines again. But Ranma ignored him as seven bogeys appeared on the screen their dots glaring crimson on the radar like drops of blood.

Shaak quickly powered up the shields above and beyond their normal low powered settings which was supposed to deal with small spatial detritus, while at the same time smacking her hand down on the weapons systems, bringing them up but keeping the proton torpedo and ion cannons behind their irises. "HK, you have the gun on the port wing, I have the starboard. Tune, get us a read on them. Are they pirates, and what kind of ships?"

A moment later that second question was answered as two starfighters, both heavily modified Cloak Shapes, came in on them from directly below. They would've been just below the _Wild Light_ 's former position, able to attack it's relatively undefended underside, but because Ranma had forced them downwards passed them, they were directly in line with the quad lasers on the wings. HK killed one of them while Shaak winged the other, sending it careening out of control through space. At the same time Ranma turned the ship once more, racing towards three of the dots which had stuck together in a clear formation coming at them from behind.

"Those three dots are large, heavily modified yachts Rendilli Drive Yards Space cutters, but they are moving in an odd fashion, almost too uniform Master, mistress." Tune stated. "We have five other starfighters, modified Cloak Shapes, all of them with the same modifications. Old ships one and all, but they seem well maintained from what my sensors say."

After a moment looking at the radar, Ranma shook his head. "Why the heck are those three ships keeping that close a formation?"

Shaak sent the radar a single glance and shook her head. "They're slaved together."

"What?"

"You can slave computers programs, droids or ships together with a 'slave system', it's usually kept in a separate control device. I would assume that one of those ships has better shielding than the others?"

"Affirmative mistress," said Tune. "The one flying somewhat back of the other two has better shielding, but not as good weaponry from what I'm reading."

A second later the two other turbolaser equipped yachts again to fire at the _Wild Light_ , trying to bracket the wildly evading ship. When their blows actually struck, the _Wild Light'_ s shielding was well up to the task of stopping them barely dimming at all. The attackers however seemed to realize that too.

"Warning, we have a lock on!" Said Tune, warbling and rocking his section.

A second later the second yacht opened fire with concussion missiles, several dozen of them fired from four launchers swiftly, racing towards the _Wild Light_ en masse. Ranma quickly juked them around, heading towards another the remaining starfighters, though, and even they were acting oddly, not flying as naturally as they should have.

"This is so weird. Those ships are moving like they are under remote control or something," Ranma muttered.

"They're slaved too Ranma," Shaak said simply. "I would guess that only one ship in this system outside of the _Wild Light_ has any sentients on it."

"Disdainful sniff: it's a typical attack pattern." HK said, as he and Shaak lit up the two attacking starfighters destroying both of them as they easily anticipated where they would go. "Whoever is behind this is hoping that that ship's concussion missiles will do the real killing here."

"Let us disabuse them of that notion," Shaak murmured, looking over at Ranma. "Take us back towards them."

Ranma did so, juking this way and that to throw off the turbolaser fire, while Shaak closed her eyes, giving herself to the Force as her hands worked on their controls. Shot after shot from her quad laser rang out, destroying the incoming missiles, whilst HK concentrated his fire on any of the incoming remaining starfighters. But the two yachts with the concussion missiles fired another wave of them.

However, Ranma wasn't exactly defenseless either. He locked up the one ship with the better shielding and began to fire his own proton torpedoes out. The small starfighter variant of the weapon might not have had as much punch as the capital grade concussion missiles their opponents were throwing out, but they were faster, and he had just as many of them.

The opposing ship's shielding collapsed after two of them struck it nose on. Suddenly all three of the yachts began to turn away the two slave ships putting themselves physically between the _Wild Light_ and their controller."

Shaak and Ranma exchanged a glance. 'Should we let them run,' Ranma asked silently, and Shaak shook her head. "Disable their engines," she ordered.

Two proton torpedoes smashed into the yacht that had fired the missiles and whoever was behind this attack now paid for not having modified their ships to be more well-rounded. Their shields were not up to snuff, collapsing after the first proton torpedo, the second one blowing their engines out and sending them both tumbling through space to join the first of Shaak's victims for the day.

A second after that ship was out of their firing arc, HK and Shaak riddled the command ship's stern, which had not heretofore been weakened by Ranma's fire. It's shields held, until Ranma opened up the last weapon hatches and fired the ion pulse cannon. Then those shields fell, the ion weapons blowing out their shield generators. "That was more spectacular than I expected," Ranma mused conversationally as they zoomed forward, HK and Shaak finishing off the enemy ship's concussion missiles.

Capital class missiles were far more dangerous if they hit, indeed if even one had hit the _Wild Light_ their shields would have been a distance memory, two would have killed them. But they were not nearly as quick. Someone had learned about the _Wild Light_ 's shielding, but hadn't realized how maneuverable it could be.

"We haven't used that weapon on ships of our own weight class before," Shaak said with a shrug. "The larger the ship the more robust all of its systems would be of course, including its shields And those ships don't have Mon Calamari shield designs to boot."

"Makes sense, and I'm not about to complain about my opponent's being idiots." Another ion pulse blast lanced out slamming into the opposing ship's engines and suddenly almost all of the electronic on the yacht's surfaces went out. It's engine stuttered to a halt, throwing the ship into a tailspin as the engines went out one after the other.

The one remaining yacht, the one armed with turbolasers ceased moving altogether. It's engines shut down, its shields fading quickly.

"Completely slaved." Shaak said with a frown. "Interesting, I don't think anyone alive is on there but I will check." Again Shaak closed her eyes, reaching out through the Force and she nodded. "Three individuals on the ship in front of us Ranma, their thoughts seem somewhat reptilian, but do not match any race I have dealt with before. The others have no one living on them.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Ranma said, shaking his head. "Now, how to bring that ship to a stop so we can ask some questions?" The _Wild Light_ after all did not have a tractor beam, which made this operation very difficult.

They had to nudge the other ship physically around, stopping its out-of-control tumble and then actually had to have Shaak hold it still with the Force for a time until its momentum was gone. That proved to be a difficult task for Shaak, almost as tough as redirecting the explosion back on Corellia had been. But she persevered, leaning back and sighing with relief as she felt the momentum finally fade under her grip. "That's it, we can pull alongside now."

Ranma did so, ordering the ship's to hover directly over the other one, before looking over at HK. "HK, your turn. I want at least one survivor alive and able to answer questions but otherwise it's your show." One thing that Shaak and Ranma did not have was spacesuits, and considering the fact they would have to cut into the opposing ship with it's power out as it was, they would need them to board it.

"Exultant chuckle: There are three sentients correct? I will bring you the most malleable one master."

 **OOOOOOO**

HK exited the _Wild Light_ via the hatch, landing quickly on the other ship, his legs magnetically clamping down onto its hull. Behind him the airlock cycled close, keeping the air in for his squishy Masters, as he turned his normal hand to work opening the opposing ship's airlock via the emergency mechanical latch. That took him but a few seconds, after which he closed it behind him, using his pressure sensor to make certain it would keep in the ship's air once he opened the interior lock. Once that was done, he ripped apart said door.

Sticking his head and shoulder mounted rifle through the opening HK intoned, "Sardonic amusement: Seller of Religious claptrap calling! Can I interest you in a one way ticket to the afterlife?"

To his surprise there was no one around, and HK grumbled to himself. "Irritated grumble: why is there no one around when I am feeling witty?"

He pushed his way forward, closing the outdoor behind him. The ship was without gravity and he couldn't detect any kind of machinery going, which meant that the ion pulse weapon was actually more effective than he thought it would be when he read the schematics. Interesting but not important right now.

Looking this way and that along the small corridor of the yacht, HK calculated that the airlock was situated further back in the yacht then it was on the _Wild Light_ , so it was nearer the engine room than the through the corridors towards where the cockpit could be, he walked through what was a small living space for at least three sentients. Looking through a few of the yachts former rooms, he saw that several of them had been converted into weapons bays.

Two of them had also been turned into cages, and he nodded. "Analytical tone: Bounty hunters then, possibly specializing in bringing their opponents alive? Or just wishing to be prepared for that as well as the more pleasurable experience of killing them?"

As he moved past the weapons bays and cages, he finally came under fire. At the far end of where he was standing three orange scaled lizard meatbags of some kind that he had not had dealings with before, even in his disjointed long term memory, opened fire on him. HK quickly ducked back into one of the cages, raising his shoulder gun. "Monotone warning: Oh please surrender, oh please surrender, I do so care for your meatbag lives. I only need one of you alive to appease my master."

As he had hoped, this nod toward his mistress' command engendered no response but more laser fire. His order nominally obeyed HK opened fire himself, stitching up one of the defenders who was a little too slow to duck back into the cockpit, unused to moving in zero-g.

He swiftly pushed his way backwards rapidly however when one of the others through a tiny grenade towards him. It went off, shredding his former hiding place and blowing the door off the cage, but HK grabbed it out of the air, slamming it down into the ground and using it as a portable shield as he charged forward. "Exultant shout: You should have listened to me meatbags!"

A second later he was in among them, and the lizards simply could not move as normally in zero-g environment as HK could with his magnetized feet. They had spacesuits on of course, which included magnetized boots of their own, but they didn't seem to be as adept in their use as they should be. It always amused HK how there were so many uncounted trillions of sentients born into outer space but which still didn't quite know how to fight in null gravity. It was a sign of the inherent idiocy of meatbag kind in his opinion.

His claw hand snaked out as one of the two lizards almost lost his balance trying to back away. The claw grasped the orange lizard sentient's arm wrenching him forward and almost ripping his arm out entirely. A punch from HK's other hand nearly took his head off, shattering his helmet and the neck beneath it.

Reaching forward delicately with that same hand, smacking the last lizard's blaster rifle out of his hand almost absentmindedly, the gun spinning away down the corridor. The last lizard sentient reached down to its waist to grab up another thermal detonator but HK grabbed the belt before he could, wrenching him up into the air. The belt was torn off as he slammed the lizard up into the ceiling, tossing the belt behind him to continue to tumble on through the zero-g environment of the interior of the ship to join the body of the first attack HK had killed, which had come undone from its one magnetized boot to the ground.

HK thumped the lizard sentient against the ceiling twice for good measure, making sure to rattle him around just so he knew that there was no further fight in the creature. "Complacent tone: Now, I'm certain you'll be willing to answer some questions to save your meatbag life correct?"

He was therefore surprised when the lizards snarled something, trying to grab at a knife that he'd hidden along its spine, pulling it out and trying to slam it into HK's forearm. The vibroknife actually cut into HK's arm, causing a riot of electricity to erupt from the cut. HK grumbled angrily, letting the creature go before backhanding him hard, shattering his face mask and knocking him unconscious. "Irritated grumble: That was my new arm dammit! You know how much that's going to take to repair?"

Scowling HK used two of his claw-tipped fingers to delicately pull the blade out. A time-consuming process since his claw hand was not good for small work like that. Once done he reached down and grabbed up the survivor before he pulled the lizard sentient's helmet off and then slammed one from one of his fellows which had survived intact onto its head.

Certain now that the meatbag would not expire without its precious oxygen, HK tied him down to one of the three chairs in the cockpit. As he did his arms sparked and tingled whenever he moved his wrist. He turned glaring daggers over his shoulder at the instigator of that irritation. "Frustrated growl: If I did not need you alive for my master's questioning, I would have stomped on you and me make a mash out of your bones for that meatbag."

A few seconds later he called his master and mistress telling them what had happened. Shaak seemed to glare at him for a moment, knowing full well that HK had probably done the bare minimum necessary to appease her sensibilities. However she still listened intently to the way that HK described the fight and the lizards.

"Arms lizards. I recognize them, though I've never had any dealings with the race myself. They were one of the races involved in the Stark Hyperspace War, and are known as a warrior culture." Ranma's eyes lit up with interest and Shaak held up a finger. "…And xenophobic to a frightening degree Ranma, sorry. Can you get a scan of their faces HK?" She asked, turning from the communication screen to open up the Hypercom relay.

HK did so, and Shaak fell silent for a few seconds while she ran the image through the Jedi Temple's database and through it the Senates. "Accredited Bounty hunters, they call themselves the Triad." She reported to. "Vio Del, Vis Col, And Vir Tolnar, cousins of some kind it says here, though I doubt that is a direct translation and their ship's called together the _Certain Executioner_. It doesn't say anything here about them having their own fleet however."

"Hopeful tone: Should I wake him up to answer your questions mistress?" HK was thinking about the number of ways he could do so, and make certain the lizard meatbag was

"Just a moment…" Shaak said, her fingers clicking on controls, thankful the Order had given the ship their ship a Hypercom uplink. "Let me see what the regular Hypernet has on them."

A second later she nodded. "Here we go. It turns out those three apparently stole several ships from other bounty hunters at the bounty hunters Guild in Refrack it says here. They're wanted for that, though it's a bring them in alive so they can pay the penalty sort of thing."

"There's just no honor among thieves or at least bounty hunters," Ranma said with a dramatic sigh. "What has the universe come to?"

"Joyful response: Good times master and getting better. What should I do with the meatbag in question?"

"How much damage did the ion cannons do HK?"

"Analytical statement: This ship isn't going anywhere without a total refurbishment master," HK replied definitively.

"Tune, does that surviving yacht have a tractor beam on it?"

"It does master, though one of us would have to go over to manually operate it."

Shaak frowned. "What are you up to?"

"Heh, you'll see. HK, carve as many insults into that ship's outer hull as you can. Things like better luck next time, bounty hunters 0, Ranma and Shaak going on 500, that kind of thing. I think that I can trust ya to come up with something appropriate?"

After HK answered joyfully in the affirmative, Ranma turned to Shaak. "First, we're going to drop that ship and the survivingNikto off with his ship just like that at the end of the Refrack system, just let it coast in, maybe find a way to power it's emergency beacon or something. Then we're going to head on to Kashyyyk with the ship you're in. It should fetch a pretty penny if we sell it to the Wookies."

"Making enemies really is an art form for you isn't it?" Shaak asked shaking her head. Of course, with the size of the bounty on a Ranma's head, she doubted that any incentive added to it would matter at all to them greed propelling bounty hunters. The fact that they had slagged so many ships, killed two of the lizards involved, and were now delivering the last back to the tender mercies of his guild, would also be a factor in future engagements. _I don't like the use of intimidation, but when it can be used to stave off actual physical conflict, I'm willing to look the other way._

 **OOOOOOO**

Bo Katan Kryze sat back with a sigh, putting her feet up on the table in front of her for a moment. She looked around the small Spartan room that had been Vizla's office on the Death Watch base on Concordia before looking back at what she held in her hand. With a snap hiss she turned it on, staring at the gently thrumming dark energy blade.

It was a kind of lightsaber, though it didn't look anything like any other kind of lightsaber out there. The blade looked almost solid, some kind of black energy of some kind with sort of cracks of white light appearing through the blackness of the rest of the blade. It was quite pretty in a dark, deadly sort of wary, which called to Bo Katan's sense of aesthetics.

"They say this thing was created by the first Mandalorian to ever be inducted into the Jedi Order," she said, looking over at the 10 men in the room with her. Eight of them were squad captains of her new, as yet unnamed faction or heirs to various Mandalorian clans. "Not certain I believe that, though judging from where he kept it, Pre did. I have to wonder why he didn't bring it with him on the mission against Ranma and Shaak Ti."

That question was directed at one of the two remaining men, the most senior of the Death Watch who had come over to her side during the battle on Yavin 4.

He shrugged his shoulders, looking at the weapon. "Honestly, Pre felt it was more a symbol of the Mandalorians defeat by the Jedi then a symbol of his authority. He hated it, he hated lightsabers in general. He could use it, in fact I think he could've put up a lot better fight than he did if he had that, Pre Vizla was an excellent swordsman. But sometimes he let his emotions get the better of them."

"Odd, but his loss. It's mine now," Bo Katan said flicking the lightsaber this way and that watching the dark blade cut through the air with the normal thrum and hum of a lightsaber. _I wonder if this would let me fight Shaak Ti on a more even footing? I know I would still not be comfortable with Ranma's female form enough to get into a real relationship with him, but kriff if it wouldn't make me feel better to kick her artagh (ass) just once!_

"Even if were not going to be called the Death Watch any longer?" the man asked archly.

"That name died with Pre Vizla," Bo said bluntly, pushing herself to her feet fluidly and moving around the table to stand in front of the men as her equals rather than a commander. "The glory and honor of the Death Watch was nothing more than a lie anyway, you've all seen the records my former boss kept here, you all know that to be true."

In fact, Bo Katan had gone one better than showing outsiders those records. She had organized several teams of kill squads and sent them out to various places in the galaxy where the Death Watch was involved in criminal activities with orders to wipe any group that they been involved in out to the bedrock. The Black Suns remnants were about to get another severe jolt to their system, as were several major drug dealing cartels, and one slaving band called, for some reason she didn't want to think about, the Sado Kids.

 _Mind you,_ she thought as she went through those numbers again _that slaving band won't be alone in having a very,_ _ **very**_ _bad year_. The Jedi Orders campaign against slavers and both the legal and illegal slave trade had spread even out here. Indeed it was winning them quite a few enemies among the rich and powerful in the Core worlds which allowed that like Kuat, Thyferra or Brentaal.

"We've also talked to the people involved with the battle on Yavin 4, and agree that you're not like your predecessor at all," said one of the clan heirs, shaking his head. "But that doesn't mean that we're willing to sign on with you just yet. You need to present your ideas for the future in front of the clan conclave, and then, heh, you know what you have to do." He smirked at Bo, But she matched his smirk and raised him a sneer.

"Take on any challengers, beat them down, show my way into the future is the strongest, and possibly take the helm of the Mandalore." Bo Katan said, her eyes lighting up eagerly. _Though I don't know if I'll take the helmet myself, I actually think that Ranma would personally be a better choice. After all, it's his techniques skills and an alliance with him that I'm using here to solidify my position, not just our discussions about the nature of honor. "_ How long will it take to set up a full conclave?"

"All of our clan heads are willing to meet with you immediately. There are fifteen holdouts of the pro-conquest faction, and six others we know won't agree with whatever you say who backed Vizla through money and troops when they could, and another twelve that will always hold the Death Watch moniker against you. The others, the majority of the clans, they are undecided and will wait and see what you have to say. Still, we should get most to at least come to the clan conclave. Say four or five days?" said another heir, whose name was Kimrek Valhoun of clan Valhoun.

"That's fine for the full meeting, but let's set up a smaller meeting with just your clans and the clans who are most willing to move against the New Mandalorians. I don't want anything started there just yet, and no violence, not yet." Bo ordered. "As much as I'd like to, throwing out the New Mandalorians through violence would only cause more problems down the line.

"We'll set it up," Vimrek said, exchanging nods with the men all around him.

As the others all left Bo walked them to their shuttles before turning around and making her way deeper into the base. The Death Watch's base here on Concordia was based in an old strip mine set up here to mine Beskar ore centuries ago. The mines had been worked out long before even the New Sith Wars. The Death Watch had been forced up here after their part in the Great Clan war was exposedwith a lot of its backers, an exile from Mandalore that was their punishment for the terrorist campaign they had waged against the New Mandalorians. It had been the sole surviving base after Jango Fett's single-handed assault on them, and Pre Vizla had rebuilt the Death Watch from the ashes from this very room.

Bo Katan hoped to eventually leave this place behind along with the Death Watch name, hence why her warriors no longer wore the dark grey of the Death Watch, wearing instead the jungle camo they had on Yavin 4 like it was a badge of honor, which it was. Right now though she had something else on her mind.

One of the larger tunnels had been converted into a mechanics bay, and was currently the home of the Bes'uliik that Bo had brought back. Seventeen of her faction, the Reborn, were currently working on it, repairing what they could, replacing what they couldn't.

Already the mechanical beast looked almost back to fighting trim. Its claws had been replaced, it's optics cleaned and its other sensors replaced, the torn or dented armor removed so it too could be eventually replaced. The interior servomotors had been washed of grime and rust, but the Bes'uliik still needed more work there before the armor could be reinstalled, and the Bes'uliik's guns also needed to be replaced. Their energy cores however were still there, recharged.

The beast looked up as Bo entered, it's voice a low grumble of pleasure and Bo moved forward quickly, patting it on the cannons that served it at as it's nose. "Hello to you to great beast," she murmured, then looked at the chief engineer. "Will you have it ready to go in a week you think? When the real conclave meets I'll want him with me."

The Bes'uliik was at present a sort to secret. Many of the Reborn had joined Bo Katan's faction based on rumors of her having found one of the ancient war machines, but they hadn't shared the reality of it with anyone. Unlike her crush gaunts however, the Reborn lacked the ability to reverse engineer a machine of the Bes'uliik's size. And even with the crush gaunts they lacked the materials to make many.

"He'll be ready, though we might have to rush some of the armor fitting. What color will you want him painted?" the other warrior replied.

"Cobalt blue and burnished silver." Bo said, her lips trying to twitch into a grim smile. The man looked shocked, before barring his teeth in an approving grin.

Mandalorian armor was routinely colored to either make a statement or denote a specific goal. The color scheme she just named was used when someone was trying to make a monumental change in the Mandalorian culture, up to and including changing the very Resol'nare that their belief system was based on. It was a bold move to declare that, but Mandalorians favored bold strategies after all.

"We'll call you when we're ready to fit the saddle to you and the final imprinting though that doesn't seem to be necessary. This beastie likes most of us, but it doesn't sit down and wag its nonexistent tail when we enter the hall." The man said ruefully.

"Of course it imprinted on me, I'm the one who brought it home at last after all." Bo said softly, looking at the Bes'uliik in the optics and thinking of how long it had followed its silent vigil of its former master's remains.

Bo spent several moments helping the techs with certain portions of the Bes'uliik, then left them to it hoping to get an early night of it. She had to mentally gird her loins for politics after all.

A hand carrying a vibroblade coming out of a shadow of the tunnel to her side jolted Bo out of her thoughts, her only warning being the sound of the knife as its energy coils came online. Even so one of her gauntlet covered hands swung back and down, forcing the sudden attack to miss, and Bo turned toward her assailant, only for another attacker to attack her from the direction she had been going, racing around the dip in the corridor. This one too wielded a larger than average vibroblade.

Bo struck out with a kick, sending her second attacker to the ground as he almost impaled himself on her foot. Using the momentum of that kick Bo flipped herself in midair to land nearby, where she paused, one hand going down to her blaster, the other to the Black Saber on her shoulder. The blast of a handgun forced her choice, and Bo ducked to one side, letting the bolts pass by her save for one which struck her shoulder plate.

The armor held and she rolled slamming into the side of the tunnel, but Bo ignored the pain propping her blaster on the ground, cutting down a third attacker who had come out of the dark with his blaster firing. That left her open to another slash from the first attacker however, and he jumped on her, slamming her down onto the rock of the tunnel floor, one arm pressing into the back of her head the other raising his knife to stab. "Die aruteii!"

That was the plan anyway, but Bo had not been training for weeks with Ranma without anything to show for it. She bucked off the ground with one hand, the other grabbing onto the wrist of the hand trying to hold the back of her head, crushing and hurling the man ahead of her. He crashed to the tunnel floor, screaming in pain from his crushed wrist.

"Kriffing Chakaar (bitch)!" The second attacker, who Bo had thought had gone down permanently, came forward, a short vibro sword in hand, but Bo met him with a snarl, faster and stronger then he had anticipated even now. She dodged his short economical thrust, noting almost absently the man knew how to use the blade. Then her fist rocketed out into the man's armored chin, staggering him, and a low kick shattered his kneecap.

He fell and she activated the Black Saber cutting him in two before turning, resting the point of the gently humming, almost solid looking blade. "So, di'kut (fool) what the hell was all this about?" Bo asked conversationally, her split lips twisted into almost amused grin.

"You, you don't think all of us are happy about you throwing off the Death watch name do you?" The man replied, gasping in pain from his wrist. "We are Death Watch, you can't change our colors as easily as the paint on your armor!"

"Blood seems to be able to, and if I have to, I will keep using it di'kut!" Bo sneered, as the sound of pounding feet reached her ears from both directions. The ambushers quiet ambush had gone bad almost at once, and the noise had drawn a response. "The Death Watch is dead and gone, its dishonorable history will be buried with it, just like your friends here."

Despite the attack on her the next day Bo Katan descended to the planet to the city ofKeldabe, Mandalore's historical capital city, though it no longer held that title, having been replaced by Sundari. The New Mandalorians had raised their bio-cube city on the spot of one of the cities annihilated during the Dral'Han, which the Republic called the Excision. The old capital however was nearly as important as the new in terms of industry, and was a important trade city for the rest of the planet, though Sundari was more so in terms of off world trade.

Bo got a lot of stares for her jungle pattern armor, but since her visible weapons were all peace-tied, the police couldn't do anything but glare at her. Even here the idea of outlawing people going around armed would have caused a revolt. Of course the police were getting a lot of practice at glaring today given all of the clan heads, their heirs and bodyguards which had arrived in the city.

Twenty-nine of the seventy clans had come to the Hall of Resol'nare. The hall was both meeting place and gladiatorial arena, Mandalorians sometimes using single combat in order to decide who was strongest or whose plan would be followed. It was built around a triangular open area whose floor was soft sand where the speakers stood, surrounded by raised stone seats on all three sides, with no wall between the seats or the speaker. No clan had a special place for their clan, it was first come first served, the only way to avoid messy confrontations.

These were the clans Bo Katan had already been in contact with, a few others willing to listen already like clan Rogn and others. Two clans she knew weren't officially interested but were still here for reasons of their own. A few others were undecideds who wanted to get a feel for what Bo Katan was selling quickly, chafing under the New Mandalorians policies for various reasons, many of which might not even be connected to their pacifist policy.

They sat all around her men and women both, mostly humans but a few scattered nonhumans here and there, their helmets off and placed on the stone tables in front of them. A few were armed, but more weren't than Bo would have expected. Of course, she wasn't a Mandalorian politician. If they went around armed all the time like many wanted to, there would have been a lot fewer of them at this meeting.

These days, the Council of clans didn't actually have all that much political power. Most clans were small, and the conclave's power had been broken by the New Mandalorians via laws and injunctions during the Great Clan War as the Mandalorians knew it, when warriors decided to follow this or that faction rather than the old organization of clans. But the clans were still important in terms of industry and particularly farming and the clan heads still had numbers if they could be brought together.

Bo Katan hoped that she would be able to get them on her side. But she really should've thought that the New Mandalorians would be aware of so many clan heads coming together here in one of their strongholds. Before she could speak, the doors to the clan conclave opened again after having been formally closed for this discussion. "If this is a meeting of the clan's heads, then why was I not invited?" asked Duchess Satine as she strode into the triangle as if she owned it.

Bo Katan turned growling angrily, "Hello sister," she drawled sneering at the older woman. "And you weren't invited because it's your government that is in question here."

"Then I should be invited to perform a rebuttal at the least should I not?" Satine said coldly, narrowing her eyes at her younger sister.

Though there were only two years between them, looking at Satine and Bo Katan together like this most would think at least 10 years or more separated them. Bo Katan was taut with a wiry warrior's frame, under her armor, her skin marred by scars but no other blemishes. Bo-Katan's short-cropped orange hair was fiery in the light, and she moved fluidly, with no sign of the bruises she had taken the night before save her split lip.

In contrast, Satine was dressed in regal finery. Her face was thin, her complexion pale as was the current fashion the Republic over. Her blond hair was tied up in a severe bun, which coupled with her overall appearance and the fact she was thin rather than athletically trim made her appear far older than she was. She was still attractive, but not in the lean, lioness manner Bo resembled.

"That is true…" said one of the other clan heads rather reluctantly. "Yet I find it amusing to note that you are siting clan conclave law, when you New Mandalorians have done so much to try and take that power away. If you are going to spit on all of our traditions, turning around and trying to use those traditions to gain entry to this body is rather foolish isn't it?"

"We did not spit on those old traditions we turned our backs on the way of brutal conquerors and killers!" Said Satine, her voice rising and falling, the cadence and range of it showing her skill as a public speaker. "The clans kept all of our people alive, served the Tuang and our human ancestors well in ancient times, but the clans did not have a vision for Mandalore. We did, and it is because of that vision that this city remains as it is, a shining beacon of industry and energy to the rest of our ravaged planet."

One of the younger clan heads looked over to Bo Katan. "Is she really the clan head of Clan Kryze? You're a small clan I know, but surely there's someone else in…"

Bo shook her head. "It's just the two of us now our ancestral lands don't even have any other people on them, most of them joined other clans or the New Mandalorians during the Great Clan wars. Our father is long dead too, though no doubt he's been rotating in his grave for several decades now thanks to my **older** sister's actions." She smirked as Satine glared at her, having brought up the apparent difference between the way they looked with ease.

"I suppose I could technically challenge her for the leadership of our clan anyway," Bo went on still looking at her older sister, her smirk turning into an evil grin as Satine stiffened. "But then kinslaying is rather frowned upon…" she sighed theatrically.

The clan heads all looked at one another then leaned back, even Bo's supporters and a few who were actually supporting Satine, despite their warriors wanting to follow Bo. The idea of watching these two have it out was rather amusing for all concerned, and if they also learned what Bo Katan was really trying to sell, all the better. Many of them had seen the reports of the battles on Yavin 4 and even talked to those who had taken part, but even so…

"Very well," said one of them looking at Satine. "We'll allow her entrance, and will even allow you to keep speaking Bo Katan despite the fact that as you're not head of your clan you shouldn't be allowed to here. Consign yourselves to hard facts please, no personal attacks."

One of the younger head's whispered to his neighbor. "If they start to actually fight, I vote we put them both in lingerie. Cat fights are the best…" His neighbor smacked him upside the head, but thankfully for his continued ability to breathe, neither of the women on the floor of the triangle heard his derogatory comment.

"All right then," Bo said, immediately going on the attack. "Fine, my sister has had her say, or at least the start of one, but I wonder if you even know what we're here to meet about? The Death Watch is gone sister! That little terrorist group that your government went so far to ignore the existence of has been utterly destroyed. But instead of there no longer being any alternative to you and your new Mandalorian faction, I think there is a new one. A new way forward for our people. We call ourselves the Reborn."

She looked around the clan heads. "I'll be the first to say it here. In the past, despite our attempts to keep to the Resol'nare we Mandalorians became something that could've been called evil. We conquered, those weaker than ourselves. We thought we were winning glory, but in so doing the actual meaning of that term changed. It changed for the worse.

"So I see you have come to see the truth of our past then?" Satine asked, looking and sounding surprised.

"Yes and no." Bo replied, a hard edge to the voice even as her words through her sister off balance. "Victory meant glory, not who we were beating or how. We stopped caring about the challenge, only our own power. That is not in keeping with the Resol'nare, nor of honor. Defeating a powerful enemy, taking his planet away from him, the challenge of that is an honorable one. Defeating a weak species, forcing them to slave away for us, is not. We do ourselves no favors or honor by pretending that everything we Mandalorians did was in keeping with the Resol'nare we inherited from the Taung.

"But that is in the past, and it has nothing to do with a simple fact: we Mandalorians are warriors, our entire culture is based on that. We cannot change who we are, any attempt to do so is doomed to failure." As Satine frowned, Bo went on. "Instead we need to change the direction of our warlike tendencies. We must take up the honor of the defender, the warrior who searches for opponents to challenge herself against instead of simply trying to expand their influence or to fight for no reason."

Satine began her rebuttal the moment it became clear Bo was done speaking. "You speak of acknowledging our pasts mistakes yet you refuse to learn from them. How we acted in the wars of expansion were not the problem, the wars themselves were. The boot of a conqueror will always lie heavily on his victims, no matter how gentle the conqueror in question. Just look at how every other system we conquered turned their backs on us as soon as they were given the ability!

"Further if we had followed the war mongers, the Excision could well have been worse than it already was. If we had followed the Resol'nare's tenants of always seeking redress, we would have **died** as a people. If we had let the clan leaders at the time try to decide the future or our race, Mandalore would never have survived the chaos and anarchy that followed the Excision seven hundred plus years ago."

Satine whirled to face her sister directly, her voice rising, and even her detractors had to admit the woman was both passionate about the topic and a master of oratory. "Our warlike traditions are outmoded, unnecessary in this time of peace! Who would you fight now? What single goal would you use to rally our people if not peace? And do not forget that we are still trying to heal the wounds left over from our past wars. The industry of this planet was brought back under the auspices of my party's government, the political moves my predecessors made to assuage off-world fears the only reason any of us are alive today."

From there she pointed out specific clan leaders, enunciating the problems their lands and people had faced, problems that her party had helped them survive. After that, she took potshots at Bo Katan and the Death Watch, who had been behind a lot of the atrocities committed in the chaos following the Excision. Despite the fact her continued use of the Republic term for the Annihilation irritated many of her listeners, the message was understood: Bo Katan's working for the Death Watch, even if said sect was no longer around, was against her here.

She then went on to speak about the good will the New Mandalorians had won from the Republic, the aid they had received from following the path of peace. "We have no need of warriors now, no one of equal skill to challenge ourselves against unless of course you imply we should fight the Republic, in which case our planet would not survive the all too obvious conclusion. Especially since they would not even need to attack us, they would simply need to withhold aid, and make certain the few planets in the sector with intact economies do the same."

"Do you even hear what you're saying?!" Bo Katan said incredulously. "Ask the Republic for aid? Rely on the Republic for protection? The same Republic whose attack we call the Dral'han seven hundred years ago? You're not talking about just pacifism, **duchess** , you're talking about weakness, about letting the conquerors, who you've just derided, call the shots through your party!"

That won a few rumbling nods from their audience and Bo Katan went on quickly, knowing that she had just scored a point. Satine had thought to emphasize the fact that her government had Republic approval and the stability they had created, but that last line had been a mistake. "And I have made no mention of who we would measure ourselves up against, or how. Instead of concentrating on making war, we would follow the Eshani ideal, of personal strength and ability. That is the way forward, personal betterment in that form of honor is it's own reward!"

Bo Katan knew now was not the moment to bring up Ranma or how he had basically promised to help them learn some of his techniques, especially given his threat if the Mandalorians who did turned around and went back to their old ways. Bo hadn't taken it personally then, but few of her audience here would see past the threat or his connection to the Jedi. Yet again as she thought that, Bo had to fight back a spurt of jealousy at how personalthat connection was.

Shaking it off Bo attacked Satine from another angle as she had through the Death Watch name. "You call yourself a duchess, a noble leader from a royal family. But we Mandalorians don't have any royal family and a clan like ours sure as dar'yaim wouldn't be it if we did! The leader of the Mandalorians is **the** Mandalorian! Not a duchess, queen or any of that poodoo! Your party simply created that title in an attempt to ignore our histories, the way of the Resol'nare!" she shouted, amidst the loud clanking of fists against seats, signifying that she had scored a major point.

"You are right, our planet needed time to rebuild, it needed time to figure out a new way forward, but pacifism is not the answer going forward anymore! We cannot simply change who we are. Peace is fine," she went on "but it needs **defenders**! That is what I want for our people, the way of the shield instead of the sword, the Guardian at the gate rather than the barbarian battering it down!"

"Yes, we would expand our influence, but only to defend those who cannot or are not in a position to do so themselves. Our honor would be the defender, the martial artist who strives for personal perfection of combat rather than glory on the battlefield. In this manner we can keep to the Resol'nare, changing it and changing ourselves and our legacy among the ka'ra!"

That did it. Bo's words called to her listeners on many levels, mingling personal ambition, glory and a call to the ways of the warrior with her new beliefs on how it could be done without becoming simple conquerors again. It might not have been very detailed, but in this audience that wasn't necessary. Later on she would need to defend her new concept of honor from people who wanted to know where it came about but not right now.

Satine waited until the applause died down staring at her sister, her eyes hooded, yet thoughtful. "Your words are persuasive, but they are your words. Who is to say 10 years from now or 20 years from now that our people once again walking the path of warriors would not turn to our old ways? You said yourself, things change, people change. How many millions of us, how many billions of other people will die for that kind of a mistake?"

The meeting hall fell silent save for mutterings in the background as Satine's words took the sails right out of Bo's more emotional call to arms and the two sisters glared at one another. They were so different, so bizarrely opposed to one another not only in their worldviews but in their personalities and body types that more than one watcher wondered if they really were sisters at all. But the Kryze sisters knew they were, and there is no hate like that which siblings can feel towards one another.

"You ignore all of our traditions, all of our pasts deeds. I'm not saying they were all just or good, but they were our pasts! How can you call yourself a Mandalorian if you can't understand where we have come?" Bo Katan said in a low tone. "Our father…"

"Our father died while on fighting against a faction of warlords the Death Watch you eventually went to serve was backing at the time," Satine said coldly. "Do not speak of him to me. As for how I can call myself a New Mandalorian, that is precisely what I am, a **New** Mandalorian. You cannot always create a new building on the foundation of the old, you sometimes have to throw the old foundation out entirely. And that is what we are about now sister what we New Mandalorians are. We are builders, thinkers, we are no longer warriors as you would wish us to be."

The two of them continued to glare at one another, though Satine's comment on her father's death had hit Bo Katan where it hurt the most and she looked away, running one hand through her orange hair. She'd only recently discovered that, but it seemed as if her sister had been in the knowledge about how her father had died for years. "When did you find out about that?"

"I tried to tell you several times, but you always ignored my calls, you always ignored me. So certain of yourself, so superior that you followed in our father's footsteps! Never realizing that you are following the very people who killed him." Satine shot back. "Whatever you might think sister, I know our father would not have wanted the Death Watch's vision for our people to succeed."

Bo's teeth ground angrily, but she didn't respond. Whatever she said to defend herself, to distance the Reborn from the Death Watch, would fall on deaf ears here.

Even as her sister's teeth ground however, Satine had turned her attention back to the clan heads as one of them called for recess. There would be more meetings following this of course, but both sides had scored some points in this argument today. What Satine was looking for however wasn't who agreed with one or the other speaker. She was looking for those clan heads who were trying to hide their reactions entirely. Mandalorians did not make natural politicians, hiding their emotions was very tough for them outside their helmets and anyone who was might well have more than emotions to hide.

She saw a few of the neutrals had been swayed this way or that, but a few of the diehard reactionaries who had come to this meeting hoping that Bo Katan would be able to convince the other clans to go back to the old ways looked angry. Satine knew why. They wanted to expand again through conquest, defend planets they take surely, but the idea of becoming some kind of sector police or security force as Bo said she envisioned them becoming was not something they saw as honorable or in keeping with the Mandalorian tradition.

Her sister seemed to be blind to that, but Satine wasn't. Whatever else happened, Satine would not see her people go back those old ways, cursing themselves and others to death.

Part of her ability to read the audience of course was based on the full dossiers on each of the clan heads she had already memorized before this meeting, while it was obvious Bo Katan did not have as good an idea of the men and women she was facing. The rest however was the fact that, and Satine was surprised actually if realize this, but Bo's enthusiasm seemed to have gotten in the way of her ability to plan. She was truly enthusiastic about this idea that she had composed, Mandalorians as defenders rather than conquerors. _Whoever this Ranma fellow is has definitely had an impact on her._

But Satine knew several of the clan heads and their clans would not go with it. No, this looked as if it was going to be a round of faction fighting once more, possibly even open conflict. Satine hadn't realized how widespread the disfavor of her government was outside of the cities and bio cubes but now that she saw it in even this small a sample size, she was beginning to get **very** worried about what it might mean. _I hope that the Republic's intervention team will be able to help me stop the disaster I can all too clearly see coming now…_

 **OOOOOOO**

"Kashyyyk space control, this is _Wild Light_ , greetings. Please direct us down to the temple's landing area." Shaak said into the intercom.

A moment later Ranma began to guide the ship down into the green, blue and brown planet's atmosphere, following Shaak's translated directions. It was fun too, pushing the speed of the ship to zoom through the wroshyr foliage. With Shaak watching him Ranma was able to guide the ship down deep into the foliage, without crashing into anything. "You're getting better at piloting Ranma," she said smiling at him as they disembarked.

"Only way to go was up since I was starting at zero," Ranma said with a grin then looked over at HK. "Think we should take him with us?"

"Affronted interjection: Master, if you're going to talk about me as if I'm not here, could you at least wait until I'm powered down to do it?"

"I think not, let's leave him here for now. This might be difficult enough without his brand of diplomacy. Instead HK, why don't you have Tune connect you to the local space control systems. I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to attack someone here on Kashyyyk, but there's always someone who is stupid enough to do **anything**." Shaak said, rolling her eyes at the last word.

"Mollified affirmation: True enough mistress, and many bounty hunting meat bags seem to have been bumped off the conveyor belt when the common sense was being installed."

"Ooh, I like that one, I might have to borrow that sometime HK." Ranma chuckled, getting out of his chair as Shaak did the same. They stopped in the sitting area for a moment, just hugging one another, and gently exchanging a few kisses before turning to exit the ship. While Shaak had convinced the council to let her enter this relationship, she had no wish to rub that into anyone's noses, and as she had said about HK, this was going to be tough enough without that added to the discussions to come.

Exiting the ship, they nodded at a few of the locals who were scattered around working on a few other ships, two starfighters and a Consular class, scattered around the hidden hanger bay. The fact they were so spread out in hanger bay, which was embedded into a branch of wroshyr tree, struck Ranma as somewhat surreal, putting the size of the trees into perspective once more.

There was no delegation here to meet them, which was a good sign in Shaak's mind. Though she had actually honestly thought Master Yoda at the very least would be. "Odd that, I would've assumed he would feel our arrival, but I suppose he might have been held up somewhere else."

"Heh, or maybe the old frog's finally feeling his age." Ranma quipped, and Shaak rolled her eyes, this time at the antagonistic byplay he and Yoda acted out, despite generally speaking being fond of one another.

Eventually the two of them made their way up the tunnel, with no crisis hastening them along this time. It was only when they came out onto the small open area in front of the Jedi Temple that their progress was interrupted. "Knight Ti!" shouted a small voice, a bare millisecond before an equally small body barreled into Shaak's midriff, almost taking Shaak off of her feet.

She rocked backwards, staring down at the little head turned up to her with a beaming smile on its Togrutan features, the white marks on the other girl's eyes looking more like a tattoo then an actual marking as they did on Shaak's covering her eyes and most of her forehead as they did. "Hello to you too," Shaak said calmly, one eyebrow raised in what Ranma knew was amused surprise. "Is there a reason why you are running like that, or are you simply that happy to see me? I'll warn you, if it's because you think all overrule some of the other Masters when they assign you penance, you will be bitterly disappointed."

"I'm just happy to see you is all!" the little face said, and Ranma recognized her as Ahsoka Tano, the little girl that Shaak had said she would take as padawan when she reached the age to become one, and the girl who along with Anakin had led the prank war against him. "I felt you coming, I was meditating, stretching out my senses, and I felt you coming!" Ahsoka said, still beaming.

"While I am quite proud of you for that, daughter of clan Jedi, running and turning to greet me like this is not how a Jedi youngling should comport herself in public. We need to be able to project an air of tranquility and proper comportment at all times, though admittedly you are young yet for that." Shaak said in the native Shili tongue, her town a mix of teasing and censure.

As the girl nodded sheepishly Shaak finally allowed herself to smile, reaching down to gently rub the girls tiny montrals. "It is good to see you child," she said warmly, leaning down to put an arm around the little girl's shoulder.

She looked over at Ranma, and he smiled in understanding. "I'll go get some food before we head to the temple, you two look as if you have some catching up to do."

"Thank you. I think young Ahsoka and myself will simply take a walk through the training areas for a time. I imagine there will be a messenger waiting at the entrance to the Temple Ranma. If you could just tell them where we are going?"

Ranma nodded and headed forward towards the temple, as Shaak took the little girl's hand. "Come with me, and tell me what's bothering you." She stated, having sensed there was more to the girl's eagerness to see her than having simply felt her coming like that during one of the younglings 'free' meditation times.

A moment later Ranma passed on the message to a somewhat startled looking messenger. The young man didn't seem nearly as stuffy as the guy who had been serving as the council's gofer on Coruscant and simply shook his head looking abashed. "I didn't even see the youngling pass me, ugh, back to the meditation hall with me I think."

"It's those little bodies man," Ranma commiserated, before turning his feet toward the commissary.

However he stopped when he heard a voice he vaguely recognized addressing him. "Greetings young Ranma. It has been quite some time since I last saw you."

Turning, Ranma saw a tallish Kel Dor standing there, wearing masks the species always needed to when off their own world on the lower half of his face. "Koon, right?" Ranma moved over to the man, who shook it, while Ranma noted the surprising amount of strength in the other man's grip, and the metal covering his fingertips. "Yeah, haven't seen you since right before Shaak and I left for Dac. How are you?"

"I have been well, though not nearly as busy as you have been," the other man replied, his translator giving his words n odd timbre to them, almost reverb effect. It went well with his sardonic tone at present. "However that state of affairs might well be changing in a few days, which I believe I have you to thank for. But given that Knight Ti is not with you, I imagine that discussion can wait."

Ranma shook his head. "Lowther and the others already share what went on?"

"That, and the New Mandalorians have asked for Senate-backed Jedi arbitration of their ongoing disputes with what they term rogue elements." Plo Koon replied dryly. "We will need to discern the truth of that of course, but it will be interesting to hear your opinion on this Bo Katan woman. For now however, why don't you tell me about this training room you have installed here? I have heard many a knight or master groaning in pain after leaving its clutches."

"Ah, the repulsor toughness training system." Ranma winced. "Yeah, that is kinda painful, but it works. Come on, I'll show you…"

 **OOOOOOO**

It turned out that young Ahsoka was simply having trouble fitting in, having issues with learning the difference between a Clan and the Jedi Order, how the adults acted in others things of that nature. She had been found a few years older than most younglings were when they were brought into the Order, and had fully absorbed the Togrutan sense of community based on emotional attachment to everyone in the community and the idea of the clan as family. The lack of emphasis on emotions and attachments and the hands off parenting the Order used was very hard for her to get used to. It had gotten better at times, especially during the prank wars against Ranma but since then it had somewhat gotten worse.

Shaak listens to her problems, calmly helping her through some of them and giving her hope for the future as well as explaining why the youngling's instructors acted like they did. She also gave Ahsoka her a few tricks in terms of fitting in, that might help her further there, looking to the other children for emotional support rather than the adults, which would allow them to become firm friends later in life. Shaak hadn't had that issue, being a very rare bird in terms of Togrutans and being perfectly happy with solitude even on the emotional level at that point but she understood Ahsoka's problems.

"to be a Jedi is to join a new tribe, a new tribe with new ways of looking at the world, new ways of looking at the term 'tribe' itself," Shaak finished simply. "I understand it can be difficult, to move from one culture to another. I myself still have trouble reconciling my own personal wish for solitude, our Togrutan instincts and the needs of the Order. However do not mistake your teachers standoffish manner for a lack of support, or the fact that you are given so many punishments as a sign that you are not welcome here. That could not be farther from the truth. Apply yourself to your teachings, and you will go far."

Ahsoka nodded, and the two walked back then through the temple's doors still holding hands. There Ahsoka gasped, pointing ahead of them. "Master Plo!"

"Master Koon" Shaak said with a smile, reaching forward to holding up a hand in greeting as a smile crossed her face as it did Ahsoka's. "I did not know you would be here on Kashyyyk."

"I was recalled from a diplomatic mission to take part in a mission out to Mandalore with the two of you and Knight Kenobi, Master Ti." Plo replied formally, holding up his hand as well even as his face seems to shift slightly, in the way that Shaak knew noted that he was smiling behind his mask.

She wondered why he had called her a master, but Plo had already turned aside, looking down at the young girl by her side. "I see you have already found young Ahsoka, good. I would have recommended her to you in the future if you had not. But little Soka, is there a reason why you are not with the rest of your clan in their studies?"

Ahsoka looked down, but Shaak smiled rubbing at her tiny montrals once more. "She will just be joining them, she had an Togrutan issue she needed another perspective on, and she apparently felt me through the Force during one of their free period meditations."

"Truly, that is excellent" said Plo, kneeling down in front of the short girl and reaching out a hand to her. "And that kind of thing occurs more often than you might think. Certain species do have trouble fitting in with the Order occasionally, which as a matter of organization needs to be one size fits all. Nonetheless, you should return to your classes. Come, I will talk to your teachers about this, and then I think I would like to see what you have been learning. Are you able to move all the air globes yet?"

Ahsoka willingly took the older man's hand, and he let her off, still smiling as was Ahsoka now, though she chance to look glance back at Ranma and Shaak, waving goodbye to them.

"I like him," Ranma said with a smile. The two of them had an interesting discussion about the Living Force while Ranma was eating as well as the philosophy based around the same name, and then simply talked about their homeworlds, sharing jokes about people they had known. Though it was not as obvious as Micah Giiett's Plo Koon had a very good sense of humor.

"He is one of the best of us I feel." Shaak said smile which segued into a frown. "but judging from what he said I take it that our news has gone before us at least on the Mandalorian issue. This is going to get very complicated very quickly."

"Probably, sorry. Still I've eaten and you've talked, so does that mean were ready to face the music, or should we just switch those around and I'll go look for someone to talk to while you eat?" Ranma asked hopefully. He wasn't looking forward to explaining that he might end up backing the Mandalorians, a group almost as anti-Jedi historically as the Sith, in both returning to their roots and becoming even more dangerous.

"I think not," Shaak said with a sigh. "I'd like to check in with Aayla and Luminara, but for now telling the High Council about what we ran into on Yavin 4 as well as what Bo Katan and her faction might mean going forward is more important. No matter how irritating it will turn out to be."

Moments later, Ranma and Shaak were ushered into the Kashyyyk temple's council room where they found several Masters already physically in attendance, including Master Yaddle physically. The Hypercom holograms were not on the present, this was to be a smaller meeting then Ranma had feared, and Shaak smiled slightly, before she vanished the expression as she stepped forward, putting her hands in her Jedi robes and bowing formally to the mall. "Masters, I come to you with a tale to tell, and information to impart."

For a moment the masters remained silent, looking at the two newcomers with their Force senses as well as their physical ones. More than one of them had almost expected to, if the tale of Exar Kun's ghost was true, to see a hint that said ghost had actually conquered Shaak Ti instead of the other way around, and was somehow hiding within her. There was no such sign, indeed what they sensed was the exact opposite of that.

Before leaving Kashyyyk after the Naboo conflict, Shaak Ti's force presence had been that of a knight, a powerful one for certain, but still that of a knight: somewhat more naïve, somewhat less balanced, somewhat less in control, without the sign that she had gone beyond the tests of knighthood and met or looked inside her and defeated the temptations of the Dark Side that the Force presence of a master showed. That was no longer the case. Her aura had matured for want of a better word. As Plo Koon had said, she was a master now, regardless of her not having trained a padawan to knighthood. This gave a lot more credence to the idea that she had been able to banish Exar Kun's ghost.

Eventually Yaddle spoke up. "Heard already we have about the conflict on Yavin 4. Many points we have to discuss. The ghost of Exar Kun, first topic we should discuss."

"As far as I am was able to determine, the ghost was indeed Exar Kun," Shaak said serenely, moving forward to stand in front of the council only to raise an eyebrow in surprise as Yoda waved her into a free chair. Ranma did not enter the circle, instead moving over to lean against one of the nearby walls its wooden surface rough under his back. He spoke up occasionally, but when it came to Exar Kun and her battle with it, this was most definitely Shaak's area of expertise not his.

After Shaak finished Yoda was the first to speak, his eyes still closed as he did, only to slowly open them as he went on. "Dangerous was and risky, used yourself as bait you did. If taken you over, dangerous Exar Kun would have been, a way off Yavin 4 he would have had."

Yoda held Shaak's gaze, and she bowed her head humbly at that, but said nothing and he eventually nodded. "Knew this you did, calculated risk it was, clear-sighted choice rather than one made through arrogance. Yet show us this Force Light you will. Prove the rest of your story that ability and your own aura will." If Exar Kun was anywhere within Shaak Ti, she would be unable to use Force Light.

Shaak nodded, and concentrated for a moment, bringing out the Force and pushing it out around her hand which began to light up with Force Light.

Yaddle hopped forward, circling Shaak as she probed at the Light both physically and with her Force senses. Yaddle eventually nodded, her tiny green hands hovering over Shaak's own, immersed in the light she was creating. "Force Light it is to for certain. Vanquished Exar Kun, Shaak did with this technique," Yaddle said simply, moving over to rejoin her fellows in their chairs.

The Council room fell silent as the Masters all exchanged glances. Even if someone had known the technique to create Force Light, even if someone had known enough to try to create a mental version of it, defeating a Lord of the Sith with the amount of power Exar Kun had upon his death or even after so long was an amazing feat.

But it wasn't just the fact that Shaak could defeat the mental equivalent of a physical assault that surprised the Masters around her. She had after all been training with Ranma, and even before that she was noted as one of the better lightsaber duelists among her peers. Her physical abilities now were so far beyond the norm for the Jedi Order it was almost astonishing.

No, what was most surprising to all of them was the amount of **mental** fortitude it would've taken to ignore Exar Kun's blandishments. Exar Kun was known to have twisted several Jedi to his side with his voice alone, and his mind and ability to plan had made him far more dangerous than his lightsaber skills alone would have been able to. He was good with his signature double bladed lightsaber, but it was his charisma and his voice and the looks which made him more dangerous.

"Very good indeed," Yoda said quietly, staring at Shaak. "Well you did Master Shaak Ti."

"You're the second person to call me a Master, Master Yoda, yet you surely know I have not trained anyone padawans just yet. Without seeing an padawan elevated to knighthood, I cannot be a Master." Shaak replied, looking between Yoda and Plo Koon quizzically. The Kel Dor had entered the council chamber a few minutes into her tale, exchanging a nod with Ranma before seating himself within the council circle.

Yoda and Yaddle both chuckled that, shaking their heads while the other Masters smiled. "Other ways there are of becoming Master. Strength, insight, the ability to read the occurrence of the Force. All of these, just as important as the ability to pass on learning is. A Master you are, proven by facing not only your internal darkness but an external darkness." Yaddle replied.

For once Shaak's balance deserted her, and she gaped around at the council. "Master I cannot, that is, I am not…"

"Master we have declared you, your acceptance welcome but unnecessary," Yaddle said kindly, while she probed Shaak's mind for a moment. Shaak was truly humbled, stunned by this accolade that she had no thought to be ready for just yet. There was no sense of pride in having defeated Exar Kun, only a sense of relief that she had, and happiness that a Dark Side user of such strength was banished now beyond his own death.

"Talk further about Bo Katan Kryze and the Mandalorians we will when Obi Wan arrives tomorrow." Yoda remarked, wishing to give Shaak some time to meet with her friends. She had earned it after all, and pride filled him for the Jedi in front of him. But he also didn't want the council to be swayed by that part of the tale when it came to talking about the Mandalorians. "Anything more you have to say now?"

Shaak thought for a moment then nodded slowly, which surprised Yoda. "I do have a bit of an observation Master Yoda." When he nodded to her to continue she went on. "I have never been involved in a campaign like this before, so stop me if this is already known, but I was surprised and dismay by the, the effect of the ongoing deaths and sense of combat had on me."

She paused gathering her thoughts for a moment before continuing. "I realized some of this could have been caused by the sense of Exar Kun, always there but just beyond my senses. I will further admit to enjoying the challenge of combat, I would not be who I am without the desire to prove myself in that fashion. But the feel of the deaths, the anger and hate the dying felt, it built up. It wore down on me, and made me realize something."

Looking around the room, Shaak made a point of looking into each master's eyes in turn, and was pleased to see approval in Yoda's expression, as well as acceptance in Plo's. He had been involved in the Stark Hyperspace War and understood firsthand the effect she was talking about.

"Jedi, even Guardians, are not soldiers, we lack the mental training for that. We act as police, upholders of the law rather than soldiers who must withstand the stress of constant warfare. The difference between the mindsets needed is jarring, and alarming. If the battles had continued for much longer, I might well have had to pull my Force senses in entirely in order to function. All of these points we need to be aware of, with more and more violent conflicts popping up these days." Shaak finished, her voice solemn.

The Masters all listened intently, and one or two of them nodded agreeing with her points. "What would you recommend then?" said one of the ones Ranma hadn't been introduced to. "I'll admit that there does seem to be a trend of late towards solving conflict through violence. Are you saying that we Jedi all need to get more training?"

"I am saying there needs to be more mental training if the mission calls for such high levels of combat." Shaak said simply. "If you are going to go on a mission where there will be significant loss of life in a combat situation, you need to be mentally prepared for it, able to push past it, not ignore it or desensitize yourself to the loss, but to be able to function further. Tactics and strategy would also be a help. Sending Consulars into a situation like that which we faced and assuming they will be able to survive would not only be wrong but criminally foolish. It is something the Order needs to be aware of."

"Good points you have raised," Yoda said formally. "Talk with Mind Healers we will, discuss this in great length with Guardians upon the Council we will." None of the masters present were Guardians. Plo Koon was a Consular, as were all the others save Saeaee Tiin. "No decision upon this point we will reach now. Your concerns, addressed they will be."

Shaak nodded. "That was all I had to say Masters."

Yoda nodded once more, smiling at her. "Go, rest, speak to your friends. The both of you, back here answering further questions you will be soon enough."

Ranma rolled his eyes, but Shaak simply bowed her head once again, and get got to her feet fluidly, the two of them walking out the door without further preamble.

After leaving the council and still somewhat bemused by being acclaimed as a Master, Shaak followed Ranma as he moved through the temple to the series of rooms that Master Luminara and Aayla had inhabited the last time they were there. They still were thankfully, and she entered with him after he knocked on the door frame, smiling at the two other women.

They both looked up from their meditation poses, and Aayla flipped herself backwards into a crouch before shooting to her feet quickly, smiling at her friend. "Well, you've been busy haven't you Shaak! Wow, a Force Ghost, and over a dozen merc bands wiped out, huh? So what're you going to do for an encore?"

"Don't give Ranma ideas please!" Shaak reached forward, the two women clasped forearms as Luminara rather more sedately got to her feet to join them.

As she did Luminara began to slowly feel out her friends Force presence, and was astonished to find not only the amount of power she did, but the same depth of power and tested strength the council had felt earlier. She smiled gently, shaking her head. "Welcome back Shaak."

Aayla of course couldn't care less about what her friend felt like in the Force, she was just happy to see her. "How are you doing? And I have to say while the idea of setting an ambush like that for the Death Watch was a good idea, it sounded as if you bit off more than you could chew. Was it that bad from your perspective?"

"Yeah, it was," said Ranma for both of them shaking his head. "I hadn't realized how many people would come after us all at once like that, I'm still getting my mind around how huge the Republic is as a whole, and of course how big the underworld is too."

"It is unfortunately a sign of sentient nature that crime will always be with us. Even planets like Alderaan or Chandrilla have criminal elements." Luminara said with a faint sigh. "But come, tell us about your adventures from your perspective."

Shaak nodded, and she had Ranma took turns telling them about the fight. That discussion went on for the rest of the day as Shaak and Ranma learned that Aayla was coming along quite well. If the progress continued as it did, Master Luminara estimated that it would be another week or two before Aayla was up to taking on missions once more. She and Luminara, who had already formerly taken her on as padawan of course, would ease into the process, to make certain of that.

Later that day, Ranma left Shaak there to return to the _Wild Light_ to talk to Tune about getting some more proton torpedoes in their lockers having used several of them in that last engagement. This proved to be a good idea the second he left, as, despite being Jedi both Aayla and Luminara were women. Inquisitive women, whose friend was currently in a relationship, something they both were clinically interested in, even if the idea also repulsed them in other ways. It wasn't so much the physical side of things they were interested in, but the emotional, the romantic aspect, how it felt to be on dates, that kind of thing.

Shaak found herself sharing much of that aspect under their questioning, thankful that her two interrogators did not ask questions on the physical sign of things. If the blushing she did when talking about her and Ranma's dates were any indication she would have passed out via the blood loss. Eventually however she decided to end the discussion making for the door in order to find a computer she could use.

She had some things she wanted to look up in terms of her and Ranma's relationship: specifically some idea of how to take things to the next level in as romantic a way as possible. This was one area her training and limited knowledge of her own people's courtship rituals was not helpful in **at all** , and it made her somewhat sad that she had never looked into it when she had returned to Shili.

It wasn't long before she pushed away from the computer, and if she was not a Jedi, Shaak would've been flushed with both embarrassment and shock at the sheer number of different opinions on the subject there was. _All that out on the Hypernet for anyone to see! I did not realize there were that many, that many_ _ **perverts**_ _out there! And all that about just human and Togrutan relationships, by the Force, I don't know whether to be encouraged that so much has been created on the subject or appalled by how, how impersonal most of it is. Ugh._

There was more than a bit of truth to that. The sheer number of… images and video clips completely swamped the search function blotting out the few essays or other writings on the subject that was actually helpful. Some of it was however, and certain aspects were helpful enough to have made the time worthwhile.

Sighing she shook her head. _I will just have to go with it and hope._ She had found numerous ideas, some certainties and a few ideas for later, but nothing she could use right now. _But most of them either would occur later on in the relationship, at significant temporal moments, or take too much time to set up. So, no equivalent of a promise gift, no mating mark, just a ring when they were ready to proclaim their courtship is nearing its end and they are ready to wed. That is the only idea that seems normal in almost every human culture, darn it._

Ironically while Shaak was dealing with finding out that the Hypernet was for porn, Ranma had decided to do some actual footwork to see if he could find any information on the same sort of topics. Not so much pushing their relationship forward physically, but Ranma was determined to have at least one more actual date without any interruptions.

To that end he moved through the Wookie's capital city looking at various meats and spices with a link to the dissatisfied HK for translation. He found a few spices Togrutans might like, as well as one helpful translator droid on an errand for his employer that had worked on Shili before this. That gave him a clue for a present, and he went in search of some of the hunters that habitually set off further down from the city into the more dangerous portions of the planet's ecosystem.

He found a group of four Wookies preparing to set off from the lowest reaches of the city and hailed them quickly. The quartet turned in his direction and the apparent leader, a heavily scarred and older looking example of his species nodded at Ranma in as friendly a manner as he possibly did anything.

"Bored tone: the furry meatbag greets you as a Jedi, and asks what they can help you with. He also mentioned something in there about not wasting his time, but alas it was not enough of a derogatory remark for you to take offense at given my information on your previous actions." HK's voice translated from his waist.

Ranma was tempted to once again correct the assumption that he was a Jedi, but he decided it just wasn't important, not just at the moment but on Kashyyyk entirely. "I need your help, I want ta go hunting for something with a fur or hide that can be turned into clothing, but I've only seen one species on this planet beside you lot that have fur. Any ideas?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Frowning angrily Sidious glared at the strategic combat droid that his master had designed decades ago. The Sith were very good at what they did, but even one such as Sidious couldn't concentrate on everything. The droid was necessary to keep abreast of the overall Republic military situation and everything that went into it, from ship design, trends, logistics, pirate activity, militaristic societies, etc.

Of course that was relatively simple these days, with so few planets actually having any actual military force beyond patrol craft. One out of every fifty planets might have a military beyond orbital defense stations if that, thought the glaring exceptions to that rule stood out all the more because of it. But that didn't mean that the droid was useless.

"Repeat that last analysis," Sidious ordered.

"It would appear as if the Nova Guard is close to forming a military alliance with the Jedi Order. There is nothing formal up about it, but they have certainly been in discussion with them about learning from this new data anomaly." The droid said with a slow, lyrical Alderaanian accent.

Plagueis had programmed it with that voice when he was an apprentice. He'd found it amusing at the time to use the accent associated with the most staunchly pacifistic planet in the Republic for a droid whose entire purpose was to analyze the statistics of war.

"What is the probability that this maneuver is directly in conjunction with the anti-slaving campaign that the Order has been on of late, and will end when it does?"

That campaign had cost the Order three members, out in the Outer Rim but it had shattered several hundred illegal slaving bands, shut down over a four dozen pirate bases, and had the entire criminal underground scattered around the Republic in something approaching shock. Not anger, but shock and fear. Groups that could were jettisoning their slaving bands as quickly as possible for fear of further Jedi reprisals, and they had even roped in a few Ord patrol fleets from the Colonies region of space, the Republic navy's most scattered units, into the act here and there.

That was well and good, he wanted the Ord patrol fleets to start flexing their muscles, it would be make them easier to manipulate later on. Sidious also didn't really care about the effect it was having on the criminal element. His own contacts there were far too numerous and of far too little import to the Great Plan for him to care about one or other dying here and there, even if his plans to cultivate the Black Sun's Falleen faction was now dead in the water. But if there were longer implications of the Nova Guard and the Jedi Order moving in tandem…

"The data is inconclusive," the droid, which had never been given a name, said simply. "Given the Nova Guard is known to deal harshly with anyone who double-crosses them there is a 40% chance that this maneuver has more to do with their own personal dealings with Gardulla the Hutt than anything else. However, I discount much of that datum simply because the Nova Guard are not known to react in such a broad manner. Yes they would have acted directly against Gardulla if she was still alive but as she is not they would not have cared overmuch about sending any further message. The fact they are acting in such a way is indicative of a longer-term goal. Further there is a report of a squadron of them working with the Data anomaly personally. They were first spotted on Eshan."

"Get me all the reports we have from Eshan," Sidious ordered. "Then go over any information we have on the Nova Guard's numbers, and in particular its space going capacity."

Those numbers brought Sidious some comfort. The Nova Guard simply did not have the number of ships needed to project force, nor the numbers on the ground. And they lacked the resources to acquire such at any point, not having the industry to build their own ships.

However, their military capacity if they could land on any planet was dangerous. Sidious had never looked at them for the trainers for his clone army because their numbers had never made them that large a threat, and they had never really fought the Jedi Order or been forced to develop the same flexible tactical doctrine the Mandalorians had. _However, if they could learn to be that flexible, then they could be a threat especially if they allied with the Jedi against me._

However, looking over the data on the Nova Guards sociological profile Sidious had to smile. Their desire to follow the strongest would make them easy to manipulate later on and told him why they were acting in such a manner. The Jedi Order was flexing its muscles, showing its strength in a way that it hadn't in centuries at the least.

And it was allied with the Chaotic Locus, whose physical strength no doubt made the Nova Guard believe he was the strongest out there. Looking at it from that perspective, the Nova Guard are not so much following the Jedi Order, as moving in lockstep with them due to their interest in the Chaotic Focus. _It_ _then supposes if I can remove the Chaotic Focus, or at least remove the focus' alliance with the Jedi Order, we will weaken both him and them at the same time._

 _Hmm, there is a strange corollary here. The Nova Guard, Naboo, Kashyyyk, even Dac. The Chaotic Locus has been on each of those planets, and they all decided to upgrade their military powers or flex their military might. Whatever else, the Chaotic Locus is not in favor of disarmament or perhaps pacifism at all if he has given even a limited promise to back this Reborn faction of Mandalorians._

Musing about that he continued to reread the information the combat analyst droid continued to feed him about military strengths and dispositions the Republic over Sidious began to smile evilly. _Oh yes, fear is possibly the greatest motivator of all time, and it could be used to not only break the Mandalorians, but to do so in a way that would cause the Jedi to lose face, and for Ranma to no longer be considered their ally. It would take some doing, but it is possible. It is time for him to let Vosa out to act on my behalf, with a few very specific orders. And perhaps I should stack the deck further in my favor…_

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day Obi Wan arrived, his hastily repaired _Sprite_ starfighter touching down as Ranma, yawning, came out of the _Wild Light_. He had decided to bunk down in the ship as a personal favor to the head teacher, who didn't want the pranks to start up again unless Ranma was going to stay for a few days and bear the brunt of them. Since he wasn't, Ranma had no problem with bunking in the ship though Shaak stayed up in the temple for the night, a decision she made because despite her being lauded as a master now Shaak knew better than to give her detractors more fuel for accusations of favoritism.

This had also made his self-appointed task of trying to both craft a gift for Shaak and hide that he was doing it from her easier. He had in fact been out hunting late last night hunting down a large furry animal who resembled nothing so much as an overlarge koala with the teeth, claws and temperament of a tiger. It hunted in packs only at night, and its dens were guarded by the members of the pack who couldn't' hunt for whatever reasons.

Ranma had tried to hunt them, only to be stalked in turn by a den guard and nearly ambushed. The guard in question had shockingly white fur however, which while obviously making him unsuitable for actually hunting on his own made him beyond perfect for Ranma's needs.

Obi Wan jumped out of the starfighter's cockpit, pausing as he noticed Ranma. "Ah-ha! So you **are** involved in this mess?"

"Yaawwn, meh guilty as charged if you're talking about the Mandalorian thing," Ranma said, yawning once more. Then he paused, looking at Obi Wan critically. "You look like shit."

"Thank you very much for that brutal yet accurate description. Let's just say that going to Mandalore again brings up memories best left buried." For a moment, Obi Wan wondered if he should confide in Ranma the reason why he was looking so harried in detail, but decided not to.

While Ranma of course would not care about his romantic entanglements, that didn't mean the younger man would have any advice for him, or be willing to listen to him. Further, Obi Wan was a Jedi and had taken the New Oath, he and Siri had yet to talk about retaking their oaths as Shaak had to before formally beginning her relationship with Ranma. Obi and Siri were not quite ready for that, or the enhanced scrutiny it would bring them if they were even allowed to do so at all.

"Sorry to hear that man, but if you've got some knowledge of what it's like on the ground there it'll help hugely when we get there. But I meant the stubble you've got there. Don't go that route until you can grow a beard, it's coming in uneven." Ranma replied, shaking his head.

Rolling his eyes, Obi Wan moved into step with Ranma shaking his head. "My Sprite lacks a refresher station and I was on an undercover mission, the stubble helped with that, though the itching I think is enough to try even a Jedi's patience. I most definitely want to stop off and get a shave and a shower before meeting with the council."

About an hour later found Obi Wan, showered, shaved and with a new far less stained robe standing in front of the council as he listened to what had been going on in terms of the Mandalorians, the Reborn, and everything else. Shaak and Ranma took turns doing so, explaining what Bo had told them, how they felt about her, and her faction's aid against the Death Watch. "It is no exaggeration that without the Reborn faction we might well have lost eventually." Shaak finished in a soft tone.

"So our mission will be to bolster the New Mandalorians correct? That is both what the Republic Senate will no doubt want us to do, and what the Order will no doubt decide is the correct action." Obi Wan said as Shaak finsiehd speaking, looking around at the masters physically present and taking part via hologram.

"You know that's interesting," Ranma said his brows furrowing as he tried on his best Dooku impression. "I could swear I just heard a Jedi decide that he's going to back a government that may or may not have the backing of its own people?"

"It's not that simple Ranma." Obi Wan reproved, shaking his head, while around him many of the council nodded. While he and Shaak had won a lot of respect from the council members physically present it did not, as Yoda had planned, extend to this topic.

"The Mandalorians are a threat. They're one of the few military forces out there that can really match the Jedi in terms of combat ability. Admittedly not many of them can do so one-on-one, but they don't have to. You don't understand the amount of concern their history gives us whenever we think about something like this."

"You're right I don't, since that history you're talking about is at least a thousand years in the past and I thought it was Jedi who were supposed to not let their fears and worries guide their actions." Ranma said shaking his head as he mentally girded himself for what he was going to have to say here. This wasn't going to be good.

"It is not fear, but duty," Plo Koon said mildly. "We have a duty to the Republic's people to protect them. How can we say we are doing that if we allow the Mandalorians to go back to their old warlike ways?" The Kel Dor shook his head. "That is essentially the main thrust of our mission I think: to discover whether or not this anger at the New Mandalorians is as wide spread as Bo Katan Kryze said. If it is, then our problems become how to deal with it. If it is not, and she is either being misled or has misled you, then the solution is somewhat easier."

Obi Wan started at Bo's last name, only now realizing the woman must have some familial connection to Satine.

Before he could speak however Ranma shot back. "But if they're willing to change, who are we to say they can't try? Besides, as far as I can figure out, and I've actually looked this up, the New Mandalorians are part of the Republic. The planet and most of the rest of the sector actually isn't."

"What?" Obi Wan said cocking his head in shock.

"The New Mandalorians are not actually a representational government of the planet," said Adi Gallia, kneading her forehead. "They have Senate approval and can **act** as the world government, because there actually isn't one in place. But if a world government is set up with a majority of the populations approval, then they don't even have to ask the Senate for approval to change over to this new form of government, they simply oust the New Mandalorians which opens up another kettle of fish."

"This is getting more complicated by the moment," Obi Wan muttered.

"Regardless of what anyone thinks, if the Mandalorians become a warrior culture based on defending others like Bo Katan wants them to, or if splinter groups start lashing out like the Death Watch, it will effect the planets all around them in that sector." Said Master Windu from Coruscant. "I do not believe we can stand by and let such upheaval occur."

"How do you know if the change will be a bad thing? From what I have seen in our records no Jedi has been into the sector since Obi Wan and Master Jinn were there." Shaak objected, looking over to where Jinn was sitting, his cane beside him. He was not part of the High Council or even the Council of Reassignment, but he was here to give any input he could. Despite that, he had been silent thus far, asking no questions not speaking up during her and Ranma's tale or now.

"No we haven't, but the planet Gargon is a member of the Republic in good standing. It's a major exporter of phobium, it's certainly benefited by the lack of Mandalorian power. Surely the rest of the planets in the sector did the same," said Master Koth.

The offhand way he said that made Ranma's skin crawl, bringing to mind forcefully what he wanted to say here, but before he could, Shaak spoke up, returning to the original topic. "Bo Katan was being sincere when she said she wanted to create a new faction that would allow her people to return to the Resol'nare and also change. I think we must at the very least acknowledge her sincerity."

"She is still a Mandalorian warrior, and we must take the long view," Master Trebor said, shaking his head. "The Mandalorians were bogeymen for thousands of years, the Republic will not stand for them going back to their warlike ways, whatever the reasons. I respect and can understand the changes to their personal code of honor this Bo Katan woman espouses, but I cannot see her society willing to take on those changes alone. Instead they would simply use it as an excuse, and we would be faced with another interminable war."

"Like the war you made on them that you lot call the Excision?" Ranma asked, his voice a low growl. Holding up a hand he glared around at the council, choosing his words carefully as he went on. "I mentioned the similarities between the ancient samurai and the Mandalorians, their wars of expansion and the war my country of Japan waged. What I didn't tell Bo Katan or even Shaak was how that war ended."

He looked around, but everyone, both those physically present and those on Coruscant were looking at him intently. "Japan was losing the war, we had been pushed back and further back, losing nearly all our ability to be an offensive power, but we were an island nation, and we were a united people who followed a warrior culture. Any kind of invasion would have caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, casualties our war-weary enemy could not ask it's soldiers to pay. So they decided to use atomic weapons on two of our cities in order to cow us into surrendering."

Nuclear weapons were no longer used in warfare by any spacefaring race. Not because they were so deadly, a orbital bombardment could do far more damage than a single nuclear weapon after all, but because of the long term impact. Even so, the idea of one power based on a single planet using a nuclear weapon against their equally planet-bound enemy was appalling to many of Ranma's listeners.

"It worked too. The old, I suppose you could call it a military government was thrown out, and replaced with a more peaceful government." Ranma glared around at the council. "But there are major differences between that and the act you call the Excision."

He held up his fingers, counting down as he locked eyes with Yoda, the only Jedi save perhaps the distant Fay who had been part of the Order at the time of that act. The old Grandmaster face was sorrowful, but he did not look away. "One, we were in a war at the time, a war that had gone on for years, exhausting both sides. When you and the Republic launched the Excision, you and the Mandalorians were at peace, and had been since the end of the New Sith Wars. You acted preemptively against a supposed threat and did so using orbital bombardments that wiped out civilian and soldier alike. You acted out of fear, something that the Jedi Order seems to do far too often for an order that's not supposed to feel that emotion, let alone let it guide their actions."

Shaak winced, leaning somewhat away from her paramour as many other council members stirred in their chairs. She had heard this before, but when they had talked, Ranma hadn't let that biting contempt enter his voice as he did now. Even so she didn't step in and stop him, nor did any of the others stunned perhaps by the emotions swirling in Ranma's voice.

"Further, afterward, the Americans helped us rebuild our economy and government. They even entered into a pact with my nation to defend us. I won't say it was always a pleasant relationship or an even one, but it was there. You lot never did that, instead pulling out of the sector you had just ravaged, leaving behind a vacuum, only taking interest in it when the New Mandalorians rose to power and began to reach out to you and the Senate instead. You have no idea what's going on out there, no resources to call upon to find out. And you think you still have the right to say what is best for that sector of space?" Ranma scoffed, actually spitting to one side. "Don't make me laugh!"

For a moment the council was silent, each member dealing as best they could with the cold contempt in Ranma's voice. None of them of course had been involved in the decision leading up to that act, even Yoda had barely been a knight at the time, nor had he been involved in the act itself.

Even so, to have the Order's actions questioned in such stark terms, to be told bluntly that the Order as a whole had acted wrongly was a position few there knew how to deal with. Koth, Gallia and Trebor in particular looked as if they wanted to reject Ranma's words out of hand, but could not. They really didn't have any kind of moral high ground here, and that fact left them unbalanced.

Eventually Plo Koon spoke up, his translated voice soft in the silence of the meeting room. "Ranma is correct. While I cannot say I would act any differently, in hindsight the acts of the Order during the Excision were not just. We as Jedi must serve justice, not law first and must never act out of fear. To that end, we must have more information here. I recommend a short survey of those planets. How they are getting on, what do they think of the Republic, the New Mandalorians and the Mandalorians in general."

He looked at Obi Wan, who was staring at Ranma as if the younger man's words had made him rethink his opinion of the martial artist then around at the rest of the council. "The Senate wants us on hand to start mediation within the week correct? But we can get into that sector in a bare day or so."

When Gallia nodded the Kel Dor went on. "I recommend we spend three or four days surveying the different planets in the sector, and then head to Mandalore. Obi Wan can make contact with duchess Satine, while I go undercover to get a feel for the general populace. That way we can take an informed position. But Ranma is correct: we Jedi do not have the right to force our way of life on someone else, or to enforce a societal change on a people unless they are a clear and **proven** danger to the peace of the Republic here and now, not one based on extant fears from the past. If they prove to be a threat we can act, but not before."

The rest of the council did not look happy about this, especially Koth, Dooku, and a few of the others for various reasons. But they could not argue the point unless they wanted to completely throw out the idea that the Order was a force for justice rather than the status quo.

For his part Ranma nodded firm agreement with Plo's position but then he had a horrible thought. "The clans will know the New Mandalorians asked for Jedi mediation right? I mean, it would be really bad if you just showed up, right?"

"I have a sudden premonition of doom." Shaak muttered, one hand gently stroking her lekku thoughtfully. "I think we should probably call ahead at the very least. Bo knows Ranma and I will be arriving, but not any other Jedi."

"I am still uncertain about the rightness of backing such a societal… semi-return to type? I am uncertain how to even describe this Bo Katan's ideas and how it would change the Mandalorian warrior code. But nor do I know enough about the Mandalorian on the street as it were to know what they themselves want. I just hope we will be able to live with the consequences down the line whatever happens." Obi wan said, shaking his head.

"You can only do the right thing now, whether or not that causes problems later is a problem for later. Live in the now, and let the now decide the later." Ranma said.

Obi Wan actually blinked in shock as did more than a few other masters, as Ranma almost paraphrased something Master Qui Gon Jinn had said several times. He looked towards Master Yoda, who was smiling faintly as he said silent in his chair. He'd not said anything throughout the discussion, simply watching and listening, but now he locked gazes with Obi Wan, and Obi Wan realized what the Grandmaster was trying to say. He bowed his head, agreeing to do just that in this instance, though he was also concerned about one other very personal matter about this mission. _Satine is not going to like this._

 **OOOOOOO**

"WHAT!?" shouted Bo through the hyperlink connection, followed by much cursing and her suddenly glaring into the pickup at Ranma. Once more back in the Reborn's moon base she had been hoping for a relaxing evening after a full day of talking with clan heads and playing politician, and also, again, running into her sister numerous times. "You and that kriffing Jedi of yours owe me big for springing this on me."

"Would you have preferred Plo Koon and Obi Wan just show up out of nowhere then?" Shaak asked archly as Ranma rolled her eyes.

Bo glared at the both of them then her lips twitched into what even the most charitable could not have called a smile. "I want a sparring match with both of you when you get here. I think I might be able to surprise you then just as you did me just now." With that she disconnected grumbling under her breath about meddling Jedi.

"Well, that went about as well as could be expected." Shaak muttered as Ranma laughed.

 **OOOOOOO**

So as to use their time in the most efficient manner it was decided that Plo Koon and Obi Wan, much to the very carefully hidden delight of Ranma and Shaak, would not journey to the Mandalore system on the _Wild Light_. Obi Wan instead would slip in as a passenger on a liner, first travelling to Gargon then from there on to Mandalore.

Plo Koon would openly travel to the same starting point, but make his way quickly elsewhere from Gargon via his _Sprite_ starfighter. Shaak had Ranma would avoid Gargon altogether, starting with a few known frontier class worlds, worlds that supplied resources and people to other planets rather than having any industry of their own. Traveling into the Mandalore sector by the Hydian Way it would take them only 12 hours to get into that area of space, and a few more hours from there to the first planet they would be visiting. Working under something of a time limit all four of them left Kashyyyk later that day after coming up with simple call signs and being given a few short range communicators just in case.

Ranma took one look at HK still asleep in the main sitting room and then turned to Shaak shaking his head. "I'll put him up in the cockpit, but I think we should probably leave him off for now. I don't know about you but even turned off its kind of creepy to have him just standing there like that."

"While I wouldn't say it's creepy, keeping him turned off until we next run into a battle situation would no doubt be what HK wants anyway," Shaak said, kissing his cheek briefly before heading towards the cockpit herself to get the ship ready for launch while Ranma followed, now carrying HK. Getting to the Hydian took them two short jumps, and then they were off, leaping thousands of light-years in a single leap rather than from one system to another. That jump would take around eight hours, but it was nonstop and Tune could handle the ship's controls easily.

At first Ranma spent time in his room ostensibly sleeping, but in reality wanted the time to finish his gift to Shaak. She in turn was busy in her room, meditating and looking over the most recent information they had on the Mandalore sector.

Which, Shaak was forced to admit, wasn't nearly as recent as it should have been. The Mandalore sector was a typical Outer Rim sector, with over fifty systems, though most were known frontier systems, or uninhabited. There was more information about the planets important to the Mandalorians, but even there the latest information they had was from Obi Wan and Qui-Gon's mission twelve years ago. The rest outside of Gargon, the only planet beyond the New Mandalorians which was an actual member of the Republic, they had no information about that was more up to date than seven hundred years ago.

Later that evening the two of them spent their time practicing together then Shaak spent a few hours trying to teach Ranma how to read Galactic Standard, a process that was far slower than teaching him how to speak the same language. After that they went to bed, and Ranma woke up to Shaak once again making breakfast a bare hour before they were due to leave hyperspace.

Moving up behind her silently, he was about to put his arms around her when Shaak spoke up, turning off the kitchen unit at the same time. "I know you're there you know. You of all people should not try to sneak up on a Jedi without being encased in that 'quiet thief technique' of your. Your pillar of Living Force makes you quite obvious to anyone who is even remotely paying attention."

"Well there goes that idea," Ranma laughed. Putting his chin on her shoulder and leaning his head lightly against hers, Ranma felt the pressure of her back lekku against his chest, the gentle rub of one of her montrals against the top of his head. Little things like that still sometimes startled him, reminding him that Shaak wasn't human. It didn't bother him, it just reminded him.

He trailed kisses from her collarbone from her bared shoulder to her collarbone, licking and biting it lightly causing her to shiver. A second later however she thrust backwards with her rear, forcing Ranma away. "None of that, I just finished making this, let's eat before it gets cold."

"A woman after my own heart that's you love," Ranma said, grinning and kissing her once on the lips before turning away, not noticing how her cheeks had flushed, her skin lightening noticeably at his words. Despite the fact that they had said they loved each other on Yavin 4, they hadn't actually used that word since, and the sheer spontaneity of the moment just now had taken her breath away.

Moving into the sitting area, she put their food down, some of the Order's special spicy bread, a small plate of fresh fruit from Kashyyyk, and a sort of sliced and diced radish equivalent that was quite tasty once pickled. Shaak then sat next to Ranma, leaning up very slightly and kissing him on the cheek. "I love you too you know."

To her delight Ranma flushed as she had earlier, stuttering slightly before turning his head and kissing her meaningfully on the lips.

But after a moment Shaak sighed leaning away and moving further down the sofa to put some distance between them. "There is one thing we should probably talk about." She looked worried, staring into Ranma's eyes for a moment trying to get across the seriousness of the moment to him.

Ranma bit into a chunk of the spicy bread, before setting it down turning to stare at her fully. "All right, lay it on me Shaak."

"There is no easy way to say this, so I'll simply say it." Shaak replied, breathing in deeply and wishing to get this out of the way quickly. "Togrutans and human relationships are not incredibly unusual in parts of the galaxy. But there is a major problem with them becoming long term. Our races can't breed. Humans can breed with several other races, but we Togrutans cannot breed with any other race, including humans."

Ranma nodded slowly, looking at her seriously, marshalling his thoughts to get the words out so there was no room for misunderstanding. "I can I understand that would matter to a lot of people Shaak. Do you… want children at some point?"

Honestly, Ranma was sort of surprised that if everything lined up right they couldn't actually have children, but then again he had been somewhat surprised at times by how technology here in this new dimension worked. Sometimes a lot of it was really high-tech, the hyperspace thing, the communication network and all the droids. But in some ways, it was very primitive. As far as he knew medical technology was based around the use of bacta, replacement robotic prosthetics, but otherwise wasn't so far beyond what Ranma knew in a lot of ways, though admittedly he was no expert.

Shaak frowned thoughtfully, leaning back in that sofa and picking up one of the fruits for a moment chewing as she thought. "I… don't think it does bother me all that much. Truthfully speaking, the Order doesn't really like to acknowledge that sometimes master and padawan bonds become like parent and child rather than mentor and student. I could easily see myself doing something like that with Little Soka for certain.

"Would I have eventually wanted children of my own? I don't know. I don't know the difference between that and the bond which can form between master and padawan. Is there some kind of added connection there that I just don't have enough information on? I don't think it matters to me," Shaak said. "That could be ignorance talking, but I don't think it is. I am happy with you, so long as children does not matter to you, which is what I was worried about, it does not bother me."

Ranma shrugged. "It'd be a few decades before I'd even think about having a real kid of my own anyway."

"Decades Ranma?" Shaak laughed. "You'd want to have a kid your 50s? I can just imagine someone Qui-Gon's age dealing with what are they called, those diaper things that babies have to use?" Shaak couldn't remember anything of her own childhood, having been brought into the order when she was around 1 1/2, and she had never served in the crèche which watched over the babies which the Order brought in when they tested positively for Force powers.

"No, I mean…" Ranma paused, holding up a finger as his brows drew down. "We've talked, er, that is I'm certain I've mentioned…crap," Ranma muttered, slapping his face with the same hand he'd just been holding up. "Right okay. We haven't had this discussion yet…"

"Ranma, what are you talking about?" Shaak asked, her eyes narrowed. She had been happy with Ranma's reaction to the news that they couldn't have children, but this looked as if it was an entirely different topic and possibly just as serious.

"The Living Force, well, you call it that anyway I still prefer to call it ki…"

"Ranma you're stalling," Shaak ordered. "Stop it, breath and tell me what you are talking about."

"You remember me mentioning Happosai right?"

"Yes the little perverted creature who thought he was your master at times." Shaak replied, wondering where this was going.

"He had this trick where he could siphon energy off women's undergarments and stuff like that, I've told you about that too." Shaak nodded and Ranma went on. "It did more than just help him regain his strength, it retarded the aging process or well not so much retarded it at that point as… stopped it entirely I think. And there was Cologne too, same age as he was, but she'd built up her ki strength to a level which did the same thing without needing to be refilled like Happy's."

'What?" Shaak asked, her face going entirely blank.

"Yes see he was apparently really, **really** old by the time he learned how to use his ki effectively, and he was always a pervert, so he combined the two, into a way to rebuild his ki reserves, at least that's what I think anyway. He was over 400 years old at least, still alive and kicking, kicking really hard too sometimes." Ranma said, still somewhat babbling. "And um, he was already old when he built up enough ki to use consciously. When I learned about that and I was around 19. These days, I'm a hell of a lot better at it than I was. And I'd bet that anyone who starts using the Living Force as much as I do or you do now… you um, you won't age as fast as you would if you age at all."

Shaak stared at him, her eyes somewhat unfocused. "I'm trying to remember how many dark Lords of the Sith became such or died during a quest for eternal life. Exar Kun was not the only one, believe me. And you're saying that if they could have learned how to enlarge their own Living Force reserves they could've done that?"

"Maybe," Ranma said with a shrug, looking away for a moment. "I don't know where the line is there, but yeah, the connection is pretty strong."

"That is interesting," Shaak said with a nod slowly pulling out of her shocked state. "But you're not certain?"

"I am pretty sure," Ranma said with a frown. "I can't imagine any reason why that wouldn't carryover between my home dimension and this one."

"I see." Slowly Shaak got over her shock, which had she had to admit rather ruefully had been most un-Jedi like of her. But the idea of lengthening your normal lifespan like that, that was beyond anything she'd ever heard of, though admittedly the idea of reaching inside you to your own Living Force had also been an entirely new idea when Ranma had introduced it to her.

Shaak had read records of Sith Lords who could drain the life energy of someone then use it to power their abilities, even to give themselves the semblance of youth for a time. But Ranma was talking about something permanent! "This is, I, the implications, I… how do you know? I mean you are right that you're young, you're younger than me actually, which I admit had bothered me at a time or two…"

"Shaak, I know I don't know yet, if I still look like this in four or five years time, then we'll know. And I'll have to admit to being a little irritated." Ranma replied, smirking now.

"I'll bite," Shaak said with a faint smile, shaking her head as she finally regained the last of her equilibrium. "Why?"

"Well that'd mean I haven't grown taller or broader in the shoulder. I'd like to be a little taller than I am now at the very least, y'know?"

Shaak laughed shaking her head, then looked seriously at Ranma. "It doesn't bother you?" she asked one last time, returning to the previous topic. The implications of Ranma's revelations were such she had to talk to Master Dooku about them. He was the only one besides herself who had taken Ranma's training beyond the toughness training and begun to meditate, reaching inward as well as outward to the Force. As such it could be set side for now, and Shaak had to admit she was somewhat happy to do so.

Ranma laughed quietly, reaching out and pulling Shaak into his lap. He leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, staring into her eyes. "It doesn't bother me Shaak. I've never been good with kids, couldn't ever be a disciplinarian or real authority figure you know? I've never really thought about being a father, and did it doesn't really interest me. So long as you're all right with it so am I."

Pushing forward with her forehead against his for a moment Shaak smiled happily before tilting her head to the side and leaning forward, kissing him on the lips. They sat there for a time sometimes reaching over to grab a bit of food tenderly feeding one another once or twice, an act that was shockingly intimate Shaak would muse later.

The idyllic moment ended as Tune's voice came over the intercom. "Master, mistress were about to come out of hyperspace."

"We'll be there in a second Tune," Ranma said, standing up with Shaak still in Ranma's eyes for a moment, holding her in a bridle carry for a moment until he sat her down on her feet as she laughed, and the two of them moved into the cockpit area.

The first two stops they made in the sector were boring as all get out. The first was the sight of an ancient mining colony, one of the largest sources of metals and other material in the sector during the New Sith Wars. It had been entirely destroyed during the so-called Excision. But there were no livable planets in the system, simply four asteroid fields. Since there was no local source of people, rebuilding would have cost trillions in credits and an existing work force to match.

No planet or group in this sector had that, and no major corporation or Core World could have moved into the area, the logistics of such a move would have been both obvious and alarming to anyone who used the Hydian way's waypoints in this sector. Shaak had made certain the Senate and the Order had no information on any such thing just in case.

(Of course, what no one seemed to realize was that this system was one of hundreds of such systems scattered around the Outer Rim, many of whom were known only to a few. So even the Sith had never bothered with this one. Besides, trying to move in would have, even now, brought them into conflict with the Mandalorians.)

The second jump was to a system with a single habitable planet called Ordo. Here they found a normal frontier planet, with a few orbitals and a working if small economy. The people here also had strong ties to Mandalore, the government being run by a Mandalorian clan. They even had regular traffic to and from Mandalore in the form of liners carrying people and cargo haulers bringing in refined goods and taking out various goods, in particular wood and a key ingredient to ferrocrete.

The _Wild Light_ spent a bare few hours in system as Ranma and Shaak met with the locals in the space station, getting a feel for the planet and the fact they had survived relatively well since the Excision. They had issues occasionally with pirates and other raiders, but the biggest issue they had was a lack of local industry.

Jumping out of Ordo toward their next target however they ran into trouble. That next jump had been along the same route ships from Ordo used to reach Mandalore as well as the next stop on their list, the planet Hrything. And when they came out of space, they found a battle going on.

"Master, mistress, we have a liner, the _Grock Hauler_ , a large and ancient type of passenger liner out of the Corellia yards originally, under attack. The ship could carry as many as six hundred people in relative comfort for short amounts of time. Two ships have docked with it, medium freighter class. We also have Sixteen Uglies spread out around the boarding action." Tune reported crisply. He was getting a lot better at this whole combat thing.

"Wake up HK!" Ranma ordered, strapping himself in as Shaak took the controls this time and he began to operate weapons.

"We have four more Uglies incoming from directly astern Master and we are also being hailed." Tune reported.

Without prompting Tune opened the communication, "Incoming patrol ship, this is _Grock Hauler_ , we are being boarded by pirates. Please assist!"

"Patrol ship?" Ranma asked even as he nodded to HK indicating he should take one of the quad lasers.

"Once we bring our shields up to full power I imagine our power reading does make us look more like a patrol ship rather than the small freighter the _Wild Light_ is based on." Shaak mused, pushing the ship forward at speed.

"HK, take out our trailers, I'll concentrate on the group at front," Ranma ordered. "Let's not use our torpedoes or ion cannon here. Unless you think we should try to capture some of them for questioning later Shaak?"

"I don't think so, no." Shaak said shaking her head. "But it's a good idea to keep our main weapons a secret out here, since I doubt the news of them will have reached this far. Tune, reopen communication with the Hauler, ask them if they need assistance to repel the boarders."

"Gleeful amusement: Ah master, this is precisely the way to wake up, not five seconds back online and already in combat. The only thing that would make it better would be if it was face to face. You truly are the best master, of all time."

A second later HK killed two of the Uglies, cobbled together barely spaceworthy starfighters, into pieces. The third ship seemed to come apart of its own accord in its efforts to keep up with the _Wild Light_ 's last twisting maneuver, and the fourth kept going, trying to rejoin it's fellows as they all regrouped around their prize, only to die to Ranma's fire.

"They report they might need help soon master. According to the captain they have three Mandalorian warriors aboard who seem to be holding the pirates for now, but there are at least two hundred boarders."

"Got it," Ranma grunted and for the next few moments that was the last anyone said, as the quartet fought their ship, forging forward. The pirates didn't seem to have any missiles or torpedoes, and even grouped together their fire only could make the _Wild Light_ 's shields dip into the yellow somewhat. Some of them were surprisingly good pilots, but they lacked enough of a punch to do much to the Mon Calamari designed ship.

Five more Uglies died before the pirates seemed to realize this, and most of them began to pull off, leaping into hyperspace. Two more died, then the _Wild Light_ was near enough to take the two freighters docked with the passenger liner under fire, riddling their engines, the rest of the pirates dead or fled.

Shaak coasted the ship forward until Tune told her they were lined up with one of the liner's docking clamps. The other ship quickly extended is airlock's umbilical cords, and with the droids on both sides working in tandem the hookup occurred quickly.

Ranma and HK led the way into the ship the moment the connection was secure, bursting through a short corridor into the long restaurant/casino that dominated the center of the liner quickly. There they found a running gunfight already occurring. Five Mandalorians warriors were on one side, using their rockets to jet around the interior of the room from here to there. Two of them were injured, unable to move but still laying down covering fire like pros.

On the other side of the room and trying to force their way towards the front of the ship were over two hundred or so pirates, just as Tune had predicted. They seemed to have just been joined by a few more of their troops, probably the crew left behind on their modified freighters after Ranma and Shaak had destroyed their ship's engines. Now they had to take the liner intact or they might well be stuck here even if they won.

HK and Ranma had come out of the small side passages leading to individual rooms and resting areas nearer the pirates than the Mandalorians, but both sides saw them at the same time since there was no cover blocking their entrance into the main area. "Gleeful announcement: Ho lovely, my favorite type of environment, a target rich one!"

With HK's pronouncement the two of them opened fire, as Ranma raced forward, trying to get in close with a few dozen pirates taking refuge behind an overturned roulette table. HK zoomed forward on his repulsors ducking under a heavy weapon of some kind, it's energy bolt a darker color than most of the others before taking a large clump of pirates near the back of the room under fire with his special slug thrower.

Seeing their chance the three mobile Mandalorians jetted up into the air over the pirates fire as the pirates became confused as to who they should all be targeting, their disorganization costing them any kind of unity now. One of them slammed down into the middle of the same group Ranma had charged into. She began cutting this way and that with paired vibroblades that had snapped out of her gauntlets. Ranma had learned how to spot the curve in the chest piece.

"Yo," the Mandalorian woman said from within her helmet. "Name's Tess Von Dere, of clan Dere. You?"

"Ranma." Ranma grunted, punching a pirate so hard the pirate, a Gammorian was lifted off his feet and smashed bodily into several other pirates. "You wouldn't happen to know Bo Katan Kryze would ya?"

"Heard of her, and her new Reborn faction why? Wait, you wouldn't happen to be the Ranma that was involved in the Yavin 4 fighting right? Rumors said there was some warrior from an unknown sect and his Jedi minder involved in that…" Tess' voice trailed off as Shaak joined the battle leaping out of the same hallway HK and Ranma had come from. Her lightsaber was on and flashing, blocking blaster bolts and directing them back into the pirates who fired them before slashing out in her own attacks, carving the pirates near her into pieces.

That seemed to take the fight out of the pirates, who tried to retreat, only to find the Mandalorians, HK and Ranma had no interest at all in letting them go. Not fifteen minutes later it was all over, and Ranma called in Tune to help with the liner's repairs while the other passengers came out of hiding near the front of the ship to help the cleanup.

It took Tune and the small freighter's original astromech about an hour to fix the liner's damages even while everyone else pitched in as well as they could to clear all the bodies. "Thank you again for this, ," Tess said, shaking her head, running one hand through her hair, wet with sweat after the battle and the exertions to repair the ship. "I still can't believe pirates are willing to strike this far out from Hrything or Gargon."

"Hrything being involved with pirates I can almost understand given its history as a smuggling den during the New Sith Wars. But why did you mention Gargon?" Shaak asked, cocking her head. She too was somewhat sweaty, though Togrutans did not perspire as much as humans did in similar circumstances. "Gargon is the only world in this sector outside of Mandalore itself that we have any information about."

"Ah…" Tess trailed off, glaring at the Jedi for a moment before once again almost visibly setting her status as a Jedi aside. "Gargon might be the only planet in the area that's a 'member in good standing' with the Republic, but that doesn't matter a bit. All the republic cares about is that it gets its precious batteries and that the spaceport looks good whenever the nearest Sector Senator wants to stop by. Outside of the spaceport there's about a dozen gangs all vying for control of the planet. Most of them have off-world elements too, though I've no idea how many."

She shrugged, sneering a little at Shaak's look of dismay before going on more seriously, directing her words to Ranma rather than the Jedi. "As for Hrything, the whole planet's operated by a Black Sun splinter group run by someone called Lazlo, though no one I've heard tell even knows what he looks like. He's got the whole planet under wraps, nothing happens there he doesn't know about apparently. You'd need an army to break his gangs grip on the planet."

Ranma nodded, filing that away as useful information for later. After all, the Reborn might require an initial target after rallying their people, right? Before he or Shaak could ask further questions however, HK's voice came over the intercom. "Bored tone: Master, Mistress, Tune and this other trash can say they are done the repairs to the computer. This junk-heap is ready to jump." A second later his voice went on clearly as an aside. "Lofty tone: I'm calling you a trash can, trash can."

"Well that's that then. You ready to go Shaak?" Ranma asked, looking over at Shaak who nodded and he turned back to Tess. "You think you'll have any trouble from here to Mandalore?"

"From here it's a single jump, and it would be a remarkably moronic pirate that tried anything in the Mandalore system. We'll be fine," Tess replied dryly. "And I will definitely see you there Ranma if you were telling the truth about being involved with the Reborn faction."

"Yep," Ranma said with a nod, not noticing how Shaak was now watching the other woman. "See ya then."

Tess smiled and walked off. But if someone would have looked at her as she rounded the corridor back into the transport ship's main sitting area they would have seen a strangely sinister smile on her lips.

As the Mandalorian walked off Ranma turned, only to pause as he caught Shaak's look. "What?"

"Oh nothing, just thinking that I might have to beat Mandalorian women off you with a stick," Shaak replied, shaking her head. For just a moment Shaak had felt something that made her uneasy, but it was gone just as quickly, too quickly for her to put it down as anything more than the feeling of once again having to deal with another woman being after Ranma.

"Oh Jeeze, seriously?" Ranma groaned, shaking his head. "I didn't think she flirted with me or anything like that?"

"How can you be so quick to see what your enemy is doing in a fight but so slow to notice body cues outside of it?" Shaak said with a faint laugh, joining Ranma as they made their way back to the _Wild Light_.

Moments later the smaller ship disengaged from the passenger liner, moving off quickly and jumping to hyperspace on a line that would take it to the Ordo system. The liner turned far more slowly, its larger engines spiraling up just as quickly for all the liner's lack of maneuverability.

As the ship jumped, Tess Vandermere was alone in her room, where she allowed her eyes to glow yellow for just a brief moment.

 **OOOOOOO**

Knowing now that going to Hrything would be pointless at best that only left one more planet/system on their list to check in on before setting their course for Mandalore. And since Master Koon's starfighter was too small to have a Hypercom uplink like the _Wild Light_ , they could not communicate their concerns about Gargon to him. Despite that Shaak was certain the Kel Dor master could look after himself, and the best thing they could do was to continue their own part of this mission.

That meant heading to the planet of Vorpa'ya. From what little information the Jedi Order had passed on the planet was supposedly an agricultural world. It was not a major food exporter like dozens of worlds in the Mid Rim and Colonies segment of the galaxy of course, but a planet that was simply known to have an economy based on agriculture rather than industry.

This meant that it did not come as a surprise to find that the planet had no space control watch and no orbitals. They didn't even have a set landing port and no real capital city. The _Wild Light_ spent some time orbiting the planet as their scanners tried to find the planet's largest city, figuring that was a good sign of what the capital would be. But the largest concentration of buildings and people were little more than towns.

Ranma was interested more in the local geography than the lack of people. The planet was dominated by wide grass plains, looking almost like Mongolia in a lot of ways. There were a few grassy hills here and there, and a range of mountains rearing out of the equator that made Ranma think of the Himalayas. But this planet didn't have the oceans of Corellia, Eshan or Earth. Instead it had massive inland lakes scattered around it's grassy plains, and an even larger water basin set high up in the mountains. Ranma supposed they were interconnected somehow, but they could only see a few dozen rivers during the time Shaak spent looking for the capital.

"I am not having much luck here." Shaak muttered. "I think we are going to have to simply wander around to get a feel for the people here. This is a true frontier planet, no centralized government at all I don't think."

"Incisive comment: perhaps it does not have one now, but if you'll look at the datum on the space near the planet you will see that might not always have been the case." HK interjected.

Ranma and Shaak looked at the sensor readings but all it told Ranma was there was some junk in orbit over one of the planet's poles. Shaak however nodded. "That looks like the remnants of a space station, and we did see some other debris coming in from the hyperspace limit. Yes, that makes sense. No doubt the Mandalorians kept a small caretaker government here at some point in the past."

"Which was targeted and destroyed by the so-called Excision," Ranma said shaking his head. "At least here we're not seeing any sign of orbital bombardment." Shaak winced but said nothing and Ranma turned away, directing the ship down into the atmosphere.

With Shaak's Force powers it took them very little time to find some of the locals. Most of them were humans, but with a spattering of other races. All of them were rugged frontier types as might be expected, and went around armed. There were apparently cattle rustlers, brigands, and nasty local animals that thought the settlers were just delicious as one wag informed the two newcomers.

Their arrival made little noise among the locals when they landed on the outskirts of what looked like a massive cattle market. Only instead of being cows or sheep or whatever it would have been on earth, here the cattle were massive banthas. Indian elephant sized animals covered with heavy fur and with large horns they mewed and lowed throughout the market in large enclosed areas separating one herd from another, the largest of which was fifty strong or so. Here and there was a local horse equivalent called the Vor'daln. It had heavy fur along its neck and thews and a tail with a hidden poisoned barb, along with broader than normal hoofs.

HK took one look at the animals and shook his head violently. "Affronted mutter: No, no, no! I have a most acute olfactory sensor, and I refuse to be anywhere near such beasts. You two are on your own."

"Agreed, I'm afraid. I've been around banthas before, and while being rather nice, docile animals they are also quite smelly, unless their owners keep their fur cropped close. Which these people alas do not seem to do," Shaak agreed, sighing.

"So let's park the ship a ways away and walk in, I don't want the smell to get into the ship any more than you do." Ranma suggested, a course of action they promptly followed, lifting off and moving about a mile downwind of the market. With that done however the two exited the ship, leaving Tune and HK with orders to defend the ship.

"Bored drawl: Why yes Mastress, I will just leap into action to defend the ship from the tiny rogue animals they no doubt think are dangerous on this planet. Bah agrarian worlds, you can keep them."

"Yeah that whole combining master and mistress thing, still not clever," Ranma quipped even as he and Shaak exited the ship.

The smell of the cattle hit them as HK and Shaak had known it would the moment they reached the outskirts of the market. Ranma held his nose trying to breathe through his mouth as Shaak used a Force trick to shut down her sense of smell. It didn't stop her from breathing through the nose, but it made her mind not detect the actual stench. They stood there for a few moments as Ranma got used to the stench, but he still looked pained as they made their way forward, never quite getting used to it.

For several hours the two of them moved among the people in the cattle market, learning what they could of the planet in passing and by asking a few scattered questions. It wasn't difficult to get a feel on the planet's current state, which seemed to be both bucolic and insular. They had no interest in off world affairs, though as Shaak looked closely, she could see a few signs of degradation. Technology of any sorts was sparse, the guns were mostly local made slug throwers, and most of the clothing was locally made. There were examples of technology, mostly heating, medical gear, and useful items like cattle prods, but they were not made on planet.

"According to one man I spoke to offworlders come and go freely, but with no set schedule. They trade odds and ends for food, fur or to just buy whole animals. The Bantha herds here are the best of the bunch, breeding stock, and most of the herds are hundreds strong. The offworlders can sell a gun or a small crate of heaters for enough food to feed hundreds of people." Ranma said, shaking his head. "There's no set system of exchange it's just straight up barter though if the offworlders try to take rather than deal the locals are able to stand up for themselves. At least they are if the pirates don't simply use their ships to attack them from the air."

"Indeed. I cannot tell what the opinions on the Mandalorians are, memory here is brief, and I haven't found anyone who even knew about the space station let alone could remember when off world visits were more routine. I cannot say that their lives would be much better with a stronger sector presence and the Mandalorians guarding them, or even that the locals would welcome such, but I think they would be. Certainly the pirates these people deal with would be at least forced to pay what the food is worth by even a small fleet presence."

Ranma nodded, staring up into the evening sky. It had gotten dark as they were exploring the cattle market, and he smiled at the play of colors in the sky. "Yeah. I think we're done here, but we still have a day to go before we're due to show up on Mandalore to meet Plo and Bo." He snorted, shaking his head. "Damn if that doesn't sound like they're a comedy team, though I don't know how much laughing we'll be doing when they meet."

Shaak actually giggled at that, shaking her head. "Yes, that promises to be an interesting meeting. I think though that Plo took your words about needing to make decisions based on fact rather than past fears to heart however. So long as Bo can stop her faction from attacking him the moment he reveals himself Plo will be able to at least keep the peace."

The two fell silent then as they heard some kind of band or other start up nearby. They looked at one another, then nodded and moved in that direction as one. The Mandalorians could wait a night at least.

The song was sung in the local dialect of course, but Shaak was able to translate it easily thanks to her Force powers. The lyrics however made Ranma smile. "Run away with me, lost souls in revelry. Running wild and running free, two kids, you and me…" Laughing the two of them danced the evening away under the stars, moving back to the ship as the party behind them, about some kind of birthday or other, continued on.

As they made their way to the outskirts of the market they had to part briefly to let several drunk revelers through, pressing themselves against the makeshift yurts on either side of the trail. They were then nearly run over by a bunch of teens chasing what looked like some kind of small pet. It was a small, six-legged felinoid of some kind and it leaped onto Ranma's face before Ranma could move.

Suddenly the good, warm feelings Shaak had been feeling vanished as her lover began to radiate fear and backed away. Not just fear, but **fear** for the time Shaak had known him, cloying desperate pain-filled **fear**. Turning she reached out quickly. "Ranma what is…"

But Ranma didn't see her, turning and racing away with a scream of panic smashing through the walls of a yurt to one side before leaping away into the night. Shaak stared in shock, having felt Ranma's personality disappear for a moment there, subsumed by first the fear, then by something else, something animalistic. Shaking her head Shaak raced after him, using the Force to empower her speed and legs.

Neko-Ranma was confused. The smells of the area were confusing, painful, irritating, drowning out even the scent of the horned mate, she of the red skin and good teeth. Neko Ranma wanted to attack the large smelly things, but there were too many of them, and too many man-things too. He had to get away from the smell before he lost control. Neko Ranma knew the horned mate would not like that, females were odd about such things.

It took Neko Ranma no time at all to leave the scent of the giant smelly things behind, and he purred, arching his back as the smells and sense of nature filled his lungs. Normal cats would have been confused and wary of being in an unknown place but Neko Ranma was an Omega, his territory was where-ever he was currently. Staring out over the grassy plains he smelt small furry creatures out there. Standing still for a second, he sniffed the air then bounded towards them. The horned mate would probably appreciate a treat after all.

Several moments later Neko Ranma was moving through the tall grass, his nose close to the ground, his form entirely hidden by the grass as he stalked forward towards the group of five large forms in the distance. They looked like dogs almost, but with heavy manes, and far larger teeth for the size of their mouths. Neko Ranma knew these were predators but that was fine by him, Neko Ranma was the top cat here, and he would prove it.

Before he could pounce however the wind shifted and a form landed behind him. Its sudden appearance caused the four predator creatures to notice him, but instead of attacking Ranma and the newcomer they bolted away, yipping and squealing in fear. Neko Ranma turned, unhappy at the halt of her hunt, but he immediately began to purr too. The horned mate had found him!

Shaak stared at Ranma crouching there. There was no intelligence or understanding in those blue eyes of his, it was like looking into the eyes of an animal. "RanmOOOFF!" Shaak gasped as Ranma pounced forward, smacking into her and taking Shaak to the ground she was so surprised. She glared at him, but Ranma simply purred like some kind of feline, rubbing his head against Shaak's chest as he curled up in her lap.

"This is definitely in my top five weird things to occur since we met Ranma, possibly number two on that list right up there with how I found out about your curse." Shaak shook her head, amused, but still wary of the way Ranma's mind had seemed to retreat, letting this animalistic other mind take over.

Sighing faintly she began to scratch Ranma's hair like he was the cat he was acting as, causing Ranma's purring to redouble. However even as her hands were busy with that, Shaak reached out with the Force, touching Ranma's mind and pushing in a small probe. If Ranma had been in his right mind he would have felt this intrusion and possibly ejected it if he couldn't' discern it was Shaak doing it. But that would have been a conscious act; his animal personality had no such ability.

She felt the underlying feel, a few slivers of memory, of pain. _A dark pit of some kind, and a previously trusted person pushing Ranma again and again into the pit. Pain, pain, pain, fear, hopelessness._ This was not a fear on the scale of Aayla's trauma but it was close both because of how young Ranma was in the memories and how much pain was wrapped up with it. Shaak also understood that for someone like Ranma being helpless would be almost as bad as the actual pain. So he had given up, becoming in part the thing that had dealt so much pain to him.

Slowly Shaak did what she could, soothing Ranma's mind as best she could, as she had for Aayla occasionally, as she had seen Luminara and Fay do. This wouldn't fix the problem, but it would bring Ranma out of his animalistic state. A moment later, Ranma's face twitched, and his whole body shook before he looked up into Shaak's eyes. "Shaak?"

"Ranma." Shaak smiled, leaning in to kiss him on the lips, her arms going around him. she was relieved he was back to himself, but also wary of him trying to get away from her. Ranma had shared how often his weaknesses had been turned against him or used as excuses to make fun of him in the past, and she had no doubt this odd state of being could have been used in a similar manner.

To her joy however Ranma's arms went around her for a moment before he moved to sit next to her on the grass of the plain, taking one of Shaak's hands in his. Leaning his head against her shoulder Shaak saw in the starlight that he was no looking down at their hands. "So I guess I owe you an explanation?"

"That would be nice yes Ranma. But remember this, whatever that was, I will not reject you because of it!" Shaak said fiercely, hearing the quaver in Ranma's voice. "I love you remember, that means whatever this is, we will face it together."

Ranma stared into her eyes for a long time, then leaned forward and kissed Shaak softly, tenderly on the lips so much emotion in the act that despite the worry and concern she felt it took Shaak's breath away. Then he leaned back whispering against her lips. "I love you too Shaak Ti." Then with a sigh he looked away and began to explain about the Neko-Ken.

When he finished Shaak Ti breathed in and out several times as she dealt with the anger the story evoked, releasing it slowly so it couldn't fester. When she spoke her voice was soft, but clear. "Ranma your father was a child abuser of the worst sort, and it makes me very happy he is back in your old dimension lest I would be too tempted to act out a punishment that would surely fit the crime."

As Ranma chuckled, Shaak went on, standing up and pulling Ranma to his feet. "We will deal with this somehow, when we are back on Kashyyyk I will talk to Luminara, or perhaps we can see if we can find Master Fay and get her to help you. This fear is not something you need to be embarrassed about Ranma, it is simply an issue that needs to be overcome."

Ranma nodded, somewhat stunned at how well Shaak had taken his damned reaction to the furry demon things. "Thanks for that Shaak, that, that means a lot to me," he said quietly.

`Shaak simply smiled at him, and the tow walked back through the tall grass toward the _Wild Light_. As they came within sight of the ship however Ranma stopped perforce pulling Shaak to a stop. "Close your eyes Shaak." He said softly, squeezing her hand in the clasp neither of them had made any move to break.

Looking at Ranma for a moment Shaak wondered what he was up to before obediently closing her eyes.

Ranma moved away slightly and Shaak's hearing, enhanced by her montrals picked up rustling like clothing almost then something that sounded like fur. Then she felt a light weight settle on her shoulders, and opened her eyes to look down at her body as Ranma finished clasping a loose cloak over her. The cloak's collar and shoulders were lined with fur from the creature Ranma had fought on Kashyyyk. The fur was a white with almost a silvery tint to it in conjunction with a only slightly off white fur cloak that Shaak instinctively knew would set off her red skin and her own white markings to good effect.

"I, I looked it up on the Hypernet, that um, that your, that is that Togrutans generally give promise gifts to one another when their relationships become serious. Er my own nation used promise rings sometimes, don't know where that tradition came from if I'm honest, but it um, it seemed like a good idea." Ranma stammered his way through the words, something that Shaak idly thought simply made the words, and the emotions behind them seem more sincere. "I also wanted to try to try my hand at some of the traditional Shili foods but none of the meats I could get on Kashyyyk would match, even if I was able to find the spices."

As Shaak stared at Ranma her thoughts a mushy jumble, Ranma went on, stealing himself so that the next words would come out without the stutter. "We talked about the future but we never talked about marriage, but I Love you Shaak, and I would like our relationship to become a permanent thing. So this is my promise to you that one day, hopefully soon, I will marry you in the eyes of your people and the universe." He falter then, one hand reaching up to pull at his pigtail self-consciously. "That is if I'm not being too forward?"

"Oh Ranma if I did not wish to spend my life together with you, whatever the label, I would never have told you I love you. And I do love you, my wild unpredictable, chaotic, man!" Shaak said laughing and throwing her arms around Ranma, pulling him into a hug and a kiss that made his toes curling his shoes.

 **Warning Lemony Content ahead! Read at your own risk!**

Pulling back, Shaak looked into Ranma's eyes and a wicked idea occurred to her. _I wanted to make this somewhat romantic if I could, but I didn't think Ranma would do it for me!_ With a small shiver of excitement Shaak took Ranma's hand with hers, pulling him along as they moved into the _Wild Light_.

Thankfully for the mood, HK was up in the cockpit, shut down unless called upon by Tune. Moving around the small table Shaak pushed Ranma onto the coach. Then she stood back, letting her new cloak fall from her shoulders in a cascade of white cotton and fur to pool around her feet. Then she pulled off her undershirt, revealing her bra, one of the silky black numbers she had bought on Coronet.

Reaching behind her, Shaak unclasped it with some difficulty, her muttering of "Good gracious, how do normal women undo these things?" almost but not quite breaking the sheer sensuality of the moment. Ranma's lips twitched and he was about to speak up from the shock her actions had driven him, but then she finally got the bra unclipped, dropping it to one side and all thought fled Ranma for the second time that day, albeit in a **much** more pleasant manner.

Shaak Ti was a statuesque, extremely fit woman, with a perfectly flat stomach below high perky breasts that were at worst a C-cup as Ranma understood things, with not a hint of sag in them. Her red skin gleamed in the light of the sitting room, and her large nipples and areolae were chalk white, standing out even more against her red skin. Her lekku now fell down to either side of her breasts twitching with her heightened emotions, the white and blue stripes of them drawing further attention to her chest in comparison.

"God's you're so beautiful," Ranma said, his words simple but filled with adoration and love.

Licking her lips Shaak Ti reveled in the look Ranma was giving her, feeling more powerful, more of a woman than she as a Jedi had ever felt before, had ever allowed herself to feel before even when they had been together and had made one another climax. There was something about bearing her body to him like this that went beyond those more spontaneous moments.

Then Ranma reached for her, pulling her into his lap, kissing her hard on the lips, so hard it drew a moan from Shaak as their tongues began to twine around one another. Shaak began to move her hips grinding against Ranma's waist. "MMmmmmm…. Ranma…" She moaned, as he broke the kiss then gasped in anticipation as he began to work his way lower, nipping at her chin, neck, collarbone, the side of her lekku. That last caused her to moan again and even close her eyes. "MMmmmmmmm, by the Force…"

So her eyes were closed at first when Ranma finally reached her breasts. "AAHHH!" She gasped, her eyes opening wide as Ranma reached them, laying gentle kisses up and all around them lavishing attention on her red skin, finding that it tasted as always of some kind of spice he couldn't' quite name. Then his tongue flicked out, licking at Shaak's chalk white nipples.

Already stiff with arousal the nipple twitched under his touch, and Shaak humped her hips down again as Ranma licked and nibbled then sucked at first one nipple then the other. His ministrations drew moans and groans out of her that Tune would have heard up in the cockpit if he hadn't shut down for routine programming maintenance. "Ahhh, ahhm,,, Ranma!"

For his part Ranma was practically lost in this new sensation. For some reason this act called out to the most primal parts of Ranma's mind, and he found himself hungry for something he couldn't name. Only continuing to lick and kiss the flesh under his mouth could appease those instincts, and he did so with alacrity.

He even slowly began to read Shaak's responses to his ministrations, finding out that she liked it slightly harder than he would have thought, in terms of squeezing her breasts, but that her nipples were a little too sensitive even for light teeth play. Committing all this new information to memory, Ranma eagerly continued to drive Shaak wild.

Shaak hadn't realized it, but her body had been primed and ready to go off before they got back to the _Wild Light_. Moreover, Ranma had learned several of her more sensitive area. While his mouth was busy with this new delight, one of Ranma's hands had moved around her body, keeping her in his lap and gripping her rear hard enough to possibly cause bruises in someone who hadn't gone through the toughness training. His other hand switched from playing with the breast his mouth was not busy attacking to trailing up and down her lekku, stroking, kneading, and then pinching the end of it.

It didn't take more than a few minutes of these tender ministrations to set Shaak off like a bomb. "AAHHHH Ranma!" she shrieked, before pulling Ranma off her nipple and crashing her lips down onto his so hard their teeth clacked together, her tongue invading his mouth as her hips spasmed.

Ranma would've grunted if his mouth had been free, his own hips arcing up to meet Shaak's but he hadn't had enough stimulus just yet to finish himself, but after a few seconds Shaak pulled back from the kiss, her eyes hooded, her purple lips sore, her breathing coming in gasps. She leaned away, unconsciously bringing Ranma's attention back down to her chest for a moment. Looking down, she smiled then pushed off his lap, gently batting away his hands as Ranma reached for her.

But instead of getting to her feet, Shaak slid to her knees between Ranma's legs, reaching down to pull one foot then the other up, pulling Ranma's shoes off and tossing them aside. Ranma watched this quizzically, still breathing hard himself, trying to figure out both what she was doing and what he should be doing right now. It was only when Shaak reached up to his crotch unzipping it that Ranma realized what she was doing. "Sh, Shaak, what, um, are you sure?"

"Positive Ranma," Shaak murmured, winking at him. "I've actually been wondering what you looked like down here for a while actually, and since you just, what is the phrase, got me off? Since you just got me off, I think it only fair I return the favor."

"Shaak…." Ranma began trailing off as her hands undid his pants, pulling them down exposing his underwear. His boxers were marked by the images of some small animal or other, and Shaak giggled shaking her head as Ranma looked away embarrassed for a moment before he twitched as Shaak finished pulling down his pants and his cock sprang free of its confines and out the slit at the front of his boxers.

Shaak found herself staring at the appendage in front of her for a moment, unconsciously licking her lips. _Seeing it in person is very different from seeing it in anatomy texts or even those Force damned images on the Hypernet._ Ranma's cock was larger than average for his species Shaak felt, about an inch and a half in width and possibly as large erect as her lightsaber hilt. It was somewhat intimidating but also more than a bit of a turn on for some reason, calling to Shaak's most base desires.

Reaching forward she grasped it, giving it a slight experimental jerk watching Ranma's face for a moment, astonished to find her fingers only just meeting around it's width. She kept jerking both her hands now up and down its length astonished at the feel of it, like silky smooth skin covering solid bone, with veins here and there. She noticed that something was building on the tip, and leaned down to lick the liquid away.

Ranma gasped, bucking his hips up as his dick twitched in conjunction with her tongue and Shaak leaned back slightly, tasting the liquid for a moment. it had a meaty sort of flavor, with some kind of orange-like fruit mixed in. It was certainly somewhat tasty however. Leaning down again, Shaak began to lick and kiss the sides and tip of Ranma's cock letting her sharp teeth trail up the bottom of it for a moment until she came to a stop right above the tip.

"Shaak, um are you sure that's a good idea? Your, um your teeth…" Ranma stammered, but his eyes were scrunched together in pleasure locked on Shaak's face as she looked up from where she was now hovering over his crotch, his dick so hard it actually hurt right under her mouth.

"What's the matter Ranma, I thought you liked danger?" Shaak quipped, her own eyes hooded with desire, before she leaned down, opening her mouth and taking the tip of Ranma's cock into her mouth. She couldn't take more than two inches into her mouth, but that was enough, and her tongue went to work, lathering the tip from every direction while her hands went back to pumping the rest of his shaft, this time even more vigorously. Occasionally her teeth also touched it, their sharp points trailing up and down as she worked her mouth up and down.

Ranma was as primed as Shaak had been earlier, so it took barely a minute of Shaak's ministrations before he was ready to go over the edge. "Shaak watch out I'm gonnaAAA!"

That was as much waring as Ranma could give his paramour, but Shaak did not pull away. Instead she clamped her mouth down harder on the tip of Ranma's cock sucking harder. The rod under her hands convulsed almost, pulling back and shooting forwards like an ancient cannon, flooding her mouth with shot after shot of cum.

Shaak pulled back quickly, gulping down as best she could, humming as she did so which sent a vibration through Ranma's cock that made him twitch and spasm another dollop of cum into Shaak's mouth. For a moment she thought she would choke, unable to keep up with the deluge, but the tumult subsided quickly, allowing Shaak to pull all the way back as Ranma's cock began to flag.

Licking her lips Shaak smiled, licking her teeth, still humming her appreciation of the treat. Pulling away she looked up at Ranma as she sat back leaning against the table. "That was surprisingly pleasant. You taste rather good Ranma."

Above her Ranma looked down, his breath coming in gasps much as hers had earlier. "Hah, hah, I, I hope to say the same when I return the favor."

 **End Lemony Content!**

Shaak shivered at the idea but shook her head. "Not right now I'm afraid I'm feeling a little too sensitive for more fun today." Ranma nodded at that, feeling drained in a way that sort of reminded him of how he sometimes felt after really tough fights, if in a different way. Shaak shakily got to her feet, followed quickly by Ranma who caught her for another tender kiss before letting her go, moving toward the cockpit only to stop and watch appreciatively as Shaak got dressed. She turned, making certain their eyes were locked as she pulled on her new cloak luxuriating in the feel of the fur against her lekku and neck.

"I promise Shaak," Ranma said seriously, not looking away from her eyes. "One day soon we are going to make this relationship of ours permanent, I promise love."

"I know," Shaak said, reaching him and luxuriating as his arms went around her. "I would not have asked, but I have to say that I am most looking forward to placing our claims on one another without any ambiguity."

Ranma laughed and turned as Shaak stepped out of her hug entering her room as Ranma moved toward the cockpit. Shaak hung up her Jedi robe in her room before joining him. She would change into it when they reached Mandalore.

By the time she was in the cockpit, Tune was online and already making the jump calculations. It turned out that jumping directly to Mandalore from here would take them through a black hole. So they would have to make a series of small jumps around it until they had a straight line to Mandalore from a dead system, one with a brown dwarf star and no planets. This meant it would take them around thirteen hours to get to Mandalore from here.

Shaak and Ranma exchanged a glance, and Ranma nodded, his hands reaching for the controls, his eyes twinkling at Shaak as a grin split his face. "Let's go then. This little tours been educational on many levels, but it's time to move on."

Laughing Shaak sat down across from him over Tune's domed head, leaning over to kiss him gently on the check before looking over the scanners as the _Wild Light_ made for space.

* * *

 **End chapter**

… This was not the chapter I thought it would be. I had thought I would be halfway through the Mandalorian arc here, but then I began to read into it, and decided the issues were a lot more complicated than I had been making allowances for, so I needed to expand it immensely. On the other hand, I was able to drop a lot of little hints here about how the future is beginning to change, while also hinting at some things that are still the same. In the next chapter we deal with the Mandalorians and a few other issues start to crop up.

Anyway, hope you all liked it and if so please review! And if anyone sees any SW info I got wrong, leave that in your review please. But the thing about Togrutans and humans being unable to breed is spot on - Lucas has come out and said he felt that no races could interbreed in SW, but there are a few characters that look like crossbreeds in the expanded legends that is simply false. None of them are half-human, half-Togrutan however, and since I will be introducing Little Soka here as younger sister figure in the future, I see no reason to use that angle.


	12. Chapter 12

The Force does not dwell within this one, nor is the aquatranssexual canon of my making.

Okay, as most of you already know I use polls here and over on P R taron to choose which stories to update. Here on fanfic I have all the stories I feel I can write in a single poll, but over on P R taron, there are two polls at present. One is for the Star Wars crossovers, because that is the universe that my muse is pushing the hardest at present. The other poll is for what I call the small stories poll, since they deal with stories whose chapters are habitually smaller.

Here on fanfic, _Magic of the Force_ won 342 votes and took first place, while over there it took Here in 346. This gave it a total of 688 votes. This story, _Horse for the Force_ won only 229 votes here on fanfic, placing it fourth overall. But on P R taron it won 644. Thus the winner between the two Star Wars crossovers, at 875 to 688 votes, was _Horse of the Force_ , so here it is.

Of the small stories, Fate Touched in Middle Earth won, so it will be updated as well. I will post it sometime tomorrow or tomorrow evening. It is off at the beta reader at present.

I have a new Beta reader to check my stories for small mistakes! His name over on P R taron is Michael (will save the last name until he gives me his permission to use it here LOL). I think you will find there are far fewer mistakes in this chapter than normal, despite its size. Please give him a round of applause for his work. I would also like to give a shout out to Hiryo for giving me a SW canon villain that could possibly match Ranma one on one. I won't be introducing him yet, but he will start skulking around soon. I will also give MilandaAnza credit for another idea that I use in this chapter, and might continue to use going forward. She'll know what I'm talking about, heh.

 **Chapter 12: Talks, Training, and Sundry Alarums**

* * *

Obi-Wan was neither pleased nor impressed at present as he dodged around yet another swaying drunkard moving his way through the large hills of uncollected trash and garbage. _By the Force, this planet is a cesspit! I had thought Gargon, of all the planets in this sector, could possibly be an example of what good has come to it since the Excision, but it isn't._

Having arrived as a passenger on a freight hauler bringing in food, he had arrived on Gargon two days ago as a relative unknown, only the captain knowing he was there at all. Obi-Wan had used his Force Cloak to disappear from everyone's interest after paying his way. This had allowed him to disappear into anonymity after leaving the ship with relative ease, and this in turn had allowed him to get away from the planet's port to see what the rest of the planet was like.

However, Obi-Wan couldn't keep Force Cloak up forever, and he had let it fade when he began to move among the populace, seeing no need to hide further. After all, with his lightsaber covered he was just a random man in a cloak, and given the local weather, which was currently pouring rain, he fit right in. _Force Cloak would have kept people from seeing me, after all, but in a crowd like this that would be counterproductive. Not that it wouldn't have its benefits..._

As Obi-Wan thought that, he twitched one hand back slightly to smack a hand away from his pocket. Turning quickly, he raised an eyebrow under the cover of his hood to look at the elderly man who had just tried to pickpocket him, who was staring at him like an herbivore caught in a hover car's headlights. "Aren't you supposed to run away after you've tried and failed to pickpocket someone?"

The man behind him stood there with his hand outstretched for another second. Then he blinked and rapidly backed away quickly before running off at Obi-Wan's look. All around them other people went about their business, ignoring the little drama. That suited Obi-Wan down to the ground at the present moment.

For several more moments Obi-Wan moved around the city before he noticed a growing feeling of danger through the Force. He noticed that one or two of the locals seemed to be watching him. A second later he moved towards two large piles of trash, moving between them. Behind him he heard the movement of several other people moving towards him now, and Obi-Wan frowned. Covering himself in his Force Cloak, Obi-Wan wedged himself into a small area between one of the mountains of trash bags and a wall.

Once there he tried to ignore the rather overwhelming smell and the words in Republic standard by one side of his head saying that someone named Sarah gave great head. Using the Force the smell was easy to deal with by shutting down his body's sense of smell, but the words were harder to deal with since graffiti was something Obi-Wan had never understood the point of. _Does the public truly need to know this? I think not. What is it with graffiti anyway? I mean, why does the need to write on public walls carry over to most humanoid races? Out of everything else that could become commonplace, why graffiti?_

Thankfully, at that moment Obi-Wan's pondering of that mystery of the universe ended as voices reached him. "Where did he go?"

"How the kriff am I supposed to know? He walked between these two piles; did anyone see him duck out?"

"Don't be an idiot; he was within sight of us all when he entered. He must've gone down the alleyway!"

"That alleyway's a dead end! Anyone can see that."

"Maybe he took to the roofs? Isn't there an emergency ladder there or something?"

The voices went away for a moment, then came back disgruntled that there wasn't, and it really was a dead end. "How the hell did he give us the slip! Dammit, that off worlder looked strong and durable. He would've fetched a great price with the mine supervisors."

Obi-Wan felt one of his eyebrows rise in interest and moved out from his hiding space to begin following the group. He observed them throughout the rest of the day while they met up with their higher-ups before then switching to following said higher-ups. He wasn't good enough at Force Cloak to cover his presence entirely when he was alone, not like Tholme or Quinlan Vos were known to do, but he was able to redirect attention away from himself to other people, and it worked well enough here. The boss ran his operation from a strip club, rather cliché if Obi-Wan had been asked for his opinion, but it served his purposes at the moment.

Late that night he left the club with a lot of the other stragglers and hangers-on before quickly making his way across the city and up onto the rooftops of one of the larger buildings. There he sat staring out over the city, frowning even as he centered himself in the Force.

It was an oddly shaped city: a series of concentric circles of cheap hab dwellings and expensive office towers. It was a hive, almost: several different levels of construction built up around several strip mines. Most of the mines here had been worked out centuries ago, but many of the businesses were still here even if the miners had been moved on to another city.

While this was the first city outside of the spaceport Obi-Wan had seen, it was more than enough given what he had overheard locals. Local gangs supposedly ran the strip mines, but Obi-Wan got the impression they all worked for the corporations that actually sold phobium to the rest of the Republic. And even in a city like this one where the mines had been worked out, the gangs still ruled the streets.

There was little to no government or overarching organization, hence the trash issue. Indeed, from where he was standing Obi-Wan could see down into one of the worked out strip mines where several layers of trash seemed to have filled it to around halfway up its side.

The only reasons this particular city still existed were that some of the corporate buildings were still in use and of course there were those too poor to move away, who the gangs preyed upon. The corporate buildings were self-sustaining with their own securities, sometimes droids, sometimes people, and their people never went outside except under armed escort. And the poor… Well, apparently no one on this planet cared what happened to the poor, another fact of existence that was all too prevalent in the galaxy.

Making his way back from that city to the spaceport, Obi-Wan shook his head sadly. The port itself was decent. It was almost up to Core World standards of cleanliness and modernity and was well-organized. There was of course some violence and quite a bit of vice, but that was normal in any port, and the government was well represented in terms of customs official, security officers and workers. The utter lack of governmental control outside of the port, however, meant that the government was at best a tool for the gangs, or rather the corporations, or was simply powerless and knew not to rock the boat.

 _And of course they have not asked the Republic for aid. Indeed, they have gone out of their way to seem as if they are a viable planetary government. I wonder if that senator that was here last, Ms'kass of the Thesme Sector I think his name was, was bought off or simply duped?_

Luckily for Obi-Wan's state of mind, transportation between this planet and the Mandalorian system was actually pretty regular. There were several civilian transport vessels plying the space ways between the two systems, though it was a bit concerning that they traveled in convoy. Despite that, leaving Gargon was a joy, and Obi-Wan settled into his day cabin, having actually purchased it this time, and immediately began to meditate, centering himself once more in the Force.

The next day he arrived on Mandalore, with his identity once more covered by his Force Cloak. Moving out from the landing area, Obi-Wan frowned, debating internally with himself before sighing. _It might be best to get a feel for the local atmosphere before showing up at the ducal palace. I do have several days before the others are supposed to arrive, after all, and Master Koon will want a report to start his own work from._

Obi-Wan went to work quickly and efficiently, casing the entire planet as best he could, though that wasn't nearly as well as he would have liked. There was very little public transportation here and few real roads out in the more rural environments. With the inability to properly handle the outlying regions, he decided to concentrate on the space stations and the cities.

He discovered that while the Reborn were apparently heavily represented in the rural areas, the New Mandalorians had a lock on the larger cities entirely, as well as most of the space stations, since they had built most of them in the first place. Their policies and the differences between those cities and the few that they did not dominate were easy to see. The New Mandalorians' various local regulations were much stricter, the way the locals moved and walked and even looked were a stark contrast to the way they looked out in the few clan areas he managed to observe.

For one thing, they didn't wear any armor. Elsewhere even those adults who didn't have weapons wore some kind of the armor, mostly the chest plate, but the armor was almost always there. For another, weapons were practically absent. And third, and most telling, was that the New Mandalorians tried to speak Galactic Standard as much as they could, and even had schools devoted to teaching it. But the few times he moved away from the cities, even into the various space stations, Obi-Wan had to use his Force powers to translate from Mando'a. Their bio-cube cities were practically a separate society rather than a faction of one.

At one point during this survey Obi-Wan discovered that the issues facing this planet were even more difficult than he had feared.

Sitting in a café in a city where the New Mandalorians were represented but did not have a lock on the local populace, Obi-Wan frowned as he listened in on another conversation about the debate going on as to whether or not the New Mandalorians were an actual legal government.

The locals were speaking Mando'a, and didn't use the word illegal. Instead they used a local word that he could sense had several different connotations, only a few of which Obi-Wan could grasp using his Force powers to translate the term. But most of it was not pleasant in any event.

Across from the café where he was sitting there was also a demonstration going on, a group of Reborn marching in lockstep down the street. Or at least what Obi-Wan thought were Reborn. Certainly they were against the New Mandalorians, and a lot of the locals were looking at them with mildly disturbed expressions on their faces. Listening in to their rhetoric he frowned, then paid for his coffee and moved off quickly following them.

It turned out these group of Mandalorians were not part of the Reborn. They were part of another loosely organized group which saw the New Mandalorians as Republic tools and wanted to go back to their warlike ways, particularly against the Jedi. Hearing that he was not popular here wasn't anything new to Obi-Wan; hearing 60+ armed Mandalorians say it, however, was not pleasant. Especially when one of them, a Duros, shouted out in graphic detail what he would like to do to the Jedi. _Good grief, he has an active and rather horrible imagination…_

Moments later they ran into a group of New Mandalorian police who tried to get them to disperse. The whole thing might have degenerated into violence if not for the sudden arrival of sixteen or so Mandalorians wearing jungle camouflage colors in comparison to the yellow and red colors of the anti-Jedi group. This new group came in with the roar of rocket packs before settling down on several of the rooftops overlooking the march. At the sight of that, suddenly the marchers' bellicosity drained away and they dispersed quickly, despite their leaders' histrionics.

Obi-Wan continued to watch for a few moments, and saw one of the local police officials meet with one of the newcomers, clasping forearms. When the newcomer removed his helmet it became obvious Obi-Wan was looking at a father and his son. That was interesting, and possibly a good sign: that family ties still mattered to many despite the individuals finding themselves on opposite sides of the political divide.

From this Obi-Wan began to realize that while Bo Katan had told the truth about how dissatisfied the local population was with the New Mandalorians' government, she had perhaps overstated the strength of her own position. Yes, the Reborn were organized and growing. Indeed, Obi-Wan watched a recruitment campaign in another city and came away somewhat impressed with the speaker's rhetoric. But they were still a relatively small faction in comparison to the size of the population.

Worse, the Reborn's direct challenge to the New Mandalorians seemed to have opened the very floodgates Bo had been concerned could lead to civil war. There wasn't much violence just yet occurring on the streets, but there had been a few ugly showdowns between various New Mandalorian police groups and locals coming in from out of town. Unlike the one Obi-Wan had watched, very few police had relatives they could call to for aid, and there had been several violent clashes.

There was a **tension** in the air of this planet. He could feel it as easily as he had been able to sense the beaten-down and broken nature of most of the inhabitants on Gargon. And it wasn't a pleasant feeling it all. Obi-Wan had been on planets where governments were changing from one local governor to another, and they had tension. But the tension here was sharper, a throbbing in the air to his Force senses, rife with violence.

 _And fear, quite a bit of fear,_ he thought two days after his arrival as he finally made his way to the ducal palace.

The palace was. of course, the new capital ofSundari, the first ever completed bio-cube on the planet. It was a large building with several sections of it square and uniform in construction coupled with some portions that looked more artistic, including a balcony, dining hall, and garden that he remembered from his mission here years ago. The balcony would allow anyone there to look out over the entire city and was situated facing the gates leading into the palace environs and out onto a square.

Striding up to the guardsmen at the front gate, Obi-Wan slowly flipped back his hood back to reveal his face, letting one hand gently touch his lightsaber which was once more tied to his belt outside his cloak at his side. With his Force Cloak no longer on, it could now be seen. "Hello," he said softly and as completely unthreatening as he could. The New Mandalorians might have thrown off a lot of the old traditions and anger, but there were those even in their faction who didn't like Jedi any more than the average nonaligned Mandalorian. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight, and I am here on request of the Duchess. Please tell her I have arrived."

Satine looked up from several sheets of old-fashioned paperwork and four dataslates as Obi-Wan was shown into her office. She smiled widely at him, gesturing with one hand at the guard. "You can leave us. I have no doubt that I am safe in Jedi Kenobi's hands. He did, after all, save my life once before."

To Kenobi, she continued with a chuckle. "Although you also put it in danger from what I can recall. I still have the scars from those wasps."

"I did apologize when that occurred, but there was little else I could do at the time to save your life at the time," Obi-Wan said, bowing grandly. "You're looking well, Satine."

"Not as well as you," Satine said, somewhat more tartly than she had intended, though it was true.

Obi-Wan was in his mid-twenties and was still in extremely good shape from what she could see: his face newly shaved, his hair longer than she remembered without the padawan braid. He stood confidently, his broad shoulders thrown back, his face showing much more experience and confidence to go with his competence. _He is as handsome as I remember…_

For his part, while Obi-Wan had not lied, of course, he did feel grateful that he would not have to elaborate on his response. Satine was still beautiful, but she had aged visibly in the years since they'd last seen each other, far more than those years alone could account for. There were lines on her face that hadn't been there before, marks under her eyes that told him she hadn't been sleeping well. On top of that Satine was wearing a far more severe style of dress and hair then she had in the past. That might have been an affectation at one point to seem older to people who didn't like being led by her in the first place, regardless of her position. But it had since become part of her normal style.

 _She is like a young willow bent with the weather but still vibrant and beautiful,_ Obi-Wan thought to himself.

At her gesture Obi-Wan sat down across from Satine, and she asked, "So, did you just arrive? Or have you been doing your Jedi spy thing?"

"If by 'Jedi spy thing' you mean I wished to understand the lay of the land here on my own before being given any preconceived notions to work on, yes," Obi-Wan said calmly, wincing slightly as Satine's eyes narrowed, but she didn't make a point of it. "I have come away…concerned."

"You and literally everyone else in my government," Satine said simply. "I have had people wondering if we should crack down now: declare martial law, declare the clan conclave illegal, and arrest Bo Katan. Of course cooler heads have prevailed since even trying to do so would spark off the civil war I see coming far too easily."

"That, and it would be patently illegal, and I would not be able to be a part of such an attempt," Obi-Wan said coolly. "The New Mandalorians' position on this planet has always been tenuous legally, if not politically, and this has been brewing for some time has it not?"

"It has," Satine said slowly, staring at Obi-Wan now as if she had heard something in his tone beyond his apparent disdain for an action that she wasn't particularly happy to think about either. "I had hoped that the New Mandalorians' teachings would have spread beyond our bio-cubes and other cities. But the clans, the history, and of course the Resol'nare," she said almost sneering the words "have held out among unenlightened Mandalorians, which our belief in pacifism and nonaggression have had trouble combating."

Obi-Wan nodded, but Satine was still looking at him. He realized she was waiting for him to speak, and he did so in as prevaricating a manner as possible while he mustered his thoughts. "As I said, I spent several days getting the feel of the planet, as it were, and I am concerned."

"You said that already. Now what are we going to do about it? What aid are the Jedi going to give us right away, and how long do you think we should let the debate go on before you make your decision in the New Mandalorians' favor?" Sabine asked intently.

 _This isn't going to be pleasant,_ Obi-Wan thought. An ignominious part of him took a moment to think that maybe he should wait until the Order's senior delegate arrived and put this on Master Plo Koon's shoulders, but that would not be the Jedi way. "I cannot tell you how long the clan conclave will go on, or if it will actually be decided in your favor at all. We Jedi deal with matters of justice, not just law: we cannot be swayed by personal opinion," Obi-Wan said aloud, his tone and words blunt so as to get the words out quickly.

He held up a hand as Satine made to speak. "Personally, I think the New Mandalorian government should be an example not only for this planet, but for any other planet in the galaxy in how to run their affairs. Nonaggression and peaceful coexistence should be the rule. However, this is not about my wants or desires, this is about reality, and the reality is that at this moment I cannot say if the New Mandalorian government is either representational of the majority of this planet's people, or would be able to survive without being propped up by the Republic. I just don't have enough information."

"And being so propped up would just make us a puppet government, something we are already being called far too often for my tastes," Satine sighed, some of her initial anger at Obi-Wan's words leaking out of her. "I can understand that, though it goes against what I was told recently in a message from the Senate. They said they would back the New Mandalorians irrespective of anything else. I don't like the idea of becoming a puppet government, but if the alternative is a return to our warlike ways, which will eventually end with another Republic-backed bombardment of our planet, I will take it."

Obi-Wan's mind and face blanked for a moment. "I'm sorry, what?"

Looking at him, Satine raised an eyebrow. "The Senate sent a message. Senator Antilles, I believe his name was, and another less pleasant man sent it personally. They said that the Senate would back the decisions of the Jedi on hand here, and that decision would 'obviously be in your favor.'" She made quotes marks in the air to indicate those last few words came from the Senators.

"That is the first I've heard of it!" Obi-Wan said, his mind awhirl. "I left Kashyyyk almost a week ago now, but even so I truly doubt that that has changed. We were supposed to wait and make a ruling based upon the facts presented to us, not try to, to influence the debate into the conclusion we wanted to see."

Obi-Wan stood up, pacing for a moment as he thought through the implications of the Senate, in particular Senator Antilles, the head of the pacifist segment of the Senate, getting involved in this debate. How, why, and what pressure they could bring were the questions now on his mind. Satine watched him appreciatively, smiling at the energy of the man.

Abruptly Obi-Wean turned back to her, cocking his head to one side. "Are you worried about the Reborn faction itself? That they will start open warfare against you?"

"Surprisingly, no," Satine said shaking her head. "While I have severe reservations about the Reborn and what they could become long-term my… my sister seems to genuinely believe in their concept of becoming defenders rather than conquerors, of striving for personal perfection and skill rather than glory. And at the moment she and the rest of her faction are convinced that outright violence now would be a bad thing, painting their whole platform in a negative light."

"I see," Obi-Wan said nodding, though his own mind was still on the Senate. "In that case, perhaps we need to work with them more directly. So long as the debates are quite obviously as democratic and fair as they can be, the Senate might not be able to bring much overt pressure to bear on events here in the Outer Rim. Now, tell me about this clan debate; how is it organized, and how are results tallied?"

The two of them talked for a few moments, the conversation slowly turning to other things, including their shared past. This gave Satine some rest from her duties and Obi-Wan a few moments more to collect himself from the shock of hearing the Senate possibly giving the Jedi marching orders in such an obvious fashion.

Later Satine walked him to the Hypercom center, which was a part of the palace. It would bounce a signal to the nearest relay station, then on to Coruscant. Obi-Wan was somewhat worried about that, considering what had been suspected for some time was now practically proven, that the Senate or someone else, at least, was able to listen in on any communications to the Temple.

A moment later, his signal was sent out. After connecting to the massive Hypercom array on Coruscant he was directed and then redirected several times more before at last someone came up on the other side. Senator Antilles was there, along with the Senator from Eriadu, the aged Bestina Tarkin, an uncle of the planet's relatively new governor, Wilhuff Tarkin.

At the sight of the two men Obi-Wan felt his heart sink. He liked Antilles, having met him several times before this, and he knew of Bestina. They were both part of the pacifism faction in the Senate if in very different ways, and their being involved in this discussion, or interested at all in the Mandalorian issue was telling. "Senators," he said simply. "I have recently arrived on Mandalore and was informed that you had contacted Duchess Kryze?"

"We realize that your initial mission on Mandalore was to simply listen and to oversee the debate," Antilles began, his tone conciliatory, but the other man's eyes were worried and very cold. "However, the nature of the debate there began to make the rounds of the Senate halls. It's evoked a lot of fear, frankly more fear than I would've expected given how long ago the last war against the Mandalorians was."

Here the other man took up the tale. "The Excision was launched for a reason, after all." At that Antilles twitched, but the other man talked right over any objections he might have raised. "It was a necessary act to maintain the peace and stability of the Republic. Personal morality cannot be allowed to get in the way of necessary acts to ensure the overall peace of the Republic. Therefore you are ordered to do what you can to make certain that the current government, the New Mandalorians, remain in charge. We don't want violence there, after all, but that's the entire point. We don't want the Mandalorians to return to their old ways at all."

"That is not The Jedi way," Obi-Wan replied flatly. "We serve justice as well as equality. Controlling a debate like that would serve none of those things."

"You are a servant of the Republic, Jedi Knight Kenobi, and you would do well to remember that. We need to take the long view here, and in such circumstances your Order's esoteric and patently false dedication to the law and justice must be set aside, at least in private like this," the other man replied, he voice even colder than it had been.

"EnoughBestina!" Antilles said, cutting his fellow Senator off. "Your antipathy to the Jedi is getting in the way of your clear sense, my friend. Perhaps you should leave us?"

The words were mild, but Antilles glared at his fellow senator's image until it blinked out a moment later before turning back to the Jedi. "I apologize for Bestina. There are many senators that think the Jedi don't do enough to ensure the stability of the Republic."

"The Republic, the Senate, or their own positions?" Obi-Wan asked, somewhat appalled by the open attempt to order him to toe the party line. The Jedi were supposed to be above such blandishments.

Antilles stiffened, but did not reply. That was part of why most people liked the man: he refused to speak ill of his fellow senators unless they were being investigated by his committee for anticorruption, and then he would have facts to then back up his opinion.

He rubbed his forehead, looking at Obi-Wan's image for a moment before speaking once more. "The opinion of the Senate is that the Mandalorians cannot be allowed to renew their aggressive ways, regardless of what new quasi-ethical position they have taken or whatever it is. Our reports are disjointed on what this Reborn faction really believes, so any information there would hopefully calm down some of the fear we are seeing at present."

"But this societal change or whatever it is must be curtailed diplomatically," he went on seriously. "If not, the backlash would be tremendous not only here in the Senate, but elsewhere in the Republic. "Too many planets remember the Mandalorians, yet we cannot act militarily against them out there. It would be a long-term operation, and we simply don't have the resources. Not without leaving core worlds undefended, and none of them will agree to that."

Obi-Wan didn't like the way that even Antilles seemed to speak so casually about what that military action would constitute. It showed a level of hubris, perhaps, or antipathy. _Certainly a startling lack of empathy._ "We will try our best, and regardless of anything else, we will move rapidly to try to curtail any outright violence. But does the Republic have the right to dictate to a planet that is not, in point of fact, part of it? The government might be, but the planet is not after all."

"Yes, that's one of the various boondoggles that is messing up the waters around this problem," Antilles said drolly, his sense of humor coming back to the older man somewhat. "But it is also small change in comparison to the rather large kiloton of trouble about to land on you. I wish I could tell you how, but the news about this clan conclave and what it might mean has spread to various intergalactic news agencies."

Obi-Wan paled, and Antilles smiled ruefully. "I'm afraid you're going to have at least two, possibly up to four news agencies sending their own reporters and camera crew men in to observe."

"By the Force, that's just what we need," Obi-Wan muttered, letting his concern show through the transceiver to the other man in a way he normally would not have.

The position of news agencies, and indeed communication companies as a whole, in the Republic was somewhat hard to get a handle on. While many planets, around two-thirds of the planets that made up the Republic, had an open news policy, others did not, and there was no oversight of such things. And very few news agencies had the reach and power to act outside of their local star systems. And none that did were truly what could be termed independent of the Senate.

The Senate, after all, controlled the Hypercom relays. This worked in the Senate's favor, or rather various factions within it, and libel laws were horrendously harsh, at least if you could afford to wait for the judicial system to work its way through it, or to railroad it through somehow.

All of the news agencies that had access to the Hypercom relay systems were also represented in the Senate itself, just like the Tech Union and the others of that ilk. They didn't have nearly as much pull as those groups because news didn't pay as well yet they had a lot of influence. It was a slow acting sort of power rather than a quick one, and it had no military connotation to it, but it was there.

Of course there were pirate news agencies, groups who used slicers and specialized criminal gear to get their own brand of news out there. But in the last few hundred years or so Obi-Wan knew of only three such groups that were doing to so report actual news rather than to spout their own skewed brand of said.

"I will pass this all on," Obi-Wan said after a moment. "I am not in charge of this mission, as you know. Master Plo Koon is. He will probably not react very well, if I have to be honest. He believes in justice above all, and this flies in the face of that mandate."

"I know, my friend," Antilles said with a sigh. "Just do your best. That's all we can do."

Obi-Wan nodded and cut the connection, leaning back in his chair as he thought. _No, Master Koon is not going to like this._

 **OOOOOOO**

There are many things that Plo Koon did not like at the moment, though when he heard about Obi-Wan's current concern it would probably rise straight to the top of his list. At the moment, however, that list was currently topped by his starfighter being under fire.

By this point he had surveyed his targeted planets: the Breshig, Harswee, Jakelia, and Cheravh systems. In each the scars of the Excision were still visible in various ways. Not one of them had been able to come back to the level of technology or industry or even the level of living that they had had before. Breshig, Harswee, and Cheravh systems had degraded to below the level of even frontier systems. Their life expectancy was horrendous, as was their childhood death rate, level of medical care, and overall industry.

Jakelia was the only semi-autonomous and civilized planet among them, if barely. And its inhabitants remembered the glory days of Mandalorian supremacy in the sector. Indeed, there were several Jakelian Mandalorian clans on the planet. Dozens of or representatives of said had already Jakelia for Mandalore during Plo Koon's brief survey of the planet.

This made Plo Koon realize that Ranma had been correct: the Order and the Republic were wrong to not rebuild this sector after the Excision. He had no idea how many sentients had died in the centuries since then because of neglect and a lack of off-world aid, but that number probably dwarfed those that had died in the actual assault.

Despite that, his trip had been relatively peaceful, but that had ended when he was in route to Mandalore itself. Coming out of hyperspace Plo Koon quickly twitched his starfighter's controls to one side, evading incoming fire. Ahead of him were several slow moving but somewhat decently armed small tramp freighters with three or four weapon systems each trying to get a lock on his ship. Their shields didn't read as being very powerful, but their offensive firepower was nothing to sneer at.

"Incoming starfighter, surrender! Repeat: incoming starfighter, surrender or be vaped!" As that communique came through, the _Sprite_ 's sensors detected a derelict behind the pirates of a small, ripped open transport freighter. Its entire aft portion was gone, and the ship was quite literally dead in space. The four ships had apparently finished their predations before Plo Koon arrived.

Master Plo Koon was one of the best pilots in the Jedi Order, and he did not reply to their threats. Instead he gunned his ship forward on full drive, dodging underneath their turbolaser and quad laser fire, flipping along his ships axis occasionally to dodge near misses. There was a pinging noise in his helmet as his ship's computer locked onto the first pirate, and he let loose a single proton torpedo.

Following after it for a moment he ducked underneath several bursts of quad laser fire, his own ship's blasters shooting back and stitching up the side of the ship for a moment, weakening its shields right before the proton torpedo hit. The shields went down, and the ship listed badly as the explosion seemed to shatter the shields and much of the ship below it. Before the ship could try to escape its fate, Plo Koon had already stitched the cockpit of the small freighter, sending it spiraling away without anyone at the controls.

The other three ships attempted to envelop the Kel Dor's starfighter, coming at him from above, below, and the front, but they were too slow. Plo Koon's starfighter was able to juke up towards the one trying to get into position above him, zooming past and then coming around quickly to dive-bomb it, another proton torpedo lashing out and smashing into the thing's back, shattering it entirely. Its shields didn't even slow the proton torpedo down.

Instead of turning to try to avoid the cloud of debris, Plo Koon flew straight through it, powering his shields more for a second as he did. The ship that had been trying to come at his original position from below didn't even see him coming through the debris, the pirate's systems not up to the task of seeing him until after he exited the cloud where the pilots could actually see him visually. A second later, that ship, too, reeled away, its engines gone, its "spine" broken.

Before the Kel Dor could turn to deal with the last ship, it jumped to hyperspace, probably on an uncontrolled leap just to get away from him. Plo Koon sighed, reaching out with his force senses for a moment to see if he could find any survivors, either on the pirate ships or their previous victim. He could not. _But at least_ _I avenged those poor people. Far too often we Jedi come in after the fact. Getting justice for the dead is well and good, but not nearly as good as protecting the living._

With that he turned the starfighter away, letting his Astromech droid calculate the next jump, entering hyperspace soon after.

The Jedi master's initial greeting when he arrived on Mandalore was rather frosty, yet welcoming in turn. Arriving openly as a Jedi, the Mandalorians of course saw him as such immediately, and to the Mandalorian on the street the Jedi were the equivalent of evil bogeymen from their past. The New Mandalorians were more enlightened in their views, but even among them there were people who would rather not deal with the Jedi at all.

 _Still, I cannot say this is a surprise,_ Plo Koon thought sadly as he made his way to the palace. There he was immediately met by Obi-Wan, the younger man holding up his hand in greeting. "Master Koon, I trust your journey has been, if not pleasant, then at least enlightening?"

"It has, if not in the direction I would've wished," Plo Koon said, holding up his own hand in greeting before gesturing Obi-Wan to follow him as he moved deeper into the palace. "Walk with me." Obi-Wan fell into step beside Plo Koon, who asked softly, "What has been occurring here since you arrived?"

"I openly announced myself yesterday…" Obi-Wan began, going on to talk about the discussion he had with the Senate representatives.

He watched Master Koon for a reaction. While the Kel Dor's eyes did not flicker, his gas mask made those peculiar movements that told other people he was now frowning behind it. "And you did not contact the order?"

"I did not," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "I do not have access to any of our secure Hypercom links, **if** they are, in fact, secure. I'm uncertain how much information we should be sharing on such a heated subject over such a distance, especially when it is obvious that someone is leaking secrets."

"Sound thinking," Plo Koon mused. "But I think we will have to, at the very least, talk to the council."

Moments later they were in the same Hypercom relay communication room that Obi-Wan had used the day before, and both of them swept the room for listening devices, just in case. They could not sense anything out of place here, nor could they sense anyone listening in on them. With that Plo Koon powered up the computer and a moment later was looking at a hologram of Master Mace Windu. Plo Koon nodded his head over to Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan informs me that the Senate knows about our mission and is pressuring us?"

"They are," Mace said simply. "More rides on this now than I would personally like. The Senate is, of course, a sieve for secrets in general, but now it has become such for our secrets, not just its own. We're trying to do what we can on our end to shore up security, but it's slow going since we have to get Senate approval for such large expenses at a time when we are also trying to wean ourselves away from their control and influence over us."

"I can see why that would be an issue. However, I have to concentrate on the here and now in this mission in particular," Plo responded.

"The Senate fully expects you to either head off this debate entirely, make sure goes in the right direction, or simply bolster the New Mandalorian government with your very presence enough to make this Reborn faction back off, or conversely, act out aggressively. If they do that, we can simply label the, as terrorists and ignore whatever reasoning might be behind their actions."

Plo Koon nodded slowly. "I can also understand that," he said with manifest irritation. "And the feeling in the Order itself, has that changed?"

Mace frowned. "The feeling in the Order is wary watchfulness. There's not so much open opposition to the idea as concern. Many of the Masters involved in the debate with Ranma, including myself, have come to at least see his position, and the idea of the Excision not occurring in a time of war is something that sits poorly among most, though there are still those that still say that the Order was correct at the time, and that the Order can do no wrong so long as we keep to the Force."

The fact that at one point Mace would have been the leader of that group went unsaid. "The High Council has a handle on our internal issues. There's nothing that's going to happen within the Order because of this issue one way or the other. The Senate, however, that is far less…predictable. There are a lot of senators who are simply saying that we need to do what needs to be done to ensure the safety of the Republic. Whatever that is, without outright saying it of course."

"I will do what is right," Plo Koon said, each word coming out slowly and certain. As a race, the Kel Dor were known to uphold a very strict sense of right and wrong coupled with a willingness to act on it that often resembled vigilantism to other races. Becoming a Jedi had not done anything to combat that tendency in Plo Koon, and he would not be pressured to do otherwise. "If that does not dovetail with what the Senate requires that is their issue not mine."

"And there we see why you are not exactly welcome in senatorial circles," Mace said ruefully, though he did not say Plo was wrong. With a faint smile on his face he raised a hand formally. "May the Force be with you, Master Plo Koon, guiding your steps and your thoughts on this endeavor."

"May the Force be with you as well in all you do, Master Windu," Plo Koon said, holding up his own hand up just as formally. "In dealing with both issues internal and external to the Order."

Mace let his mouth twist into a wry grimace, then they both cut the connection. That left Obi-Wan and Plo Koon alone once more in the room on Mandalore. The two Jedi were now looking at one another speculatively. "You have any idea how this is going to go?" Obi-Wan asked, though his tone made it more of a statement.

"I know what I personally have to do," Plo said, getting up from his chair. "It will not be pleasant, but it will be necessary, and it might head off much of the violence we can both foresee. In the end, I believe that is all we can ask for."

 **OOOOOOO**

That evening Shaak Ti and Ranma arrived, the last to do so of their little group. As they came out of hyperspace, they immediately began to open up communications, looking for where Bo Katan was.

"About kriffing time you two arrived," Bo growled, trying hard to hide her pleasure, and the relief she felt at seeing Ranma and Shaak on the other end of the communicator. "We're on the moon, located in one of the old mining complexes. Head to coordinate X-24, Y-59 off the heading to the spaceport above the capital, and you should start to see our installation soon enough. From there we'll guide you in."

"Gotcha," Ranma replied, turning the _Wild Light_ to match those coordinates, while on the other line Shaak Ti dealt with the local space control officers who were attempting to tell the _Wild Light_ to land in one of the bio-cubes down on the planet.

"Thank you for the offer of a berth, but I believe we have other arrangements already in place," she was saying as the _Wild Light_ moved off the lane the locals had told them to take.

"Er, Master Jedi, there's nothing in that direction but the moon, and certainly nothing that would, um, that is…" the local on the other end replied, consternation in his tone as he realized the _Wild Light_ knew precisely where they were going.

His voice was taken over by someone else, another man, sounding older and more authoritative. "Master Jedi, this is the Chief Officer Tarn. I'm in charge of the orbitals of Mandalore. The Reborn might no longer be the Death Watch but that doesn't mean they'll welcome a Jedi's presence on their base. If you are here to investigate them, then I think coming in as you are would result in a confrontation at a time we can't afford more signs of exterior influences involved in Mandalorian politics, and I must ask you to clear your mission with Duchess Satine. If you are here to observe the debate, it would be best if…"

"I am not here to observe the clan conclave, nor am I here to investigate the Reborn. I am here to repay a debt to Bo Katan Kryze and her warriors," Shaak said, letting an edge of chill enter her voice, signifying the man had overstepped himself. "Myself and my companion are both here for that reason. You will see us in the following days, I am certain."

The man's response faltered beyond a single gasp, but he seemed to regain his self-control quickly. "I will have to report this, Master Jedi."

"Please do," Shaak replied, then cut the connection as the ship dove down to fly over theheavily forested moon. The forest was an actual forest like those of Russia or Canada, interspersed with only a few scattered towns and evidence of strip mines here and there to break up the monotony of deciduous trees from one end to the other.

Moments later they came upon an abandoned mining complex. It was defended by several small, expertly hidden anti-air batteries, a few dozen equally well-hidden guard posts, and heavy weapons installations around a large metal hatch leading further into the mine shafts below. The base couldn't survive an orbital bombardment, but any conventional assault would pay heavily to gain a foothold here.

The ship hovered over the hatch which opened on silent runnels as the guns around them turned away from tracking the ship. Inside were a few more anti-air guns trained on the opening, but they were unpowered at the moment, and the _Wild Light_ set down gently among a small, motley flotilla of ships.

As they set down Shaak noted the ships, lips quirking as she noticed that several of them were near-to-new starfighters from the Core Worlds. Others were old Corellia refits, and a few others were extremely old Mandalorian local designs. Those last, about five ships in total, were being worked on as they set down, while the others looked ready for battle. "Hmm… I think Bo's been doing quite a bit of recruiting here. I just hope the target of this martial might is to be found elsewhere, rather than on the planet below."

"If it isn't, then Bo and I are gonna have a… talk," Ranma said, getting up from his chair next to her.

The two of them moved into the sitting area a moment when Shaak paused, sighing as she took off thecloakthat Ranma had made for her, setting it aside as she once again pulled on her Jedi robe, smiling faintly as its weight settled on her shoulders. "While I do love your gift, Ranma, I am sorry to say I could never wear it while out and about. For one thing, it would be a little embarrassing, for another, it is precisely the kind of rich finery we Jedi are not supposed to be attached to."

She laughed suddenly, reaching up to cup Ranma's cheek gently. "But then again, it is the emotion behind the gift that I treasure rather than the amount of money or time it took for you to make."

"I don't care about putting you on display or anything like that. I care about you and the fact you accepted it and me with all that entails," Ranma replied, before leaning down to kiss Shaak lightly, taking her hand in his. Even along like this he still had trouble admitting to weakness, especially the neko-ken, but Shaak understood what he meant and smiled kissing him in turn.

With a sigh they both turned away, moving to activate the hatch. "Wake up HK, we're here," Ranma ordered. "Yeesh, with the amount of time you spend turned off like that, I might have to rename you SAL for Sleeps-A-Lot rather than Hunter-Killer."

"Injured tone: master, it is not my fault I prefer to be deactivated while in transit. After all, if I were not I would be forced to witness your mating rituals with the mistress. That would no doubt be unpleasant for all involved." HK said, his eyes lighting up at Ranma's order, and his body going from stationary statue to powered monstrosity swiftly. He moved to cover the two of them as the hatch lowered.

"Yeah, okay. Ya win that round, HK," Ranma muttered, shaking his head while Shaak chuckled beside him before her face firmed into her public Jedi mask. "Tune, feel free to move about the ship or outside, but make sure the ship's security systems are on if you leave it, and don't let anyone else aboard okay?"

"Affirmative, master," Tune's voice came from the nearest speaker, the droid still in its small cubicle in the cockpit..

With that done, Ranma turned his attention fully to the quartet waiting for them outside. Bo was standing in the front, wearing her armor sans her backpack and helmet, painted in cobalt blue with burnished silver edging each segment of the armor. At her back stood the clan chief from Yavin, Clento. Beside him stood the younger Mandalorian warrior, Tess, who Shaak and Ranma had met during the battle against the pirates. Another unknown man of middle years stood to Bo's other side, a slightly older man beside him.

"Ranma." Bo said, reaching out and exchanging a handclasp with Ranma and a nod with Shaak, her eyes narrowing speculatively for just a second as she took in the body language of her two guests before setting her speculation aside. _Remember Bo, you gave up on that idea. Whatever's gone on between them isn't your concern._ "Glad you could make it. Let me introduce Tess Von Dere **.** Tess hasn't brought many troops to our cause, but her knowledge of life throughout the rest of the sector is invaluable, and she also brought several crates of armor and weapons."

Tess grinned, holding out a hand. "We've met. These two helped me and mine see off a pirate attack on the _Grock_. Thanks again for that," she said as Ranma shook her hand, holding onto his hand for just a second too long.

While Ranma didn't notice this, both Bo and Shaak did. Bo was rather amused. _Huh, I guess I should have expected other Mandos to fall for Ranma. I wonder if any of the men will have the balls to hit on his female form. Whatever happens, it'll be fun to observe from the outside. I could use some entertainment these days._

Shaak found herself once more not liking how Tess was sizing Ranma up, like a juicy steak almost. There didn't seem to be anything malicious in the look, but it was just a little too assessing for her liking. She had to once more fight the desire to use her Force powers on the other woman to figure out what she was thinking, reminding herself, once again, that jealousy was no true reason to use her powers on another person like that.

"You, know Clento of course, but this Is Pol Skirata, leader of clan Skirata. He's brought his three sons and about a dozen other warriors to our ranks."

Pol Skirata was a middle aged man with close cropped, brown hair and a drawn face with heavy, hooded eyes wearing brown and tan painted Mandalorian armor. He seemed to be watching Shaak Ti more closely than the others, and he also seemed to be favoring one leg as if it pained him.

Bo waved to the last man. "And this is Victor Zenlav. He's the younger brother of the head of Mandalmotors. He's his clan's offering to our side, kind of like offering up a juicy gronk to the table," Bo said, smirking at the older man, but there was real danger in her eyes, and Victor didn't seem to be in favor from the others either.

"My brother is simply making certain that our clan's position will remain the same, or perhaps become more secure, whichever faction wins," the man replied, his tone implying this wasn't the first time he'd had to defend his clan's position. He was a younger man than either Clento or Pol, but stood with somewhat more arrogance than either. "Mandalmotors does a lot of business with the New Mandalorians right now, after all, so whatever your future plans we can't simply walk over our current friends to make new ones."

Ranma twitched, seeing in this little exchange what their time on Mandalore would probably contain for both him and Shaak. _Oh gods, this is not going to be fun._ "So, what's been going on since we saw each other on Yavin?"

"Lots of debates, lots of talking, oh, and the Jedi you warned me about arrived yesterday. Or at least one of them arrived yesterday. I am uncertain when the younger one, the human, arrived on planet." Bo gestured her two guests to follow her, looking at the other four for a moment. "Meet us in my office in about an hour or so, and if you could get some food prepared, I'd appreciate it."

"Right," Tess said, moving off already, winking over her shoulder at Ranma who missed the gesture, but again, Shaak had not. The others simply nodded and left without another word.

Shaak's eyes followed the other woman for a moment before she fell into step with Ranma behind Bo. Bo led them quickly to her own office, which had changed noticeably in the time since she had taken over. The wall was now covered in brown and green paint, interspersed with wooden shelves containing weapons and bits of armor, including her helmet and a few other knickknacks. The metal desk had been replaced, too, with a wire and glass desk, and several larger, somewhat more comfortable swivel chairs had replaced the older ones. To one side of the desk was a small training area large enough for a single person to exercise, complete with advanced weight devices.

While the door to her office closed behind them Bo slumped into one chair, glaring at Bo and Shaak for a moment. "If I had known how much damn politics I'd have to play to try and change Mandalorian society I might have given it up as a bad job! And that's without adding dealing with my sister into the kriffing equation."

"Sister?" Ranma asked, taking a seat across from Bo while Shaak sat elegantly on the floor to one side of him. HK, silent and somewhat menacing, took up position by the door.

"Satine Kryze, the so-called Duchess—Hah!—is my older sister. I can't remember a time since she was sent off-world to school that we've ever really seen each other as family." Ranma looked worried, but Bo waved him off going on quickly. "Don't worry about that. There's no family feeling there from either of us, trust me."

"Jaundiced Observation: It has been my experience that hatred between meatbag family members is always more powerful than that felt towards a mere rival. Hopeful query: I don't suppose you could just challenge this other meatbag to the death and get it over with now?"

"Oh, I wish," Bo said dreamily, closing her eyes as if imagining that very thing. "Unfortunately, such fratricide is frowned upon in our culture."

"You know, for a droid which has so little of its long term memory intact, you seem to have a lot of experience, HK," Ranma quipped.

"Droll Reply: While my specific memory date cores has been destroyed, many of what humans would call experiential observations remain. Else why would I be as good at my job as I am, Master?"

"What is the lay of the land like here, politically?" Shaak asked, trying to get the conversation back on topic before Ranma and HK could continue to needle one another.

"Chaotic," Bo replied dryly, picking up a Zero-G rated drink bulb and taking a pull before offering it to her guests, who both shook their heads. "I'm busy making public statements, gathering allies, trying to convince people I'm not crazy or going back to what the NMs call our 'horrendous, atrocity-strewn past,' not entirely anyway. Tess has been a big help there with her knowledge of a few of the other planets in the sector and how badly they've done since our heyday."

"The NMs seem to have decided the Reborn aren't a physical threat, but are definitely pushing the whole 'Reborn equals Death Watch under new paint' angle in their propaganda." Bo pulled again at the drink, which Shaak realized was something alcoholic. It was evident to her that Bo was not dealing very well with the pressure of being so central in the social and political movement she had begun.

"Mind you, I'm still dealing with a few Death Watch diehards who want to go back to the old ways or think that violence of any kind against the NMs is the way to force them out of office. Heh, I've had three assassination attempts made on me since returning to Concordia," Bo smirked. "Mind you, they at least got my blood pumping."

A second later her smirk turned into a scowl. "The concepts of honor we talked about have been gathering some interest, but it's been an uphill battle to get people to realize that's not all I'm offering. An exhibition match between you and me down on the planet might garner more attention for my position. I want to attract people using your skills and what your being allied with us could mean in terms of our individual skills, while also slipping in the changes I want to make to the Resol'nare."

She paused, thinking hard. "I also think you might need to speak about your own warrior's history and the samurai of your homeworld. That kind of thing will attract the aliite (clan) chiefs and other less headstrong among our population."

"I don't like the idea of being used like some kind of, of show horse," Ranma said then looked away as Shaak chuckled beside him, knowing his name meant wild horse in his original language. "But I agreed to help you as much as I could without tying myself down here for years, and if putting on some exhibition matches is the cost, then that's fine. But I want to look over a copy of this Resol'nare thing. I understand it's like a large book or something?"

"Well, at first it was just six tenets called the Six Actions, but it grew over time, expanded, then became a sort of religion and then became a social contract: a code of honor we as a people adhere to. That's what it is nowadays. There's no longer any kind of religious flavor to it. Anyway, beyond their pacifist policies, the fact that the NMs don't adhere to its tenets is the major bone of contention between them and the real Mandalorians."

"They disdain the language, or Mandoa. They don't wear armor, the tenet of Beskar'gam. They do adhere to the idea of Ba'jur, or education, but have changed its meaning to back up their pacifist policies. And while they say they keep to the tenet of Ara'nov, or defense, they have again changed the meaning to suit their own needs. They do, I have to say, at least for the most part, adhere to the idea of Aliit, or clan, but again they've changed that to mean simply family, which isn't really accurate. They also call their leader Duke and Duchess rather than Mand'alor, which is the last tenet!" Bo replied, before cutting herself off, having gotten a little too intense there for a moment.

Bo took a moment to compose herself before going on, setting her drink bulb down and pulling out an actual paper book, holding it out to Ranma. "In any event, I have a compact copy of it you can look at if you want to."

Ranma took it, noting that the thing was old, its leather cover rather battered. The words, however, were still readable, if he could actually understand the language, anyway. Realizing that fact, he groaned, shaking his head. "Um, I don't suppose you have an audio version? I mean, I can sort of read Galactic Standard, but not this."

"We really do need to start teaching you Galactic standard more often than once every few days," Shaak mused. "Your number recognition is excellent, but your vocabulary needs a lot of work."

"I have an audio version, yes. They're used for Mandalorians who are blind or have eye problems. But getting that to you will take a while longer." So saying she typed out a command on her computer, sending out an order to prepare such a copy and deliver it to the _Wild Light_ 's computers later that evening. "I can give you the highlights now, if you want?"

Nodding, Ranma leaned back as did Shaak as Bo began to talk about the original Six Tenets, then how those had expanded becoming a full social contract later on, as well as a sort of format for how to make war and to propagate the Mandalorian way of life. Some of it had fallen by the wayside during and after the Mandalorian Wars, but a lot of it was still adhered to today.

This went on for several hours, with Ranma and Shaak both asking questions while HK would butt in occasionally with jokes, unwilling to stand silent for so long. Ranma in particular saw many parallels between the tenets and the rules of warfare to the code of the Samurai and even some aspects of the Art of War. He pulled out the copy of that book he had in his ki space and read out a few passages, which segued into a lively debate between all three of them.

At this point they were joined by Tess, Clento, and the two new men, Victor and Pol. They brought food and joined in the debate quickly, though all of them looked askance at Shaak more than once after sitting down. Most of them were leery about Jedi involvement, but since Clento and Bo were willing to let her remain, they had to go along with it. HK, in comparison, was more welcome, especially by Clento who had fought beside him on Yavin's moon.

And many of Shaak's points about clan duty and obligation, as well as how the clan structure could retain its identity even in an age of space travel and high technology, were interesting. It was good for the Mandalorians to realize that there were other cultures based around clans out there that had not lost their character.

Pol and Clento spoke as veterans. Pol was a middle-aged man who had been a solitary mercenary for years and had been involved in many small-scale and a few large-scale conflicts the universe over. He had come back when rumors of the Reborn had reached his ears and what it might mean for his people, though he would not speak of where he had been. Upon his return he had taken command of his clan after seeing to his wife's burial, taking on the training of his three sons as well as the rest of the extended aliite (clan). As such, he was well-respected by everyone in the Reborn.

Clento had been part of the Yavin campaign, and before that had fought pirates and criminals scattered throughout the Mandalore sector numerous times, since his clan was based not on Mandalore itself, but on a space station orbiting one of the system's gas giants, which harvested its gases for blasters. That made him both important and respected.

On the other end of the scale, Victor spoke with confidence, but little actual experience. He was not a blooded warrior, though he wore the armor of a Mandalorian, and Mandalmotor's neutrality, while serving the planet as a whole, was not seen as very honorable by either of the other men. Bo understood his clan's position and respected it, but wasn't above needling him when he let his confidence get the better of him. And his words about honor and the Resol'nare were rather suspect.

For her part Tess was mostly silent, only speaking up here and there. As Bo had said earlier, her knowledge of the other planets in the sector was very helpful. In everything else, however, Tess was the youngest in the room and stayed quiet as was proper.

As the debate slowly changed topics, Victor asked a question that was in many minds among the Reborn. "Where is Jango Fett? He would be a major voice in our favor."

"Who?" Ranma asked, prompting Shaak and Bo to both fill him in on the legendary bounty hunter and his past. Hearing that a single man had taken out the Death Watch when it was riding high after beating their opponents, the True Mandalorians, was impressive.

HK agreed with that assessment. "Irritated Sadness: Indeed master, he is one of a handful of bounty hunters that I had hoped to see take up the challenge of your bounty. Alas, he seems to have a greater degree of self-preservation than most meatbags."

"If he had wished to return here right after that, I think Jango might well have been able to gather enough support to declare himself Mandalore and overthrow the New Mandalorians," Victor said definitively. "If he had, even my brother might well have backed him."

"But he blames the rest of our society for not backing the True Mandalorians in their private war against the Death Watch," Clento said with a sigh. "He will not return to Mandalore, not even under these circumstances. Worse, he hates the Jedi with a passion, not that we can totally blame him for that."

"I agree. What we call the Mandalore debacle is one of many instances where the Jedi Order have been used as hatchet men or simply been fed false information in the last few decades," Shaak said, firmly nodding her head almost in a bow to the old aliite chief. "The Order has learned from those mistakes, believe me."

While Clento and Victor evinced some contempt toward that statement, Pol and Tess both remained silent, though the older man radiated something like concern so strongly that even when not trying to Shaak could feel it through the Force. She didn't have enough of a feeling for what was behind that, however, to draw attention to it.

Bo, on the other hand, simply shrugged. "I tried to reach out to him, but the Bounty Hunter has disappeared of late. I admit my own time in the Death Watch might have been against me there, but surely he would have been interested in both the fact the Death Watch survived his campaign against it, and was now reformed? Regardless, he's not here now, and that's all there is to it."

Again there was a powerful flash of some kind of emotion from Pol. Through the force Shaak once again sensed a deep concern and wariness at that statement. But there wasn't enough there to convince her to use her Force powers to investigate further.

After that the discussion went to what the two newcomers would be doing from here on. Tomorrow they would join Bo and a group of Reborn warriors in an open-air training complex in one of the cities on Mandalore, where they would, to put it bluntly, show off. After that, they would remain with Bo, training with her and her fellows, and speaking and talking to the Reborn faction until the start of the true clan conclave.

Shaak would then join her fellow Jedi as neutral observers and mediators. Ranma, on the other hand, would remain with Bo and the Reborn faction while the debates raged, which could take as long as month, or as little as a week. He wasn't happy about it until Bo commented that at least the mornings would all be devoted to training, even after the clan conclave started.

Shortly after that the group broke up, with Shaak and Ranma returning to the _Wild Light_ for the night. Tess offered to show Ranma around the base, but he put it off, saying he wanted to listen to the audio version of the Resol'nare before getting some sleep. She did, however, wrangle a promise to 'show me some moves' from Ranma before letting him go, something that made Shaak roll her eyes.

Despite that, however, she felt no upsurge of jealousy at the idea, only amusement and some pity for the other woman's attempts. She felt far more secure in her and Ranma's relationship these days, so much so that her jealousy had mostly disappeared.

Watching the two of them and their droid walk off, Victor frowned, his head cocked to one side as he stared, not at Ranma or Shaak, but at HK's head. _No, it couldn't be, could it? I've heard of odd coincidences, but if that droid really is the one who was owned by Revan that would be a sign from the Manda! And a very odd one at that…_

 **OOOOOOO**

After several hours of meditation Ranma was surprised to find that the rest of the day had passed while he was listening to the Resol'nare. In this version it read both as the code of honor and social obligation that Bo called it, and as a sort of history, since the author of the work went into detail about when changes were introduced. It was very much a pro-Mandalorian work, but interesting for all of that. Ranma had gotten large amounts of the other side of things from his time on Dac with Master Halcyon's holocron and from when he started researching the Death Watch after their assault on him on Coronet.

He understood a lot of its points, though he didn't agree with them all, and could understand the impact such a work could have on society. _It's like a cross between Confucianism and Taoism, minus the quasi-religious overtones. At least today. Bo said it was a religion at one point. Still, I can see how it would spread and why it's survived for so long._

He looked up as Shaak moved in front of him, once more wearing the cloak that Ranma had given her. He smiled at the sight, letting Shaak pull him to his feet before they both moved over to the sofa. "So have you discovered any new insights into the Mandalorian mind?"

"Not any new ones, no, though I've got a better handle on the society, I think," Ranma replied, shaking his head as he moved to one side of the sofa, looking at Shaak thoughtfully. "The Tuang, do we know where they came from? They weren't native to this planet apparently."

"No, though they were obviously an ancient people long before they arrived here on Mandalore, I am afraid no historical archives go that far back. Why?"

"Some of it was obviously thought up during, well, I'd call it medieval times, way before space travel and such like. But I had hoped that there might be something more there. It was obviously a Martial code, rather than a martial arts one. Sad that." Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "My own Code might have bits and pieces that look like the Resol'nare, but the similarities aren't nearly as big as I had hoped. Still, that hardly matters. I gave my word I'd help Bo here, and I aim to keep it."

Shaak smiled, gently nipping at his neck for a moment. "You mean **we** aim to keep it, correct?"

"Wouldn't dream of implying anything else," Ranma replied, and they both laughed. Checking the time Ranma realized it was about time to turn in. Turning back to Shaak, he asked hesitantly, "Um, do you want to go to bed? Together, I mean?" As Shaak's eyes widened in surprise he went on hurriedly. "Er, I mean just to sleep, not to um, do anything. We, er, we've napped together but haven't actually slept in the same bed, y'know?"

"Ah," Shaak laughed, feeling rather silly to have jumped to a conclusion like that. "I," she paused, then her lips spread into a tender smile. "I think I would like that, Ranma. But," she laughed. "Should we use your bed or mine?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Yoda stared at the two fire-teams of Nova Guard arrayed in front of him, then over at Master Ranicisis, with whom they had arrived. A faint smile appeared on his face as he nodded at the other Jedi Master. "Ranma, with the Mandalorian political crisis, busy he is. Interfere, you should not."

The Nova Guard's squad sergeant nodded his helmet agreeably. "Getting involved in another warrior culture's internal issues without invitation would be rather rude. We don't want to step on any toes, but we do wish to learn from Ranma." He was a veteran of the Yavin campaign, while the rest of his squad was all barely trained initiates. The generals had all thought that younger was better for this.

"Manners you have, good to see this is. Return here, Shaak Ti and Ranma will. Wait, you should," Yoda said. "Two small commissions in the meantime I have for you."

The sergeant nodded, and the two of them began to talk earnestly about the security of the Jedi temple here on Kashyyyk and the planet's own defenses. The Wookies were enthusiastic warriors, but not actual soldiers, and as such there was a lot of room for improvement. This would keep the Nova Guard busy until their target returned to Kashyyyk.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Yow!" Ranma grunted, his head jerking up, one leg kicking out automatically as he felt something sharp hit his eye. This was followed immediately by a startled cry and a thump. "What the heck!?"

Memories of going to bed with Shaak Ti last night came back to Ranma as he rubbed at his eye. "Oh, wait, Shaak?"

Shaak pulled herself up off the floor, glaring daggers at Ranma. "You kicked me…" her glare lessened noticeably as she saw Ranma rubbing at one of his eyes. "Oh, did one of my montrals get you?"

"Er, I think so. Sorry for kicking you like that; it was a sort of conditioned response," Ranma said, still holding his eye. No matter how much you toughened your body, being hit in the eyes still hurt!

"I'm not hurt, Ranma, don't worry about it." She leaned over him, giving Ranma a very nice view down her night shift as she examined his eye. "Your toughness training is incredible, Ranma. That would probably have caused permanent damage in anyone else. Though you might have a shiner for a few hours; it's not healing as fast as your wounds normally seem to... Ranma?"

"Mmm oh yeah. Meh, it's not the first shot I've taken to the eye; don't worry about it," Ranma said, peeling his eyes away from the view with difficulty. "But if we want to make this a regular thing we might need to figure out how to stop something like that from happening again." He went on more hesitantly, staring up into Shaak's eyes. "That is, if you want to?"

"I would very much like to make this a regular thing, Ranma. However, I think if we do, we should think about rearranging our rooms to match and get a larger bed," Shaak said, returning Ranma's smile with a tender one of her own. Last night had been possibly the best night's sleep either of them ever had, once they had fallen asleep anyway. That had taken some time, neither used to sleeping with another person, but it was worth it in Shaak's mind. "Now, I believe it's your turn to cook breakfast."

About an hour later they met up with Bo Katan outside the training area they would be using for their training during their stay here on Mandalore. The ginger-haired woman cocked her head quizzically. "What happened to your eye?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. The bruise'll be gone in a few minutes anyway." Ranma waved away Bo's question while Shaak's lips twitched trying to contain her chuckle.

Twelve minutes later, Ranma groaned to himself as he stared out for a moment from a small hallway leading out into the training area. "I am all for a fight, even a spar like this, but why the hell are we going to be put on display again?"

"You know why," Shaak replied, her voice calm having centered herself before they left the ship just moments ago. Besides that, Jedi were far too often on display in any event in high societies, and it was one of many things she had become used to over the years. However, normally a Jedi's **training** was not on display, so this would be an interesting moment. "Besides, we should both be used to onlookers watching us spar after our time on Eshan."

"Yeah, but here the audience is a lot larger and probably a lot rowdier," Ranma grumbled, before subsiding.

The training area was owned by one of the clans in a city a few hundred miles away fromKeldabe, the site where the clan conclave would take place. It had been a secondary spaceport during Mandalore's heyday, but had fallen behind the times since the Excision. It was also one of the few cities where the New Mandalorians and the Reborn factions were almost even in their influence and numbers. That made it a uniquely suitable place for open discussions and freewheeling debates, and Bo's setting up shop there had shouted an interesting message to everyone.

Waiting for them in the arena was Bo and seven other Mandalorians, three of whom wore the Reborn jungle camouflage of Yavin vets. Two of them were women, the other four were men. Tess was also there, balancing a pole arm on one shoulder which she was tapping against her shoulder eagerly. The others had blasters and vibro-knives along with their jet packs and armor, of course.

Shaak and Ranma walked up to them, nodding at those they knew from Yavin. Two of them Ranma recognized as being among Bo's original group, the Night Owls as they called themselves, an all-female group of the Death Watch that Bo had led. Ironically, most of them had survived their initial meeting in Coronet and they had all become staunch supporters of, as one of them put it Yavin, 'not kriffing Ranma off.'

"How are we going to do this?" Ranma asked, after introductions were done.

"You're going to face this group first," Bo said gesturing over to the others. "Then I'm going to face off against Shaak Ti." She smirked, and Shaak felt the anticipation rippling off the girl so strongly through the Force that she didn't even have to try to sense it. "I want to see if some new tricks I've come up with work on Jedi."

"Very well," Shaak said, moving over to the side of the Colosseum and leaning against the wall there. "Realize, however, that we are under a bit of a time limit this morning, so I would say we should limit ourselves to only about twelve minutes each. That way Ranma and I have some time at the end to spar between us."

Ranma nodded. "I'll agree with that. Besides I want to test your speed, Shaak. I think you might be ready to learn the Amiguriken technique. If Count Dooku could do it after training on his own, I bet you can now too."

Shaak's eyes lit up at the idea because she knew that was one step below starting to use Ranma's Living Force attacks, which the two of them had been talking about recently.

"That could be interesting to watch," Bo murmured, moving over to stand a little ways away from Shaak as Ranma and the Mandalorians he was going to fight took their positions. Above them in the seating of the stadium-like training area, traditional Mandalorian training being a public event and a way to show off, the crowd began to murmur to one another.

As soon as his opponents were set Ranma launched himself at the nearest one. But instead of taking to the air as the two who had seen him fight before probably thought he would, Ranma launched himself low along the ground, coming in like a bull, taking the Mandalorian's legs out from under him before grabbing him by the leg, upending him quickly.

The man in question still tried to shoot Ranma with his blaster, but Ranma dodged under the fire and hurled him into his fellow. That the target of the human missile was twenty feet away didn't matter at all to Ranma, and the two of them went down in a tangle of limbs before the second one could even get a shot off. "God damnit, Carter, get your hand off my chest plate!"

"Oh, as if you can feel anything through it, Vana!" the man retorted, trying to push himself up without the woman below him kicking him in the codpiece.

The remaining Mandalorians fired accurately at Ranma. Three of them took to the air, using their rocket packs to stay there raining fire down on Ranma as Tess and one of the others closed. Tess wielded her pole arm, its ends vibrating slowly like a vibro-weapon on training mode. The other wielded a baton whose end coruscated with energy.

Ranma ducked to one side from the fusillade coming at him from above, twisting his body around to dodge between the fire coming from the two closing with him rolling away so fast they couldn't track him for a moment. Grabbing up several rocks from the floor of the sparring area, Ranma hurled them up at the tri in the air as he came out of his roll.

That forced them to dodge, which interrupted their fire allowing him to close with Tess and her fellow before they could pull back as had obviously been the plan, since she hadn't used a rocket pack to race towards him like the others had to get into position. She raised her staff, thrusting the end out faster than Ranma would've thought she was capable of, but he still ducked under it, blocking the other end of it with one hand as it came up in turn before slamming a palm strike into her chest, hurling her backwards with an 'Ooof!" of expelled air, audible through her helmet .

The other man's baton came crashing in toward Ranma's back, but Ranma turned, one hand carrying the blow past him as his entire body turned, one foot coming up in a kick that slammed into the man's helmet. The man found himself airborne from the force of the blow, crashing into the wall of the training area.

At the same time however, Tess had let go of her staff with one hand, and fired one or her wrist rockets which had some kind of thin rope on the end of it. Instead of firing past Ranma however, the rocket actually turned under Tess's direction trying to wrap around him.

But Ranma turned, grabbing both her arm with one hand and the gyrocopter with the other day. "And a heave ho!" he shouted as he pulled, ducking at the same time. The gyrocopter's wire broke, but Tess still found herself hurled up and over Ranma's shoulders, into the line of fire from two of her fellows.

Their fire impacted her back, and it was only the fact that the blasters had been set to the training setting which saved her life. The impact of that many blaster bolts to a rocket pack would have caused it to explode under combat conditions.

Realizing this Bo shouted, "Tess, you're out!" She paused a moment, watching the man Ranma had kicked try to struggle to get to his knees, and shook her head. "And so are you, Jada. Tess, help him over to the wall."

"Damnit," Tess muttered even as she got up as the battle continued around her, grabbing her fallen comrade under one armpit and dragging him clear while the first two Ranma had dealt with rejoined the battle after getting their limbs all sorted out. She quickly moved to the side between Ranma and Bo, pulling off her helmet and wiping her hair out of her eyes. "I should never have volunteered to be the bait!"

Shaak looked at her quizzically, and Tess shrugged. "He was supposed to try and close with me as I closed with him, then be caught in the open from all sides. We didn't know he could cross that much space that quickly though or that he would target someone else first."

"Always expect the unexpected with Ranma," Shaak said with a shrug. "The only thing that you should always expect from him is adaptability."

The group of four Mandalorians remaining tried to keep their distance, using their rocket packs and blasters to good effect. But Ranma continued to dodge their fire, and then he shouted, "Moko Takabasha!" thrusting a fist towards one of the Mandalorians on the ground.

A cerulean sphere of energy the same size as his chest lashed out from Ranma's fist to the accompaniment of shocked exclamations and shouts of "what kind of weapon is that!" from the crowd.

The Mandalorian he targeted however was able to dodge the odd assault. The Living Force attack was actually a little slower than a blaster bolt, and he had seen Ranma thrusting his fist out towards him.

Ranma used that moment to jump sideways, leaping onto the wall and catapulting up into the air. He lashed out with something in his other hand, the gyrocopter that Tess used, which crashed into the flying Night Owl's head, sending her down to the ground with a crash as one of the others.

The two of them exchanged punches and kicks in midair, with the Mandalorian coming out the loser quickly. A double hammer blow to the back of the head slammed him down into the ground, and Ranma rode his body down where he flipped himself up and off, dodging more fire, but now he had the man's blaster in hand, and two seconds later, the three still fighting were down with blaster bolts hitting their chests and faces.

Bo growled angrily. "If we still had beskar armor those shots wouldn't have counted as kills! Seriously need to find a source of beskar at some point."

"Speaking of ancient items, what was the real story behind that robotic contraption we found on Eshan?" Shaak asked conversationally as the two of them pushed off the wall moving forward to take their positions.

Bo chuckled evilly. "You'll see, I hope. It's still being refurbished, but it will hopefully be done in time for the debates. At least, I hope it will be. I mean to make an impression when walking into the clan conclave, and that 'robotic contraption' is part of it."

"The rest being your armor's colors? I read a little bit about the wars between our people, and how officers sometimes would have a splash of color somewhere on their armor to denote their status, while important leaders would have a certain colored armor."

"Yes. These colors are worn by people who desire to challenge the status quo, to change our society and wish to announce that change." Bo Katan Kryze smirked evilly as she went on. "And when they first took power the New Mandalorians all wore clothing done up in these colors. It's sort of a double message there."

"Are you sure you haven't become a politician?" Shaak asked, laughing as she activated her lightsaber.

"Say that again after we fight!" Bo said as she crouched, her own hand dropping to the bottom of her backpack which extruded a lightsaber hilt.

Shaak watched with interest as Bo activated her own lightsaber, her eyes widening noticeably in the center of their white markings as she stared at the blade. "That's a very odd looking lightsaber."

Normal lightsabers were just that, swords obviously made of energy. But this one looked almost solid, made of black energy with crackling bits of lightning along the edges and the center, which looked like a blood trail would on a physical sword.

"It was created by the first Mandalorian to ever be inducted into your Order, which kept the blade for a while before his descendants stole it back. There's probably a story behind that, but I haven't found any records of it, unfortunately. Still, it's mine now, by right of taking over the old Death Watch," Bo said proudly, reaching up to her helmet and connecting it to her armor.

"Now," she said, her voice far tinnier through the helmet, though her anticipation still shone through easily. "Let's see how you do on a more even playing field."

Shaak's eyebrow rose. "You're not still irritated by my defeating you in that spar on Eshan, are you?"

"Not just that,no. But that's enough talking!" Bo replied, then charged.

Across from B,o Shaak matched her, stepping forward twice before stepping sideways once and bringing her lightsaber up to intercept her opponent's attack. From there she moved into a series of slashes, short economical moves from Makashi, followed quickly by wilder blows from Shii-Cho to throw Bo off-stride.

But Bo matched her, the Mandalorian's training and natural speed able to keep up. The two of them exchanged several blows for a few moments, moving around one another, getting the feel of each other's speed and strength. Neither was overly flamboyant in that first exchange, letting their weapons probe for weaknesses in style rather than trying to gain the upper hand right away.

Then Bo began to add other things into the equation. Between one slash and the next she disengaged by firing up her rocket pack, leaping high into the sky where she began to rain down fire on Shaak from a blaster she had clipped to her thigh before the fight. Then her other hand, which was still holding the Darksaber fired two rockets down at Shaak.

From the sidelines Ranma watched, cocking his head thoughtfully as Shaak replied using her lightsaber to block the incoming bolts and her Force powers to redirect the two rockets either side where they exploded harmlessly, obviously not carrying nearly as much explosives as they would normally. _Huh, so that's probably why the Mandos don't use more grenades, thermal detonators, and things. Solid objects like that would be a really bad idea to try to use against a Force user. Still, "_ Bo's taking this seriously, isn't she?" he said aloud.

"Are you worried for your girlfriend?" said one of the Night Owls, smacking him on the shoulder. All of the veterans from Yavin knew about Ranma and Shaak's relationship, though most thought it a damned waste of a warrior. While many had come to respect Shaak Ti as a fighter, they doubted any Jedi could be anything more than a frigid lover. That didn't mean most who had seen them in action together were willing to try to get between them however.

"Nah," Ranma said confidently. "Shaak's got this. You think I've always sparred with her lightsaber to lightsaber? Adaptability is the key to my martial arts style, and I trained her to the same degree."

Bo seemed to realize that her change of tactics wasn't working after she had to dodge several of her own returned blaster bolts. While not known as a practitioner of Shien, Shaak of course knew it and could switch to that style at need for short amounts of time.

So instead Bo fired two more rockets at Shaak, then used her rocket pack to zoom away. She landed far enough away so that she could land and set herself before Shaak could close the intervening distance. By the time Shaak was ready, Bo too was rushing forward.

The two of them circled once more, lightsabers flashing this way and that, as Shaak's controlled, expertly coordinated style matched Bo's more wild sword style. The two of them even leaped around one another, Shaak using her Ranma-trained physical skills and the Force to aid her use of Ataru, while Bo used adroit bursts from her jet pack, showing a mastery with it that brought many a nod of respect from the audience.

Despite that Bo was having trouble, and she knew it. She'd practiced several dozen times with the Darksaber before, but she hadn't been able to practice against another lightsaber user. And while Bo's speed and reflexes were keeping her in the fight, Shaak's reflexes were better than hers, and her speed was simply incredible. Furthermore, Bo's use of her other weapons barely matched Shaak's ability to use her hands, feet, and the Force. In short, Bo was slowly losing.

"Dammit!" Bo growled inside her helmet. " **Dammit!** You're not better than me; you're **not**!"

While Bo might have given up on chasing after Ranma almost unbeknownst to Bo the fact that she had never been able to beat Shaak had rankled within her. Now she launched herself forward, her lightsaber flashing out in heavier and more powerful arcs as she sort of recreated Djem So, interspersing it with pointblank blaster shots from her pistol.

This seemed to take Shaak by surprise, pushing the Togrutan Jedi onto her back foot for a moment as she tried to adjust her style to match. This forced Shaak to drop into Soresu for a moment, not her preferred style by any means, but it allowed her time to analyze her opponent's new assault.

Despite that, Bo's advantage did not last long. She got close a time or two, her lightsaber barely flashing to either side of Shaak and burning her robe's outer edges since even on low power a lightsaber could burn clothing, but she could not tag the Jedi. This went on for around two minutes, then Shaak had recovered enough and began to batter Bo's assaults to either side, using her own enhanced strength to do it while also jumping around, leaping up, and using more redirected blows, mixing Ataru and Djem So freely.

Now it was Bo's turn to defend herself desperately, but she couldn't last for very long under Shaak's new assault. Soon her lightsaber was blasted to one side which opened her body up to a kick that send her reeling backwards.

Before she could activate her jet pack to gain more distance Shaak was there. Bo's lightsaber handle was sent flying out of her hand from a punch to the inside of her wrist, and Shaak's lightsaber was coming down to gently stop right above Bo's helmet.

"I believe I win," Shaak said, breathing hard for a moment before stepping back. "But that was impressive!" She went on deactivating her own lightsaber and reached down to pick up the other woman's lightsaber and handed it to her.

All around them the crowd muttered in discontent. Most of them had hoped to see the Jedi brought low, though more than half of them were still enthusiastic about the fight they just witnessed. Those among them who had already decided to back the Reborn, in particular, were looking at Bo in a new light. Over half of them hadn't seen her fight, being among the new recruits to her cause that she had gathered since returning to Mandalore.

Most of them knew that one-on-one most Mandalorians wouldn't do a very good job against a Jedi, in particular a Jedi like Shaak, who rumor said specialized in combat. She wasn't a well-known Jedi yet, but there were still a lot of rumors about her role in the Yavin campaign thanks to the Reborn vets.

Bo, however, had held her own for more than twenty minutes using all the tricks of the Mandalorian's book to do it, and had seemed to almost win a time or two as well. That made Bo's status rise exponentially in their eyes. The fact the Jedi had given Bo Katan's lightsaber back and hadn't commented much on it being in her possession was also a factor to some of their thinking.

"I thought I had you," Bo muttered, pulling off her helmet and moving to the side with Shaak as Shaak did the same, eager to divest herself of her robe before fighting Ranma. Having lost at least two spars when Ranma grabbed onto her robe and was able to offset her balance slightly, she had no eagerness to go through that again, or the accompanying lecture.

"Would you like me to apologize?" Shaak asked sardonically, deliberately repeating the words she remembered using after their spar on Eshan.

Bo growled at her, but there was no heat in it. Her anger had simply burned itself out during their spar, and what was left was amused irritation that the Jedi was better than her. _For now, anyway. But I bet I can get more out of training with Ranma over the next few weeks, and maybe even find some ancient Tuang sword styles and make them fit the lightsaber. Then we'll see, Shaak Ti!_

Aloud Bo quipped, "I'd punch your teeth in if you did!" using her own words from Eshan back to Shaak, and the two women smiled at one another before separating.

Ranma frowned, looking at them, as he slowly moved away from the wall. "Something happened there, and I don't know what…"

"Don't bother about it, my friend," said one of the other Mandalorians, chuckling. "Whatever their race, women aren't easy to understand. Indeed, I often think they are difficult just to keep up the mystery."

"Too damn right!" said another one of the men, only to be thumped on his shoulder by one of the women. Tess, on the other hand was quiet, looking between Shaak and Bo thoughtfully, then over to Ranma, her eyes narrowed slightly as if she was trying to work out a problem.

Shaak smiled at Ranma, feeling a thrill as he couldn't stop his eyes from going up and down her body for a moment, before feeling somewhat self-conscious about being out in public like this. Now that the door to her own sexuality had been opened, so to speak, Shaak realized she understood more of the emotions she picked up via the Force from those around her. Before that she wouldn't have been able to recognize that they were thinking about her to that extent.

Pushing those thoughts out, Shaak closed her eyes momentarily, centering herself once more in the Force as she activated her lightsaber, bringing it forward into a position held over her shoulder, her free hand forwards in an open palm stance. When she opened her eyes they were clear of worry and doubt, and her lips twitched upwards as she locked eyes with Ranma. "You're not going to use your staff?"

Ranma shook his head, crouching down lightly, his own hands coming up into a guard position of his own, for once. "No, I figure we're supposed to be putting on a show, so why don't you put that lightsaber of yours up to max, and we'll see what gives out first, your ability to keep up with me, or my ki shields."

He said that in a loud voice, and a hush fell over the audience as they watched, and Shaak nodded slowly, flicking her lightsaber's power settings up to full.

"How do we know that's real?" shouted someone in the crowd.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and Shaak stabbed the ground, her lightsaber burning straight through the rock and sand for a moment before pulling it back out. The edge of the hole had been glassed, the top most sand heated into glass. "Does that satisfy you?" she asked archly, not turning away from Ranma.

The heckler fell silent, and Ranma and Shaak launched themselves forward.

It turned out that Shaak was able to win this fight, slowly but surely, until Ranma began to use the Amiguriken against her. She fought desperately to combat it, her hands barely moving just as fast, but she couldn't keep it up for long enough, and between one exchange and the next Ranma's fist found her jaw, smashing into it with enough power to hurl her backwards. She rolled with it, but Ranma was in her face. not letting her have any time to set herself again, and soon her lightsaber was pushed down, plunging into the ground with one of his hands holding it there.

Even as Shaak reared back intending to try to kick him away, Ranma's other hand flashed out, tapping her chest twice and then her face once, faster than most of the onlookers could track. All they saw was a blur which various video recordings would be able to slow down into those three punches later.

For his part Ranma was singed here and there, and his ki shields had given way quickly. He hadn't, after all, wanted to knock himself out for the rest of the day, and his legs, arm, and shoulder were all marked by burn marks which were slowly healing as he moved towards the wall.

"How long would it take us to learn that? And can it be learned?" Bo asked intently, her eyes gleaming with interest. "The speed thing, I mean. I imagine that's easier than whatever the hell you're doing to heal yourself right in front of our eyes!"

"I don't know if the shield technique could be learned by people who can't already use the Force, same for the healing. But the rest, that's about 13 or 14 years of training. Mind you, meditation and previous training in other disciplines can help cut that down a lot. And training against other competent opponents will help push you along as well. Shaak here is ready for the speed training after only half a year or so."

"And you'd be willing to teach us this," Tess asked, just as intently as Bo, her eyes locked on Ranma's face like a targeting reticule as she voiced the question that many in the audience had at the moment.

"I'd be willing to train with you while I'm here, but I'm not going to stay on planet after the clan conclave is over. I have my own ongoing training to think of, after all, and I want to explore the galaxy too! Though I'd be willing, I suppose, to give you pointers and tips while I'm here so you can further your own training while I'm gone. I promised Bo that I would."

That silenced the crowd until one person in the far back said slowly, "So… we should figure out ways of slowing the conclave down?"

Bo turned that the direction of that voice and gave the owner of it the finger, a universal gesture that Ranma was amused to see had crossed dimensions. "If you do that, I swear to God I will hunt you down miro'sik (shit for brains)!"

Ranma, however, had to make a statement right then to offset the jolt in the arm he'd given Bo's faction. "However, this comes with a price." Ranma waited until the crowd had quieted down again. "I told Bo this same thing on Yavin. In my mind warriors who don't care why they are fighting, only that they fight, are scum. There is honor in the warrior who searches for opponents to challenge himself against to raise his personal skill, and there is honor in the people who defend others who cannot defend themselves. There is no glory in the warrior who preys upon the weak or to conquer to bring themselves riches and 'glory.'

He paused, staring out into the crowd. "I've read the Resol'nare." Ranma saw Bo and Shaak's lips both twitch, knowing he had actually only listened to the Common translation of the Resol'nare, but neither woman interrupted him. "And there's a lot of it I like, but there's no denying that in the past you Mandalorians became that type of warrior people. You conquered, you enslaved, and you committed genocide, simply because you could. Look at what happened a few hundred years ago when only a few clans of you decided to strike out at the Ithulans. You wiped out their planets in a war of genocide for no damn reason I could find!"

Into the silence that followed that, Ranma went on. "If you throw off the New Mandalorians' government and society but do not change to the code Bo Katan Kryze is trying to create; if you become, once more, conquerors instead of defenders, I will stand against you. My own Code would demand it. You have not seen nearly all I can do yet, and you don't ever want to."

For a moment after Ranma stopped speaking. No one said anything, but then Ranma began to motion for Bo and Shaak to move out into the training area and began to walk them both through some of his own training. Eventually he started to wave the others he had fought forward, and began them on simpler exercises, while the crowd, for the most part, simply watched on.

Several hours later as she was sitting down after a shower, Shaak chuckled. "For someone that doesn't like public speaking Ranma, you certainly are able to get your points across when you try."

"Are we sure that was necessary?" Ranma grunted irritably as he came out of his own shower, staring at Shaak and Bo and the others of her inner circle who were waiting for him.

Bo nodded. "At the moment most of the public only have a very vague idea of the changes I want to make to the Resol'nare and our way of life, though a lot of groups here and there are acting out against the New Mandalorians because of their pacifistic stance. We need to keep ahead of that wave, which means your techniques and skills are needed to grab people's interest."

"At the same time, the people needed to know both why you were willing to train me and those I chose, and that there was a downside to it: that your agreeing to help us further is based on our own actions. That will make people realize I'm serious about the changes I want to make to the Resol'nare, and that there's no way to have their rishi and eat it too." Bo finished, then grinned at him, one hand ruffling her short-cropped, orange hair. "Your little impromptu speech and the skills you showed are just what the doctor ordered, frankly."

"I don't like it," Ranma said with a sigh. "I don't like being put on display like that, and I don't like the fact that everyone is going to see a lot of what I can do. Still," he said after a moment, smirking now, "it's not like I've shown everything I can do, after all. I was telling the truth about that. Hell, I haven't used several of my deadliest attacks since before I met Dooku."

"Speaking of being on display," Bo said, looking at Shaak. "Did you know that there are apparently a few intergalactic news agencies due to arrive soon?"

"No…" Shaak said slowly, staring at the other woman and carefully hiding her shock. "This is the first I've heard of it. I had fully expected the Order to try to keep word of what is going on here and what it could mean long-term from spreading at all."

"Apparently the Senate had other ideas. You might want to check in with your fellows before too long," Bo said dryly. "Whatever. I'm done with you for the day. I'm going to be answering questions about your techniques and what I know about them and how I got to be as good as I am in so short a time for the rest of the day. I'll see you back here tomorrow afternoon? We should assume that will have to have a small question-and-answer session before training tomorrow and maybe keep that schedule up going forward."

"Gah, more public speaking?" Ranma asked, visibly shuddering at the thought.

"No, just questions about your techniques. Shaak will probably have a lot harder questions to answer. Her role in the debates, what the hell the Jedi are playing at, what the Jedi think about the Reborn, the New Mandalorians, where the kriff you get off on poking your noses into our business, that kind of thing," Bo said, waving her hand airily while Clento, Pol, and Tess all smirked.

Shaak nodded with aplomb, ignoring the other woman's pointed tone and the others' smirks with ease. She had known coming into this that she would be facing a lot of opposition simply because she was a Jedi; it wasn't something she was wholly unfamiliar with, after all.

"I will certainly be able to handle that," she said simply. "After all, while I'll probably be forced to join Master Plo Koon and Obi-Wan when the debates actually begin, I am not involved in the actual debate. I think we'll simply be making certain that all points are heard, and that violence does not break out outside certain set regulations."

"You don't actually use gladiatorial combat to decide political positions do you?" She asked looking over at Bo, a twinkle in her own eyes as she tried to turn the conversation back against the Mandalorians.

Bo shrugged sadly. "Not anymore, though at some point we might reintroduce it in the future if the Reborn win. But it's doubtful that it would ever be used for any major decision or important position. Pity."

Shaak rolled her eyes, standing up to join Ranma as he did the same, laughing with the Mandalorians. "Well, in any event, it's time for us to leave. I have yet to meet with my compatriots, after all. Until tomorrow, everyone." With that the two of them left, picking up HK at the _Wild Light_ and using the ship to travel to Sundari **.**

"Well, that was interesting," Tess murmured, cracking one of her shoulders irritably while Pol and Clento left quickly. "Thought I'd do better than that, honestly."

"Given that Ranma put me on my ass twice in two minutes the first time he and I sparred. you didn't do too badly," Bo replied dryly before cocking her head to one side as she looked at the younger woman. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Tess muttered, shaking her head, before locking eyes with Bo, her eyes somehow demanding Bo Katan's attention. "Why did you let him go, again?"

"I didn't let him go. I let him/her go. You haven't seen his curse in action yet. It was a deal breaker for me," Bo replied dryly.

"Curse?" Tess asked, one eyebrow rising in surprise. "What curse?"

 **OOOOOOO**

Taking the _Wild Light_ from that city to Sundari took no time at all, and Ranma set the ship down in the bio-cube's landing pad quickly, joining Shaak and HK in the sitting room before exiting. They found a car waiting for them which spirited them through the city to the palace, much to Ranma's chagrin: he had wanted. after all, to explore a little. He'd never been inside a bio-cube before. Shaak consoled him with a pat on the shoulder, promising him they would get to it eventually.

They were met at the palace by Plo Koon and Obi-Wan, who exchanged greetings with Shaak and Ranma quickly before ushering them into a meeting room. "The Duchess is busy with some of her own advisers at the moment, but they won't take long and we need to be brief," Plo Koon began. "The Senate has decided to issue us some commands about what to do here."

Shaak's eyebrows rose in surprise, while Ranma simply stared on, unimpressed and uncaring. "Bo Katan said something along those lines," Shaak replied, "but I thought it mere rumor. What exactly are these orders? And does the Order agree we have to follow them?"

"There will probably be noticeable repercussions if we try not to down the line, but the Order will abide by our decisions as the men on the spot," Plo Koon said slowly. He briefly outlined his discussion with the two senators and with Master Windu afterwards, and Shaak's frown deepened.

"They're trying to put us into a corner," she said slowly frowning heavily.

Obi-Wan replied, shaking his head. "I don't know if it's fear of the Mandalorian themselves, or fear that their growing stronger might change the status quo, or simple political maneuvering trying to force us to act in such a manner in order to regain some of the Senate's loss of control over the Jedi. But it's coming at a very inopportune time for us given the changes Master Windu is trying to push in our security."

"What are your thoughts on this, Ranma?" Plo Koon asked looking over at him. "As an outsider, you have a unique view of what is going on here."

"Well I couldn't care less about the Senate. They can sit and spin, for all I care."

At their blank looks, Ranma sighed, holding up a hand in a fist before extending his middle finger. "Sit, and spin," he said, moving his other hand around the middle finger. "Picture that was one of their asses and you get the idea."

The three Jedi all blinked, then Shaak rolled her eyes and Obi-Wan groaned, shaking his head. "Never let him near the Senate," he ordered Shaak, pointing at Ranma.

"Never want to be near the Senate," Ranma said, pointing at himself then laughing. "What are you going to do?" he asked more seriously after a second, looking over at Plo Koon.

"I have yet to get my own impression of the planet," the Kel Dor replied obliquely. "I will wait to do that before saying anything one way or another. However, I will say now that I am not impressed by the Senate's high-handed attitude here. The fact that it did not come from the Chancellor's office, however, is interesting to me. Traditionally the chancellor is the only one who can truly dictate demands to the Jedi Order."

"Master Mace hinted that he was not in this case because he was busy trying to remove the Trade Federation's status as an armed body from the Arming Rights Treaty. Even so Chancellor Palpatine could still have been involved if he wanted to be. That he is not takes away much of the pressure on the Order."

"Regardless, I will do what serves justice the most rather than transient politics or ancient fears." He looked back at Ranma, nodding his head slightly. "You are right about that at least. Given its timing, the Excision was simply an act of fear to remove a possible future threat without any true evidence that said threat was, in fact, going to occur. We were wrong there, and by the end of these debates everyone will know that we have acknowledged that."

Shaak and Obi-Wan looked at Plo Koon questioningly at that, but he refused to say more, and a second later the door opened revealing a palace servant who asked them to follow him. They were quickly led to a somewhat larger meeting room directly next to Satine's personal receiving area and her favorite balcony.

Satine sat there as she had when Obi-Wan arrived, peering down at two dataslates rather than four, and she put them aside waving off a man who had been trying to get her attention as the Jedi and their friend entered. She took a moment to look at Ranma quizzically, wondering what how the young man had so changed the way her sister looked at both the Resol'nare and the Death Watch, before turning to more important matters.

"Well," she said simply, "please take a seat. I take it you are Knight Shaak Ti? I have to admit to some ambivalence about your role in all this as well as that of your… companion."

The last word came out slowly, as she stared at Ranma, then Shaak, before looking over to Obi-Wan. "I have heard some strange rumors coming out of the Reborn that you two are involved?" she said, still slowly. "I had thought Jedi were not allowed to have such attachments; that it got in the way of their ability to use the Force?"

Shaak laughed, shaking her head. "Not quite. Relationships open us up to emotions, however, and emotions are difficult to control when connected to the Force. They can turn on you, good emotions becoming bad ones, love turning into jealousy, you understand?" Sabine nodded quickly, and Shaak went on. "Because of that concern, Jedi are taught to control their emotions to an extreme, and are not habitually allowed to form relationships in this day and age, though that was not always the case. I retook my vows in the Old Oath, and was allowed to pursue my relationship with Ranma due to his unique talents and skills."

She was squeezing Ranma's hand as she said that, making it certain that Ranma understood that it wasn't just because she had been interested in his techniques that she had been interested in him in the first place. But Ranma simply smirked, smacking her shoulder with his and squeezing her hand back for a moment before they sat down.

"I see," Satine said slowly, frowning thoughtfully at that before shaking her head and visibly changing the subject. "Still, you understand that we have a situation on this planet?"

"The referendum on your government yes," Shaak said simply. "Understandable, considering that from what little I've been able to gather already you do not actually speak for the majority of the planet."

"We have done so for years!" Satine shot back. "For over 700 years it has been the New Mandalorians and our government, our organizational structure. Our way of life that has kept the peace here and has kept the planet as a whole from falling back into barbarity!"

"Wow, you're horrible as a leader," Ranma said bluntly, shaking his head. As Satine stared at him in shock and rising anger Ranma simply shook his head. "The first duty of a leader isn't to actually lead his people, not to make decisions or any of that shit. The first duty of a leader is to see the universe as it really is, not as he or she wants it to be. You need to see your people as they are, not as you want them to be."

"That kind of vision is nice and all, but you're letting it trump reality, which isn't good at all for anyone. If I were you," Ranma went on, ignoring Shaak's attempt to whack him on the thigh with her hand to get him to stop speaking as Satine's face clouded over with fury. "I'd look at ways of either working with the Reborn in this transition, or softening your own position on nonaggression and pacifistic ways. That way you could undercut Bo's position a little and maybe direct your people's warlike ways like she is hoping to. If you're just simply going to stand on your high horse and say that any kind of aggression is wrong and only pacifism works, then what exactly are you offering the majority of your people who seem to think that your ways aren't really needed any longer?"

"You sound just like my sister!" Satine said tartly, her anger having faded somewhat as Ranma went on. "However I…"

Satine was interrupted at that point by the sound of glass breaking and Plo Koon's lightsaber hum filling the air, followed by the particular "FZZZ-Spang!" sound that a blaster bolt made when intercepted by a lightsaber. They all turned quickly to see that Plo Koon had leapt out of his chair, crossing the intervening feet between his original position and Satine, his lightsaber intercepting a blaster bolt meant for the back of her head.

"That is not a good sign!" Plo Koon said almost conversationally while Ranma raced past him heading out onto the balcony.

"HK!" Ranma shouted as he leaped over the balcony like a dolphin doing a dive.

In response to that shout a single blaster bolt rang out, and there was a scream from somewhere on the palace grounds. "Prideful statement: I believe I got him Master, though if you wish him alive to answer questions you might wish to hurry," the droid said, moving from where he had been stationed on a nearby rooftop to the palace grounds. "Impressed reflection: your powers of paranoia are most formidable."

"Nice shot, bot." Ranma said as he landed easily, making his way through the trees faster than any monkey ever could, calling over his shoulder, "Send someone with medical supplies after me!"

Thanks to HK's shot the would-be assassin wasn't going anywhere. But a small hover car fit for two people tried to lift off from a nearby hiding place as Ranma closed in. Ranma, however, caught the man inside, smashing the dome covering the driver's seat and ripping him out of the car, allowing the car to crash once more down to the ground.

By the time medical aid arrived along with the palace security, Ranma had both the driver and the shooter tied up and had done what he could to aid the man HK had shot. That was scant little, admittedly, but they still had the driver to question.

"They are brothers from one of the clans that are most against both the New Mandalorians and the Reborn, mores the pity," Satine said two hours later after her forensic and intelligence people had begun going over the car and questioning the driver. This is a sign of why I am so against the Reborn at all. My sister's faction has opened the door for the violence that I and my people have been so desperately trying to drain out of our people's souls."

"You can't drain something without giving it an outlet," Ranma said, sighing. "What you were trying was in fact damming up said violence. Get your metaphors right."

Satine glared at him. "I do not like you."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "That's nice. Joined the millions of other people who don't." He looked over at Shaak quizzically. "It would be millions by this point, right? I imagine the Trade Federation, various bounty hunters, and everyone involved with the slave trade don't like me at this point."

"Probably, yes, if they know of your involvement at all. And I imagine by this point the Bounty Hunter's guild rather abhors you," Shaak said judiciously, her lips twitching at Ranma's attempt at humor.

 _One day I will make you laugh aloud in public, Shaak, I swear I will,_ Ranma thought, sending a smirk at her.

"This event simplifies things," Obi-Wan said simply. "Shaak and Ranma can openly be on Bo's side at this point, while I remain by Satine's. Master Plo Koon can be the true middleman here until the debate begins, whereupon we will all join him."

"That could work, yes," Plo Koon said with a nod. "Indeed, I think you should remain with Satine for security reasons. She could be a target for more assassination attempts, after all, and you have some history saving her from said."

Obi-Wan flushed at that, grateful that Kel Dor wasn't such a master of human facial expressions so as to realize why he was embarrassed about that bit of history.

"Still, that is a plan going forward," Plo Koon went on thoughtfully. "I wish to get my own read on the planet, so I will disappear into the general populace for a time using Force Cloak. Hopefully that will allow me to get out of the public eye for a time and realize how prevalent the anger against the New Mandalorians is rather than the simple desire to move back to their own warlike ways, and the general opinion on the Republic and the Jedi."

"You realize we're all walking a very fine edge here," Shaak said, looping one arm around Ranma's as Ranma simply nodded agreement with her. "This whole planet could blow up in our faces all too quickly for numerous reasons. If we're seen as backing the New Mandalorians, the Reborn and the other factions aligned against them will see it as a betrayal. If we don't back the New Mandalorians, the New Mandalorians will see it as a betrayal, and the Senate might act against the Order as a whole. And regardless of what we do we are still Jedi, and anything we do will be seen as both foreign influence and that of enemies by too many."

"I realize all that, but we have a duty to perform, and hopefully my first announcement when this clan conclave truly begins will mitigate a lot of the anger towards us."

"Don't hold your breath," Ranma said shaking his head.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time the assassination attempt occurred, there were numerous discussions going on not only in the city where Ranma's exhibition had taken place, but elsewhere, the news of it spreading via recordings of the event. Unfortunately for Bo's state of mind, the majority of them did not have to do with Ranma's actual skills, or at least not directly with the skills. No, a lot of people were wondering about something else almost entirely unconnected to that.

The discussion in one particular tavern was a snapshot of the discussion going on around the planet at the moment:

"I can't believe a warrior like that is with the Jetii (Jedi)!" said one woman, shaking her head and staring across the table at another woman who had actually been there and seen the fight in person. It was the woman's recording they had been watching before this point. "Are we sure that's not just a rumor? They fought each other viciously enough."

"You didn't see the glances or looks; the cameras really aren't good at capturing that kind of thing from this far a distance. Their fight was just as much flirtation as actual combat, believe me," the other woman replied.

"And he's really that good? That strong and powerful? Are we sure that this Jetii didn't turn her lightsaber's power down again after that little display with her stabbing into the floor?"

"Positive. Besides, look at this." So saying, the other woman zoomed in on her camera. The others at the table her crowded all around to watch as one of the burn marks on Ranma's forearm slowly healed itself.

"That's amazing! And anyone can learn how to do that?"

"It apparently has to do with that Force osik (crap) that the Jetii habitually use. But instead of reaching out, you reach within. The more you try, the more you have. It almost sounds like any other muscle, you now?"

"Certainly makes a lot more kriffing sense than most of the mumbo-jumbo the Jetii spout," grumbled one older woman, shaking her head. "Dar'yaiim (hell), if only he'd been found by a Mandalorian first!"

"Agreed," said another woman, her voice somewhat gravelly. She was a newcomer, but a few of the others had vouched for her when she came into the bar. "From what rumors I've heard, he took up with the Jetii because he met them first. Then they waved the Togrutan in front of him and like any man he started to think with his dick."

"She is attractive," said one of the other women thoughtfully, a Twi'lek woman with scars crisscrossing her face. "Somewhat, anyway. But humans and Togrutans can't breed can they? If he has any sense of his own legacy he can't be with her forever."

"I wonder what kind of lover a Jedi could be anyway, even one as good-looking as that," said another woman thoughtfully. "Missionary position all the way I bet. Just lie there and take it, do your duty osik."

A lot of the other women laughed, then exchanged bawdy ideas about what they would do with someone as good-looking as Ranma. Essentially what the female position boiled down to was that while Shaak and Ranma seemed to be together, that didn't really matter much many. Many women among the Reborn who hadn't seen his curse in action or who had but didn't care thought that getting Ranma away from the Jedi would be good for him, that he had far more in common with their people than he did with the Jedi.

Further, most thought that if Ranma could be convinced to renounce his connection to the Jedi they could push him into becoming the next Mandalore, though where that idea came from no one really could say. With that kind of a figurehead, the Reborn faction could unite all of the disparate pro-conflict and armament factions into a single unified entity far more easily than the ongoing talks and deal-making Bo was using now.

Others simply saw winning him over as a perfect opportunity to one up a Jedi. That concept was remarkably appealing to the women, both as women and as Mandalorians. The male conversations going on elsewhere in that tavern were not nearly as sophisticated, though the outcome was much along the same line as that final point of the women's side of things.

"So this Ranma and the Jedi are involved? Good for him, cracking a Jetii's shell can't be an easy thing to accomplish."

"She's apparently been given permission to be involved with him or some such crap according to a servant in the palace. I assume it's just because the Jettiise (Jedi plural) have finally began to realize that their whole monk osik isn't really working for the long term, or in the short term, for keeping them sane."

"Could be," said another voice thoughtfully. "But come on, she is **gorgeous**! I doubt it took much convincing on their part for Ranma to jump at the chance."

"Yeah, but she's a Jetii. You heard the women over there," said one man, gesturing to where the women had fallen into giggles at something, which he resolutely did not try to overhear. "She's probably a cold gihaal (fish)."

"Who cares about that? It just means that whoever cracks her outer shell will be the one to teach her. Besides, she's a Jetii. Think about what it could mean to dominate one of those upright bastards?" There was a contemplative silence at that point and more than a few dark grins as many men thought about how much fun it could be to taint a Jedi like that.

In short, while Ranma's skills interested many in him that was but the beginning as many saw it. And both in this particular bar and elsewhere on the planet, many people of both genders decided to test the waters, so to speak, between Ranma and Shaak Ti. The changes to the Resol'nare and Ranma's skills were interesting of course, but at present the more personal aspects fascinated a lot of people.

 **OOOOOOO**

As they were boarding the _Wild Light_ for the evening, having refused to take accommodations either in the palace or elsewhere, both Shaak Ti and Ranma stopped, shivering. "What was that!?" Shaak said, looking around wildly, extending her Forces senses to the max trying to figure out what had just caused her sense of alarm.

"That was your sixth sense warning you that something was going to happen soon. It was about something embarrassing or worrying, not something violent, I don't think. It wasn't that kind of a shiver," Ranma said, also looking around warily.

"I do not like the sound of that at all," Shaak muttered, shaking her head.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma and Shaak noticed a difference in how the locals treated them almost immediately the next day. At first it was simply that the locals seemed to be much more respectful. News of the exhibition match and training Ranma had run yesterday went around the planet with the speed of rumor, which as any intelligent person knew was so fast it made hyperspace look slow. However, after they had separated after a breakfast with Bo Katan, they began to see a distinct and unwelcome difference in how the localsactedtowards them.

Having gone to the same Coliseum they'd used before with Bo, Ranma was the first to run into this new issue. He found the viewing seats clogged with newcomers, all of them talking earnestly to one another as he arrived. Most of the crowd seemed to be made up of women, with a scattering of men in clumps here and there. Most of them were human, but a few of both genders were aliens: Twi'leks, Duros, and several others who Ranma hadn't seen before.

The Mandalore way was inclusive; anyone could become a Mandalorian so long as they were adopted into it and followed some basic tenets of the Resol'nare. Though up to this point Ranma hadn't met many nonhuman Mandalorians. Only three of the Mandalorians who fought on Yavin had been nonhuman, all three of them being male Jarkelians.

As he entered all the talk ceased, and every eye turned to him. The feel of that many eyes turning to him so suddenly made Ranma feel as if someone had just aimed a broadside at him, and he stiffened for a moment before throwing his shoulders back and walking forward confidently. _This is about martial arts! This is my specialty! I'm not going to let the fact that there is…oh wow, there are a lot of them… I mean, I'm not going to let the fact that a lot of people are watching me do what I do get in my way! Just think of it as if you're back on Earth at Furinkan having a match in front of the rest of the school, Ranma._

He looked at Bo, pushing her shoulder playfully and moving forward. "So, anything specific ya want ta start with first?" Despite his internal monologue Ranma's original 'hick Corellian' accent had come back for a moment.

One of the people Bo had chosen to work out with Ranma rather than watch today asked, "What do you do for a warm-up?" He was a tall man with a scar running down one half of his face and wore tan and brown armor like many of the locals seemed to as sort of default colors.

Bo shrugged. "Actually, I've never seen him do a warm-up."

"You wouldn't survive one of my warm-ups," Ranma said with a grin, getting into the swing of things now. "Still, that gives me a starting point. We'll do some starting katas first, a set of ten each I think, and run through them six times or so each. Each time we'll add weights to make it more difficult. How much does that armor of yours way normally?"

"Normally around 30 pounds standard," Bo replied promptly. "The backpack adds another forty pounds on top of that without the jetpack, with it adds sixty."

Ranma blinked. "Okay, that's a little lighter than I expected but still heavy enough that you'll have to compensate for it. You got any spares?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Bo Katan said, and motioned over to a few of the Night Owls who grinned and pulled out some armor from a crate nearby.

Moving forward they eagerly pushed Ranma back into the changing area following after him quickly despite his protests, while Bo and a few others came around to watch events with various levels of amusement and interest showing on their faces. Ranma twitched and flushed a little at how hands-on they were during the exercise. At one point he had to slap a hand away from trying to adjust his codpiece. "I can do that myself, thank you!"

"I don't know about that. We might have that have to get a special size fitted!" said one of the newcomers nearby, and several of the others laughed.

Pol, who was there with all three of his sons, slapped Ranma on the shoulder commiseratingly. "Don't let them go too far with that kind of thing," he whispered, "and don't get too upset about it all either. It'll grow old for them eventually so long as you don't respond. If you do respond, however you do, it'll just encourage some of them. Just don't agree to any one-on-one spars without Shaak Ti around and you'll be fine."

"What happens if I get talked into a spar like that?" Ranma asked, though he already had a pretty good idea.

"You've been to Eshan? We Mandalorians believe in combat as flirting too. You might find yourself with a new admirer or a dozen if you're not careful," Pol warned.

"Thanks for the advice," Ranma groaned, having anticipated that but not to this extent. _This is going to be a long day._

Exiting the room Ranma quickly made his way back to the main training area and moved to stand in front of the small class. "All right, this is going to be part training, part meditation exercise. I hope to start training you toward what my people sometimes call gnosis."

The last word came out in Japanese, and more than one of his listeners frowned trying to place the strange language.

"Me, I just call it the Zone. The Jedi call it becoming one with the Force, and they are a lot better at achieving it then me, but they've got a lot of advantages too. The description of it is sort of becoming one with yourself and your body. When your thoughts stop, almost, and all you are concentrating on is the feeling of your own body. It's the earliest kind of meditation I ever learned, and it was the first kind of meditation that I learned where I could feel the ki, the energy, within my own body."

"That's that Force stuff, right?" asked one of the newcomers, scowling. "The stuff the Jetii use?"

"Not quite. Where I come from there is no Force as the Jedi understand the term. But there is energy in inside the human body, and if you have enough of it you can slowly start to learn how to manipulate it." Ranma did not want to go into the differences between his planet and this galaxy for many, many reasons. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Instead he held up a hand which suddenly glowed blue, and he turned firing out a Moko Takabasha quickly towards the wall. It exploded on impact leaving a scar as if a mid-size blaster bolt had struck it.

"That's the attack you used yesterday! So it really didn't come from a weapon of some kind," said a young man in the front row thoughtfully, the only young man in said row, which Ranma just noticed. "And you say anyone can learn how to use this?"

"That is at least seven or eight years in the future for someone who is starting from no background whatsoever. Your training might help you cut a few years down from that, but it'll still be a while. Put it like this: Shaak Ti, who I've been training with for a little under half a year now, is still not quite up to it yet, and she has the Force and all the Jedi tricks to help her along. You won't see anything like that for a long time. But don't think that won't mean you won't see a difference in your skills soon."

"Just look at her," Ranma said pointing at Bo Katan, who was also in the front row having sunk into the starting stance of one of Ranma's personal katas, holding it for a moment, her eyes closed. Nearby two Night Owls Ranma didn't know and Tess had followed her example without being told to, though they were still watching Ranma intently. "Bo Katan is better already than she was when we first met, and we only trained together for around three weeks. Her endurance, speed, and strength are well beyond where they were before, right?"

"Not so much strength," Bo Katan said cautiously. "But my endurance and speed has. But now that I think about it, that could be my Eshani heritage allowing me to learn faster than most Mandos."

The challenge in her words was obvious, and everyone there stiffened, glaring first of her then at Ranma with even more intensity than before, urging him to get on with it so they could prove her wrong. Young or old, Mandalorians could not back away from a challenge like that.

 _I am having a serious case of déjà vu here,_ Ranma thought to himself as he saw how easily Bo Katan manipulated them all, and how seriously they took even that minor a challenge to their skills as warriors. Still, that was fine by him. "All right, let's get started."

Several times during that training session Ranma was asked to help one or another woman move through the katas he was showing everyone. Both times the girl insisted on him literally moving her body for her into the right position, though Ranma caught onto what this meant the second time and refused to do so again.

Later one woman asked him to come by the weapons range to show her his weapons. The way she said it made Ranma blush, and the wink she gave him was so suggestive he became almost flustered. But he was able to refuse all the same.

Throughout the rest of that morning Ranma dealt with similar issues, many of the women attempting to come onto him in various ways. Most were open about it, almost brazen in comparison to his old fiancés (save Shampoo), though when asked about it later Bo replied their actions were pretty normal for Mando women.

A few of them, however, were playing it much slower, trying to get him to recognize them as individuals first. This group gave him their names, touching him only occasionally on the arm or shoulder while asking him to show them some of the katas, and staring deeply into his eyes.

Ranma recognized what the first type was doing, but the second's actions slipped past his radar. Nor did he really have any idea how to respond to the first group. Despite Pol's advice he froze up occasionally, which for some of these women was almost as amusing as the initial idea of taking him away from a Jedi. Other times, he would gabble and jump away.

Taking pity on him and seeing a way to have some fun herself, Bo Katan smirked at Ranma during one of their breaks. "You know, I think I know a way to put most of them off…"

She held up a drink bulb, but Ranma quickly shook his head. "Don't. I really don't want to know what my chest would feel like if I suddenly grew a pair of breasts while wearing this armor."

Bo paused then nodded, understanding his point.

Nearby Tess frowned, not understanding that. Ranma noticed this, and shrugged. "I'll show ya later." Turning back to Bo Ranma let out an evil smirk. "Besides, I think they're going to be a little too busy in a few minutes."

After the first run through of ten katas, Ranma pulled out a few weight devices. This was high tech weight gear which could weigh as much as two hundred pounds depending on the setting, using repulsor technology to push down on the body parts being trained with the equivalent of the weight desired. "Now we kick it up a notch."

The weight, plus the armor the Mandalorians were all wearing, was enough to stop most of the group Ranma was training from flirting with him. A few of them even dropped out, unable to handle moving through his katas with the added twenty pounds plus the armor they already wore. Soon it became almost a separate competition among the Mandalorians, to see which of them could last the longest. Bo won, with one of Pol's sons coming in second. Though the fact that Ranma hadn't seemed to even notice the same amount of weight which had all of the locals gasping and sweating did nothing to combat their interest in him.

Near lunchtime the training ended for the day, and for once Ranma actually was happy to stop practicing his Art.

Coming out of the changing area he found Tess, alone at the moment, shaking her head at him. "Sorry about all that," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I imagine that Pol told you about what's causing it?"

"Yeah, just a little," Ranma said, keeping his face neutral though he also knew the woman in front of him was interested in him.

"Most of it'll pass, I think," Tess said adroitly, waving one hand in the air. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you a few questions about how your martial arts style works in Zero-G environments, then I think it's time for us to get some food."

She looked down at her stomach which growled at that, and Ranma laughed. "Yeah, that happens when you're first starting out. Frankly, you guys are somewhat better trained already than I expected. I mean, I trained with soldiers from my own planet a time or two when I was younger, and with them by the time I hit twelve or thirteen I was stronger and faster than any of them could deal with. Here you're definitely closer to my level."

 _My level at that age, anyway._ The Mandalorians speed was decent and their instincts made up for a lot, but Ranma's pure strength and endurance was still well beyond what any of the locals could match. His speed was as well, but Ranma was so used to holding back that he could do so without anyone even realizing he was.

"Yes, yes," Tess said, waving one hand airily now. "Keep rubbing your superiority in. I'm sure that will make my fellow Mandos take **less** of an interest in you."

Ranma groaned, understanding her point, and she patted his shoulder companionably. "Come on, there's a commissary here somewhere. I haven't actually had the time to explore. Bo Katan's spent practically every hour grilling me for information on the other planets in the sector since I arrived here. You'd think she would have at least been on a few of them, but apparently not. The old leader of the Death Watch was very careful about who was assigned what mission, apparently, and they also tended to operate more outside the Mandalore sector than within it."

"I got the impression a time or two that she and a few of the other Death Watch commanders were kept at arm's length by the real blood thirsty bastards of the group," Ranma said, nodding. "Where is she, by the way?"

"Two clan heads arrived about twenty minutes ago. They had hoped to catch you doing another exhibition match but had to deal with some issues closer at home so they couldn't arrive this morning. Bo's is meeting with them at present, but she didn't tell me she wanted you involved just yet. So…"

"Say no more. I might be here to help her, but that doesn't mean I'm going to look for more meetings and such like to get involved with." Ranma laughed. "Let's get out of here and eat some food someplace else."

"Too kriffing right. I've had enough of politics since I arrived to last me a lifetime! As for food, I think there are a few street vendors around," Tess said with a chuckle, leaving him away as she began to ask him specific questions about his aerial style of combat.

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Ranma had run into the womenfolk (and a few men, though they couldn't get close to him) interested in him, Shaak Ti was dealing with the same issue. Wanting to get a feel for the Reborn camp herself, Shaak had set up meetings with various clan chiefs and other important representatives who had joined Bo's faction. Victor and Clento helped her with this, setting up many of the meetings for her and joining the Togrutan Jedi for a few of them.

The first hint that Shaak would have similar issues to Ranma came during one such meeting set up by Clento in the late morning, the last meeting before her break for lunch. Unlike most Jedi, Shaak had become quite conscientious about not missing meals since training with Ranma.

The man she was meeting with was a middle-aged man around fifteen years older than Shaak, a little past middle age, perhaps, with a dignified air to him, wearing decent but battered Mandalorian armor, with severe patrician features. He was a clan leader which had ironically been historically involved in ruling one of the planets that she and Ranma had visited. This was no longer the case, of course, they lacked the ability to project power off Mandalore like that any longer, but he had brought twenty warriors with him, and his reasoning for backing the Reborn faction was understandable enough.

Clento explained that in the past the man, Drack Nal Mora, was noted to skirt the New Mandalorians edicts just enough to not be censored by them, and he was known to look out for his people's best interests first and foremost, irrespective of political positions. This was an excellent start, since Shaak had just finished meeting with two clan heads who Clento had basically told her were scoundrels who cared more about the trappings of their positions rather than the actual people they were supposed to lead.

"Lady Jedi," Drack said, taking her hand in his kissing the back of it gently in an old-fashioned style that Shaak was surprised the Mandalorians actually followed. "I was not, alas, able to get away yesterday morning to watch your exhibition match with this, Ranma, was it? I am told, however, it was most enlightening. And indeed, if it was as amazing as you are beautiful, I can say it would most definitely have been a show to see."

Shaak's lips twitched briefly, trying to form a frown, but she kept the expression off her face easily. This wasn't the first time she'd dealt with such flattery, of course. Even before she started a relationship with Ranma, Shaak Ti had been approached several times during missions by various senators or other local people. She had also been propositioned many times when she'd been in disguise during undercover missions. Most people, after all, didn't know about the Jedi not being allowed relationships, and those that did would often think that trying to wean a Jedi off that might be an interesting idea.

Like her understanding of her own sexuality, Shaak's understanding of flirtation was more acute now, so she understood more about what was going on, and didn't like it. _Hopefully he'll get the message if I try to subtly hint at the fact that I am taken._

"Yes, **my** Ranma and I did perform an exhibition match as well as some training with Bo Katan Kryze and a group she had chosen. Despite that, I was surprised at how much interest we garnered there. I would have assumed that the rumors about his abilities would have spread after the Yavin campaign."

"Secondhand information is never quite as good as recorded fact," Drack said, smiling but not backing off, staying within Shaak's personal space as they moved towards the buffet tables where Clento and Victor were talking with several other people. "If can I ask, what is the Jedi Order's opinion about Ranma?"

"He is an ally of the Order, hence why I was assigned to him in the first place," Shaak said simply, shutting down any further questioning there.

"An assignment, is it," the older man said sighing, even though his eyes were now much sharper, more interested. "Harsh words, that, my lady."

"It only began as such, sir," Shaak said her voice noticeably colder now. "It is not any longer. And it was never a burden on me."

"I see," the older man said thoughtfully, though he still didn't back off. "Still, I will take my people's word for the fact that this Ranma has a lot of abilities and techniques to share. What I am concerned about is the impact he has had on Bo, and the changes she wants to make to the Resol'nare. Could you tell me about those?"

"Certainly," Shaak said with a smile, accepting the change of topic with some hope in her voice. She hoped that it signified that Drack had read her disinterest in him and the fact that she was with someone else as the put down it was meant to be.

He didn't. He kept on flirting with her off and on, but Shaak eventually decided that was simply the way he was. There was a word for men like him, roués or some such, and Shaak decided not to take it personally.

The next person she met during the eat-and-meet part of the function, however, was much more forceful. He was a much younger man, wearing full armor with a helmet connected to his backpack, with what looked like a dueling scar on his chin, wide shoulders, and a handsome face, with a confident, aggressive air. "My lady, my name is Alex Rogers. Clento recommended that I talk to you about my clan's position, and wanting to decide whether or not to join the Reborn at all."

As he was speaking Alex took her hand. But instead of kissing the back of it like Drack had, he turned Shaak's hand around to kiss the palm. This was a much more intimate gesture that had Shaak closing her fingers quickly and trying to regain her hand almost as soon as she discerned what he was trying to do. If she were not a Jedi she might also have tried to smack him, but Shaak's self-control was well up to the task of stopping that instinct.

"If I had known how gorgeous you were I would have agreed with his recommendation far faster than I did. I have not met any of your race before, my lady, but if they all are as gorgeous as you I might be forced to go on a sojourn of my own to Shili, if only to take in the sights."

"I'm afraid I couldn't help you there," Shaak said, her voice even colder than it was before. "I have not been to my people's home planet since I was a padawan, and despite my being in a **relationship** , I don't actually know much about my species' courtship in general. I was not interested in such before my **understanding** with Ranma began because I was a Jedi, and since have not met any other Togrutan to ask questions about how such things are supposed to go," Shaak said, emphasizing the word relationship every time she said it in order to get the point across as pointedly as possible.

Alex's mouth twitched almost into a frown, but he controlled himself somewhat, though his eyes flashed in anger at her blatant put down, and he did not back away even after Shaak put more space between them. "Nonetheless, let us talk of more pleasant things. My clan controls a series of farms and a river which feeds into a dam which powers much of one of the lowland cities. We don't habitually put many Mandalorians into the field, and a few of the tenets of the Resol'nare don't really matter much to us any longer, while others do. We have led decent, if not fulfilling lives since the New Mandalorians took power, and we are concerned about the future. I was wondering if you could predict, using your vast knowledge as a Jedi, the social upheaval of what Bo is planning."

"I'm afraid not. I haven't been on Mandalore long enough to get a handle on the economy," Shaak began then realized she had just walked right into Alex's trap and went on hastily. "Nor is it my own area of expertise. I would prefer to leave that kind of discussion to Master Plo Koon and Obi-Wan. I am here as a favor to back Bo Katan on my **lover's** word after the aid she gave us against the Death Watch and other criminal elements after the bounty on Ranma's head."

"Nonetheless," Alex said, going on doggedly, stepping forward and lowering his voice. "Let me explain a few things about the economy to you and then you will be able to understand my concerns and, if not answer them, at least take them to Bo Katan. I have to admit to some wariness about doing so myself given her Death Watch ties. And the fact that she herself is not, in point of fact, the clan head and is related to 'Duchess' Satine. I am certain someone as intelligent as she is beautiful like you are will understand my concerns."

"Yes, I can understand why those previous connections would bother people," Shaak said, once again taking a step back, but still being as diplomatic as possible.

The man continued to flirt with her forcefully, trying to touch her occasionally, trying to always get inside her personal space. It wasn't pleasant, and more than once Shaak tried to warn him off verbally while at the same time keeping her distance or trying to get other people involved in their discussion. These ploys worked for a time, but it took actually leaving the room with the purpose of meeting up with Ranma and Bo Katan for their own meeting to get the man to actually stop.

Walking down the street Shaak sighed faintly. If she were not a Jedi Shaak would've been pulling at her lekku in irritation at this point. But she was a Jedi, and so she simply centered herself once more in the Force and soldiered on. _I hope Ranma is having an easier time of it than I am._

 **OOOOOOO**

While Shaak and Ranma were getting to know the Reborn faction, Plo Koon tried to get a read on the planet's economy and what Bo Katan's planned reforms to the Resol'nare would do to it.

Satine proved to be quite helpful with that, though it would turn out that she was actually more helpful than even she knew. She set up a meeting with the head of Mandalmotors that very morning. But when Plo Koon was ushered into the man's penthouse level meeting room he stopped, sensing not one mind behind the door in front of him, but nine minds. Stretching out his Force senses further he detected a lot of anger, but no indication that violence was on anyone's mind within.

With that assurance he moved forward, and the door recessed to one side automatically. He stood framed in the doorway for a moment, letting his eyes move over the nine people waiting for him around a table set up in the center of the room. "Gentle beings, greetings."

"Master Jedi," said the head of Mandalmotors. "I am Hal Zenlav." His voice was flat, no emotion there, though Master Plo Koon could detect a hint of anger and even a bit of loathing directed towards the Jedi. Of course that was normal on this planet among many portions of the populace, and this man was doing a better job than most of hiding it.

In appearance Plo Koon's host was a short, spare man, shorter even than Ranma's female form, with thin shoulders underneath his Mandalorian style chest plate. He did not wear the rest of the armor suit, and there was no helmet beside him. The chest plate was obviously simply a nod towards the traditional reading of the Resol'nare and the place in it of armor rather than a sign that the man himself was a warrior. Despite that his eyes were cool and calculating, his stance authoritative He exuded the authority of experience and knowing precisely who and what he was. This was not a man to take lightly,

The men around him were of similar nature and age, though many of them wore their full body armor and moved like veterans, their helmets on the table directly in front of them. From two of them Plo Koon felt quite a bit more hate than from the man who he was here to meet. One in particular was glaring at him, his features cold like stone. One eye was marked by something like a ritual scar moving from right above it on his forehead and down around to his cheek.

Plo Koon had seen ritual scarring it in several nihilistic cultures but had not expected to see them here, and the hate pouring off the man into the Force was disturbing. But at least he seemed in control of himself.

The only other person that stood out to Plo was an older woman, possibly as old as Master Jocasta, the Order's librarian. She stood beside the table in the same sort of half armor as the head of Mandalmotors. But she had a helmet on the table in front of her, unlike him, and she had a series of small scars marking half of her face. While her actual combat years might be well behind her, this woman was obviously a veteran, and her eyes were assessing.

But it wasn't just her age which grabbed Plo Koon's attention, it was the lack of condemnation and hate coming from her. Rather, she radiated cool appraisal and perhaps… understanding? _Such an odd thing to feel from anyone on this planet._

"I give you all greetings once more, though I had only hoped to meet with our common host today. Plo Koon said calmly. "Might I have your names, gentle beings?"

"You may not have our names, but you may know what we represent," said one of the other men. "We are all clan heads, and we represent, in point of fact, the largest clans on the planet. By hook or by crook we have, if not thrived, at least survived since the Excision and the time of the Clan Wars. Primarily by moving in lockstep, and not allowing our people to fracture into smaller clans."

"That and neutrality in any political upheaval has served us all well," Zenlav said, gesturing Plo Koon into a seat at the far end of the table from his own position at the head.

Plo Koon stood there for a moment, letting the Force fill him. Feeling no danger the Kel Dor nodded his head slightly and took the seat so indicated, with the other clan chiefs arrayed along the table to either side of their positions. He knew that these people represented perhaps not the real political or social power, but certainly the economic and possibly military power of the planet. He wasn't certain about that last point, but what he did know where these were elder statesman whose words carried far more weight than any other group on the planet, most especially if they moved in lockstep, whatever Satine or her sister might think.

"While I asked for this meeting," he said, steepling his hands in his robe's long sleeves for a moment, staring down the table at his host, "and am happy to meet you gentlemen," he said turning his head slightly to the others, "I have to say that while I thought I knew what this meeting was going to be about, I might be in error. Why do you believe we are all meeting like this?"

A few of them smiled grimly at that, and the older woman who had caught Plo Koon's attention earlier smirked, but one or two of them seemed to frown at his soft, passive tones. If they could've taken umbrage at it, Plo Koon felt they would have. _I have no friends here. Not a surprise, but certainly not pleasant either._

"Tell us what you think of our present issues first," the man said, trying to redirect the Jedi, or rather to get him to open up before revealing his own position.

For a moment Plo Koon fell silent, feeling out the Force once more, trying to figure out if the Force wanted him to do one thing or the other. But as was becoming the case all too often of late, the Jedi master could not discern any Force assisted path he should follow. So he simply decided to go with what his own instincts as a politician and a Kel Do warrior were telling him: honesty was the best policy here.

"While I have not been on planet for very long, my fellow Jedi Obi-Wan has been" he began slowly. "I have used his notes to try to paint a picture of my own of what is going on here. While on the surface it might seem as if this is a battle between two disparate political movements, it is more of a social movement than anything else, and neither sister's position is as strong as they wish. The factionalism on the Reborn side of things is easy enough to discern even for an outsider like myself. The factionalism on the New Mandalorians side is somewhat less obvious. Regardless, we Jedi are treading as carefully as possible as a unit."

At his words there seemed to be a lightening of the tension in the room, and more than one man actually leaned back into more comfortable positions. All of them were nodding agreement with his words, and his host actually led a small smile flicker across his face. "I am glad that you realize this is not solely a political issue, and that any movement on your part would have repercussions you could not predict. There are people among the New Mandalorians who don't like the Senate, along with other groups who want to have nothing to do with the Jedi despite the fact that they're pacifists."

"And of course on the other side of things," said the scarred man harshly, "there are those who see the New Mandalorians as a puppet government of the Republic who want them gone whatever the means, and there are others who simply hate the Jedi and want to lash out at you."

He looked at the Jedi Master, hate visible in his eyes but still under control. "I hate you Jetii," he said bluntly. "I hate you with every fiber of my being. My clan controlled one of the largest industrial sectors of Mandalore before the Dral'han. It was only my ancestors' forward thinking that allowed a majority of us to remove ourselves into the mountains before your fleet arrived."

"This," he said gesturing at the scar on his face, "is a reminder to all of us to remember that day, to remember that **dishonor**! I hate you Jetii, and I will always hate you. But making war on our own people is something I will never condone."

Plo Koon nodded his head slowly to the scarred man as he reflected on the nature of the attachment and memory. The Jedi were not allowed to become attached to items, people, places, and above all memories. Tragedy, sorrow, they each could teach you things: odd, hard lessons. But Jedi could not cling to them like this man and his clan did to their hate.

 _And yet, how often have we Jedi truly been able to act without referencing the past? The Dral'han in its totality was like that, the ease with which the Reformation was used was like that. And in recent years how often have we used precedent and the past to guide our decisions?_ The thought was a disturbing one, but one Plo Koon forced himself to face. _I will need to think on this further in the future._

Hal took up the tale. "We're all worried," he said, just as bluntly as the other man. "We're all worried for different reasons, but in the main they all have a central point. Bo Katan Kryze's push to change the way we view the Resol'nare has opened the doors. There is a lot of hatred towards the New Mandalorians and their pacifistic culture, and now that that door has been opened people are going to take advantage of it. There **will** be violence during these debates, and we wish you to pass on this word to both Kryze sisters. Satine is not ready for the level of violence, whatever she has said. The New Mandalorians' desire to see our people as pacifists and weak like that has blinded them to the reality."

Plo Koon actually allowed a faint smile to cross his features under his mask, though none of the locals knew enough about his species to realize that was what the faint movements in the mask meant. "Actually, we had pointed that out to Satine last night in no uncertain terms. Her security forces will, at least, be ready. But is passing on that concern and warning me about any unilateral action on our part the only reason you all gathered?" he asked, knowing it was not.

"We haven't decided which faction to back," said the old woman continuing the blunt speaking. "All of us have feet in both parties. We even have our own local hotheads, but we have a handle on those. Even I have a handle on my particular hotheads, and one of them is my great grandson," she said drolly, causing a laugh to go around the room at some in-joke that Plo Koon did not understand. "But we need to know how the Senate, the Republic that is, and the Jedi will react if one faction or the other wins."

"The Order has decided to take a wait-and-see attitude for the moment. We are not enthused by the idea of Mandalorian expansion, but given what I have seen in the rest of this sector we cannot say that the Republic has served its people very well. For now, we will not take part in the conclave's debate on either side. Our mission will be to make certain the conclave is as open and violence-free as possible."

His audience all nodded at that, and Plo went on. "If the Reborn win the Senate's reaction will be negative, I am afraid, but they will not take military action against you without the backing of the Order, which they will not have. If the New Mandalorians win the debate and remain in power, you won't have any problems from an exterior source. But I imagine that the tension that is behind this debate in the first place will not simply go away."

"If the Reborn don't win the debate, the pro-expansion and pro-returned to the old ways factions that birthed that movement will fracture," said another man, an old Duros. "It is almost predestined to do so. We'll be sliding back into a new time of troubles."

"Which would, no doubt, suit the Senate and the Jedi just as well as a victory for the New Mandalorians," said the man who hated the Jedi, his voice still cold. "I don't doubt that you wouldn't want that kind of broad-based conflict on your heads, but neither do I doubt that the Senate would see that as a short term victory, and like politicians everywhere short term victories are all they care about."

"We're economists," the old woman said calmly. "We have to take the long term. If we decide that the Reborn are better able to give that tension an outlet we'll be forced to back them simply because that might equate to stability, regardless of the Senate's opinion."

Plo Koon would've said something along the lines of most economists also going for short term solutions, businesses were normally all about the bottom line today after all. But he understood that the word "economist" in their language meant something different. _Perhaps "financiers" would be closer, with a bit more of a social aspect added to the word?_ Force users could translate other people's thoughts into words, but they sometimes missed small, social nuances like that, things which didn't need to be thought of while using the word since everyone knew of them.

"I understand your concerns, and I will make certain that both the Senate and the Order understand them as well. At the moment, however, I cannot tell you anything more. My and the Order's place in this debate is not to make policy, but as I said, to simply make certain that the debate is handled in as lawful and equitable a manner as possible."

"Stick to that," said the older woman, after exchanging a series of nods with the other people around the table, "and we might get on fine."

 **OOOOOOO**

The Jedi all met aboard the _Wild Light_ later that evening after Obi-Wan had made certain that Satine had guards enough for the night while she was sleeping. "The fact that she was sleeping at all is probably a good thing, considering her exhaustion," he said, sitting down across from Ranma and Shaak Ti, who had taken up the sofa, their shoulders touching, while Plo Koon elected to sit on the floor.

The _Wild Light_ had been guarded by HK throughout the day while Tune spent his time listening in on various TV shows and local news. Knowing that they could not be overheard allowed the Jedi a sense of peace that was hard for them to find at present.

Shaak put their opinions into words, making no mention of her own personal trials of the day. "This planet's problems go far deeper than any mere political difference of opinion, and our presence is further muddying the issue."

"I was able to get out and about the city, and I heard several dozen discussions about you three," Ranma agreed with a shrug. "And mine, in a few. But everyone knows I'm here backing up Bo, whereas 'everyone knows' that the Senate sent you three here to back up the New Mandalorians."

"How did the Senates demands towards us get out so quickly?" Plo Koon asked, leaning back in his arms chair for a moment as he closed his eyes in contemplation.

"Someone in the New Mandalorians apparently let it out. The palace is a sieve for secrets. Almost as bad as the Senate itself," Obi-Wan said dryly.

"Yes, but why would someone in the New Mandalorian party let that get out? Surely whoever did would know it would not help their position," Shaak said, shaking her head.

"I had to deal with an attack on myself this afternoon, as well as various New Mandalorian officials sneering at me as I acted as bodyguard for Satine. It's not pleasant, but I can handle it," Obi-Wan went on.

"I haven't dealt with any outright anger at my being a Jedi, but I have dealt with other sources of irritation," Shaak said slowly, glancing at Ranma, cocking her head to the side. "The locals seem to believe… That is, the locals seem to…"

"Yeah, I've dealt with a few of those too," Ranma said, taking her hand in his and squeezing it. "I didn't enjoy it, but at least a few of the Reborn higher-ups were able to shield me a time or two."

"In my case they didn't realize they had should at first, but they did start at last as the day wore on," Shaak said with a faint smile, relieved that Ranma had understood what she was trying to say without her needing to spell it out.

"Should I be worried about some other guy coming along to sweep you off your feet?" Ranma asked teasingly.

"Not at all, my love. For various reasons you are the only one for me," Shaak replied drolly, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, enjoying the way Ranma's arms went around her, holding her close as he chuckled in response.

Obi-Wan coughed and looked away, still not quite at home with such displays of affection in a somewhat public setting like this. Or at least directly in front of him, despite his own relationship with Siri. Master Plo Koon, on the other hand. simply watched, not commenting and not reacting.

"I think Ranma and myself will be busy for a few days, at least, until Bo and the others have enough katas to work on their own. But after that I want to get out into the hinterlands, see how much true hate towards the Republic and Jedi is there for myself, as well as how important the Resol'nare is to the people's lives. No offense, Obi-Wan, but your report did not give me enough information, and that will help us understand how the people will react to Bo's changes to the way the Resol'nare is viewed."

Ranma grinned eagerly, and Shaak chuckled, kissing his cheek once more. While having no issue with being the center of attention, Ranma did not like having to meet and greet people as he had been forced to in the afternoons. He had shared aspects of his Code, the code of the samurai, and his thoughts on the Resol'nare with people throughout the afternoon, and Bo had told him to expect more of the same. Needless to say he was not looking forward to it.

"I agree. I concentrated on the cities and the space stations," Obi-Wan replied, smiling slightly as he ignored the interplay. "The hinterlands, as you put it, would have been my next stop, but I did, after all, only have a few days before you all arrived. As for myself, I am still going over the Duchess Satine's security. After that I will start to both vet her palace staff so no further leaks occur and meet with the other New Mandalorian political figures. Master Koon?"

"I will be making a public statement that we Jedi are neutral in this manner regardless of rumors," Plo Koon said calmly. "I realize that stating such will probably simply make people think that we are truly backing the New Mandalorian faction, but if I make it often enough maybe my words will sink in. After that I will meet with city mayors and other officials and start to set up ways to get in touch with them and various neutral clan heads. After that I will be deeply involved in setting up the infrastructure for the voting which will occur when the debates conclude."

True to his word Plo Koon was on the morning news the next day. His words didn't seem to have an immediate impact on the majority of the Mandalorians who bothered to watch, but it was a step in the right direction.

 **OOOOOOO**

Nearly a week later, Shaak and Ranma bowed out of further meetings and training to explore the boonies of Mandalore for a time. After so many days of straight training with Ranma, Bo was too sore to continue, and he had given her and the rest of her training cadres enough katas and practices to keep them busy, anyway. After talking with them, Bo told the two they could probably get away for five days or so without being overly missed by anyone. The clan conclave and building the infrastructure for the vote that would occur there was going much slower than Bo had anticipated, particularly the latter.

That aspect would postpone the clan conclave by at least two months, something Ranma was not happy about when told. While votes like this were normal in Mandalorian history between the clans, there were far, far more unaffiliated citizens, people who didn't belong to a clan for various reasons, than ever before. On top of that there had to be allowances made for off-world votes. The clans, too, needed to set up their own voting structure, all of which needed to be both open and fair. That was the aspect Master Koon was involved in, making certain no one would try to rig the voting, or could without being caught.

Shaak placated Ranma by agreeing to spend the full five days away from politics and cities entirely. Plo Koon agreed that their absence wouldn't matter much in the short term so long as Shaak made nightly reports on her findings.

The two lovers decided to leave behind the _Wild Light_ and the two droids for this trip. Both the ship and HK had already been linked to Ranma in various recordings, and Tune didn't enjoy being that close to nature. Given his lack of legs, this was understandable. Instead, the two of them rented out a local hover truck which had an expanded cabin and a tarpaulin that could be pulled out into a tent for the trip.

For his part Ranma was somewhat disguised, going around in his female form, which surprisingly few people realized the truth of outside the veteran Reborn and those who had seen the change itself. She was also dressed like a Mandalorian. Shaak moved around as the redhead's lover openly. She wore the cloak Ranma had made for her, and kept her lightsaber in her Living Force pocket.

Shaak Ti's exotic looks got a lot of interest from the locals everywhere they went. The children, in particular, were fascinated by her. Many of them had never seen an alien that wasn't a native to their planet. But since the locals were respectful of their relationship, both women were fine with that kind of attention. The first four days were happily uneventful, and both of them had a fine time roughing it. Ranma even brought down one of the local predators, the local mountain cat equivalent, which Shaak had positively devoured.

During their travels they found that the clans' hold on society out here was just as Bo had thought. The clan, the extended family rather, was the main social structure, and the New Mandalorians reforms did not reach out this far at all. The Resol'nare and the training which made a Mandalorian a warrior was paramount for several very good, large, and hungry reasons.

At one point, however, Ranma had to stop and stare at a radio playing from the window of a tiny general store of an equally tiny mountain town they were passing through. "And now for a new song from an unknown artist that is sure to rise to the top of our charts…"

Turning to look at her companion in confusion Shaak also paused, her mouth twitching up into a smile as she recognized Ranma's own voice on the radio. "Someone recorded me!?" Ranma squawked indignantly, listening as the radio played "White Light," the song Ranma had sung to Shaak Ti on Yavin.

"It is a lovely song, my love, and it has a certain martial air to it," Shaak said, careful not to call Ranma by her name in public. She could have used her Force powers to turn people's attention away from them, but that seemed rather wasteful to her. "You should be proud of it, though I did not know someone had recorded it."

"Feh, I should look into getting royalties for it," Ranma groused, turning away. Shaak Ti smiled after her before striding quickly to catch up with the shorter redhead, happy they had been able to get away for a time.

Elsewhere, however, plans were being put into motion.

 **OOOOOOO**

"The Jedi's public announcement of their neutrality was an astute move and seems to have calmed some of the anger towards the Jedi's actual presence over the past few days. His emphasis on it being their duty to be here struck a chord with the locals who are most likely to see it their duty to strike at the Jedi. None of the historic antipathy has gone away, however. There is still a lot of hate, but no one is willing to act out directly against the Jedi just yet. Not without a bit more impetus to get them moving," said a woman's voice, her features carefully hidden in the darkness of the room as she stared into the hologram device between her and several other people.

"Will you be able to step up the violence between these two factions?" asked the one on the other end of the communication. Like always Darth Sidious's voice was cold with command and power, though only one of the people talking to him on Mandalore knew who and what he was. The others simply knew enough about him to be very afraid of him, beyond that what they thought was immaterial.

"Easily, sir," said one of the men, nodding his head subserviently. "We have a few specialists coming in from off-planet which will be arriving later today to help. We'll be putting some of them to work right away while we hold a few in reserve for a larger assault."

"Good. The Mandalorians must be shown in as negative a light as possible, not just this Reborn faction but the New Mandalorians as well, if more softly in their case. What is your opinion on the Jedi themselves?" Sidious asked.

"Dangerous in various ways, master, but easily dealt with if taken on their own. Together would be a chancier prospect, and Jedi Knight Shaak Ti, in particular, is far better than our records would suggest," the same woman who had spoken up first said. "The other two would be far easier to deal with physically if taken one at a time."

"Do not make the mistake of underestimating the Kel Dor Jedi," Sidious warned. "Plo Koon is one of the Order's better combatants in many ways, and a powerful foe. What of your campaign to try to split up Jedi Ti and this… Ranma? Splitting them up is a logical step in weakening the Jedi's position on Mandalore after all," Sidious asked.

"It's not working," the woman said bluntly, shaking her head. "Their relationship is quite a bit further along and far more stable than we had anticipated. I just don't think getting between them is going to happen, despite the strange amount of enthusiasm the locals have for the idea. Certainly not within the time frame we're working with."

"I don't know about that. I think the Jedi woman isn't quite as at home with her own sexuality as she tries to appear. That should be assumed given she is a Jedi, but there are aspects of her race's courtship that she obviously doesn't know which gives me some openings to work with. I think I could get between them if I could assume the guise of a male of her species, but out here it would set me apart too much," said another man. His voice sounded almost oily, his features shifting into that of a Togrutan man's from that of a youngish human male as his fellows watched on.

Sidious stared at him, then around at the others. "Very well. Step up the violence as you can without implicating yourselves. Use whatever resources you may on hand that cannot be traced back to your alter egos on Mandalore, those might come in handy in the future. For now, leave us."

The men all filed out of the room quickly leaving the woman alone with their employer, or rather, her master. As soon as they were gone, much of his guise of seeming normality left him, the hologram changing from looking like a decent business suit, something a politician or business man would wear, to show what Sidious was actually wearing. "Your opinion on the Chaotic Locus now that you have met him in person?" Sidious asked, his voice intent, the Force of him reaching out through the intervening lightyears to touch his apprentice's mind.

In this manner Sidious could almost read Komari Vosa's mind, the apprentice/master bond between them helping to both reach her and hide their use of the Force even over this vast a distance, thanks to the Veil. In this manner he could see more than her words could tell him, even if their bond was not deep enough yet for a full conversation. Indeed, he could see many things in Vosa's mind, not just whether or not her words were truthful.

"Ranma is not a Jedi Master," The woman said, bowing her head in supplication. "He has different morals and a vastly different outlook in life than the Jedi. He is friendly with the Order and has many friends within it; he discussed them openly. But he would not be so close with them, certainly would not be involved in their missions at all unless he stumbled upon one while going on his own journey, without the Togrutan female. Their personal connection is such that regardless of what my compatriot thinks I do not think it will be broken."

"If she was removed from the equation entirely, what would the effect be?" Sidious asked, musing on both the truth he felt in her words and the underlying reasons behind them. _Still, those reasons don't invalidate her observations, particularly since they dovetail with my own thoughts on this matter._

"I cannot say how he would react to such an event in the short term. If it cannot be just traced back to us however, that probably would not matter," the woman replied after a moment's contemplation. "He certainly would be more malleable afterwards. Much more likely to go his own way, at the very least, and possibly approachable in the future."

Nodding, Sidious thought about the implications of that and what Vosa would attempt should she get the chance. _Truly predictable, my dear apprentice. Still, for now you are still useful._ "But probably not by your current guise?"

"No, Master. I have worked hard to approach him slowly, but even so it is obvious that he understands there is a distinct line between friend and lover. It is one I do not think I will be able to cross under my assumed identity."

"Very well. Your local identity was only intended to be a short term one in any event. Make certain, however, that our clawdite and Shi'ido pawns survive the coming violence. While Corshall may be incorrect in his assumption that he could wean the Togrutan female away from the Chaotic Locus if he was a male of her species, such a thing, or at least the attempt, could muddy the waters between them if she survives the coming days.

"Which I do not expect her to do," Sidious said sternly, his power pressing down upon his apprentice even harder. "I will be sending in a few bounty hunters. The Hutts will soon discover that they have raised the bounty on the Togrutan Jedi by a factor of two. Of course the bounty hunters have no idea who they will really serve, but I have arranged matters so that the Crimson Nova chapter of the guild is led by an individual who has reason to hate the Jedi. She will authorize the bounty, and they will attack the Togrutan, serving to muddy the waters there further and get rid of her. How you do away with your current guise I leave to you."

Sidious's decision to have the Togrutan Jedi killed was at least partly based on how much it would hurt the Chaotic Locus whose actions had so changed matters the universe over. He knew that, and that he had given in to his anger in a way he felt was beneath a true Sith Lord, but could not bring himself to care overmuch.

Sidious paused, obviously thinking, before changing the subject. He, of course, didn't really care about the outcome of the debates, the Mandalorians didn't have enough numbers or industry to be a threat to the Grand Plan, but he wanted to be able to use the outcome to further his control of the Senate. The Senate itself was facing many issues closer to home in the form of the hate groups Sidious had largely lost control of and other crises both of his making and not. This one however could be used to regain lost influence among the Senators, while many others could not be.

But even that was secondary to his real reason for sending his half-trained apprentice out so quickly. "For now what can you tell me about the abilities this Chaotic Locus has?"

"Much, Master," said Vosa, her eyes flickering yellow as she nearly purred the words despite her master's presence in her mind pressing her down, the avarice in her easy for Sidious to read. "Very much, indeed."

From there the woman went on, describing the feeling she felt whenever she was near Ranma when he was training or using his special techniques. "Durability, speed, endurance, strength… He uses the Force to bolster all these to a level unheard of, but we can hopefully replicate them. It will take many months, possibly years, however, to match his speed and strength as it is at present," she finished cautiously. "His durability will be slightly easier to match given how much technology can help us there."

"And his distant attack will possibly be the easiest to replicate, and the most worthless," Sidious mused, nodding. "The Force shield could be out of our reach, but I will meditate on that. Very well. I will see you back here when this is all done, by which time I will have the training center ready for you." With that he cut the connection, the hologram flickering out, leaving the room in utter darkness.

The woman leaned back, thinking, her fingers tapping on the side of her seat for a moment. _You might be the master now, but if I can somehow get to Ranma after Shaak Ti is dealt with, use my body to enslave him into helping me… Then we will see who the true master of the Dark Side is, Sidious!_

With that thought Komari Vosa stood up moving toward the doorway quickly. Out in the regular lighting of the house she and her 'clan' had taken over, Tess blinked in the overhead lights for a moment before moving on resolutely. She had plans to put in place, both personal and those that would serve the Sith's long term goals.

 **OOOOOOO**

On their last day out in the mountains Shaak Ti and Ranma had made their way high up into the mountains, so far off the beaten trail they'd had to leave the truck behind. They surveyed a few more hard-scrabble farms and hunting lodges before heading back down as night descended.

Halfway back to the truck Ranma paused, dropping down to her knees. A moment later the redhead stood up, holding a nail or claw of an animal that was about as long as her own hand which had been lodged in a tiny crack in the rock he was standing on. "I can see why this planet is the home of a warrior people if there are predators around with claws like these."

Shaak nodded, crouching down herself to examine signs of the animal's passing on a nearby patch of softer ground. It was large, as large as a human perhaps or larger, with wide, shaggy paws and long claws. The claws dug into the ground slightly, whereas the rest of the pad was slightly raised, an odd configuration, but one that would most definitely be that of a predator.

Ranma, on the other hand, had turned to stare up at the sky which had darkened noticeably in the past few moments. "Crap, it looks like it's going to rain. You know any Force tricks to keep us from getting drenched?"

"I could possibly redirect the water once it hits me, but that would be an extremely energy consuming task. Best not to chance it and just get back to the truck as fast as possible," Shaak replied, before racing off, the cloak Ranma had made for her whisking around her legs audibly with the speed of her passage.

Ranma raced after her, but even so they were still caught in the storm which flared up so fast it was astonishing, and with enough power to nearly force them both to search for shelter then and there.

"What is it with you and rain!?" Shaak said with a laugh as they finally reached the protection of the truck. Luckily they had already set up the tarp for the night over the bed of it. The tarp stretched out from the back of the operator's cabin and was latched down on the raised sides of the truck's bed, giving the occupants enough headroom to sit but not enough to stand. There was a small heater connected to the back of the cabin which could be turned on and have the tent warmed within minutes. Two raised side areas held simple beds, but that was all.

Ranma pulled open the flap, and they both dove in, grateful to be out of the pouring rain even if the bed of the truck lacked much in the way of creature comforts. Unable to stand up, they both sat there for a few moments as Ranma activated the heater.

"Come, let us get out of these clothes," Shaak said, pulling off the drenched cloak, dropping it unceremoniously on the floor of the truck. When Ranma did the same, showing her normal lack of modesty when in female form, Shaak paused, taking in the view for a moment.

Ranma was, of course, shorter in this form, something Shaak was finally getting used to and indeed had begun to enjoy. She also had somewhat wide hips and a pert rear, the tightness of which would have been the envy of many a human woman, and soft yet **very** toned curves everywhere, while her breasts were full, slightly larger than Shaak's own. Those and her hips gave the girl a somewhat softer appearance than anyone who knew how much she exercised would expect. This was particularly emphasized now given how wet and bedraggled Ranma looked.

 **{Warning Lemon incoming}**

Not for the first time Ranma's cherry red nipples, crinkled slightly in the cold at the moment, attracted Shaak's attention. Swallowing once she reached out, gently rubbing one finger around the redhead's nipple, then slowly hefting Ranma's breast in her hand as Ranma squeaked in surprise at her touch. Shaak chuckled at that, then leaned over, kissing the redhead deeply. As a woman, Shaak realized, Ranma's mouth was slightly smaller, her lips fuller and softer.

The rest of the kiss was mostly the same, however, as to Shaak's surprise Ranma immediately returned the kiss, her hands moving to rest on Shaak's hips before gently pushing her away. "Shaak?"

"Mmmm," Shaak hummed, leaning back and breathing deeply before smiling at Ranma. "Well it just occurred to me that we haven't, ahem, done much more than kissing while you were in your female form." She leaned her forehead against Ranma's staring into her deep blue eyes earnestly. "I know you still have some problems with your female form, Ranma, but I would like to show you that I do not. Would you let me please?"

"Shaak, er, I… I don't, that is…" Ranma blushed under Shaak's gaze, "his" resistance to the idea crumpling under the understanding and love in Shaak's gaze.

"Please, Ranma?" Shaak didn't really understand why this desire to play with Ranma's female form had grown this quickly all of a sudden, but she wanted to act on it and knew that in the main it would help Ranma. The ongoing issue with his female form was one of the two large psychological problems which she knew Ranma had, and was possibly the easier of the two to deal with. "I promise I will stop if anything I do makes you feel uncomfortable."

After a few moments, Ranma nodded, her own, now smaller hands traveling up from Shaak's waist. One of them found one of her lekkus, while the other pushed up her undershirt and bra. It was one of those she had bought on Coronet, a lacey black one the sight of which made Ranma's breath catch in her throat before she could speak again. "A, alright. So long as I can do the same things to you."

"I fail to see how I, mmm… lose in this exchange," Shaak said, breaking off first when Ranma's hand stroked her lekku **just** the right way, then becoming a louder moan as Ranma's other hand began to fondle her breasts. "AHhhh…."

Shaak leaned over to kiss Ranma again, not just Ranma's mouth, but her cheeks and neck as they both moved closer to one another. Ranma continued to undress Shaak slowly, while Shaak's hands were busy pulling off Ranma's own drenched clothing, the thump of the various bits of armor from her limbs audible over the rain beating down outside and their moans.

Soon enough Shaak's C-cup breasts were pressed into the top of Ranma's own. Then it was Shaak's turn to emit a small squeak as Ranma's hand fell to Shaak's bare rear, lifting the taller woman into the air easily.

Shaak wrapped her legs around Ranma's waist, and the short redhead moved over slightly to place Shaak onto one of the two beds. When Ranma moved to join her, however, they found out that the bed wasn't large enough. They both giggled, staring at one another as they exchanged light kisses for several minutes before moving back. They removed the soft cushions from the beds and pushed them together on the floor of the tent cum truck-bed, putting their clothing up onto the bedrests.

Watching as Ranma set up her armor Shaak leaned over the shorter redhead, nibbling at Ranma's neck and collarbone as she rubbed her breasts into the shorter girls back, feeling Ranma's rear press up and back against her hips. She was amazed at how much softer Ranma's skin was in this form under her lips and teeth. It was as if the years Ranma had spent on the road had not carried over from his original body. She also smelled slightly different, too, to Shaak's senses. Ranma as a male smelled of wood, sweat, and a spice called aldriga, which humans the universe over called "the love child of a cinnamon stick and a hot pepper." As a woman Ranma still smelled of sweat, but it was sweeter, and there was no wood smell. The smell of aldriga was less pronounced too, mixed with the smell of some kind of flower.

As Shaak slowly ran her teeth down Ranma's collarbone, Ranma murmured throatily, "Damn, what sharp teeth you have, Shaak."

"Heheh, I thought you liked my sharp, little teeth, Ranma…" Shaak replied, before trying to bite down on the redhead. Realizing what she wanted to do Ranma consciously weakened her skin in that area, letting Shaak create a small hickey there.

When Shaak pulled back, Ranma took the opportunity to turn around, pulling Shaak down with her onto the cushions. Over the next several moments the two women gently explored one another. There was no urgency here, indeed, both of them had decided to take their time here.

For "her" part Ranma was having fun simply dragging her fingers up and down Shaak's body. The contrast between Ranma's own skin color and Shaak's deep red color always fascinated him, and now Shaak was completely naked, her entire body open for Ranma's exploration. Though at first she wasn't very adventuresome in that exploration, simply having fun touching, squeezing, or licking at Shaak's breasts, nipples, or lekku, while squeezing her rear or lekku occasionally. Ranma spent some time licking at Shaak's nipples, which made her gasp and moan, but not very long, returning to gently running her fingers up and around Shaak's stomach and chest.

At the same time Shaak had one hand playing with Ranma's slowly drying hair, enjoying the feel of it through the fingers of one hand. Her other hand traveled around Ranma's body, taking time to squeeze Ranma's breasts eagerly, or tweak one of Ranma's cherry-red nipples, their color somewhat lighter than the red of Shaak's skin. By this point the hardness of those nipples, like Shaak's own chalk-colored nipples, had nothing to do with the cold or the rain but with what they were doing. Shaak occasionally leaned down to taste them, playing with the nipple in her mouth with her tongue.

She decided they tasted slightly different in some indefinable way from the rest of Ranma's skin to her tongue. It was still a nice taste, just a different one.

Eventually Shaak's exploring hand made its way down to the redhead's privates, stopping when it reached the tuft of hair there. Pulling away from a kiss she looked between them, uttering a low, "Ohhh…"

At Ranma's inquisitive, "hmm?" she went on. "It's, it's fuzzy, not silky or long or anything like I thought it would be… It's pleasant to the touch. How strange, very different from your male body."

"Yeah, I know. I don't know why the hair down there changes so much from one forMMMM!" Ranma's voice broke off into a startled moan as one of Shaak's fingers moved to Ranma's cleft, trailing down it for a moment. "Oh, oh that, that feels weirdddd!"

Shaak's finger stopped, retreating slightly as Shaak turned her gaze up to meet Ranma's. "Weird? Do you mean uncomfortable? We can.. MMM…."

Now it was Shaak's turn to break off into a moan. Ranma's hand on her breast had moved down to Shaak's privates. While Ranma had a small budding slit, Shaak had small, engorged pussy lips. They were wet and inviting, standing out starkly white against the backdrop of Shaak's red skin, pulsing almost to the touch. And, as Ranma had known, Shaak had no hair, which only seemed to emphasize her flower further. "H, how do you like it huh?"

"I, mmm, I like it very much!" Shaak said, then dove forward, kissing Ranma hard. While their tongues began to twine around one another Shaak's one hand gripped Ranma's red hair hard, while the other moved back to what it was doing, a single finger lightly moving up and down Ranma's slit. Ranma jumped and bucked as Shaak turned so that she was now lying over Ranma's smaller frame, pressing her down onto the cushions.

Ranma, however, wasn't idle. Her own fingers went back to Shaak's privates tweaking and playing, finding a tiny little bud right above her pussy which seemed to send Shaak into paroxysms. At that point they both slowed down slightly in unspoken agreement, the feelings threatening to overwhelm them, which neither wanted. They wanted their lovemaking to last for a while and had learned that Shaak became too sensitive after she reached her crescendo to continue to play.

After a while Ranma rolled them both to the side, then covered Shaak's taller body with her own, gently rubbing their chests together, their nipples rubbing into one another sending electric tingles down both their spines. They kissed slowly, languidly, their tongues dancing before they nuzzled into one another's shoulders and necks, biting and nipping. Shaak's natural advantage in that area would have been countered by Ranma's durability, but the redhead consciously allowed her body to weaken slightly letting Shaak mark her again and again. For her part Ranma went to work on Shaak's nipples with both hands, avoiding her lekku or flower for a time.

How long their gentle lovemaking continued neither knew, but their tempo began to pick up once again when Shaak flipped them once more. Licking one of her fingers she trailed it down Ranma's body, then, when it reached Ranma's slit, gently let it press in.

"AHHH, that, that feels soOOooo weird!" Ranma said suddenly, pushing her hand away. "I, I'm not ready for that, not yet." The idea of 'his' ever being ready for that kind of thing was rather astonishing if Ranma thought about it, but at the moment Ranma simply knew that right now it was a step too far.

Nodding Shaak let her finger retreat then began to lick and nibble her way down Ranma's body, stopping at her nipples. Ranma tried to bring Shaak back up to kiss to take a more aggressive role, but Shaak shook her head, smacking the shorter woman's hands away as she continued her way down, licking at the redhead's belly button before moving on. But instead of stopping as Ranma had feared Shaak kept going, licking down Ranma's legs.

Lifting up one leg Shaak sat up, putting her own legs to either side of Ranma's body as she did. This allowed Ranma to take one of Shaak's own feet and begin to kiss and lick her toes and arch. It turned out that Shaak's foot wasn't nearly as sensitive as Ranma's, and it was Ranma who moaned aloud at this new sensation. After only a few moments she leaned away from Shaak's foot before reaching up, pulling Shaak into a deep, powerful kiss.

Both women jolted then, their clefts having rubbing against one another in this new position, something neither had realized would occur until just then. Shaak pulled back slightly staring at Ranma, who hesitantly nodded, realizing what the other woman was asking. Then they were kissing once more, their lower halves scissoring against one another as moans erupted into the tent despite their mouths being so tightly joined.

Their clefts, so wet they were literally dripping down onto the mattress below them, mashed against one another, the sensation well beyond anything Shaak had experienced before. Her movements became frantic, and she slowly lost control for the first time in this encounter.

For her part Ranma was having a slightly easier time of it. The feeling was incredible but not as powerful, or perhaps frantic, as what he had felt when Shaak had gone down on him in his male body. The redhead thrust her hips up harder and harder, trying to evoke more of the incredible feeling, working to a massive crescendo that swallowed both women.

Shaak threw her head back crying out in ecstasy, and Ranma shouted, "SHAAAAK!" aloud as she too went over the edge.

The feeling was utterly unlike the feeling she had as a man. She was somewhat less tired, Ranma could tell that she could keep going and it wasn't as debilitating, but it was somehow just as powerful.

Shaak, however, had exhausted herself and fell to the side, barely conscious at the moment. She wearily pushed herself up slightly to kiss Ranma on the lips and smiled as the human's arms went around her, holding her tight. "I love you, Shaak," Ranma murmured against Shaak's lips, causing a smile to appear on the Jedi's weary lips, as she returned those three all-important words.

 **{End Lemon}**

As Shaak began to fall asleep, the truck rocked for a moment as something hit it from outside followed by a low ululation. With a snarl on her face Ranma crawled towards the tent flap while behind her Shaak's eye's tracked her, though the Jedi made no attempt to move. She merely watched with interest, both because of Ranma's pert rear sticking out back towards her and because she wondered what animal had just announced it's desire for an early death.

Sticking her head out of the tent flap Ranma came face to face with a creature that could be best described as a rhino with a predator's jaw and teeth. The thing looked at the edible human opening it's mouth to reveal fangs as large as Ranma's fingers.

The redhead however reached out with both hand's grabbing it's jaw and pushing it closed pulling the best down slightly so they were eye to eye, her fingers digging like claws into the beast's armored hide. " **Leave, or die**!" she snarled her own teeth bared and her eyes flashing with Living Force.

The beast stared at her for a moment, almost petrified. Ranma let it go, and the predator backed away, before turning quickly racing off with its long, simian-looking tail between it's legs. It even was making little whimpering noises as it went.

"Hmmpf, well at least this interruption came after we, finished," Ranma groused to herself, turning back into the tent as Shaak nearly fell off the slim bed she was laughing so hard.

The next day the two lovers began their trek back to civilization.

Having changed into his male form now that they were heading back to the city where they'd left the _Wild Light_ , Ranma had trouble looking at Shaak, who had an equal amount of trouble looking at him. They would occasionally catch one another's eyes, blush, and rapidly turn back to watching the road. It was as if they had taken a step forward in their relationship that their earlier encounters had not marked somehow, and each time they looked at one another now the memory of last night would come back to them.

"This is silly," Shaak said at last shaking her head. "It wasn't the first time you've seen me, I mean, it wasn't the first time we've…"

"I know, but it's just, I can't control my face! I want to laugh, grin, and blush all at the same time," Ranma groaned before leaning over to put an arm around her shoulders, kissing one of her montrals lightly.

"I feel the same way," Shaak said nodding. "I think it was because both of use were completely naked, and there was, I think, a sense of intimacy in that which went slightly beyond our former activities. That, and the fact you were in your female form."

"I suppose we'll need more practice to get over the reaction then," Ranma said, smirking as he kissed down Shaak's montrals to her lekku.

Shaak shuddered, the hover truck slithering to the side slightly as she almost lost control of it. "None of that please, unless you want me to cause a crash?"

"Yeah, that would be kind of hard to explain, wouldn't it?" Ranma said with a laugh, leaning away.

"I didn't say you had to stop entirely," Shaak said archly, reaching with one hand to pat Ranma's thigh.

Ranma laughed and leaned in again, leaning his head against her neck, reveling in the touch of her skin, the smell that was singularly hers.

But then Shaak stiffened, frowning as her Force senses tingled for a moment. Someone nearby was feeling anticipation now, and hate…hate directed towards her. "We might be about to be attacked," she said calmly.

Ranma leaned away, looking around. They were just passing over a deep gully, the bridge a small ungainly thing, but more than up to the scattered amount of traffic this area of Mandalore saw. "I don't see any…wait, there. Two blobs below us in the gully, and a few people trying to hide in the rocks over there," he said, pointing first down then forward to one side of the road.

The area they were travelling in was rocky in the extreme, with scrub brush scattered everywhere and only a few extremely hardy and gnarled trees. Cover was available for their ambushers, but not enough to cover any movement on their part or to really hide them entirely from sight.

Stretching out with the Force to the blobs below them in the gully Shaak found something out of place which screamed danger to her senses. "They might have rigged the bridge to blow." Her voice was calm even as she gunned the engine, the hover truck shooting forward faster than before. This was partly her Jedi training and her being centered in the Force, the rest was simple experience. Travelling with Ranma had taught her to be prepared for unexpected assaults.

Ranma in turn was already unlocking his door, leaning out over the window to stare at the two hover cars below them. "They aren't military, but they have some guns," he reported. "Best not to get caught between them."

The explosion they both expected now occurred a mere second later destroying some the bridge's foundations and slowly dumping the rest of it back into the gorge back behind the hover truck. It took Ranma a bare instant to analyze the rate the bridge was falling and their own speed. They were not going to make it, and given how asthmatic the hover truck's repulsors were over even the normal height above the ground, there was no way in hell that the hover truck could see them safely over the gully.

He exchanged a glance with Shaak, and they both nodded. Pushing open their doors the two of them leaped up out onto the top of the car. From there Shaak Force Jumped forward and was easily able to get across the intervening distance, while Ranma merely leaped across, no Force aid needed. As they landed Ranma rolled, pulling out his light-pike and activating the blade, while Shaak simply landed on her feet turning quickly, her own lightsaber coming up and out from her still-limited ki space.

A second later the two hover cars Ranma had spotted flew up out of the gulley taking them under fire even as their repulsors whined at the abuse of being so far above the ground. From the side of the road came other Mandalorians dressed in green and brown camouflage, something like the Reborn would wear, but if this lot were Reborn they would have been much less likely to attack Ranma like this. "A frame job, you think?"

"Perhaps," Shaak mused idly, her lightsaber deflecting blaster bolts even as she spoke. "Still, a rather hasty assault attempt by anyone who had any idea of our abilities. I think this is merely an attack of opportunity rather than prior planning, and those colors are rather a last minute addition."

The two of them quickly stood back to back, their lightsabers flashing this way and that as they moved, leaping around and dodging as much fire as they could while also returning any fire they could not. Ranma couldn't quite redirect the shots of his attackers as well as the Jedi could, but he was decent enough to make a few of them duck their heads. Shaak, on the other hand, while not a practitioner of Shien or Soresu, was able to sing the tune, as it were. Three of her attackers went down from redirected blaster bolts, while a few of Ranma's stumbled back into cover.

That stumbling cost them, as Ranma hurled his light-pike forward at the one of the skimmers, leaping forward himself. The plasma blade slammed into the engine coupling at the front of the Hummer car. It tilted immediately, all power extinguished, and slammed into the side of the gorge before falling back down into it, taking its occupants with it.

"Ranma you really need to get better at holding onto your weapon!" Shaak shouted reaching out with the Force and grabbing at his light-pike. An instant later her Force Grab pulled it away from the tumbling hover car before spinning through the air towards him.

"Why would I do that when I have you, Shaak?" Ranma asked with a laugh as he leapt into the air dodging other blaster bolts even as Shaak turned, twirling around momentarily in place defending herself from every angle with her lightsaber. Facing so many opponents from multiple angles would have exhausted most Jedi's ability to predict their opponents' moves, or simply their bodies, but not Shaak Ti. After her training with Ranma her body was more than up to the task, and that made it far easier on her Force Precognition.

Ranma grabbed his light-pike out of the air, then somehow, even Shaak still wasn't clear on how Ranma was so mobile in the air, he redirected his jump in midair to dodge further attacks, landing nearby and launching himself forward again into the attackers on that side. The light-pike deactivated, and its end slammed out with bone crushing force. A minute later he had dealt with all of the attackers on that side of the road. None of these Mandalorians were actually any good, even in comparison to the Death Watch he'd fought.

While Shaak charged the attackers on her side of the road in turn, Ranma pulled out his heavy blaster rifle. It's more powerful bolts banged out at the remaining hover car, clipping it and sending it crashing onto its side.

A moment later the battle was over, and the two of them walked towards one another while Shaak looked past Ranma at the groaning bodies of his victims. "You left them all alive?"

"So did you," Ranma replied, gesturing back over Shaak's shoulder. While many of the attackers were dead, most of them had fallen from their own redirected fire or from the two hover cars crashing. When Shaak had closed with her portion of the ambushers she had used her hands and feet rather than her lightsaber.

"I felt no need to kill such…enthusiastic amateurs in the art of real combat," Shaak replied loftily. "Besides, I detected drink on at least one of their breaths. This was not a planned assault, so survivors to spread the word that doing so again would not be a good idea is the way to go."

"Wow, you can really pull off that whole Jedi-level of moralization can't ya?" Chuckling, Ranma looped one arm with Shaak's. "So, should we wait here and call in the _Wild Light_ for pickup, call the local police to pick up that lot, or leave them to their miseries and just walk the rest of the way?"

"You just don't want to get back and deal with more politics," Shaak said with a laugh, leaning in to kiss him, lingering on the lips for a moment. "I can't say that the idea appeals much to me either but duty calls, alas. So we will run back instead of walk."

 **OOOOOOO**

The attack on Ranma and Shaak Ti was but the start of the violence. Over the next few weeks violence began to surge across all of Mandalore. Demonstration marches for and against the New Mandalorians was the cause in some cities. These routinely ran into counter marches usually composed of miners, farmers, or other groups of rural workers who were in town for one reason or another. The fact that the rallies for the New Mandalorians' pacifistic nonaggression policies also denounced the clan system seemed to be the reason behind most of those clashes.

Violence, of course, also took the form of theft, destruction of property, and outright assault. Most of those occurred against New Mandalorian owned businesses, city municipal buildings, and at two points New Mandalorian-affiliated city mayors. The last two were actual assassination attempts, not crimes of opportunity.

One of the mayors was saved by his security team, who saw the ambush before it was able to close and got him safely away, though two security men and four ambushers lost their lives. The second assault succeeded, killing the mayor and his team with the loss of only one attacker. Several other would be-criminals were later arrested in a firefight that had the New Mandalorian police force losing several more men, since their gear followed the pacifistic line of their government, and was therefore made to subdue rather than to kill.

At the same time the Reborn had their own issues. Clento had to deal with an assassination attempt while back home on his own space station. He was, needless to say, rather incensed about that, and spaced the three people involved. Bo dealt with one more assassination attempt on her, and Victor, the Mandalmotors rep, and his security team had to deal with an attack while heading to a meeting with his brother. Reborn shops and farms were assaulted, and outright firefights broke out with increasing regularity between different clans backing Bo's movement and those who wanted to turn to the old ways of conquest and expansion.

The only places that seemed to be inviolate were the ducal palace and the training hall that Ranma and Shaak were still using to help teach Bo and a rotating group of newcomers some of Ranma's skills and abilities. This might be because that city had both a New Mandalorian and Reborn presence and the two were working together well; this was the same city Obi-Wan had been in when he saw Reborn come to the aid of the security forces back before Shaak and Ranma had arrived.

Other than that there didn't seem to be any kind of pattern that the locals or even the Jedi could discern when going over the information or meditating on it through the Force. There was no one group behind it as had been the case during the Clan Wars. Then it had been the Death Watch behind far too many of the atrocities which occurred in that period. This time it was all simply random acts of violence from people angry at the status quo or at the idea the status quo might change on a planet where lots and lots of people still espoused carrying arms.

The three Jedi talked about it with the various concerned entities and decided that any real organized attempt by the Jedi to quell the violence would have a negative response. So instead of doing that Shaak, Obi-Wan, and Plo Koon took turns using the Force to try to discern when the next large outbreak of violence would occur. Shaak and Plo Koon both arrived in time to subtly influence a few minds away from creating ambushes over the next few days.

Ranma and HK were called on occasionally when there was a need for a bigger hammer, but that was seldom. Indeed, Ranma found his weeks rather boring at this point, not getting much out of training with the locals and becoming frustrated at how often he had to repeat himself when talking about the ancient samurai or his own Code, and what he had called the honor of the defender.

Of the three Jedi, Obi-Wan had somewhat more luck than his fellows, actually capturing a few rabble-rousers who wanted to use the violence as a cover to their own activities, which was mainly theft. He also stomped on a budding protection racket, capturing their leaders.

Returning to the palace after that mission, Obi-Wan sat down with a faint sigh, rubbing at his leg. He knew it was purely psychosomatic, with nothing physical or Force-related to back it up, but Obi-Wan always felt that the area where his leg had been reattached via bacta immersion always pained him if he was on his feet for too long.

"Would you like some food, Master Jedi?" asked the servant nearby.

"Some tea or coffee would be nice, and perhaps some fruit if you have any?" Obi-Wan replied politely.

A moment later Satine joined him, carrying her own tray and placing it down between them. She smiled at him, a rather wan expression on her face. Besides all of the meetings and political maneuverings she was doing to try to figure out how much support she would have in the clan conclave, Satine had been dealing with internal pressures from her own party. A lot of the New Mandalorians didn't actually approve of the clan concept any longer and wanted it entirely done away with as a social crutch which was no longer viable.

There had even been attacks on clan leaders organized within her faction. The people involved seemed to think that violence could be allowed for in this instance, so long as they kept control of the planet. They were shocked to discover that Satine and many of their fellows did not share that view.

So it was no wonder that Satine was looking tired. But she still smiled at Obi-Wan, sharing the same pot of tea with him and a small plate of chopped fruit. It was a local variety, a kind of plum that tasted more like a peach but looked sort of more like what Ranma thought of as a pickle. "How goes it?"

"I do not know," Obi-Wan said honestly. "The Force has helped my colleagues and me to offset some of the violence, but we can't do much more without stirring up anti-Jedi prejudices. Admittedly, that would concentrate the violence on us, possibly making it more controllable. Ranma suggested that, but then again, Ranma would cheerfully take on entire mob with his bare hands and leave them all groaning and moaning, but, generally speaking, in one piece. I'm afraid I cannot do the same, though Shaak Ti might be able to, and Master Koon would possibly enjoy the challenge," Obi-Wan replied, his tone becoming drier as he went on with a hint of actual humor in his voice at the end.

"I see," Satine said sighing faintly. "And you and your fellows still believe that backing my own position entirely would not help matters?"

"Satine," Obi-Wan said making her name into a sigh, "You know that wouldn't work in the long run. Yes, we might be able to quell the violence occurring right now. The real division between the New Mandalorians and the rest of the population would remain. Regardless of anything else after this referendum, I'm afraid unless the general vote goes entirely in your favor you'll be forced to, at the very least, relax your grip on some of your policies."

He held up a hand as Satine made to speak. "I do not mean that you will have to take portions of the Reborn's platform, but your people will need some kind of outlet. Perhaps enlarging your space security forces? Send a few of them out after the pirates that are seemingly acting with impunity throughout the sector?"

"And after which I would have created not an outlet but an excuse for people who wanted to go back to their warlike ways! Instead of dealing with pirate attacks I would be pressured to launch my own raids against pirate bases. And from then it would be a small step to installing 'protection forces' over the planets that had been raided recently, slowly taking control of the territories that our peoples held when we were still warlike barbarians. Just like the Reborn wish to!" Satine replied sharply.

"There can be no give here. The way of peace and of nonaggression is the only way forward. Yes," she said with manifest reluctance, "that does mean we will occasionally have issues at home. But they will be small and hopefully easily dealt with once the New Mandalorians and my own policies are shown to be the way forward after this conclave."

Obi-Wan winced a little. He seriously was not certain which of the two sisters was more set in their ways, but neither liked the idea that they were wrong at all. The New Mandalorians had been in power for hundreds of years now, and the clan wars had not been the first time they had faced opposition. Yes, it had indeed been the New Mandalorians which had rebuilt the planet's economy, and they had made a lot of headway in that.

But socially? The Mandalorian way was at base simple, but like many simple things it was also pervasive, hence why there were Mandalorians of several dozen races. Belief in the Resol'nare, the way of combat, armor, and the other tenets, still had a hold on the majority of the Mandalorians, but Satine and those like her did not seem capable of seeing it.

"Let's not talk about that for now," he said instead. "Other than politics and ruling, what have you been up to? Since I arrived we haven't actually had a chance to make much small talk, after all."

"I have taken up gardening. There is an art form called Air-bending developed on Thustra. You cultivate a flower-bearing plant and through the use of small air nozzles and a type of chemical try to make it grow into certain shapes. I have to admit that I am an amateur at it, but it is a soothing pass time. I thought of getting a pet, but even a small pet would take so much time, and frankly I was sort of afraid that it would become more the servants' pet rather than my own. This whole ruling thing is a sort of 24/7 job, you know," Satine said dryly, a wan smile on her face.

"It is much the same with Jedi. When we are not on missions, we are meditating on the ways of the Force. When we are not meditating, we are training. Despite that, there is happiness to be had within it, reflection and the tranquility of being one with the Force, of being a small cog in the great scheme of life. And of course," he said with a chuckle, "we can follow sports teams and other things of that nature so long as we do not do so too openly or become attached to the actual players. I personally like to follow a few grifball teams."

"That's never actually caught on out here in the Outer Rim," Satine laughed, shaking her head. Then she became somewhat more serious, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes as she took a bite from one of the fruit slices. Setting it down, she spoke rather hesitantly. "I have to question about Knight Ti and her special status. I, I got the impression that allowing her attachment to Ranma was almost a way to control him, but I would not have thought the Jedi order would have used such a method."

"It is not, and whatever impression you got on that is false," Obi-Wan replied quickly. "Shaak Ti was assigned to follow Ranma around and to learn from him. That agreement gave Ranma access to the Order's aid in his endeavors, to whit that ship of his, though apparently he paid for it himself. His association with the Order opened doors, and it also gave him access to our information network, which he surely would not have had elsewhere, as well as some of our own training.

"In return, Shaak has received his training. Strength, endurance, speed, even her lightsaber dueling style has changed since the two of them met. She was known as one of the better lightsaber duelists among the Jedi Knights, but she was not the equal of most of the Masters. Now, however, she is one of the most dangerous combatants in the Order.

"Their relationship was a surprise to me when I first heard it…" he went on much more slowly. "I do not know how she was able to convince the council to allow it, but I believe she was able to carry the day through logic rather than appealing to their desire to control Ranma."

He chuckled suddenly, shaking his head. "Any attempt to do that would probably backfire horribly in any event. Ranma does not like people trying to control him, and in so saying," he said, still laughing, "I should probably be given an award for understatement of the year."

Satine laughed too, shaking her head. "Like in those, what are they called, those movie awards some of the core worlds have? Best actor, best picture, and then best understatement of the century!" She laughed again. "Even after so few meetings with him I can tell Ranma would not react well to that at all. He's quite rude at times, but honest, and I think a good man, if incredibly focused on the martial arts."

Obi-Wan nodded, understanding that given both Ranma's own personality and Satine's that the two would never be more than passing acquaintances. _Added to that is the fact that Ranma is backing Bo and her attempt to overthrow the New Mandalorians, if in a peaceful manner._ _It's a wonder Satine didn't have Ranma tossed out of the palace after he bluntly called her a horrible leader to her face. Mind you, that would be more "attempt" to toss him out, since if he didn't want to go I doubt anyone but Shaak Ti would be able to get him to leave._

"But my question, then, is, if Shaak Ti used simple persuasion and reasoning, did that open the door for…" Satine paused trying to come up with a way to ask her next question without seeming to come off as a love-struck girl. "That is, will other Jedi be allowed to what did she did? Retake your Oaths in the old format and form relationships? What is the difference between the two Oaths anyway?"

"The Oath used in this day and age reads as: `There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.' That is the Oath that has been followed by the Order since the Ruusan Reformation.

"The Old Oath reads like this: `Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force,'" Obi-Wan intoned, shaking his head. "As you can see, there is a distinct difference between the two.

"I am not certain I would have the intestinal fortitude to try to take the Old Oath, nor am I certain that it would be allowed. There is some belief that it is actually a more psychologically sound set of mandates to follow, but that idea is only slowly gaining ground within the Order, and there has been no talk about universally changing back to the Old Oath. I know that some are acting as if they have retaken the Old Oath, but to actually do it, to open yourself to the amount of scrutiny that would bring is not something I would welcome. No, I'm not certain I would be comfortable with that."

Obi-Wan was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Meeting Satine had been interesting, but to his relief it had not reignited the old feelings that he had had for the girl he had known. Too much time had passed since they last met one another, and they were two different people now. So putting aside his relationship, whatever you labeled it, with Siri, Obi-Wan would be unwilling to take up a relationship with Satine once again.

Moreover, when he thought of the two women he found he was more at home with the relationship he had with Siri. There was commitment there certainly, but there was also no pressure to conform, to stay together or even to be open about their relationship. There couldn't be with their duties taking them away from one another at the Order's will, and for some reason Obi-Wan felt no sense of jealousy when he thought of Siri being away from him for so long. Moreover she understood the desire to keep their relationship hidden. Satine, on the other hand, would want commitment, and would probably pressure him to remain with her here on Mandalore, something Obi-Wan was unwilling to contemplate.

"I see," Satine said, somewhat sadly, and Obi-Wan hid a carefully concealed wince realizing that she too had been thinking about the way they had been around one another when they were younger. _But you can never go back, you can only go forward, just like Master Koon said the other day. Regrets and missed opportunities can teach you lessons, but you cannot dwell on them and remained centered in the Force._

So Obi-Wan stayed silent for a moment before changing the subject. "I understand that Shaak Ti's and Ranma's ongoing training with the Reborn have evoked quite a lot of public interest. Have there been any public discussions of late about the changes to the Resol'nare that Bo wants to make?"

He watched as Satine's nose wrinkled at the mention of the Resol'nare, but she answered gamely, and the dangerous moment passed, letting Obi-Wan breathe a sigh of relief.

 **OOOOOOO**

Bo Katan Kryze got off of her hover bike, cracking her back explosively in her armor for a moment. _Ugh, my back. Damn, Ranma really nailed me a good one yesterday. I'd never say it aloud, but a full day off of training is just what I need at this point. Two weeks of half-days with that Chakaar (bastard or bitch) is as tiring as months of commando training!_

Standing beside her bike Bo double-checked that her weapons were charged and ready. Yes, this was a meeting with a few clan leaders who were possibly willing to join the Reborn, but it never hurt to be prepared given that she'd had to deal with an assassination attempt recently. Besides, wearing armor and knowing the weapons of war were parts of the Resol'nare, and showing so would impress these people even if they were meeting peaceably.

The small town meeting hall where they were meeting her was situated on the outskirts of the town it served, between the actual town and several large farms which were being worked as Bo passed through them. Out here on the Outer Rim manpower was cheaper than droid power, so Bo wasn't surprised that there were dozens of people working the fields. All of them were wearing at least some form of body armor, and they were also armed, mainly with slug throwers, if she was any judge, with only two having real blasters. Out here that was probably both due to it being one of the mandates in the Resol'nare, and because there were a lot of animals on this planet that thought humans were just delicious.

Bo remembered that fact well. She had learned how to shoot and had gotten her first kill against just such animals which had threatened her clan's home. They had been pack animals which looked like small, slightly more mammalian Akk dogs, and both hunting them down and killing them had been a test of her skills.

Putting aside her memories of happier, or at least simpler times, Bo strode into the meeting hall. Inside she found it set up like a lot of these smaller meeting halls were: with a few bits of furniture moved here and there it could serve as meeting hall, auditorium or courtroom. At the moment it was set up as a courtroom, with the men she was here to meet at the far end where the judges would reside.

Two of the four men were holding their helmets at their sides. One of them had no helmet all, and the third was wearing his, which was unusual, but not all that unusual between Mandalorians meeting one another for the first time like this. And she understood that at least one of these people had problems with her former Death Watch ties, so assumed that the man in the helmet was that one.

Even so she loosened her blaster in its holster at her side for a moment as she entered, the move covered by the rest of her body from those waiting for her. With that done she strode forward, clipping her own helmet to the top of her jet pack which she was wearing, something none of the fellows waiting for her were.

Two of the men, the one holding his helmet and one of the men who didn't have a helmet, both raised their hands in greeting, gesturing her towards them. None of them made a move to walk towards her, which Bo didn't particularly like: it made her feel more of a supplicant then an equal having to walk to them like that. Still, she did so, becoming less tense as she watched the men talking, even smiling to one another.

When the attack came, it started with the pulse of stun light from an extremely well hidden alcove to one side. A small aperture there had opened without Bo noticing, and the blue of stun light splashed out from it towards her. However, not all of those gathered were in on it, as one of the men Bo was here to meet shouted, "Watch out!" an instant before the stun bolt was fired.

As Bo leaped backwards she heard a blast of real blaster fire, and the sound of a body dropping to the ground. By the time she looked up from where she had rolled between a few of the rows of chairs one of the men who had not been wearing a helmet was down, the back of his head missing from close range blaster fire.

The other three had moved now, the one with a helmet slapping it over his head as they quickly spread out, firing at her with their own blasters. "So much for taking her hostage! Shoot to kill!" said one of them in Mandalorian.

From the same aperture as before more blaster bolts rained out. At the same time a hidden doorway on that side of the meeting hall opened, revealing ten more Mandalorians.

They all began to fire at her with handheld blasters, but Bo launched herself up into the air using her rocket pack to get out of the line of fire as her helmet unclipped from its position on the her pack's top. She grabbed it, flipping herself in midair slightly to dodge incoming blaster bolts, returning fire with her pistol in one hand as she pulled her helmet on with her other.

Clipping it up to her suit's power system would've taken too long, but the helmet was still a decent bit of armor. This was proven a second later as a blaster bolt clipped the side of her helmet, causing her to wince and destroying her long range radar where an instant before it would have seared off half her head.

In reply, however, her return shots took out two of the newcomers. They didn't all have armor, or at least full Mandalorian armor, on them, and far too few of them had helmets. This was proven when one of her target's head exploded by like an overripe melon under Bo's fire.

Cutting out her rocket pack BO dropped like a stone a second before most of her attackers gained the range on her, dropping underneath their fire. From her wrist two rockets flared out. They were not as powerful as they should've been, but they still smashed into the ground right in front of the larger group before they could spread out, hurling them backwards.

Those who had full armor were barely injured, rolling with the explosions and coming up still firing, showing decent fire support tactics and control, though their unarmored fellows were down now, screaming in pain. At the same time the three conspirators began to fire more rapidly to cover their fellows.

Blaster bolts spangled off Bo's armor, hissing and burning it away in places, but despite not being true Beskar grade armor Bo Katan's burnished blue and silver armor was still the best quality that she could make. It absorbed a few bolts on the arm and thigh guards, heating up noticeably and making her wince inside it, but still protected her.

Then a bolt took her in the ankle, sending her crashing to the floor. The bolt had expended most of its energy on her armor's mono-weave, thankfully, but her ankle was still badly burned. Despite the pain of that wound Bo used her rocket pack to literally bounce her way over the floor crashing into and through some of the chairs using them as cover as she returned fire.

Without her helmet's targeting software Bo was forced to rely on her own eyes and hand coordination, but she had rated an expert long before being allowed her own helmet. One more of her attacker went down, sustained fire having blown through his chest armor sending him crashing to the ground.

Grabbing at her belt Bo hurled a small thermal detonator forward, even as she used her rocket pack once more to disengage herself from the pile of broken and shattered chairs. The explosion ripped up one of the walls to pieces, and Bo launched herself through, and out into the sky.

Two of her remaining attackers were stupid enough to try to follow her through and paid for their stupidity with their lives, both of them going down as Bo took the time to connect her helmet to its power coupling. The hum of the helmet's targeting and other software bits coming online was a relief, and a third attacker went down as he rounded the walls while trying to bring up a heavy blaster rifle.

Six more attackers, however, joined in from nearby with sniper rifles. They announced their presence by one of them firing a more powerful blaster bolt that caught Bo in her rocket pack. Luckily it missed the battery, but the bolt still had enough impetus to knock Bo out of the sky for a moment.

Another sniper bolt slammed into her shoulder, but that sniper made the mistake of not moving to a new position and Bo returned fire. Using her helmet's targeting software she found the man hiding in the wheat field and shot at him from the hip, a sight that took him apparently enough by surprise to cost him his life.

The remaining attackers from inside the building made use of the snipers fire to escape from the wreckage of the town hall, and started to spread out, one of them even taking to the air having donned a rocket pack of his own. In response Bo retreated back the way she had come towards her hover bike, hoping to at least escape at this point. She bounced around, dodged and rolled while on the ground, wrecking several yards worth of wheat each time but keeping herself in one piece, but every time she made progress a wall of sniper fire went up blocking her way forward and she would be forced to retreat back to town into the range of her other attackers.

Bo idly noticed that a lot of the workers in the fields had taken cover, but were not shooting at either her or her attackers, simply watching events. Either they didn't know what was going on, or didn't understand who had started this. Either way they weren't going to get involved even if they recognized a few other locals among her attackers. That was good enough for Bo at the moment.

It was the snipers that were giving her conniptions. Every time she tried to break for cover, either her bike or the line of scrub and rocks marking the end of the farms her armor would ring from blaster bolts. Her thigh was now seared slightly, the armor covering it seared through, though having drained enough of the bolt to keep her from losing her leg. Her ankle was throbbing, and on top of her shoulder her forearm and elbow had both taken blows. Combined they were enough to make her off-arm useless.

 _I wonder if I'm going to get out of this._ The thought didn't have any fear in it, just consternation. Bo thought she was prepared, but the size of this ambush had taken her by surprise, and now she was castigating herself for leaving behind her Night Owls, or even Tess, Clento, and the others of her command staff.

Help came from an unexpected and unlooked for source. One of the snipers to Bo's right suddenly fell silent, and the others seemed to hesitate. Then Master Plo Koon came out of the sparse, rocky scrub beyond the farms, his lightsaber humming in one hand. "Surrender please. No one else has to die today," the Kel Dor called, his odd voice ringing out loud and clear despite his mask.

At the sight of the Jedi one of the attackers, the one with the rocket pack, immediately retreated entirely, bouncing away from the continuing battle. Two of the snipers turned their fire on him, as unfortunately did several people in the fields nearby. They might not have been willing to attack a fellow Mandalorian like Bo, especially one that they must've recognized from various news stories. But they were perfectly willing to attack a Jedi.

Plo Koon slid into a stance from Shien calmly redirecting the blaster bolts coming towards him back to Bo's attackers, including the fire coming from those who had not previously been involved. Five of those attackers, including the snipers who had targeted the Jedi Master, died swiftly. At the same time Bo dealt with a four more in quick succession, slaying the last of her original attackers and the ones from outside save the one who had already escaped and one sniper who had fallen silent.

"Cease-fire!" she shouted, her voice amplified by her armor's exterior speakers. "Cease-fire! The Jedi means no harm!" Bo had no desire to see a massacre here, and she knew enough about the Kel Dor Jedi to know he was dangerous.

"The Jetii **is** harm!" said a voice from the fields. "You side with the Jetii? You areDar'manda (no longer a Mandalorian)!"

"I am not here to fight, nor am I here to back the New Mandalorian position!" Plo Koon said, before he was drowned out by incoming blaster fire. Even over the fire, however, he was able to turn and look at Bo. His voice was oddly calm as he spoke, projecting his voice via the Force more than his own vocal cords for a moment. "Do not attack. Let me handle this."

Bo scowled, but the locals apparently still didn't want to fire on her even after that one hothead called her Dar'manda. She, however, marched straight up to said hothead, clipping her blaster onto her wounded thigh, pulling out a vibro-knife. "You want to back up that statement you littleVod'osik (little shit)?!"

He turned, but those who were willing to take on a Jedi still weren't willing to fight Bo Katan Kryze of the Reborn. And he had, after all, challenged her in such a way that he had to back it up. Hefting his blaster rifle in one hand and pulling out a vibro-knife with the other he charged her. He tried to overpower her, only to find Bo up to matching him even with one arm, and she was also faster by far.

The two exchanged a few blows before Bo kicked out, catching him right in the solar plexus. His breath woofed out of him, and Bo slammed her fist down onto the top of his head bringing it down to meet the rising knee of her unwounded leg. That blow sent him into unconsciousness even as she stumbled to one side, nearly falling when her wounded thigh and ankle refused to support her weight.

Bo recovered her stance quickly and was out to shout again at the other locals to cease their fire, only to notice they already had. Staring at what was going on Bo could only shake her helmeted head in shock. Plo Koon had not just redirected their fire back at them, he had redirected their fire into their own blasters. "I didn't know Jedi could be that precise," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Many cannot," Plo Koon said calmly. "But I am a student of Shien, and at the higher levels of learning that form allows you to accomplish such feats."

A few of the locals, however, charged the Jedi with handheld weapons now, and Bo was about to shout at them again, but Plo Koon held up a hand. "Do not become involved. Let me handle this."

Backing away on her wounded leg Bo watched, concerned. If the Jedi Master just cut them down then that would show…her thoughts stumbled to a halt as the locals closed with him and Plo Koon actually turned off his lightsaber!

He hurled it into the air, where it suddenly changed direction towards her, and she caught it automatically, continuing to stare in shock. The locals had halted, astonished, and he shrugged. "None of you have weapons that could match a Jedi's lightsaber, and therefore it would not have been a fair fight. Rather, I propose to see if you are able to take me on in hand-to-hand. Unless, of course" he said, his gas mask moving slightly in a way that would have told most who knew his race he was smiling, "you are still scared."

"Kriff you, Jetii, we're not scared of you!" said one of them, and charging with his farm implement, which Bo didn't recognize offhand, she wasn't a damn farmer after all, over his head.

A second later that man was hurled sideways, his weapon ripped from his hand by one of the Kel Dor's hands as the other impacted the side of another attacker's temple, sending him to the ground unconscious. Moments later the fight became more general, but still the Jedi Master dealt with them all in hand-to-hand, not even looking to Bo for aid. Bo knew that his race was somewhat stronger than the human norm, but she hadn't realized that Plo Koon was a Master of hand-to-hand combat like this.

As the last local went down cradling a bruised rib, she'd let out chuckle, moving through them to stand beside him. "You have to join our training sessions. I think it would be interesting to face another Jedi who's good with their hands, not just with his fancy sword."

"I have heard that you wield the Darksaber? It would be interesting to cross blades with you, true. Though I'm afraid my personal style would probably not teach you anything in particular. As I said, I am a student of form five Shien. You do not seem to have the right mindset to acquire such a defensive form."

"True that." With that she watched as Plo Koon bent down over the locals, easing injured ribs or other injuries as he could, or simply pulling them to their feet, helping them towards the town where other locals had come out to watch events.

That moment of rough justice Plo Koon distributed actually did a lot of good. Not only did it show that the Jedi were tough even when they weren't using their Force techniques, but it was the kind of equivalent response that the Mandalorians could really understand. The local townsfolk were willing to leave him alone after that, and word spread that the neutral Jedi Master was willing to take on all comers with his hands, something that, given Ranma and Shaak's example, many took him up on in the following days.

That he also didn't stop Bo Katan from going after the two attackers who got away spoke well of Plo Koon's sense of justice to the locals. That, too, spread slowly out from this town as rumor did its insidious work. They didn't know he had even pointed her in the right direction, making her personal hunt much easier, but that might well have added more to their approval anyway.

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Plo Koon again won points later with the locals several days after that battle He was returning to his current domicile for the evening, a hotel room that he had bought through the Order's money for his time on Mandalore. He had not wanted to stay in the palace like Obi-Wan or on the _Wild Light_ with Shaak Ti and Ranma. The first would have made it seem as if the Jedi were siding with the New Mandalorians' position. The second would've shown the same thing about the Reborn. On top of which, Plo had no desire to be a third wheel.

 _Still, I suppose it was rather nice of them to offer. But while Shaak Ti's self-control is quite good, that really doesn't matter much when Ranma is standing right next to her, his face like an open dataslate._

That thought made Plo chuckle behind his mask, and he entered hotel lobby with a light heart, only to find himself ambushed once more. Feeling a sudden wave of avarice and intense interest through the Force, Plo Koon turned in time to watch several newscasters approaching. _I thought we had another week before they arrived. Either someone deceived us, or is far too eager. I wonder which it is, but either would spell problems for us._

"Master Jedi, INN news, Thomas Riviera. We've only been on planet for a few hours now, but we've already gotten reports about violence against the New Mandalorian government, and that much of it is from this new faction called the Reborn. What are your thoughts on this, and what is the Jedi Order doing about it?"

The man who spoke after thrusting a microphone into Plo Koon's face was a middle-aged man with handsome features coupled with broad shoulders designed to look rugged and appeal to women. Personally Plo thought that his mustache looked like a separate entity had taken up residence on his face, and felt rather hollow, as if there was no real substance to him.

"The Jedi order is not here in its entirety, so the Order as a whole cannot be doing something," Master Plo Koon replied sardonically, causing a few chuckles, if rather forced from his interlocutor. "If by that you meant, 'what am I as the Order's representative doing?' I can only be in one place at a time. Indeed, that is one thing all Jedi have in common: we can only be in one place at a time. Despite our Force given abilities, we are only mortal after all."

"Yet you're not striking out against the Reborn. The reports we've seen seem to indicate the Reborn seem to be behind all of these attacks," Thomas returned. "Surely defending the planetary government from a band that seems set on destabilizing the societal extant is well within your abilities."

"Where is your evidence for that statement?" Master Plo Koon asked calmly, wondering if the man knew or cared that he had misused the term 'extant.' "If you had been on planet for longer than a few hours, you would have realized that the Reborn faction are not involved in any of this violence. Indeed, they have sometimes been targeted by the violence. Their leader, Bo Katan Kryze, has spoken out against violence being the means to win her argument against the New Mandalorian government. Just yesterday she was the target of a kidnapping attempt."

Plo took a brief second to glance to the side, noting that they were being recorded, and the Kel Dor hoped that this was going out live rather than recorded for later editing. As a young, naïve padawan he had learned the difference between canned news and live news. Yet that was too subtle a thing to pick up through the Force unless he probed one of their minds, which he did not yet have a reason for.

"Yet the Reborn's platform calls for a return to violence and expansion!" Thomas said triumphantly, so quickly it seems to Plo Koon as if he hadn't paused to hear his own words. "The Mandalorians are naturally feared throughout the Republic for their warlike ways. If the Mandalorians begin to expand once more, what will the Jedi do? Historically speaking you should be heading this off, should you not? And if you are not, what kind of deal have you made with the Reborn? Does it have anything to do with the Order attempting to distance itself from the Senate, the elected head of the Republic? Master Jedi, the Republic demands answers!"

At this verbal attack on the Order Master Plo Koon felt that he had enough evidence to allow him to probe the man's mind. A second later he kept his mask from showing he was smiling with ease. Evidently this was not going out canned, the man's video and audio equipment were linked directly to the planet's Hypercom array which was sending it out further. Of course it could still be cut off at the next relay and rewritten, but the Hypercom array here would still have a copy of it for a minimum of two years. That was a Republic law, and one of the reasons why Hypercom arrays were so well-defended, large, and expensive. Of course even Jedi needed Senate approval to access those records, and the relay stations' records were notoriously unorganized and rife with minutiae, but it had still helped occasionally to clear up "misplaced facts," as Master Yoda had once called them.

Thomas was apparently arrogant enough to believe he could catch a Jedi flat-footed like this. And live news, in particular interviews like this, always seemed more "real" to the audience, meaning better ratings. And Thomas also personally disliked the Jedi, afraid of their powers and how one of them had been involved in the removal for corruption of his patron a few years ago. All of that was actually sparkling along on the top of his mind like bubbles in a soda, and Plo found it all. _Perhaps I can turn this around._

"The Republic is, indeed, an elected, democratic body. While many of its constituent planets are not, the Republic itself is built upon democratic ideals is it not?"

This calm response took Thomas aback, and he had no recourse but to nod and wait for the Jedi to make his actual point. After all not only did he come from a planet that was democratic, but the Republic did espouse democratic views in the Senate. "Not everyone was represented, but enough" was the phrase most often used to back up the Senate's position.

"However, here on this planet, while the New Mandalorians have acted as a government, and indeed a very benign and well-organized one, they have not always represented the totality of the people. The New Mandalorians are a societal movement rather than a simple governmental party. The governmental aspect has served the entire planet well, you can see the evidence everywhere. This bio-cube ,like the others around the planet, were made under their auspices, designed, operated, and built through their work, their money, and time. They represent a large portion of the industry of the planet, which they have rebuilt after the Excision."

Plo Koon had almost used to the local word, the Dral'han or Annihilation for that, but decided that would be a little too inflammatory. Further, it would show he was becoming partisan to the locals to those watching this at home, wherever that was.

"The New Mandalorians' pacifism and nonaggression is all well and good, and I applaud their position. I could wish more people the Republic over felt that same way. However, it might not be the majority position here on this planet. We will learn if it is or not during the referendum that starts in the next few days. The Jedi are here to make certain that the debates are open, honest, and fair, and that the word of the people is heard."

"And if the New Mandalorians do not win? What then? The Mandalorians in the past made wars against the Republic. Billions died, including Jedi! Why are you not more worried about this? What secret deal have the Jedi brokered?" Thomas said, his self-control slipping. News reporters were used to rattling their opponents, but very few of them could handle a Jedi's self-control without losing their own. On top of that, Thomas was unused to dealing with aliens, and he was finding the non-human's eyes were adding their own disconcerting element.

Plo Koon replied with his own question. "Have you been given access to the report my fellow Jedi and myself sent to the Senate?"

At Thomas's suddenly wary look, Plo quickly went on. "We have investigated the rest of the Mandalore sector and found that the Excision left a power vacuum. None of the planets in this sector have been able to return to the level of technology and life that they had prior to that action. Instead pirates, slavers, and criminal gangs have moved in, taking them over lock, stock, and barrel, while preying on what little commerce there is between the planets here. I, myself, was attacked on my way to this planet."

Obi-Wan's report on Gargon had been added to Plo and Shaak's reports of the rest of the sector under a tighter security seal. Given that investigating it and the corruption there might implicate a serving Senator, the Order had decided to keep that to themselves for now, while opening up clandestine discussions with the Senate's anti-corruption committee, led, ironically enough, by Senator Antilles, the same man who had been involved in trying to force Plo and Obi-Wan into backing the New Mandalorians.

"There is therefore a need for a local, strong hand to help this sector truly become civilized. That is the purpose of the Reborn. They are not, in point of fact, returning to the Mandalorian way of conquest and expansion. They have discovered the honor of the shield rather than the conquering blade. Yes, their influence would grow throughout the sector, but it would take centuries before they are established here enough to become a threat, if they ever do."

Plo Koon let his mask move to indicate a smile for the first time in this impromptu interview. "And before you ask about the means with which that expansion would occur, Bo Katan Kryze, the woman who leads the Reborn faction, has already agreed that a Senate led oversight committee will be allowed to look at their actions, so long as it is led by a Jedi whose honor she can trust to become the sector's first Sector Jedi. The agreement to house a Sector Jedi here is one the New Mandalorians have also agreed to should they win the coming debates."

That person would not be Plo Koon, thankfully. He liked much of the Mandalorian people, but that role would be far too hands-off and organizational for his tastes. It would probably be either Master Dooku or another Guardian trained Jedi whose best years in the field in actual combat were behind him.

Plo Koon had initially thought to have Obi-Wan assigned to this sector as its new Sector Jedi, the **first** Sector Jedi this area had ever had. But even if the New Mandalorians won the conclave he did not think that would be the case any longer. Obi-Wan's connection to Satine was useful, but there seemed to be some kind of tension there too, and Obi-Wan did not have the organizational or leadership experience a Sector Jedi needed.

"Are you saying the New Mandalorians will simply be replaced? That the Reborn will take their place as a Republic backed government?" Thomas asked, backing off from his confrontational attitude, somewhat inundated by facts for now.

"In time, perhaps," Plo Koon said with a shrug. "There is still a lot of hate and loathing for the Republic for the Excision here, after all. You cannot ask people to forget such history. Just as the Republic cannot forget the ways that Mandalorians acted in the past, they cannot forget the way the Republic acted. You cannot have one without the other, after all."

Again Plo Koon reflected on how the Jedi method of dealing with memory was the better way forward. _If only all sentients could move past their emotions as we are trained to. Though even the Order has fallen short of that ideal too often for me to like._

"Are you saying you are not in fact here to back the New Mandalorian government?"

"I am here to see that democracy and equality and justice have their day. If the New Mandalorians are truly backed by a majority of this planet's population, their position will be strengthened immeasurably. If not, then the Jedi will still have to work with whatever government takes its place. We are here to make certain that these debates are fair unequivocal and as disrupted by violence as little as it is possible to make them."

"Of course," Plo said with a Gallic shrug, "just like your own presence, the Jedi presence will attract quite a lot of violence from the locals. You represent the Republic, after all, and the Republic is still hated here. Still, that will take said target away from the clan conclave. Now, do you have any questions for me?"

At Thomas's somewhat shaky negative, Plo Koon turned and walked away leaving behind a few suddenly very worried people.

Despite Plo Koon's concerns the New Mandalorians and the Reborn both assigned security teams to the news agencies as they arrived. That first group had arrived clandestinely, not even checking in with the port authority until they suddenly ambushed Plo Koon. But they didn't run into any complications before they were given a security team.

And several months later they would come away with possibly one of the greatest stories of the last few years. Even with the threat of violence on their person, and they were attacked several times during their stay, the newspaper reporters would probably look back on it and say it was worth it. Reporters were weird like that.

 **OOOOOOO**

After the assassination attempt on her, Bo and the Reborn began to crack down on the violence in the outer territories. They brought any violent outbreak there between factions or against the New Mandalorians and their own backers to a quick halt with their greater firepower, skill, and organization. Most of the time this meant simply numbers and stunners, since Bo had made a stern injunction to her people that piling up the corpses was not the way to win the argument here unless it was necessary. People still died, of course, but there was no general bloodbath over the next few weeks.

During that time as well Satine's security forces began to get a handle on the violence in the cities. Backed by Obi-Wan, Shaak Ti, and occasionally Plo Koon, they were better able to find and bring to justice the local criminal element who was involved with much of that. After a few weeks not only were there far fewer instances of violence, even random violence, but crime across the planet was also down.

This swift response to the random outbreaks of violence was seen as a positive by almost everyone, and indeed it seemed as if Plo Koon's statements and his actions had taken a lot of the wind out of people's sails when it came to hating the Jedi. There was still a lot of simmering resentment towards them, and Plo Koon knew he would have to make a public statement to begin the actual clan led debates, but he was prepared for that.

And even with that resentment still hovering in the air, violence slowly died down across Mandalore. There were occasional flare-ups, but nothing that could slow the start of the clan conclave or the vote which would be part of it. Indeed, violence died down so far that Ranma and HK were no longer needed to respond to any of the sudden flare-ups, something HK loathed, and Ranma was conflicted about.

This was offset, in Ranma's case, by the joy that the newsies didn't seem to understand the importance of the training he was giving the Reborn training cadre. They saw him as either a Jedi padawan, and therefore unimportant, disbelieving any rumors to the contrary since they were having absolutely no luck gaining any local informants, and none of them were interested in military training anyway. They were too busy trying to cover any actual violence that did occur, and had trouble even with that since they slowly lost the ability to paint either the Reborn or the New Mandalorians in a negative light, which is what they were supposed to be doing.

It was further offset by the amount of time Ranma was able to spend with Shaak during the evenings and at night. Every other evening the two of them made a point to eat dinner together whatever their other obligations.

The two of them slowly got used to sleeping in the same bed, and even followed up on Shaak's idea of reorganizing their rooms to take advantage of their new living conditions. Shaak's old room became a changing area with half of it devoted to a tiny repulsor field training area. Ranma's room was then taken up by a bed spreading nearly from bulkhead to bulkhead with a small open area along the edge to let them get in and out.

During this time much of the initial push from the locals to try and get between the two of them faded out. A few women kept after Ranma, but that was more to watch him blush or otherwise squirm rather than any real hope to wean him away from his jetii lover. Tess and one or two other women continued to act friendly towards him, but they all seemed to have decided that being friends was what they were after all along.

Shaak Ti however had a somewhat harder time of it. Men continued to approach her occasionally, but most were dealt with easily enough through ignoring their advances or dropping her relationship with Ranma in their faces. However Alex continued to pursue her subtly, always around at times, just on the right side of rude about his interest in her. She had gotten so fed up she used her Force powers to read his outer thoughts and found he was avaricious at the best, and anti-Jedi at worst.

Alex believed that breaking down Shaak Ti's resistance would be his greatest accomplishment and enjoyed the idea of dominating her. This feeling was so prevalent and strong in his mind she couldn't see anything beyond it, except that he had no particular interest in the debate, and was from off-world initially. Beyond that, a sense of duplicitousness was the only feeling she could get from the man, though that was enough to make her happy he began to keep his distance after Ranma showed up to escort her out to dinner one night.

The fragile peace continued in place for the rest of the time it took the New Mandalorians to implement the impartial voting system. In comparison to those first three hectic weeks, the next five went by swiftly, with only a few moments sticking out to Ranma and those around him:

 **OOOOOOO**

Bo Katan swung the Darksaber, grinning viciously as she knew that she had turned and accurately guessed where Shaak would come to earth after bouncing off the ceiling of the training area. _Keep her off balance, keep her falling back, and keep the damned momentum!_

Her thoughts juddered to a halt as instead of bouncing off the ceiling Shaak had stuck to it! She then slashed down at Bo, and it was all the ginger-haired woman could do to overcome her surprise in time to block the blow. But Shaak used the impetus of her defense to whirl around, still on the ceiling, and leap over and attack one of the other four Mandalorians currently fighting her. "How, what! Jedi can't just ignore gravity like that, can they?"

"It's one of Ranma's techniques, one which I have just started working with. He calls it the Frightened Gecko Maneuver, for some reason," Shaak said, smiling slightly as she regained the initiative, "killing" another Night Owl before walking down the wall, her lightsaber flashing out to deflect blaster bolts at the same time.

"Oh, that is just not fair!" Bo growled, before charging forward.

 **OOOOOOO**

"Gah!" Ranma grunted, looking up as a local boy with a water gun blinked at him. Ranma, Tess, Pol, and a few others had decided to head out of the training area to a few food stalls set up nearby for their meal today, more because Bo and Shaak's spar was going overtime than anything else. The local boy and several others like him had chased one another through their group, their water guns lashing out occasionally before Ranma could realize what was going on.

 _Meh, I suppose it's about time my female form came out again,_ Ranma thought philosophically, looking around at Tess and the others.

The Yavin vets among them didn't even bat an eyelash, simply smirking at Ranma's misfortune. Tess, Poll, and others who hadn't fought on the jungle moon however were all staring.

"So it's true," Tess breathed, shaking her head as she reached out to run a finger down Ranma's cheek. "I didn't really believe Clento and the rest when they said you had a curse like this. Where, how… I have so many questions!"

"Most of which I ain't gonna answer," Ranma groused, wiping her wet hair out of her head. "Sorry, but most of the private info about my curse is just that: private. 'How' I don't know; 'where' isn't important."

One of the other newcomers moved towards Ranma, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. He was a handsome sort of fellow, who was a bit of a ladies man. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in finding out entirely how the other side works would you?"

Ranma growled, her tiny fist flying down in a short arc to impact the man's privates like a drop hammer. "Hands off!" He squealed and fell to his knees, and Ranma walked on, resignedly fielding questions from Tess and the others.

After they had eaten and were on their way back to the training area, one of the others asked, "So wait, if the rumor about your curse is true, then did you really sing that song, White Light? Even without music accompaniment that's a good song."

So despite the scattered violence, two months after Ranma and Shaak's arrival on the planet the clan conclave began.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I really thought I would be done with the Mandalorians at this point. However again the issue was just so complex that it needed more time. However, the next chapter will see the end of the Mandalorian's clan conclave as well as Ranma and Shaak's involvement with them for a short while. At the same time several people will learn to not poke a sleeping dragon.

And ooh boy Am I loving writing in this universe! So the two SW crosses will be up for updating once more in July. They are separated from the small stories over on Pat R on, can't do that here as I said in my author's forward.

However, realize that the poll here and over on my Pat R on page will be closed on the tenth of July. That will give me the rest of the month to work on the stories which win the polls. Those first ten days I will use to work on the One Piece/Ranma crossover that is my current Pat R only exclusive work, as well as maybe writing up an omake. If you wish to have access to those works and a larger voice in what stories I persue please go over and sign up. I will also be using those days to follow up on reviews. I realize I've been falling behind on those somewhat in a few of my stories, and I apologize but I hope to turn that around a bit in the next few days.


	13. Chapter 13

I am not named George or Rumiko.

As this chapter is being posted, that should tell you which story won July's poll between the two SW crossover stories. Here on fanfic, Magic of the Force won first place running away with a total of 430, while on P at Ron it won 407. This gave it a total of 837. But Horse for the Force won 607 votes P at Ron, offsetting only winning 262 over on fanfic and giving Horse 869. Very close, VERY close.

On the other hand, this allowed me to bring the political side of things with the Mandos to a close!

Oh, in other news, if anyone has the anime adventure thread A Cat's Yarn -Tournament of Fighters, could you post the link or pm me? I tried to use the Wayback Machine to view it, but that no longer works alas. It's a Ranma/Fatal Fury crossover.

EDIT: nevermind, AEtherial Devastation has already sent me some info on a mirror of the original anime adventure: addventure dot cf.

This has been betaed by _Michael_ once again and I think he did a great job despite the size of the chapter, so please thank him for his work!

* * *

 **Chapter 13 Pushing the** **Bad** **Button**

The clan conclave was held in the ancient auditorium in Keldabe, the same that Bo had used during her initial meeting with a few scattered aliite (clan) leaders when she first started her push. Entering next to Bo Katan, Ranma looked towards where Master Plo was already sitting at one of the three prepared seats for the Jedi on the sand of the auditorium's floor. They had to be specially prepared, since the Mandalorians had no procedures in their history that allowed for outside observers at an event like this. Of course, it wasn't the only part of this conclave that was new, just the most initially striking.

Here and there, scattered throughout the room, were small floating recorders, but the actual reporters were also sitting down on the floor, locals to one side and intergalactic types on the other. There, though, the chairs and tables looked far less haphazard, since the clan conclave did have a place in it for recorders.

For some reason one of the intergalactic types was glaring at Master Plo Koon, who didn't seem to notice. Indeed, he had his eyes closed, his legs pulled up under his rear as he meditated.

Ranma and Shaak exchanged a brief look, then they turned away, with Shaak moving over to join Plo Koon. At the same moment Ranma moved, leaping from where he stood to land on the balcony in front of Bo and Clento before slipping into an empty chair between them. He moved so fast that the hovering recorders weren't able to turn to him in time to record the amazing feat.

Not that most of the galactic types would've commented on it in any event. Ranma was, despite his protestations, slowly becoming known as a Jedi simply because he traveled with one. Thankfully, the newsies hadn't seen fit to interview him, seeing him as nothing more than a padawan, not understanding his importance to the Reborn faction. Their ability to understand the locals was practically nonexistent, though Ranma wondered how much of that had to do with their own preconceived notions getting in the way, and how much had to do with actually just deciding they didn't want to, given the way they wanted to portray the clan conclave and the two sides of the debate. He had only seen a few interviews of various NM types, not a one from the Reborn faction, or indeed anyone outside the bio-cube cities.

"How's it going?" he whispered, though both Clento and Bo heard him.

Bo didn't reply, looking away with a pout on her face for a brief moment that made her look much younger. "You're not still angry about being forced to leave Bessie behind, are you?" Ranma asked, nudging her in the ribs with an elbow.

"Of course not!" Bo replied, still not looking at him. "Why would I be cross that everyone else told me it would be stupid and pointlessly showing off to ride my Bes'uliik into the conclave? And don't call him Bessie; that's demeaning."

"That and the big beastie wouldn't have fit through the doors," Clento said from Ranma's other side, rolling his eyes. _Women and their toys._ "We're trying to show in this conclave that we are willing to work through peaceful channels to settle an internal matter, Bo, not show off or inform the rest of the universe that you've found a working Bes'uliik. I doubt even most of the Jedi would be happy with that information."

"I said I agreed with your reasoning, you old di'kut (Jerk). That doesn't mean I need to like it," Bo retorted.

"We all have to do things we don't like, ad'ika (sweetie, child)," Clento replied complacently, chuckling as Bo turned to give him a glare. Youngsters always hated being called that, and it seemed to get under Bo's skin even more than it would have the warriors of his own clan.

Seeing her glare was having no effect, Bo turned away with a growl, surveying the crowd. Not being allowed to make her triumphant entrance was not the only thing bothering Bo at the moment, if she was honest. She was actually having a case of nerves. She had spoken in front of more people than this during the campaign on Yavin and at a few other battles, but that was about combat and war, about planning, strategizing and other things of that nature. This was public speaking about politics and society, and looking around at the sheer number of representatives here was a daunting thing. Because not only were the all the clan heads here, including dozens of offworlders and various nonhumans, but hundreds of other people representing still more.

These were the unaffiliates, people who had turned their backs on the clan structure for one reason or another. Most of them were from the New Mandalorian group, representing various industries and other groups of that nature. Many others were simple pro-social leaders, the mayors of the cities scattered over the planet, both the NM's bio-cube cities and the older ones. Even the most traditional cities had some unaffiliates who belonged to no clan, and thus had to be represented here in some other fashion.

Clento took it upon himself to respond when he noticed his younger compatriot was in no state of mind to do so. "In answer to your initial question, Ranma, mixing our security division with the New Mandalorians' might've caused several headaches and at least seven fistfights that I know of over the last few days, but it also found at least two attempts at smuggling in neurotoxins, one bomb scare, and at least one person who did not agree with the idea of leaving his weapons outside for this debate.

"So in that department it's going quite well. The New Mandalorians' tact and organization, and our ability to deal with the individuals involved have seen us through so far." Clento actually smiled for a moment. "One of my own clansmen was involved in taking down one of the two groups which tried to smuggle in neurotoxins. An unaffiliated group who were trying to strike at lady Satine, for some reason. The interrogation is ongoing considering that episode happened this morning."

"They didn't have anything for or against the actual debate?"

"Apparently not," Clento answered, prevaricating slightly. "We will find out more in due course."

Ranma nodded and leaned back, watching as 'Duchess' Satine entered last as befit the leader of the government whose position was being debated, resplendent in her ceremonial robes. Bo stiffened at the sight, sitting up in her seat, her own armor buffed and shining with the colors of dark blue and silver, her helmet under one arm.

In comparison the three Jedi, now all sitting at one table, looked rather drab in their robes. But Ranma felt that their very drabness seemed to scream out the Jedi's purpose more than any kind of panoply: that they were here to see that the rules were obeyed.

Seeing all three of them together at one table caused a susurration of noise around them, as if not everyone there had understood that all three of the Jedi would be involved in the debate. Or rather, not taking part in the debate, Ranma corrected himself, simply making certain that it was as open and peaceful as it could be.

Lady Satine took her place in the crowd as everyone else had, while two large circular platforms were brought in, and the doors ritually closed, the two platforms placed in such a way that everyone could see them. Small screens turned on, hovering in the air here and there above the large crowd so that everyone would be able to see the two speakers beside each other.

At the same time an old man, easily the oldest person Ranma had seen on the planet, moved forward. He was obviously a Mandalorian of some kind, though he did not wear any armor. One leg was replaced by a cybernetic replacement, one hand was missing, and he walked with a limp. Standing in the center of the auditorium's floor, directly across from the Jedi he stared at them one after another.

Whatever he was looking for there Ranma didn't know, and from Clento's hiss Ranma discerned that the old man's stopping like that and staring at the Jedi was not part of the script. _Makes me wish I had looked up more about what was going to happen here, but I just didn't care much about the actual organization of the debate. I've done my bit, the rest is up to the politicos, blech._

After a moment, however, the man turned away from the Jedi, staring out around him as he moved to one of the podiums. He tapped it, and it glowed green with a ring of brown light around it. Tapping the other one in turn, it glowed blue with a silver line of light around it.

"Matching colors?" Ranma murmured to Clento.

"They're supposed to match the color of the armor of the individual with each side using their podium one at a time taking turns between the two sides., I'll admit the color coding is s a little lost considering Satine does not wear armor and in fact rejects that part of the Resol'nare, the Beskar'gem, butit is traditional."

"Saying its traditional is just another way of saying it's stupid with bells and whistles," Ranma muttered, causing Clento to glare at him, though Bo cracked a smile at the quip.

With the lights of the two podiums as a backdrop the old man turned, his face appearing on all the screens scattered above the crowd. He pulled out a long sheet of actual paper and without further preamble began to shout out names from the list on it. As he went down the list men and women in the crowd stood up silently, not calling out, but there was a deep gong sound with each name uttered and answered. Even the unaffiliated and the other New Mandalorian backers observed the ceremony solemnly.

Ranma drowned it out, not caring really about their names or anything of that nature, only concentrating again as he heard a few of the titles of the unaffiliates. "You guys have unions and guilds? You, don't have a bounty hunters' chapter on the planet, do you?"

"No, no true Mando would ever put money on anyone's life like that, even the New Mandalorians. Taking someone else's money is, of course, a different thing entirely. But actually paying to have someone else solve your problem would be admitting that you couldn't deal with the matter on your own, and that would result in a tremendous loss of face," Bo replied, seemingly having gotten over her nerves now.

"And we wouldn't want that, would we?" Ranma murmured, his eyes slowly sliding shut as the names continued.

He woke up when the old man stopped, staring around into the crowd. "We are here in a time of great turmoil," he said simply.

His voice, Ranma now noticed, was deep and carrying. "Who is he, anyway?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"The Ancient," Bo replied with a shrug. "Every clan keeps a tally of their warriors, and the Ancient is chosen by the oldest and most respected warriors on the planet. He doesn't have to be still serving, as in this case, but his words carry a bit more weight than they would if they were coming from anyone else."

They both fell silent as the man began to speak again. "The New Mandalorians have led us out of disaster. We all know what that disaster was," the older man said, pointedly staring over at the Jedi, smiling slightly at the crowd's reaction to that, though the Jedi remain unmoved.

"We also know that the decisions made here will have ramifications far beyond our home here on Mandalore," he went on, turning to glare at the newscasters before smiling up at a few out-system clan leaders.

"Put that out of your minds. This is not a debate to be made for anyone else. We must decide on the course of our people for the good of our people. We must decide whether the Resol'nare is to be set aside as the prop of an earlier, less enlightened age, as the New Mandalorians would have it, or must be changed, as the Reborn would wish it. Regardless, we must decide as a people, make our choice, and go into the future together, not as two separate peoples as we have become in the past few centuries."

With that he nodded once more, and without another word turned away, making his creaky way towards the stairwell leading up to where he had originally been sitting. Before the man could reach his chair, however, another susurration of noise caused him to turn. Ranma's eyes narrowed in speculation as Master Plo stood up, moving around the table the Jedi had been assigned, the table that had made them seem so much more like outsiders, just like the news agencies.

Plo moved to stand in the same position the old man had, turning in place for a moment to look around the triangle at all the people sitting above him. His Force senses reached out lightly, feeling the emotions of the crowd: the turmoil, the conflict, the anger, and quite a bit of hate, as well as confusion, trust, awe, and fear. _I cannot combat the hate within their souls, but I can alleviate some of the fear, perhaps, and the original reason behind those two emotions._

And it was time to do just that. As the Kel Dor had known he would from the moment he understood how wrong the Excision had been. "You all know me," he said, his voice through the respirator coming out deeper and even more baritone than the Ancient. "You all know I am a Jedi. And I know your hate, and the reason behind it."

"The Excision, as the Republic calls it. The Dral'hanyour people call it, and since coming into this sector I have learned that your name was far more descriptive than the Republic's. For over eight hundred years, the Order has taught that the Excision was an ugly but necessary act to remove a potential threat to the Republic. We were wrong."

As Plo spoke, the crowd had been getting angrier and angrier. That anger, however. was snuffed out by confusion now, drowning out all the other emotions he could sense through the Force. Every man and woman there, even Bo and Satine. stared at Plo Koon, a Jedi master who had just said his order had been wrong.

Even Ranma was astonished. _Holy hell, Plo, that was one hell of an opening gambit!_ Only his fellow Jedi did not look surprised, simply looking on calmly. The newsies were not at all calm, whispering heatedly into their receivers. _I gotta wonder how that is going to be received on Coruscant… Plo did the right thing, but I think the Order might pay for it down the line if enough Senators actually care about what's going on here at all._

"We were wrong," Plo said again. "While you might have backed certain factions among the New Sith, that war had ended more than a hundred years before the Excision. Yes, you were gaining power out here. But there was a hundred years of relative peace between the Republic and your people. Which the Republic and the Jedi order ended with annihilation. An act carried out against a peaceful neighbor, one we might have warred with in the past, but which we had no data at that time to show was becoming a threat again. I could wish that our own records of that time were more concrete, to know the reasoning behind the Jedi Council's agreement to be part of the Excision, indeed, why we had pushed for it.

"But I do not know why. And I cannot go back in time and prevent it, nor can I make you forget it." At that Plo got down on his knees and bowed his head briefly touching the ground in front of them. "I can only apologize to the best of my ability."

From a politician this would have been nothing, mere words. But this was Jedi Master Plo Koon. A man who had taken on an entire town's worth of Mandalorians in hand-to-hand and beaten them down, killing none of them A man who had gone out of his way to help Bo in that same engagement. A man who had been hip deep in the organization of the conclave, who had gone out of his way to be open to questions by the New Mandalorians and Reborn alike.

Only a few of his missions before coming here had become known since, but those few were enough to add to everyone's understanding of the individual that was Master Plo Koon, warrior and statesmen. Coupled with that, there were more than a few there who had dealt with other Kel Dor, and knew of that race's concept of justice and honor. That gave his word impact far beyond what anyone else could've done, and for a moment shock overcame hate, beating it back as something like respect began to take its place in many of his listeners.

Slowly Plo stood up, staring around at the quiet audience. "Today, you will make a decision that will, despite what the Ancient said, have a major impact on the galaxy. As your people, in point of fact, are known for doing," he said dryly, and more than a few people there surprised themselves by chuckling. "Most of those impacts, despite what you may think, were negative, but it does not always have to be that way. You can stand as the New Mandalorians would wish you to, exemplifying a society that has moved beyond the barbarity of war. Or you could take on the role of defenders, shields for those who cannot defend themselves."

He gestured at the other two Jedi. "We Jedi are here not to involve ourselves, nor to influence your decisions. We are here to make certain that all of you, each and every one of you sitting before me or listening at home, has a chance to be heard, that this debate is held as peaceably as possible, and that your own traditions are upheld. I cannot tell you to ignore us but do not let that presence influence your decisions. Let the speakers and the merits of the two positions speak for themselves."

He held that pose for a moment, then nodded and returned to his place. Sitting down fluidly he leaned back, looking around him as if nothing important had taken place, his steel-capped fingers steepled in front of him as he waited for the first speaker to begin.

Duchess Satine continued to stare at the Kel Dor for a moment, but she was the best politician there, and she got over her shock quickly, pushing herself to her feet and moving down to take her place on her podium. For a moment she simply stood there, staring at Plo as she had throughout her walk, before resolutely turning back and facing the rest of the audience. She licked her lips for a moment then started to speak, and the debate truly began.

 **OOOOOOO**

The debate went on for the rest of the day but Ranma blocked it out, leaning back in his chair and meditating as best he could. He only came out of his meditation to pay attention when one or the other Jedi would speak. Their voices would cut through the debate their calm tones calming individuals or calling the debate back to order after a particular shouted diatribe from the crowd. Several times the Jedi asked questions, forcing both Bo and Satine to restate their points in a more easily understood manner. For the most part, though, they simply made certain that everyone's voice was heard equally, calmed anyone who tried to shout over everyone else, and allowed the quiet to be heard just as much as those shouting.

The most glorious sound of all, however, was the ringing of a gong signaling a meal break. The sound of Ranma's true master, or, as other people termed it, his stomach, sounded on cue, but for once its roar went unheard over the sound of the crowd as it began to stand. Ranma, however, cut through them swiftly, his stomach leading him to the nearest food with unerring accuracy.

For her part Bo felt as if she had run a five-day marathon. Her throat so sore she wondered if she would ever be able to speak again. Moving away from the podium where she had just given the Reborn's closing arguments for the day, she ignored her sister's presence entirely as she moved towards the door. As the two leaders of the factions trying to sway public opinion, she and Satine would be allowed to leave first, followed by the three Jedi in their places as the debate monitors, while the news agencies would be left for last, so they could canvas the crowd for opinion pieces.

Outside in the small corridor reserved for the debate monitors and the two leaders, Bo watched Satine march off, her back ramrod straight, her eyes resolutely turned forward, not even looking at her sister. That was fine by Bo. Bo had heard Satine's voice enough for one day…hell, for a lifetime!

Turning at the sound of another set of feet, she found Shaak walking beside her. "Do you think that went well?"

"I think Plo dropped a kriffing bomb on us," Bo replied bluntly. "I hadn't realized that a simple apology could have that much impact. The debate is going much more smoothly than I had anticipated, and with far less acrimony tossed to either me or the NM's for having dealings with Jedi because of that.

"With that anger gone clearer heads are keeping calm at this point, which could lead to a faster resolution than I had anticipated, though I can't tell you what that would be. We're looking at maybe a few weeks' worth of debates rather than a few months, for which my throat is kriffing grateful!" Bo said with a shaky laugh, touching her throat. "Osik (Crap), but I need a drink."

Shaak chuckled quietly, pulling out a water bottle from somewhere and holding it out.

Bo took it, staring at Shaak quizzically, wondering where she had hid it, or if she had used some kind of Jedi trick to cover its being there. Regardless, she took a swig and nodded her thanks to the Togrutan woman. She found herself chuckling after a moment as a thought struck her. _Holy crap, I'm closer to Shaak then I am to my own sister. And that is really saying something considering my feelings towards Shaak, which are at best neutral, though at times like this it is hard to remember why._

As they walked, Bo continued to paw at her throat occasionally, feeling drained and sore even with the water. Shaak noticed this and smiled slightly. "I had the opportunity in the days before I met Ranma to choose to be a Consular, a diplomat first and foremost, rather than a Guardian, a warrior first. I chose to be a Guardian, and even without my needing to keep up with Ranma I have discovered that I do not have quite the right temperament to be a diplomat. Or at least," she finished, allowing her smile to widen, "not the correct kind of bladder. I really need to piss."

The sudden crude joke caused Bo to crack out into laughter, and Shaak had to actually help her along for a few moments. Behind them Plo and Obi-Wan both smiled in their own way before Master Plo turned and followed Obi-Wan who was trailing behind Satine. _Better to get ahead of things now than let the Council and the Senate becomes even angrier at me. Besides, if I make my own report it will be coming in on the heels of the reporters', and thus may stop opinions from hardening against me._

 **OOOOOOO**

Plo Koon was not surprised to find that he barely had to wait a few moments before the local Hypercom's computer informed him he had call for him from the Senate. In point of fact it was a dual call, with lines merging on Coruscant from the Senate and the High Council. The callers were two senators and Chancellor Palpatine one the one side, and three Jedi Masters from the High Council on the other rather than the full group, which, Master Plo reflected, was telling. _We are being pulled every which way these days, as my own presence here on Mandalore shows. Yet at the same time we are also doing more noticeable good, so I cannot find it in myself to lament how much more busy we are than the High Council was in bygone days._

"Masters, Senators. You no doubt have things to say to me," Plo said calmly, his voice coming out of his breath mask with the odd timbre the mask always gave his words.

The three Jedi Masters looked at him calmly through the image, which was not a hologram on this end. Mandalore did not have a large enough Hypercom relay to handle so many hologram signals coming in. Instead the faces of the individuals on Coruscant came up on a large screen in front of Plo with each face in a small square, enlarging slightly when the individual on the other end spoke.

Unlike the Jedi the senators did not wait overlong, though the Chancellor did look at Plo thoughtfully, as always poised and in control.

"What do you think you're playing at, Jedi?" spat Senator Bestina Tarkin, almost growling the words. "You're supposed to be looking out for Republic interests out there, not throwing our past actions under the orbital bombardment! You do realize that you are forcing our hand in this? If the Senate does not publicly state a similar feeling, we will be seen as evil and uncaring, even warlike!"

"At that point of time, we were. We both were," Plo said calmly. "It took me moving through this sector and looking at the reports of my fellow Jedi to realize how much long-term damage there still was from the Excision. Think about it Senators: we created a power vacuum, and further, destroyed much of the industrial capacity in the sector."

Plo leaned back, his hands disappearing into his sleeves as he met Tarkin's angry glare with his own serene control, his eyes, as always, covered by the protective lenses his race always had to use when away from their home. "Have you looked at some of the medical information I've sent back with my reports? Shaak and I were both quite clear on the fact that life expectancy on these planets wasn't even up to the level of norm of the Outer Rim.

"There are diseases at work on some of these planets that target children, diseases that were either created or evolved after our bombardment of their planets. Barely one out of every fifteen children on most of these planets reaches adulthood. Piracy is more prominent in this region than in **any** other I have seen in my time as a Jedi. And that is **our** fault for not staying around and rebuilding."

Senator Bail Antilles smiled, replying before his coworker could fire back. "I fully endorse the idea of the Mandalore sector rebuilding. I did read your report closely, and I agree some of those planets are in dire straits. But are you certain that the Mandalorians will be up to it, or will they simply wipe out more planets? There are **atrocities** in their past, even an example of a near genocide 250 years ago, and that was only a small faction of the Mandalorians rather than their whole society."

"The Reborn will at least remove the pirate threat and bring some law and order to the space ways out here. Once that is accomplished, they'll find an ability to expand into their old territories, I think," Plo said after a moment's thought. "Their leader, Bo Katan Kryze, is noticeably more concerned with the here and now of course, and it is still not clear that she will win this conclave. However, there are fifteen known clans that came in from out-system to be involved in this. That will give the Mandalorians both impetus to aid their fellows, and a decent starting point to rebuilding the worlds they come from."

 _Even if it did exacerbate the complexities of taking a poll._ Each clan had to submit an accurate account of the number of warriors they had on their rolls for the final voting. The clan leaders could use those votes as they saw fit, but they had to be honest in how many warriors they had and submit to a survey of their numbers by a group of Reborn and New Mandalorians. Plo himself had been heavily involved in that process and had to leave Mandalore several times in the last few months to do so. This gave him more insight into the rest of the sector, but he couldn't deny that it had multiplied the legwork needed to make certain all the votes were counted.

The Chancellor spoke up next, holding up his hand as his fellow Senators made to speak. "A moment, please," he said politely, and Senator Tarkin actually paused, before leaning back in his chair with an angry humph. "I want to be clear on this. Your apology was not a mere sop to local opinion, it was an honest and heartfelt thing. We can all understand that, and I applaud you for it. But do you think it will be enough to offset the hatred that exists between you Jedi and the Mandalorian people?"

Palpatine chuckled suddenly, shaking his head. "Actually we can't even call them a people, or even a culture. Both imply that they are of a single race, after all, and they are not. Rather, it is a society, an ideology. I had not known that before this problem occurred."

As Plo nodded the Chancellor went on, nodding his own head slightly in acknowledgment of Plo's reply before going on. "But that, in point of fact, is my problem. Thoughts are awfully hard to change, Masters Jedi. This Reborn faction…I watched a recording of Miss Kryze's speech, and she sounds sincere enough. But she is trying to change a **philosophy**. How likely is it that she will succeed? Regardless of your own feelings on the matter or even what would be best in the short term for the people of that sector, we Senators have a responsibility to see to the defense of the Republic first and foremost. And if the Mandalorians will become a threat, we will need to act, regardless of the ethics of it."

Palpatine sounded apologetic about that, but firm, and he stared through the hologram at Master Plo. The Kel Dor Jedi had never dealt with the man before; the Chancellor had not been involved in the Stark Hyperspace War or any of the other large-scale problems that Plo had been involved in. However Plo could see that he was a rather forceful personality and hoped that the man did better in his position as Chancellor than his predecessor had in the past decade. The fact that he was at least asking for not only more information but Plo's opinion also spoke well of him.

"I believe that because of the demise of most of the Death Watch that the large majority of those most inclined to return to the path of honor through conquest have been removed, Chancellor. There are still those who want glory, who want to expand back to their old power base, but those can be guided, the nature of that honor changed. Yes, Chancellor, I think that the Reborn can lead by example and change this society," Plo replied.

He made no mention of the large carrot that was added to Bo's call for reform: that of gaining access to Ranma's skills. Bo was still being very careful about who trained with Ranma, and none of them were allowed to train other people without his say-so. And Ranma had made it known on that first day that he would have no pity for anyone who abused his training in the future.

The Chancellor leaned back with a thoughtful expression on his face, but Bestina took the opportunity to speak up again. "We're all talking about this like it is a foregone conclusion that the Reborn will win this election! That goes directly against your mission out there Jedi!"

"Master Plo's mission was decided upon by the Jedi Order, said Master Windu, speaking up for the first time. "The Senate passed on the duchess's request for Jedi arbitration. How we go about our missions has always been under our control, regardless of your opinions or stated orders. If you wanted to make certain the debate went your way, Senators, you should have sent your own delegates in rather than us."

As Bestina blustered, and even Senator Antilles looked a little concerned, Mace turned back to Plo. "You will keep our neutrality, correct? Do you see any problems in that area?"

"Even the New Mandalorians have factions that don't like the Jedi," Plo admitted. "My public apology might have lanced that particular boil for now, but the underlying causes are still there."

Senator Antilles, the Chancellor, and Mace understood his analogy and even smiled, though the others looked a little blank, and Tarkin simply shook his head at the attempt at humor. Coleman Trebor and Eeth Koth, the other two Jedi Masters that were part of the discussion, looked blank, since their races could not develop boils.

"The Jedi are correct," Palpatine said smoothly, again beating Bestina to the punch. "We sent the Jedi out there and it is not our lawful place to order the Jedi to toe the party line. They are servants of the Republic as a whole, not any one Senator's faction, or even the Senate's. You can give them advice, you can even express your own opinions, but you cannot lawfully pressure them to follow your demands on a subject that at heart has nothing to do with the Republic unless you can prove to my office and the Senate that there is a clear and present danger to the Republic."

Bestina Tarkin looked as if he was about to burst, but Senator Antilles nodded while the Jedi all exchanged glances at Palpatine's political speech, but it was Antilles who spoke next. "What is your opinion about these two leaders? And why do they both have the same last name? They can't be related, surely?"

"They are actually sisters, Senator Antilles. I understand they were never very close, and then Satine was sent off-world into the Republic to school. After that they never reconciled, and I have to say that there looks to be no family feeling remaining between them."

After that Plo told the group his honest opinion of the two women, having honestly grown to respect them both in different ways. "I do not think that Bo Katan understood what she was getting into, but she has risen to the challenge well enough. Would she be able to act as a normal head of state? That is doubtful, but in point of fact the Mandalorians don't historically have a 'normal' head of state; the New Mandalorians are an aberration there. As for Satine, she is an excellent leader and has a strong hold on her own faction and a proven track record. Under her the economy of the various bio-cubes has grown, and I think she won the day's debates. I expect that the debate will be long and fretful, but hopefully we have dealt with the outbreak of violence well enough to make certain no more will occur."

"Nonetheless, my fellow Senators will not like this," Tarkin growled, leaning forward aggressively. "You Jedi are supposed to be our allies! And here you are forcing our hand, not following our orders…"

"They were not **legal** orders," the Chancellor said, his voice crisp as he glared at the man. "The only person that can actually order the Jedi to do anything legally is me, and I did not do so in this case. You may request that they look into issues, what they do after that is their own purview, as I've already said. Perhaps, Senator, you should look to your own sector before going out looking for trouble? I understand that even Eriadu is having issues with local race-based crime."

Tarkin glared at the image of the Chancellor on his end, or so Plo assumed given the way his eyes strayed to the side. Then he growled once more before flicking something, his image disappearing.

Senator Antilles shook his head. "Bestina's reelection campaign is not going very well," he confided to the others. "He might well be pushed out by one of his relatives, and that's a bitter pill for a man like him to swallow." Bail laughed, shaking his head. "I personally don't see why, I am looking forward to retiring when my own term is up next month."

"You will be missed by many, my friend," Palpatine said, a sentiment echoed by the others.

Bail smiled, acknowledging their well wishes before turning back to the subject of his fellow Senator. "Bestina is taking his vitriol out on everyone, and this issue is a bit of a hot topic for him because Bestina is also a bit of a historian. The Mandalorians might not be a threat now, but they certainly were in the past, and could become such a few hundred years into the future."

"Understandable, the past can teach us many things. But being tied to it, seeing only the history rather than the now, serves no one," Mace replied.

"He is not the only Senator that is hot on this topic," the Chancellor said apologetically. "For my part, I think we have far more issues closer to home then we need to deal with. I would like to see the New Mandalorians win this…this general election? I'm not certain I actually understand all of the principals behind how they are going to tally votes, but it is a sort of election?"

In point of fact it was, though it wasn't a straight vote. Rather the clans would hold an internal vote then each clan would move in lockstep in the larger debate. Their numbers would then be tallied and added to the total. Unaffiliates would do the same thing in their guilds, unions or other organizational groups, which included colleges and other centers of learning. This had been a problem, since the students could also have been tallied under their clans or their work place's unions. Still, Plo, Satine, and Bo had worked on that aspect, and had jointly come up with the method being used.

After Plo's explanation Palpatine nodded and went on. "In that case, simply make certain that everything is on the up and up, and that will serve me perfectly fine. I probably won't take part in more of these discussions," he went on apologetically. "As you all know I've been pushing to remove the trade Federation from the Army Rights Act, and that is taking up much of my time. It was also not mere hyperbole when I said there were other issues closer to home. But I have no doubt that other Senators will try to poke their noses in."

Senator Antilles laughed, acknowledging the point, and the Chancellor bade everyone farewell before signing off. Bail made some pleasantries to the various Jedi, admitting that he was still very much in favor of the New Mandalorians winning, but would also not push for the Jedi to try to control the debate any further. "We don't have the resources out there to subtly influence events, and I refuse to countenance a military intervention. So long as the conclave continues to be as scrupulously fair as you can make it, you will have no problem with me," the head of the Senate's Internal Activities Committee said, before signing off, leaving the Jedi alone.

Master Koth was the first to speak, looking troubled as he did. "You admitted that the Jedi Order was wrong. I understand your reasoning, and it was an astute move admittedly, but I cannot say that it is one I approve of." He looked over to his fellow Masters, but saw no aid there.

Mace replied, "My friend, we can only truly control what we ourselves have done. We cannot understand what Masters from that many centuries ago were thinking; we can only judge them by our own grasp of morality. Regardless of anything else, I do think that they acted without considering all the ramifications of the Excision. The reports on the rest of the sector…" Mace shook his head.

At that Master Koth frowned, but slowly nodded turning away from his friend to look back at Master Plo. Plo respected Eeth Koth both as a Guardian and as an intelligent individual. But it was a fact that the Zabrak was not the most flexible of fellows. He had always believed that so long as the Jedi Order followed its Oaths and listened to the Force they could do no wrong. He also, as Ranma well knew, had the empathic ability of a rock.

"Fear, too, is part of the dark side," Koth said after a moment. "And it is one of the most insidious of emotions. Perhaps the ancient Jedi Council did fall into it. I cannot say that I like the precedent your admittance creates, but I cannot say you were wrong, Master Windu is correct on that. And in any event, what is done, is done."

Plo nodded his head, and Master Koth sighed. "I will go and mediate on this matter, to see what the Force has to say about it. May the Force be with you, Master Koon." With that the Zabrak Jedi signed off, leaving the council chamber to seek out his own.

"It's going to play havoc at home. The news agencies have tried to rally up public opinion against the Reborn, with scant success thanks to how quickly the violence on Mandalore was dealt with, but the opinion on the Mandalorians is still very lukewarm, and I have no doubt that the Senate will try to turn your admittance of guilt about the Excision into an attack on their own positions. Still I can deal with that," said Coleman with a faint smile on his reptilian face. "Good luck, Master Koon. I have the feeling even if violence doesn't break out again you're going to need it."

He too signed off quickly to start preparing his response to said issue, leaving the remaining Master of the Order and Plo looking at each other. "You did what was right, though it remains to be seen whether or not you did as you ought," Mace said with a faint smile, causing Plo to smile in turn at the amusing bit of doublespeak. "Stay safe my friend, and give my respects to Master Ti, Obi-Wan, and Ranma."

"Why was Master Yoda not involved in this discussion? Surely as the only living Jedi who was actually in the Order at the time he could've given us some insight into why the Excision was launched?" Plo asked. It would not have mattered to the present very much, but it might have helped Master Koth deal with the ramifications of Plo's apology.

"We asked and Master Yoda told us he had only just been made a Jedi Knight a few years before the Excision occurred. He was busy on a mission elsewhere when that entire campaign was launched, so he has no insight as to why the Council at the time did as it did."

"It is odd to think that he was ever less than the Grand Master," Plo admitted, "but it is also somewhat liberating. The Force can lead us to the answers, but we have to be the ones asking the questions. We cannot always rely on the intelligence of our elders."

"Well spoken," Mace said with a smile. "May the Force be with you, my friend."

"And with you," Master Plo said, holding up his hand as Mace did the same before they both signed off.

 **OOOOOOO**

In his alter ego's office Sidious leaned back, his hands clenched on his throne's chair arms as he tried to control his rage, his Palpatine guise slipping even with the added aid of his official robes and the light streaming in from the windows behind his desk. _The Jedi are not reacting as they should!_

The Kel Dor Jedi's public apology for the Excision was troublesome in and of itself. In the short term it would offset much of the anger directed to the Jedi that could have seen the Jedi and the Mandalorians at loggerheads once more. But that could be reversed in time. The Jedi and the Mandalorians were too different to truly ever get along in his opinion. Like wolves and sheep dogs, they could not coexist in the same galaxy.

During that meeting Sidious had actually told the truth for once, he was actually contemptuous of the idea that this Bo Katan Kryze woman could change how the Resol'nare was viewed in the long term. Those systems of tenets and beliefs had made the Mandalorians the society it was, turned them into wolves and launched them at the throat of the galaxy over and over again. There was no easy way to change that, and the younger Kryze woman was naïve to think she could.

 _But in the long term, the fact that the Kel Dor was willing to make that announcement in the first place shows a worrying amount of flexibility. It is only one indicator_ , he told himself as he finally got his anger under control. _But I need to make certain it is only one. Else the cracks I want to cause, the fission within the Order might not occur._

 _I will need to identify and target the Jedi Masters who are showing the most flexibility, regardless of any other abilities they possess. That and the Kel Dor is a dangerous fellow in and of himself. The Kel Dor and the Togrutan woman, though that is also because of her…relationship with the Chaotic Locus, need to die during this mission._

Sighing, Sidious leaned back, mentally preparing a few orders for his apprentice before turning his attention back to the rest of the work he wanted to get done today. Later that night he would have to get in touch with his apprentice and make certain that the woman understood she could not fail again.

 **OOOOOOO**

As Bo had predicted, the debates went on for the next few weeks without much let up. Luckily after that first day, they only occurred in the afternoon and evenings, letting the debaters have some time for themselves every morning. Violence continued to occur here and there, scattered across the planet, but it was small-scale stuff for the most part now. The initial response to the violence seemed to have quelled much of it. But there was still a lot of tension in the air, even if far less of it was being directed at the Jedi. The Republic, unfortunately, was still very much an outsider here.

Sometimes Ranma and Shaak would be out and about in the mornings. They sometimes chose to explore the planet, or visit some of the cities. During these excursions they would be questioned by the locals, most of the questions dealing with the debate, while others were of a more personal nature. Other times they would join the Reborn or spar between themselves. Regardless of what they did, the mornings were the time the two spent together, and thus both guarded that time vigorously, something that surprised their fellows at first.

"I'm sorry?" Obi-Wan said, looking at Shaak askance. "I thought it a simple enough request. That company was the one that made that little truck the two of you used. Talking to their union leader about what a return to an expansionist footing could mean for their guild in comparison to the status quo is in keeping with what we have been doing all along, making certain everyone knows the facts, good and bad."

"Yes, it would be, and I would have no trouble doing so. It is the timing that is an issue," Shaak replied, turning her head slightly to watch Ranma return to their table, their party consisting of herself and the other two Jedi at present. Her species' equivalent of a period had begun that morning, and Ranma had replied to it in a way that would have made her fall in love with him all over again if such a thing were possible, becoming more solicitous and understanding, while at the same time giving her massages both mornings and at night, which did wonders for her body's aches.

Ranma put a plate in front of her and another cup in front of Obi-Wan, to which both nodded gratefully while Plo Koon looked on stoically. Kel Dor could not survive without their gas masks in oxygen rich environments, and so he could not eat without returning to a specially prepared room. Kel Dor had to sustain themselves on fluids entered into the mask via a feeding tube like Plo Koon was doing now. "The timing?"

"He wants to meet in the mornings," Shaak replied, causing Ranma to frown at the other two Jedi before she gently squeezed his leg. "That is time we prefer to spend on things other than dealing with the debate."

"It's **our** time in other words," Ranma replied bluntly, taking her hand under the table and squeezing it back for a moment. His thumb then began to gently run over the back of her hand, a tender touch that caused a faint blush to come to Shaak's cheeks, though she got it under control quickly.

Chuckling Plo Koon nodded his head. "We will take that into account going forward then. Far be it from me to get in the way of your relationship."

"A most enlightened attitude, Master Plo," Shaak replied, a faint smile on her face.

Sometimes, of course, their time together was interrupted by things they couldn't ignore, such as one morning when the Republic reporters finally got their head out of their asses and realized that Ranma and Shaak Ti were affiliated with the Reborn. The two of them were having a languid breakfast together, with Shaak sitting in Ranma's lap on the sofa as they fed one another a local breakfast delicacy that looked like little pastries, but which tasted more like sausages, when Tune's voice interrupted them. "Master, mistress, there seems to be some kind of disturbance by the landing area's entrance."

Sighing, Ranma leaned back as Shaak moved out of his lap, letting her thigh and hand slowly caress his lap for a moment as she did so, evoking an immediate response which Ranma had to ignore as he turned his attention to the nearest speaker. "What kind of disturbance, Tune?"

"The reporter kind, master," the droid replied, his child-like voice sounding far too world weary for a real child of that age. "Several of the intergalactic types are out there with a few scattered hover-recorders. They are trying to get past… Correction: they have gotten past the security area and are now making their way towards us across the tarmac."

While the _Wild Light_ was parked in a public landing zone, all civilized spaceports had security around them just in case, not just because of things like contagion or other similar issues, but because ships' engines were destructive things if something went wrong, even if that something was caused by age or stupidity rather than malice. "Moments like this are why having some guns capable of firing stun bolts would be nice master."

"You've been spending too much time around HK," Shaak quipped as she stood up, pulling a reluctant Ranma to his feet. "Now, how should we handle this?"

Once on his feet, Ranma sighed but decided to see if they could get this over with quickly with as little hassle as possible. "Tune, use the external speakers to find out what the hell they want. Tell them your mistresses are still sleeping. Let's see if we can throw them off the trail."

With that Ranma moved over to HK, smacking the large and currently offline droid on the shoulder. "Wake up, LD; we've got a show to put on."

The droid came online, its shoulders straightening and its eyes lighting up. "Disgruntled query: LD, master? And what do you mean show?"

"Lazy Droid, and as for a show, we have a pack of reporters to put off the scent," Ranma replied before hopping into the shower, turning it on cold. This activated his curse, of course, and also killed his libido for the moment.

A few minutes later Shaak hid inside the cockpit watching on the external monitors with a communicator in her hand connected to an earbud Ranma was wearing hidden by her red hair. With that done, Ranma and HK moved down the gangplank and out to meet the reporters who had not been put off with Tune's attempts to protect his mistresses' time. The redhead was very obviously tired, rubbing at her eyes as one hand moved through wet hair, her clothing clinging to her damply. She looked almost childlike, certainly non-threatening, though the large security droid that tromped beside her more than made up for it.

The odd dichotomy of the sight of the two took the reporters aback for a moment, which allowed the redhead to get in the first word. "Whaddya want?" the redhead almost whined, before actually smacking her cheeks in an attempt to wake up further. The cuteness was almost visible in the air around her, but it wasn't enough to throw the reporters off further.

"Brian Foster, Kuat Intergalactic," said one man pushing another man out of the way, the one that Ranma had recognized as the reporter who had been glaring at Plo Koon the first day of the conclave. "Jedi Knight Shaak Ti is supposed to be aboard this ship. Is that the case? Why is she associating with the Reborn faction, the group of Mandalorians who want to go back to their warlike ways?"

"And can we have your name, miss?" asked another reporter, a handsome younger man who made to move forward to shake the young woman's hand, only to stop as the security droid raised its rather large gun.

"Eager Tone: Please keep a socially acceptable distance between yourselves and my mistress at all times. If you do not I will be forced to take action," the droid intoned, gesturing with its gun that the man should back away.

Ranma shook her head. "Um, the name's Ranko. As for Master Ti being here, she sometimes stays here, sometimes doesn't. As for her being involved with the Reborn faction, I thought that'd be obvious: she's involved so that the Reborn can't go back to the old 'honor through conquest' ideal."

"But isn't that a fallacy?" Another reporter leaped to the attack, deciding to see what kind of answers they could get out of this girl. "If the Mandalorians return to the ways of this Resol'nare, then they will certainly return to their warlike, aggressively expansionist ways at some point."

"You're a middle-aged human male, isn't it certain you'll eventually go bald?" Ranma quipped, eliciting a laugh from a few of her listeners and an angry expression from her interlocutor. "I think ya need to do more research. For one thing, sure they might eventually become aggressively expansionist as you put it, but only after they expand back into the rest of this sector, and outside one planet and various pirate bands that are apparently 'governed' by an organized criminal gang, they won't face any violent opposition to that. And expanding their control into the rest of the sector will take decades, probably more given how little infrastructure those planets have. Didn't the out-system speakers start to state their opinions and questions yesterday?"

"They did, but that doesn't change the facts," Brian said gamely. "The Mandalorians' history is enough to show them to always be a clear and present danger to their neighbors, and Knight Shaak Ti is still involved with the faction that most wants to."

Ranma sighed, shaking her head like she was trying to talk to a simpleton, while Shaak Ti began to coach her via the earbud. "Again, your facts are just wrong. The Reborn might be the ones pushing for a societal and governmental change, but the tension between the regular Mandos and the NMs was already there. The outbreaks of violence that led up to the conclave and the little spurts still appearing here and there should be proof of that. There were already factions that wanted to return to the ways of conquest, but Bo Katan Kryze and her Reborn have started to control that tendency, giving it direction. And if the changes Bo Katan wants to make to the Resol'nare are approved and added in, that control might become permanent."

"So are you also involved with the Reborn faction? It certainly doesn't seem as if you and Knight Shaak Ti are keeping to the Jedi's role of neutral intermediaries," said the man who had been glaring at Plo Koon. Ranma tried to remember his name, Thomas something?

"There ya go, twisting words again. I was just stating facts, not saying that was my own position. As an outsider I don't have a horse in this race really, though I am involved with Bo Katan because of a promise my brother made to train her in some of our people's techniques. I actually think that Duchess Satine's NMs are a great idea."

That bit of prevarication mixed reality and falsehood equally, though that last comment was just a baldfaced lie. Ranma's curse was even more unbelievable than most Force powers were to the uninitiated. No one in their right mind would believe any rumors about it, not even if they were backed up by video evidence. Such things could be doctored, after all, and so long as the 'cover up' didn't become too widespread, people would sooner believe that than the idea that an individual could change genders at a drop of a bottle of water. The idea of his two forms being siblings was much more believable.

Further, it put some basis to the various recordings of both his forms training with the Reborn and gave a reason for it, though the importance of 'his' involvement would be lost on anyone who didn't come from a warrior culture. This included the reporters in front of him, who had no idea why Ranma's techniques and abilities acted much like honey would to attract people to the Reborn faction, where Bo would spring the changes she wanted to make to how the Resol'nare was interpreted on them.

"And what is your connection to Knight Shaak Ti, miss," asked the handsome reporter, eyeing the girl up and down while her attention was elsewhere. The droid was somewhat off-putting, but he could at least enjoy the view.

"My brother and I became acquainted with Master Ti on a mission against the Hutts on Tatooine. She became interested in our fighting styles and how much we can negate Force techniques there, and we've been traveling together since. She teaches my brother to use what little Force power he has in return for our training her in our styles," Ranma replied, again mixing truth with lies and not coming any closer to the real reasons than he had to.

"Are you sure you're not a politician, Ranma?" Shaak's voice asked in the redhead's ear. "You are far too good at mixing truth and lies like this."

Ranma womanfully ignored the desire to turn and glare at the ship, or better yet march inside and lightly torture Shaak for that comment. Instead she allowed her eyes to narrow. "Now, if ya don't have any more questions get the kriff off my front yard. HK, if they don't move off in two minutes, feel free to shoot them in nonlethal places."

"Pitiful moan: Master, you never let me have any fun!" HK replied, his weapons, all of them, coming up and aiming at the reporters.

"The public has a right to know the truth, Ranko! What are the Jedi hiding? Why are they so calm about the idea of the Mandalorians returning to their old ways!?" Brian shouted even as he and the others backed up.

Ranma turned around from where she had been about to enter the _Wild Light_ , shaking her head. "The public in the Core wouldn't care a damn if you lot weren't trying to use the conclave as a way to get more ratings. As for the Jedi, as far as I know they ain't happy about it at all, but they also know they have no right to enforce their own ways of life on other people. That'd make them no better than the old Mandos." With that she turned and left the reporters to try and whine their way past HK with absolutely no success.

"That was well done, Ranma, I am impressed. You covered yourself, your relation to myself and the Order and didn't give them any real target to call you out on. However Plo, Obi-Wan, and myself might have to make a few public statements in the future to cover the way the Order is handling things," Shaak told Ranma, meeting the diminutive redhead in the sitting area after the ramp had closed.

"However, I have to admit to being rather dismayed at how the reporters have been so unwilling to understand local conditions. They came here with the story they wanted to record already in mind and refuse to deviate. I have not dealt with reporters like this before; most of the reporters I have dealt with before were honest enough, certainly apolitical. It was their editors you had to watch out for. But this group…" Shaak trailed off, shaking her head.

"Meh, those recordings go out live, and didn't Plo say that Coleman Trebor was watching the news they were reporting closely to make certain that they were reporting the truth?" Ranma asked, moving towards Shaak. "The more prejudiced they seem, the more they shoot themselves in the foot."

"True. It still disturbs me these particular reporters were chosen to cover this story by their higher-ups in the first place." Shaak sighed. An instant later she tried to leap away as Ranma suddenly began tickling her sides. "KYAH! Ranma, what…"

"This is for the politician crack, Shaak! Just stand still and take your medicine!" Ranma said, her hands disappearing in a blur of motion. "Saotome-Ryu secret attack, 'Death of a Thousand Feathers!'"

Shaak squealed once more, leaping away as she tried to put both distance and furniture between them to little avail. Ranma eventually caught her, and the two of them fell back onto the sofa where the tickling segued into an intense make out session that left both of them panting and not wanting to leave the ship for the rest of the day.

After that the reporters actually did begin to get better in only reporting facts rather than trying to spin said facts, and they didn't bother the _Wild Light_ again either. Shaak and her fellow Jedi began to hold question and answer sessions every evening after the debates ended, which gave the reporters more information to work with. But to their chagrin, and those of some of the Senators who had ordered them to Mandalore, the lack of violence and the endless debate seemed to sap all interest from what was going on out here in the boonies. Soon enough most of them were recalled, leaving only two of the more serious political reporters in place.

Other times, the interruption was actually funny.

Shaak and Ranma had been working on teaching Ranma how to read Galactic Standard when Tune interrupted them. The little droid had been outside repainting the ship, an arduous and time consuming task given its uneven surface, that had taken up much of his time since the conclave had begun, but which also left him close enough to the ship to be on guard for other things.

HK, however, was on patrol around the ship at present, which should have been enough to either deter or take care of any threats. So it was with more curiosity than concern that Shaak and Ranma looked up from their discussion to watch Tune roll up the ramp, warbling and shifting to one side and the other as he moved towards Ranma.

"You know I can't understand you without my wrist computer, Tune," Ranma said shaking his head. "But I take it something is happening outside?"

The droid paused, then nodded, his entire body tilting forward for a moment. Then the dome that acted as the droid's head turned entirely around and he raced back the way he had come.

"I think he wants us both to come outside," Shaak mused.

"HK, anything going on out there?" Ranma asked into a communicator set on top of the table in front of them. "Neutral response: Negative, master. There is nothing combat-related going on, though there is a local historian of some sort pestering me at present. Hopeful query: Permission to engage?" HK replied.

"No, let's see what he wants first," Ranma replied, leaping at the chance to get away from the books for a time.

Shaak shook her head sternly. "You can't keep running away from this forever, Ranma. Sooner or later you will need to learn to read Galactic Standard."

"Yes, but today is not that day!" Ranma caroled before leaning over and kissing Shaak with enough passion to take her breath away for a moment. He then hopped off like the Energizer Bunny on steroids. "Come on, let's go see what's going on outside."

Blinking rapidly, it took Shaak a few seconds to come back to the here and now before she scowled lightly, pushing to her feet to follow her lover out of the ship. "That is the very definition of a dirty trick, Ranma!" she said, smacking him lightly on the elbow.

"Meh, my style isn't called Anything Goes because we're always nice, love," Ranma said, reaching down to take Shaak's hands. The two of them stood for a few seconds simply smiling at one another in the shadows of their ship, before turning and moving over to where HK was holding a human male up by the back of his armor.

It was almost painfully obvious that if this man had ever been a soldier, that time was far in the past. He only wore the chest plate, as many Mandos who were not chiefly soldiers seemed to, but it hung off him like a tent he was so emaciated. His hair was lank and done up in a ponytail that fell down his back, and his face was so wrinkled it was obvious he was a near contemporary of the Ancient. He also had tiny spectacles set on his nose, and he seemed more fascinated by HK's head than scared he was being held in midair by the droid's effortless grip.

"An academic of some sort/A nerd," Ranma and Shaak said as one, before looking at one another and chuckling, disengaging their hands and moving toward HK. Ranma cocked his head thoughtfully, smirking at the man who was being held at about eye level. "So, you comfortable hanging there, old man? Want a drink or anything?"

"Oh no, this is simply fascinating! My good man, are you the owner of this amazing droid? Such a fascinating find! Why he must be… Do you have any idea? That is, where did you find him? And such an odd body shape. No wonder no one suspects. Why, it's only from this close that I was certain as to his identity!" the man gabbled, smiling pleasantly, if absentmindedly, at the human man and Togrutan woman.

"Erm…I found his head, if that's what you mean, on Coruscant in a shop several hundred levels down from the current surface level," Ranma began, somewhat nonplussed at the old man's response.

To one side Shaak listened, her eyes narrowed, as a thought she'd had when Ranma had bought the head came back to her. _Just because Ranma doesn't believe in using the Force to guide his steps doesn't mean the Force leaves him alone. Just like how it sent us to Yavin because the Force wanted us to deal with Exar Kun's ghost._

"Ahh, hmm, I wonder how it arrived there, what stories it could tell! Oh do excuse me; My name is Dr. Abram, Ancient History professor at Noriou'al College. How do you do?"

Very well, doctor, thank you. This is Ranma, and I am Master Shaak Ti, as you no doubt know," Shaak said, stumbling for a moment over her title, still not used to introducing herself like that.

"A Jedi, really? Here on Mandalore? Astonishing! I had heard some odd news reports or other about some kind of government thing, but can't say they really registered as all that important." Shaak's eyebrows rose in surprise at that while Ranma simply gaped at the absentminded academic. "So, HK-47 has appeared once more and again is owned by a Jedi. Oh dear, I do hope that the rest of that sorry tale…"

"Irritated threat: HK doesn't like being talked about as if his auditory sensors are not functioning, or perhaps is simple background furniture. HK believes that the spindly oh so breakable human should remember in whose grip he's currently in," the droid growled, his voice taking on a slightly more dangerous tone than normal as he hefted his claw hand, shaking Dr. Abram up and down.

"HK will stop talking in third-person or Shaak will slice HK in half," Shaak replied tartly, though Ranma was laughing at the droid's irritation. "Doctor, suffice it to say we have no idea what historical importance you seem to be putting on HK's head. Could you please enlighten us?"

"Oh, yes. I suppose it wouldn't be obvious given the modifications. But I would have thought that you, HK, and I do apologize for my previous rudeness, would have been able to educate your current master of your previous ones?" Dr. Abram asked, pushing up his spectacles and staring at the droid intently.

"Mollified reply: I have very little of my long term memory capacitors remaining, and all of those which were undamaged during my last deactivation are devoted to combat. Intent speculation: But all this means that you know who my previous master was?" HK asked.

"Oh yes. The Jedi Revan, the general who stopped the Mandalorian Wars and then bequeathed the helmet of office to Canderous Ordo, one of the best and most brilliant Mand'alores we've ever had. He united the clans after they had shattered with the death of the previous Mand'alore at Revan's hands," the man said, smiling brightly. "HK was seen in practically every battle Revan fought in, large and small. He was even instrumental in recovering the mask of Mand'alore, which we still have on display in our museum in Keldabe."

Shaak blinked in shock. She had studied Revan or rather that which she could during her time as a padawan. There was much of that period that was not open to the majority of the Order, and even more that was simply no longer known. That was what happened when your libraries were destroyed several times in the intervening thousands of years.

The tale of Revan, as she knew it, was one of many which showed the pitfalls of hubris in Jedi. Revan was a normal Jedi at one point, albeit a powerfully gifted one, who felt the Mandalorian Wars were a threat to the entire Republic and the Order, and who gathered a large following within the Order to combat them. He was lauded as one of the greatest Jedi at the time and a peerless general. He had later fallen to the Dark Side through a series of events, rather than any one calamitous fall, and left the Order. After that he became a Sith Lord for a time and led a war against the Republic that lasted for decades in various forms before he somehow returned to the Jedi Order. But again, the amount of facts left from that time were few and far between, so how he had done so was beyond Shaak's knowledge.

For his part Ranma merely nodded. "Huh, that explains why someone tried so damn hard to finish you off permanently, HK. Ya seem to be destined to be involved with Mandalorians and Jedi. Weird."

"Oh my word, yes. But you say your long term memory is damaged?" Dr. Abram looked almost like a child who had been promised a mountain of presents for Christmas only to open them all and discover they were all full of coal.

"Unapologetic drawl: Unfortunately, yes. My cranium was so badly damaged that it was a wonder that young meatbag Anakin was able to get me to work at all, let alone retain enough skills to remain excellent at my task of dealing out death and destruction. I am so sorry that my near-destruction does not allow me to answer your idiotic meatbag questions about events so far in the past they can't have any effect on the here and now," HK replied, flexing his claw open and dropping the academic on his rear.

Ranma turned to look at Shaak, who was simply standing there, staring at HK with her eyes narrowed in speculation. Ranma realized that the name Revan meant a lot more to her than he had thought. _Or is it the odd coincidence of me finding a droid that was associated with Revan that bothers her?_

Leaning in Ranma murmured, "Something you want to tell me?"

"Perhaps it is just an odd coincidence, but I have to wonder if the Force wanted you to find HK for some reason. You are ,after all, creating as much chaos as his actions… I think I need to share this with Master Yoda; he said something once that could pertain to this. But it isn't the sort of thing I want to talk about over the Hypercom," Shaak replied, shaking her head apologetically as she answered, her voice equally low. "It's also not something I want to speculate about. Sorry, Ranma."

"Meh, so long as it doesn't tie into some ancient prophecy like that 'Chosen One' nonsense Qui-Gon went on about or missions of great importance or anything of that nature, that's fine by me, Shaak," Ranma replied. "Just tell me what you can about HK being involved with this Revan guy and what it could mean to us here and now and that'll be enough."

"That is, that is so disappointing! I had hoped, that is… Oh wel,." Dr. Abrams said, shakily getting to his feet. "I don't suppose you could enlighten me about that period from a Jedi's perspective? That would be something, anyway."

"I am afraid not, Dr. Even. The Jedi Order's library doesn't have much from that far back. The Jedi were almost wiped out during that period, after all, and several times since. That is one of the few known facts which is indisputable. That, of course, also halted for decades any attempt to regather information that had been lost from even earlier against the Sith Lord Exar Kun and the Mandalorian crusaders," Shaak said with a faint sigh.

"Oohhh…" Again the old man looked like a kicked dog before shaking it off. "Still, in any event at least I was able to feed my curiosity if not my academic desires. Thank you anyway." With that he walked off, still pouting as if he hadn't just dropped a bombshell on Shaak much like Plo Koon's to the conclave.

Ranma turned to her, one eyebrow raised in query. "So, Revan. Tell me about him. HK, you want to listen too?"

"Uncaring response: Negative master. I have no desire to listen to a past that is no longer my own. I prefer to live in the here and now." With that HK turned away, resuming his patrol around the ship. "Hopeful aside: I do hope however that something more exciting happens soon. This meatbag political nonsense is becoming irritating."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Ranma returned, before looking over at Shaak, who nodded and led him back into the ship. Despite her own lack of information on the subject, what Shaak could tell him was enough to get Ranma to agree with her that it was very strange that he had found HK's head. "In my world there was a common curse, 'May you live in interesting times.' This seems to be the Force's way of telling me that that's my fate despite my refusal to let the Force guide me."

To that comment Shaak could only agree, though she reiterated her desire to check in with Master Yoda after they were done on Mandalore.

Despite these interruptions, Ranma and Shaak still found times for one another. Occasionally they even went out for late night dates, taking the _Wild Light_ up into space and simply floating around for the rest of the night, returning to the surface as late as possible.

Ranma woke up after one such day, one arm around Shaak's camisole covered chest, his hand cupping her breast lightly. She could have broken away at any time, but she didn't. Instead Shaak seemed to revel in spooning like this, at night most of the time. When she didn't she told him so, and one or the other, chosen by a simply game of rock-paper-scissors, would go out to sleep on the couch, which wasn't exactly a hardship anyway.

Apparently even those nights of needing some time alone would have struck most Togrutans as odd: they were a very communal species, which carried over to their relationships. Shaak was very unusual in that she preferred to be alone at times. But Ranma was fine with that, since it allowed him to do the same.

But then there were nights like this, where they slept in the same bed, which had its own issues. The two were still getting used to that, and sometimes woke one another up tossing and turning or when Shaak accidentally poked Ranma with her montrals.

Looking over at the clock, Ranma noticed he had woken up about an hour before they would normally wake up. That, and the sight and feel of Shaak's body had Ranma feeling a little…daring.

 **{Lime Warning:**

Ranma gently untangled his legs from around Shaak's, pulling his arm out from under her at the same time. Then he leaned over, kissing her neck, trailing tiny kisses down to the top of her chemise as she rolled over, stretching out into the area he had vacated. Her lips had been formed into a frown after Ranma had moved away from her, but that turned into a smile as she felt Ranma's lips on her body.

Despite that feeling, though, she did not wake up. Shaak's period had ended two days ago, but she was still recovering from it, so tended to sleep more deeply than normal. She didn't feel Ranma getting up slightly, nor did she feel Ranma's hands start stroking her skin through her chemise, both her stomach and chest, though she did let out a low moan when his fingers brushed over her silk clad nipples.

Smiling tenderly Ranma moved down Shaak's body, trailing tiny kisses on her lekku, which started to twitch under his ministrations. Then as he reached the bottom of her white chemise he pushed it up to reveal her core at the bottom. _She isn't wearing panties!_ Ranma thought gleefully

For a moment he just knelt there, taking in the view in front of him. Shaak's body always fascinated him, from her montrals down to her toes, which were slightly different than a human's though he would be hard pressed to say why besides her skin color. And the way her flower, so starkly white against her red skin, also added to the impact.

"Shaak," he whispered before leaning down, trailing his lips and tongue along the bottom edge of her chemise, then down to her flower. There, after a second's hesitation, he let his tongue move first around her flower. He could feel her petals pulsing under his tongue while Shaak began to mumble and move in her sleep, letting out little cooing sounds that made Ranma grin, though it didn't take his attention away from the task at hand.

Nectar began to slowly accumulate on Shaak's now budding flower, and Ranma lapped some of it up, taking it into his mouth getting used to the taste. It wasn't nearly as bad as he had feared after reading about cross-species relationships on the Hypernet. It was like a kind of tangy sauce almost.

Ranma stroked his tongue up Shaak's cleft again, trying to find out what she enjoyed the most, his hands trailing down from the tips of her lekku to her waist, then the inside of her thighs. Once there one hand just stayed there, gently stroking her skin as the other equally gently began to stroke the exterior of Shaak's clitoris, playing with her vagina's petals.

Above him Shaak was still asleep, though she was now twitching and tossing from one side to the other, her mouth letting out little moans and sighs as she did, her lekku and fingers twitching. When Ranma let one of his fingers actually enter her flower, Shaak came awake with a gasp, her eyes slightly wild as her hands reached down to grasp Ranma's head, her fingers working into his hair. "Ranma, ahh, ohhh, oh wha, aahhh."

"Just go with it, Shaak. I've been wanting to try this for a while…" With that Ranma dove in with even more enthusiasm, his tongue and fingers working in unison to drive Shaak crazy.

Shaak moaned again, but was unable to form a coherent reply as Ranma continued his ministrations. _By the Force, why in the name of all that is good did the Order think abstaining from relationships was a good idea!_

"Raaaanmmma!" She shouted, as Ranma stuck his tongue into her just as his finger found the tiny nub of flesh at the top of her vagina, tweaking it. Shaak came, her hips rocketing up off the bed, while Ranma continued to lick and finger her, moving with her, heightening and lengthening the sensation.

Eventually Shaak used her grip in Ranma's hair to pull him up into a searing kiss, before flipping them around so that she was on top. "My turn…" she whispered huskily, breaking the kiss and making her way downward.

 **Lime end}**

At that moment the alarm clock went off, and Tune's voice echoed from the nearest speaker. "Master, mistress, you asked to be woken up at this time to get ready for a breakfast meeting with Miss Kryze and Mister Pol."

Shaak, who had just started to nip at Ranma's bare chest, the feel of his muscles shuddering beneath her causing her libido to rev up once more, growled before pushing up off of Ranma, shuddering as she tried to center herself in the force. _Ah, that could be why. Certainly acting on my anger has never seemed so natural before._

With a faint sigh she leaned down to kiss Ranma languidly, their tongues out and playing with one another for a moment before she pulled back. "Rain check?"

Ranma nodded, watching as Shaak moved back from the bed, dropping the chemise to the floor and reaching for the far more utilitarian underwear she normally wore. Feeling Ranma's eyes on her she turned, only to stop, her head cocking to one side. "You're blushing? You just, I think the term is you just went down on me. We've made out so often I would have trouble giving an exact number, and we have slept together the next best thing to naked. Why are you blushing?"

"It's just, you're so damn magnificent Shaak. It always takes my breath away. I love you, you know?" Ranma said, standing up and moving towards her. Shaak flushed in response to his heartfelt words and met him halfway.

Before the resultant kiss could become heated, however, the door to their private quarters opened. "Bored drawl: Master, mistress if you could stop your disgusting meatbag reproductive dance for once, the tin can asked me to remind you that his is supposedly an important meeting, despite it being coached in terms of one of the interminable meatbag need to ingest the flesh of lesser animals."

HK barely had a brief second to realize that maybe he should find a tact program and start using it when he was flung sideways by a kick to the head that made his sensors blare a warning about the state of his neck. He looked up to see Ranma standing over him, his blue eyes flashing. "HK, there is an old saying from my world. When the ship is 'a rockin' don't come 'a knockin.' When our door is closed, I do not want you or Tune to interrupt us for anything more important than impending life threatening danger. Understand?"

'Respectful fear: Er, yes master, I will commit it to long term memory."

"Thank you!"

But there was no life threatening danger. No attempt on the ship or their lives and, for once in his life, Ranma was happy that his life was relatively peaceful. Others, however, were not happy with the peace that seemed to have broken out across Mandalore and began to make plans to see to it that it ended...

 **OOOOOOO**

Satine leaned back in her chair, putting down yet another dataslate that told her an unpalatable truth. _I never knew how many old Mandalorians there were! I knew, of course, that they were out there, but even all of the other cities combined don't have the population of even one of my faction's bio-cubes, and so few of them were not under New Mandalore control before this. I discounted the clans entirely, and I never even realized there were still offworlders who followed those, those barbarian tenets of the Resol'nare! But there are far, far more clans out in the hinterlands of Mandalore than I expected, and more out-system clans too._

And now because my party has never had anything do with them before, they are a block against us in this conclave. Worse, many of my own unaffiliates are changing sides for various reasons.

Another dataslate told the tale of those people and why they were doing so. Some were changing sides because they were young and were bowing to what Satine thought of as peer pressure. Others were looking at the idea of expanding the Mandalorian's influence into space as ways to also expand their own businesses or otherwise get rich as she thought of it. Others were surprisingly joining the Reborn because they honestly wanted to help the other planets in the sector.

Regardless of their reasons, the total numbers told a very unpleasant tale. _Worse, that bore might've been wrong to address me in such a way, but his actual words were spot on. And now I need to think about how to address it._

Looking over at a servant near the door she asked calmly, "Could you please find Jedi Kenobi for me, then please send a communication to Master Koon and Master Ti, and finally send a message to my opposite number, please."

Several hours later Ranma and Shaak arrived a few moments before everyone else on Satine's invitation list, sitting down together on one side of the table before facing Satine, while they waited for the others. With Satine were her chief political and economic advisors, both of whom were important leaders of the New Mandalorian party.

Plo had been in a city on the other side of the planet going over the city's plans for the upcoming vote which would signal the end of the conclave. He had ousted several people in the Reborn faction who had been trying to pad their numbers and had nearly been attacked for doing so, but had managed to arrest them without leaving piles of bodies behind thanks to his Force powers and hand to hand skills. The clan in question would have egg on their face for some time and the clan head had been forced to step down in favor of a distant cousin. It wasn't the first time during this conclave something of that nature had occurred, though this was the first time a clan leader had been implicated in the attempt.

Soon Bo and her own most important advisors, Pol and Clento, arrived, sitting on another side of the table from Ranma and the Jedi, all three resplendent in their armor of burnished blue and silver. Bo insolently put her feet up on the table in front of her, staring at her opposite number. "What's all this about, Duchess?" she asked, the address coming out with a sneer even if her face looked drawn and tired. "I for one like to have some down time, and this meeting is interrupting it."

Satine glared at her, then her eyes tracked down to the feet propped on her table. "Remove…your…feet…from…my…table!" she enunciated clearly, her eyes flashing.

Bo sneered, but then Pol reached over and smacked her shoulder. She glared at him, then sighed and pulled her feet down. She wasn't here to needle Satine, no matter how much fun it was.

"While Bo might have been less than courteous in how she asked, I too have to wonder why you have called this meeting," Shaak said, staring at Bo, who scowled and looked away. She was tired dammit, and all the political crap was fraying her nerves. Was it her fault she wanted to taunt Satine?

"I've been going over the numbers, and if the poll analysis I have from this morning is accurate, once the conclave ends the Reborn will oust the New Mandalorians as the government of Mandalore," Satine said bluntly. That caused a shiver of shock through a few of her listeners, though not those of her own party to whom she had already talked about this. One of them had been appalled, but the other was a tried-and-true politician, and understood why she was broaching the subject now.

Clento understood too. He was the most experienced leader in the room, and he jumped to the appropriate conclusion first, though he eased his way towards that conclusion rather than announce it. "And you don't see that changing?"

"No. However the numbers indicate that the victory will not be as widespread as you might have been hoping for. Furthermore, while my party may only take 32% of the voting, we control something like 75% or 78% of Mandalore's economy. We build things; we make things; we create and design. We also control nearly all of the colleges and places of higher education. That will not go away once you win."

Bo simply nodded her head, all her earlier reticence leaving her expression. She made no mention of the fact that while the NM's might have been acting as a world government, they actually hadn't been, certainly not in terms of the total population. They had simply been accepted as such by the Republic, not the locals.

That didn't matter now, because Satine was right: the NM's controlled a large portion of the industrial capacity of the planet, and that would be needed in the coming years. "You're saying that even if we take over, and thus reinstall the Resol'nare as the guiding pillar of our society, there will need to be allowances for non-warrior Mandalorians, both as people and to give them voice in our government."

"Exactly. Your message of a return to barbarity and so-called glory through conquest might have attracted enough souls to allow you the win, but I will not be a party to handing over governmental control of this planet to you unless you guarantee the rights of my people to continue to live as they will." Satine tried to sound firm, and she did for the most part, though there was more than a hint of bitterness to her voice as well. She hated to admit that the idea of violence and expansion had more of a hold on her people than the path of nonaggression and peace.

Bo's eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched visibly for a moment as she leaned forward over the table towards her sister. "It has never been about returning to our past ways of expansion, or earning glory, though I'll admit to some of that. It has always been about honor and the Resol'nare."

At that word Satine and the other New Mandalorian leaders couldn't keep their scorn from their faces, and Bo pointed at them angrily. "That right there! That is why you could never win the majority of our people over! The Resol'nare is not an outmoded concept as you would like to think. It is the pillar of what makes a Mandalorian a Mando in the first place! We are not a race; we are not a culture; we are a society built upon the tenets of the Resol'nare. You people spit in the face of what makes us who we are!"

Satine scowled, knocking Bo's finger out of her face. "And it is the Resol'nare which made us conquerors, which made us hated, the enemy of everyone else."

"No, what did that was how the people of the time interpreted it, and, it has to be said, the fact that the Sith found us so easy to manipulate," Bo admitted. "There are no Sith out there anymore to influence us subtly or otherwise. And the changes I want to make to how the ideal of Ara'nov and Ba'jur are seen will make certain that there is no return to the idea of might making right. I want to expand the ideal of Ara'nov to include the defense of others, not just ourselves, and that actually has seemed to catch on better than I hoped. As for Ba'jur, education will make certain that we not only know of our own histories and how to fight, but also of other beliefs and people, and that they too have value."

"So you say," Satine replied coldly. "I remain unconvinced. Nor have you addressed my main concern with that little speech."

Reining in her temper with difficulty, Bo sighed, leaning back and kneading her forehead and nose for a moment with one hand, her face wearier than most of those there had seen before. It wasn't so much a weariness of the body, though. Given her ongoing training with Ranma that was a factor too, but it was mostly a weariness of the mind. "We can…we can set up some kind of two party system, like with these debates. Maybe have the NM's be given, what would they be called, cabinet positions? Advisory roles, with a real voice in the government, whatever their position. But the Reborn, or the Mandalorians, whichever we call ourselves going forward, will be in the pilot's seat."

"That is a good starting point, I suppose" Satine said grudgingly. "If you agree on your honor to stick to that ideal, I will work towards an organized and above all **nonviolent** exchange of power. We've never had one of those before," she said dryly. "But there is a first time for everything.

"I promise to look after the interests of all our peoples, not just those wearing Beskar'gam and who follow the totality of the Resol'nare," Bo Katan said solemnly, tapping her finger against her armor over her heart before doing the same thing over her forehead. "I swear on my ijaa (honor) as a warrior of clan Kryze and leader of the Reborn."

The two sisters looked at one another, and Ranma, who was wondering why the hell he had been asked to come here in the first place, looked between the two of them. _Geeze, I've never seen siblings like these two before. Their characters are so alike in so many ways, but what they believe in, how they act and how they see the universe, is so different it's bizarre._ Even Ranma could tell while there was no great hate or loathing between the two sisters, they were simply too far apart in how they viewed the universe to ever see one another as family again. And given how much emphasis the Mandos, both traditional and new, put on family, or aliit, that was sad.

"I will accept that, I suppose," Satine replied, breaking their locked gazes. "In that case, we should make a start of it." Satine pulled out a series of dataslates, and the group began to get to work.

 **OOOOOOO**

Soon after the meeting between the two factions' leaders the conclave was indeed beginning to wind down to the point where the voting would occur. The system for that was now fully set up, and both leaders had come out to publicly say they would back whatever decision was reached. Tension ratcheted up once more, but there was little in the way of violence to go with it outside of a few fist fights, as everyone waited for the conclave to officially end and the voting to begin.

That the end was in sight meant the conclave only really occurred during the afternoon and a bit of the evening. This in turn let Ranma and Shaak have more time to themselves. The two of them decided to go out on a date, an idea which had sprung into their minds when Ranma mentioned offhand, "You know, I think it's been about a year or so since I arrived in this universe. Should we do something to celebrate?"

The two of them thus decided to go out to one of the older cities on the planet they had not yet seen, a northern port city called Vhetin'lac, or Snow Port. It was an amazing place in many ways: a place of random snow sculptures the size of houses and small, warm cafés. It was also a major shipping and fishing industrial hub, though that aspect didn't interest Ranma and Shaak.

Ranma had decided to go out in his female form once more, since while a lot of the locals had seen him in either form, they hadn't yet connected female Ranma to Shaak Ti. This made it easier for the redhead and Shaak, who was dressed once more in the cloak Ranma had made for her and local pants and undershirt, to move around the city despite neither of them wearing anything that could be seen as a nod to the Mandalorian need to wear armor. For her part Ranma was dressed in a simple but good silk shirt button down which emphasized her curves, something she hadn't known it would do until transforming, and matching black pants. Both women were getting admiring glance from the locals, but no one actually tried to bother them.

Staring up at one ice sculpture, Ranma smiled, shaking her head. "It looks like a small cross between a T. Rex and a polar bear. Weird critter."

"Presumably some kind of local apex predator," Shaak said, surprising herself by feeling a surge of interest in the idea of hunting such a beast. Being with Ranma had made Shaak far more aware of her Togrutan instincts, and Shaak had surprisingly found herself thinking like a hunter at times. Hunting and killing the akul whose fang she wore on her forehead had given Shaak a view into those instincts, but she had always ignored them before.

"I wonder what it tastes like," Ranma mused.

"Hah. The Ranma motto: go to interesting places, fight fascinating beasts, and eat them," Shaak teased, before pulling the pouting redhead into a hug.

The two of them moved on, taking in the sights like a pair of tourists, though said trade didn't seem to have any representation here. The city was a sprawling place of low-slung domes like igloos, though they were made of ferocrete and steel rather than the towering spires or square architecture of the human majority of the planet. Humans still dominated this city, but the city had far more aliens than most of the other cities Ranma had seen. The domes themselves were painted white or varying shades of blue, with signs here and there pointing out this or that store or restaurant.

The port itself was worked into the city in a series of large wharves, each of them having a few buildings built on them, with the ships able to enter the domes from the sea. Here and there were a few outdoor cafes, the sitting area kept warm by actual braziers stuck into stone fire pits.

But the big draws for the two lovers were the fact no one here seemed to recognize them and the statues. Some of them, like the first one they had seen after coming into the city (they had parked the _Wild Light_ nearby), were of beasts. Others were of castles that would not have been out of place in the Medieval Ages, built two stories tall, some of them, with dozens of local children running around and on them, sometimes even adding stones to them in places. Others were of people or ships. One group seemed to be from a favorite local TV show, giant robots of all things, though of course the statues weren't exactly gigantic.

Shaak waved at a few kids who had stopped to look at her, respectfully but with interest plain on their expressions. She was probably the first Togrutan any of them had ever seen. She then smiled, pointing past them to a tiny outdoor café situated right on the edge of the large wharf they were currently walking on. "That place looks promising."

Nodding, Ranma followed her over, only to stop as he heard a whistle from nearby. Looking around she saw a ship coming in from the ocean with four men lining the side of it. _Oh great, sailor boys making port._ Reaching out she took Shaak's arm by the elbow, hurrying her along, in no mood to deal with them. "Come on, I'm getting hungry!"

Shaak had heard the whistle as well and simply nodded. The two women moved into the small heated area of the café quickly, sitting down at a corner table. They had time to order and start talking about ice worlds Shaak had seen by the time the crew of the ship had moored their boat and come after them.

One of them was a large tattooed fellow wearing the traditional chest plate most Mandalorians who weren't fulltime warriors but who also weren't affiliated with the New Mandalorians seemed to wear. He was actually the only one of the group who did; the others had vambraces and greaves on, but not the main chest plate for some reason. But it was the large fellow who was the leader or so Ranma supposed since it was he who opened his big fat mouth. "Hey there babes. You looking for some fun?"

Ranma looked at him blankly until she felt a brief tendril of the Force touching her mind as Shaak reached out, using her Force powers to translate from the local language of Mando'a. She did the same for the four locals, shaking her head. "I'm afraid not, we already have plans, hence our being here."

"Oh come on now, I'm sure you lovely ladies could make our night in port memorable, and vice versa!" the man said, leering down at Shaak's chest.

The Jedi merely raised a sardonic brow but Ranma took matters into her own hands. Growling, Ranma moved so that she was actually sitting on Shaak's lap rather than next to her as before. She leaned back laying her head on Shaak's shoulder as she glared at the four toughs before spitting out some of the few local phrases she'd learned from Bo, ironically, to deal with situations just like this one. "Copaani mirshmure'cye? Mhi solus **tome**! Usenye gar Sheb! (Are you looking to be smacked around? We are **together**! Get out of here, you ass!)"

Shaak smiled and hugged Ranma around the middle while leaning one of her montrals against the top of Ranma's head. "While I would have been somewhat more polite, she is correct. You have nothing to interest either of us."

The large man seemed to be in danger of exploding, given how much he puffed himself up, and he moved forward as if he was about to try and loom over the diminutive redhead. But one of his fellows was rather more respectful, and grabbed him by the shoulders. The others seemed to agree with him, and they dragged the armored man off.

"Huh," Ranma mused, while behind him Shaak was having a difficult time stopping herself from breaking out into laughter. "I honestly didn't think that'd work. I'd thought I would have had to smack him around a bit."

"Sometimes people can indeed take a hint if you deliver it with a large enough hammer," Shaak quipped. Then as the redhead tried to shift back to her original seat Shaak fought to put a frown on her face, her arms tightening around the shorter girl's waist. "Where do you think you're going?"

Ranma looked back at her in confusion, and Shaak leaned down, kissing her gently. "Since you crawled into my lap, I think it only fair you have to stay there for the rest of the meal." The blush this woke from Ranma was utterly priceless to Shaak, and the rest of the meal was enjoyable for both of them.

The next day. much to their dismay, Ranma and Shaak could not contrive to spend their mornings together. With the announcement that the conclave and the debates were coming to an end and a resolution reached, the Jedi were as busy now as they had been during the original outbreak of violence, but instead of staving off terrorist acts or other crimes they were busy giving speeches and meeting with disparate groups.

As a non-Jedi Ranma was exempt from this, though he was roped into joining Bo and a group nearly composed entirely of her own Night Owls. She hadn't seen a lot of them over the past few days, and that wasn't a good thing considering how close she was to all of them.

Shaak, in contrast, was scheduled to meet with a group of New Mandalorian delegates. They were concerned (read as horrified) that the Jedi were not backing the NM's position in these debates. Most of them had thought they would do so subtly, if nothing else, but the three Jedi had been **scrupulously** honest in how they monitored the debate.

In fact they had been so honest about it that Plo Koon had to deal with several screaming episodes from Senators back on Coruscant about not following his orders. He would listen to them, and then nod politely saying the equivalent of "Thank you for your insight, Senators," before cutting the connection.

"You would think that they would learn after the third or fourth time he did that exact same thing that Plo had no intention of listening to them," Shaak said as the two of them prepared to leave their ship/home once more.

What was more amusing and somewhat more troubling to Shaak Ti was that it had been a different Senator twosome each time. It seemed as if the various political blocks back on Coruscant were oddly united about the idea of the Mandalorians becoming a threat once more. It was amusing, because it was obvious none of them had shared how the Jedi had ignored their "orders." And at the same time it was troubling because so many thought the Jedi mere diplomats that **could** be ordered to follow the Senate's orders on how they should go about their lawful duties.

This concern was made worse by other things Plo had passed on about his discussions with the High Council and how their attempts to both revamp the temple's security and make the Order more independent from the Senate were going. Luckily Coleman Trebor was being his usual competent self in keeping public approval behind the Jedi's actions both there and elsewhere, so Plo Koon, Obi-Wan, and Shaak's own actions were in no danger of being officially censored by the Chancellor or the High Council, the only individuals who could lawfully do so. But it was a sign that Dooku's original complaints about the relationship between the Order and the Senate were far too accurate.

"If the Senate wanted to get involved in this, then maybe they should have sent some of their own delegates? Of course doing so would have made it clear that the New Mandalorians are a puppet government, so maybe not doing so was the first sign of intelligence in the species called politician that I have seen in this universe," Ranma said, trying to sound like Shaak for a moment, winking at her.

"What about Padme?" she asked archly, though her lips quirked into a smile at his spoof of her own speech pattern.

"Gets a pass because she's a kid, and her moments of intelligence were outweighed by her moments of gross suicidal stupidity," Ranma said once again in his own tone. "Seriously, she was acting like Lois freaking Lane in those American comic books."

Shaak cocked her head quizzically, watching with a faint smile as Ranma's eyes tracked down to her dangling lekku at the move. _He truly is fascinated by them, isn't he?_ "I don't get that reference."

"Some news reporter in a fictional comic book series that always was trying to get the scoop despite how much danger it was for her personally. She only survived beyond a few comics because the people creating them decided that she was the love interest of the superhero in it," Ranma supplied.

"Ouch. I didn't think Padme was that bad, but I suppose if she hasn't learned from recent events she could perhaps become so," Shaak muttered, then pulled Ranma down into a kiss by his ponytail at the top of the ramp. "I'll see you later, all right?"

Ranma nodded, his eyes gleaming at her, and she smiled up at him for a moment before leaving the ship. As she did so Shaak centered herself in the Force, allowing the normal Jedi calm demeanor to settle over her again as she left the _Wild Light_. As she did she felt a brief tremor of something, something that she should be able to sense, something that told her today was somehow important.

Still walking forward Shaak stretched out her senses again, trying to find the feeling of whatever it was, but couldn't. The veil of the Dark Side was over her sight, blocking her from truly understanding what that feeling was. Despite that, however, she knew that today was important somehow. That something would happen today.

Ranma watched her go for a moment before turning inside, grabbing up his Light Pike and placing it in his ki space before heading off. "HK, stay here. I don't think we'll need you over at the training center today."

"Ironic tone: A pity, master. I was looking forward to showing up more meatbags who think they can shoot properly."

"You have a built-in targeting computer and reticule in your eyes," Ranma said, pausing at the top of the loading ramp. "Not that I really care, but I don't think that's actually very fair."

"Arrogant huff: Master, don't blame my superior by design mechanical form for your race's evolutionary shortcomings. If you meatbags wanted to be able to shoot properly, you should try to come up with some kind of organic targeting lock. Or emplace a mechanical one during birth somehow."

"Now you're just being stupid." Shaking his head with a laugh, Rama left, the _Wild Light_ 's ramp closing behind them at Tune's command.

A few moments later he stepped out of one of the local taxis and entered the training area the Reborn had taken over. They were met inside by Bo and a few of her Night Owls. "About time! Come on, I've got a lot of energy I need burn off before heading back into that dar'yaim (hellish) kriffing hall," Bo growled, reaching out and pulling Ranma along.

Ranma let her do so, shaking his head slightly as he nodded at her fellows. Claire winked at him, and the other Night Owls, Tess and a few others, all nodded. But Claire was just like that, overly friendly and flirtatious with everyone. It was as much a mask as Ranma's own country attitude at times, hiding the deadly warrior within.

The training area was empty of anyone else, and Bo immediately ordered Ranma to start sparring with them one after another, then all combined. After a few hours all of them save Ranma were gasping, sweat-soaked, and exhausted. "When I said I had energy to burn off I didn't mean to imply you should burn off so much I just want to kriffing curl up and sleep you sheb (ass)!" Bo groaned from where she was leaning against a wall, greedily drinking down an electrolyte drink that would put Gatorade and other drinks from Earth to shame.

"You asked for it," said more than one voice including Ranma's, but it was Claire who went on, her eyes twinkling in vindictive pleasure as she stared at Ranma speculatively. "Although, it does give one furiously to think. Ranma's endurance, does it transfer over to other things?"

Ranma flushed, looking away. There had been a time that that kind of comment would've gone right over his head, and indeed thinking about it he had heard similar things several dozen times during his time at Furinkan from men and women both. Now, however, he understood it, though he still didn't quite know how to deal with such comments other than to ignore them.

"I doubt it," said another one of the Night Owls, chuckling and getting in on the ribbing more to get back at Ranma for running them ragged than anything else. It wasn't the first time he'd done so, but defeating all of them in spars so often was still rather humiliating. "Only experience can really build endurance between the sheets, just like in anything else."

"Actually we haven't been between the sheets. On top of them, yes, but not between," Ranma said, before his eyes widened at what he had just let out.

The Night Owls closed in quickly seeing weakness. "Oh, is that how it is! Funny, I haven't noticed Shaak walking bowlegged yet. I assumed that she would be, given the size of the gun you're packing judging from that specially designed cup!" said one girl.

"It's a pity that you decided to keep to one woman. I could deal with the curse," said another woman, her tone rather thoughtful. "The best of both worlds sort of thing, after all. Though I suppose if you went for human women at all, Bo would have been able to get somewhere with you."

"If I actually tried, I might have," Bo said tartly. She had not joined in on the fun, though she was grinning at Ranma's embarrassment. "But by the time we met he might as well have had a tattoo or spur mark on him from Shaak Ti."

Togrutans took marriage very seriously. Though it was falling out of favor, traditional Togrutan couples would tattoo small clan marks on one another, normally a circle or triangle shape with a small personal mark growing out of it in some fashion. The tattoo would be on the inner thigh or the center of their chests normally. This was one of the things both Ranma and Shaak had found out when they were looking for information on coupling between human and Togrutan, but none of those relationships had led to marriage, and neither had brought up the idea yet.

Despite that Ranma was seriously considering the idea of marriage in the future, something that astonished him when he thought about it given his past. He had no idea what a spur mark was though, and no desire to find out since it sounded damn painful.

"Excuses," said one of the others airily, smirking over at her boss. "Or is it just because she's a redhead?"

"Orange," Ranma replied quickly, able to at last return or at least redirect a jab. "My female form's redheaded, Bo's a ginger."

"Whatever," said the same woman, still chuckling. "So do you have a hair preference? Would you prefer blondes, brunettes, or is it the bald thing that does it for you?"

"I bet it's the tentacles," said another woman thoughtfully. "They were certainly a factor when I brought Cral'Edara home to join the clan."

Ranma flushed at that since it was a little too accurate for his liking and turned away.

"Oh don't be like that," said Tess, at last joining in on the fun. Indeed the others had been wondering why she hadn't before this. As he turned Tess tossed some water from her drink bulb in his face. "It's just girl talk, and you're uniquely suited to join in, aren't you?"

Eventually they let Ranma go, and after a shower and a change of clothing Ranma and Bo left the training complex. Outside the complex they found Tess waiting to head to the meeting hall with Bo. She had purchased a local hover car, a bright red number with something in the local language depicted on one side of it that caused Bo to stop and groan and Claire and a few of the other to laugh. Tess turned to them from where she had been talking to a street vendor who had just handed her some food, a smile on her face.

Then the car behind her exploded, and Tess disappeared in a ball of fire, heat, and debris.

"Tess!" Ranma shouted charging forward, but an instant later he had to dodge incoming fire. Most of it hit behind him, but other bolts hit the ground between them and the place his friend had just been standing.

"Death to the would-be oppressors! We'll never be conquered by you again!" shouted a few voices from nearby, and suddenly the street was full of blaster bolts and shouting and screaming people as the locals, those both wearing Mandalorian armor and those not, dived for cover.

"Claire, take squad one and move to the left! Shalla, take squad two to the right! Take the fight to the skies!" Bo shouted while diving for cover, cursing the fact she didn't have her backpack with her as two grenades impacted the ground right in front of her previous position. Unlike the other Night Owls she was ready to head straight into the meeting hall, where weapons were not allowed.

Still, the Night Owls got over their surprise with the speed of veterans and ascended into the sky in different directions, spreading out and firing back at the attackers. They concentrated their fire on the attackers who had taken up position on the nearby rooftops. But there were others charging out from hiding places all along the street, firing at Ranma and the cover Bo was currently using, a large ferocrete planter holding a large tree.

For his part Ranma pulled out his light pike and charged forward. Activating his light pike quickly he deflected blaster bolts towards his opponents with one hand as his other hand dove back into his ki space pulling out his the skimmer blaster and returning fire. It's more powerful bursts cut through the fire and smoke from the various explosions impacting two of their attackers. Another explosion however took place right in front of Ranma, and he was forced to dodge backwards.

When that dissipated he charged forward again to kneel at his friend's side only to find that Tess had died in the initial explosion. While her torso had been marginally protected by the explosion by its armor her head had been caved in from a large chunk of shrapnel and then burned to the point of being nearly unrecognizable.

Ranma leaned down, gently closing her eyes before turning away and leaping towards the nearest attacker, his light pike slicing through one of them from head to navel. A second later the butt end of the pike slammed with enough force to liquefy another attacker's chest hurling him backwards. The man didn't even have time to scream before his heart and other internal organs were simply pulped by the blow.

But there were still others out there, and Ranma turned his light pike once again between him and their blaster bolts trying to return fire as best he could while the Night Owls began their deadly dance of fire and maneuver against a few other Mandalorians who had apparently joined forces with these other offworlders.

"I want at least one prisoner, Ladies," Bo said grimly, her eyes straying down towards where Tess's body lay. "Beyond that, make them pay."

The Night Owls answered in the affirmative as they went about the brutal business of slaughtering their attackers. Between them and Ranma down below, the attackers slowly began to realize that they had targeted more than they could shoot. But Ranma stopped as his communication device shouted at him. "This is Master Plo Koon to anyone listening. I request assistance in Tru'cala at the mayoral tower. I repeat…"

"HK! Get the _Wild Light_ up and running! I'll meet you hallway between my current position and yours!" Ranma shouted, turning away and nodding briefly to Bo who had just grabbed a rifle from one of the downed attackers, having made her way through the smoke and fire.

She nodded in turn. "Go, we can handle this on our own!"

Ranma nodded and without another word leaped up onto the nearest rooftop and away towards where the _Wild Light_ was already visible in the sky and getting closer. _Fuck, if this wasn't an isolated incident, how many other attacks are going on? And why!?_

 **OOOOOOO**

Other attacks were indeed going on at the same time. Many of the leaders of both sides were targeted, though these small attacks were quickly shut down by local authorities. But several of them succeeded, killing several of the smaller scale leaders. Alex Roger of the Reborn faction as well as several New Mandalorian leaders died due to planted explosions, and several other clan leaders were nearly assassinated by long range fire.

Satine was attacked on the threshold of her own palace by a similar IED. Only Obi-Wan's being there saved her from an explosion, the Force warning him that it was about to occur with barely enough time to grab Satine and hurl her to the side, but not with enough time to save himself.

Obi-Wan's feet left the ground and he was hurled backwards, his body screaming in agony worse than what he had felt during and after his second confrontation with 'Darth Clone Face.' Despite that, however, Obi-Wan flipped to his feet, his lightsaber activating to block incoming blaster bolts coming towards him from the hover truck that had just slammed through the palace's front gate and was rocketing towards him.

He deflected the blaster bolts into the truck's front, hitting something that caused the hood to the truck to explode, killing the repulsors keeping it in the air. After that it plowed nose first into the ground, before disgorging several armed attackers who rushed forward in Mandalorian armor complete with helmets and guns, but no jetpacks. "Down with the peace-loving bitch! The code of the conqueror forever!"

 _Oh joy, more fanatics,_ Obi-Wan thought, his mind mired in a haze of pain. Even so, he stood in front of Satine, his lightsaber ready, meeting the charge while behind him Satine grabbed up a stun gun of her own and began to return fire.

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Plo was also dealing with an attack on his own person as he exited the municipal center of Tru'cala, a city which had been a hotbed of discussion between the two factions up to this point. The city's mayor was walking beside him when the wall to one side exploded, not as if someone had tried to place a bomb on the other side to take the two men out in the ensuing explosion, but as if someone was trying to bring the side of the building down on top of them.

Unlike Shaak or Obi-Wan, however, Plo Koon was a master of telekinesis. He reached out with both hands, directing the Force to grab the falling debris, holding it in place. But the weight of it and the fact there were so many pieces he had to grab at once was such that he couldn't hurl them away, only hold them in place, slowly going to his knees.

But the locals were quick to react. First the mayor and then dozens of other locals began to help. Then the first responders arrived, pitching in and removing the debris as Plo held it there, putting out a few fires inside the building and generally trying to make the area safe.

The attackers, whoever they were, showed up at that point, seemingly bent on causing as much death as they could. They opened fire on the crowd of locals, killing several. However Tru'cala was close to Keldabe, and Ranma, Bo, and others arrived with the _Wild Light_ , leaping out from on high as HK laid down suppressive fire on the attackers.

Watching seven of them die before he even touched the ground Ranma yelled, "Damn it HK, what about 'suppressive fire and I want a few prisoners' didn't you understand?!"

"Sulky rejoinder: Master, they are suppressed are they not? Dead is the same thing as suppressed in most cases. Besides, there are a few still alive."

Scowling, Ranma let the rest of the small fight to the Mandos with him, figuring that since most were still in the air they had a better view of the attackers, who were now trying to run, than he did. And there was a bit of trouble right here he could help with a lot more than any of them.

Reaching Plo he tapped the Jedi on the shoulder where he knelt, then reached out and grabbed the largest chunk of debris, hurling it away from the Jedi and the crowd with ease. Thanks to Ranma's prodigious strength and the number of hands the debris was soon settled elsewhere and Plo stood back up, flexing his fingers and cracking his neck to one side, then the other. He nodded at Ranma. "Shall we move to Shaak Ti's location swiftly? I fear these attacks were launched on all of us."

Ranma nodded, and before Plo could blink behind his protective lenses he had been hustled aboard the _Wild Light_ where Ranma promptly told Tune to punch it. The ship left a supersonic boom as it raced for the city where Ranma knew Shaak was scheduled to be.

 **OOOOOOO**

The worst attack, or perhaps the most professionally planned out, came against Shaak Ti. None on the planet would ever discover this, but in terms of targets she was she was considered the most important by the individuals pulling the strings. The rest were secondary targets at best, even the other Jedi and the faction leaders.

First were a series of fires spread out across the city to spread its police force. Then they put up a scrambler to block all outgoing communications around their target. After that they attacked directly with ruthless dispatch and cold calculation.

As the attacks began Shaak was meeting with a group of New Mandalorians in a hotel's amphitheater in another city. This particular band, which numbered about two hundred or so, was comprised of worried young men and women and older married couples with their children, who were not worried as much as she had thought about the Jedi's position when she described the meeting to Ranma, but rather their own.

Specifically, they were true pacifists who wanted nothing to do with violence of any kind, not even in their own defense, and they were worried that their children or even themselves would be forced to learn how to fight as that was a mandate in the Resol'nare. These were people who were retired, currently not part of any unions, or in jobs that didn't have one; true unaffiliates who had been unable to elect a spokesman or get a place in the conclave. There were small groups like this in every city, though for the most part they felt their worries had been addressed already in the conclave. This group hadn't, and had wanted a Jedi's assurances to their concerns about that point and others if the Reborn faction won the conclave.

They were nearly finished when her Force senses warned Shaak of incoming danger a bare second before the door and inner wall came down in a series of explosions. Someone had taped penetrating explosives to the inner wall, while a slightly less powerful explosive had been used on the door, more to cause chaos than because it was really needed since the door was rather weak by design. At the same time screams and cries of combat reached her through the rubble.

Reacting instinctively Shaak used the Force to grab the bystanders and push them toward one of the walls away from the explosions, with one hand directing her Force power there as her other hand directed another Force Push trying to redirect what little of the explosion's power came through along with the rubble back into the hole it had formed. The exertion cost her, but Shaak shook it off grimly. Activating her lightsaber she charged forward as men and women, both locals and offworlders, charged through.

Most of them looked like gangster scum, the sort you would find in most ports, brought in to this attack to no doubt be cannon fodder. Even Mandalore had such scum, in if not abundance, in enough numbers to make them useful. But among them were others, a few locals and a few better armed individuals who stood out from the crowd.

One of the aliens was a Trandoshan dressed in a pilot's jumpsuit and wielding a heavy disruptor rifle in one hand and a large vibro-knife in the other, almost long enough to be a short sword. Another was a young man, possibly around Ranma's age, dressed in heavy armor and a turban for some reason. He also had a large disruptor rifle, a heavy thing that looked like it was supposed to be the heavy weapon in a squad of infantry, much like the Trandoshan's, though in his case he had to use both hands. The two of them represented the heaviest armed individuals there, but the others made up for it in sheer numbers.

Shaak met their charge with her own, her lightsaber leaping out and decapitating one man before slicing another in half before they could fire on the people she was here to meet. Her thinking was that they were here to cause as much death as possible, though their overall goal wasn't one she could guess.

The attackers seemed to flinch at her swift response, then rallied quickly, turning their attacks against her alone, which suited Shaak just fine, though the speed with which they did so was telling. She slid into a Shien form and mindset for a second, deflecting their bolts back at them as she moved forward, trying to create a bottleneck in the center of the room. It was too wide for that, and the breach in the wall was equally too wide for that to succeed, but she hoped the people she had been talking to had enough sense to escape out the emergency exit at the back of the amphitheater.

Half of her attackers actually closed with Shaak wielding Vibro weapons and blasters, while those armed with rifles stayed back, firing at her with little success thanks to her mastery of Shien. They had to stop as the first group got too close, but that group realized quickly that closing was the worst thing they could have done. She moved among them like a dancer, her lightsaber humming, moving everywhere at once, cutting, slicing, and hacking, while Shaak dodged or redirected fire. Using both the Force and her montrals to feel her opponents' attacks, feeling each coming before they even launched them Shaak Ti, was a one woman wrecking machine.

"Stop! Stop, curse you, Jedi, stop!" said a loud voice, but Shaak ignored it for a moment. An attacker went down in front of Shaak and she turned to block a blaster bolt before glancing towards the speaker as the few remaining fools who had tried to close with her tried to desperately back away.

"Stop," said the Trandoshan again, "or they all die." He and the man in the turban had moved around the main battle and were now pointing their guns toward the New Mandalorians Shaak had been speaking to.

Around the two of them were four more thugs, standing between the group of civilians and the emergency exit. Shaak deduced that they must have been waiting outside and simply came in when the civilians opened the door from the inside. At their feet were about a dozen bodies, men and women who must have been the first out the door only to be gunned down. The remaining civilians were huddled together, shaking with fear.

Shaak stood there a moment, and her attackers paused too, moving further back and surrounding both her and their hostages from all sides.

"Good little Jedi." The Trandoshan's lips flipped back to bear all his teeth in a smile that was pure predator, anticipating his next meal. Next to him the human also sneered at the Jedi, his face alight with a sort of dark joy.

Through the Force Shaak could feel the emotions of these two standing out from the crowd of anger, hate, and fear as the attackers looked around them and realized how many of their fellows she had already slain. They had started the attack with possibly around fifty. Now they were down to less than half that. At the same time, battle was still going on elsewhere in the hotel, the noise of it doing nothing to calm their nerves.

In contrast these two were enjoying this. The Trandoshan was in his species' version of a berserk ecstasy. There was nothing he wouldn't do to kill Shaak, she knew. The other felt almost like a psychopath to her mind. He reveled in carnage, even the amount of destruction Shaak had wrought on his fellows amused him. But he also wanted to win, and would certainly gun down the New Mandalorians if she tried to attack them.

"I take it you're here just for me, then," Shaak said, trying to buy some time as she thought of what to do. But there were too many guns on her and on the New Mandalorians she had been meeting with now. _I could deal with one group or the other with Force telekinesis, but if I did I wouldn't be able to stop the other from acting, there are too many of them. And they are too high strung for me to attempt to redirect their minds with so many innocents here._ _I need to think…_

"You're right, Jedi," the young man said. "The Hutts offered a lot of money for your head, so much that even with the Mandos angry at us we'll be raking in enough to disappear."

"Enough talking!" spat the Trandoshan, looking angrily at the young man for blabbing that out. "Your lightsaber on the floor now, or they die. Where is your loyalty Togrutan, to your precious oath or to yourself?

"My loyalty is where it has always been," Shaak said, even as she deactivated her lightsaber and let it drop from her hand, placing her hands into her sleeves and standing there calmly while her lightsaber rolled away. If it moved with a bit more impetus than it should have had, no one noticed _I need to look into carrying a second weapon as Ranma does in his 'ki' space. If I live through this, anyway._

Despite the fatalism of that thought, Shaak was calm, centered in the Force, accepting of whatever happened and prepared to act. "I am a Jedi. If my life will buy the lives of others, I will spend it gladly."

"Such weak sentiment," said the lizard. With that he turned his weapon away from the locals, immediately beginning to fire at Shaak with the others following suit quickly. She stood there, more thankful now than at any time before that she had gone through the repulsor-based toughness training and even the earlier method of toughening up her body. The blaster bolts burned through her clothing and impacted on Shaak's skin, the heat of them hurting quite a bit, but they didn't penetrate, and the heat dissipated quickly.

Even the two with the heavier guns couldn't get through her durability. Disruptors like theirs relied more on the gas in their ammunition cartridges than their rifle's battery, causing more damage but burning out quickly. That those kinds of weapons were illegal in nearly every Republic system was immaterial, of course.

Thanks to Ranma's toughness training those bolts hurt horribly, burning her skin here and there, and one to the stomach made her double over for a second, but they could not penetrate to do any lasting damage. Shaak didn't even cry out, keeping the pain at bay with the Force as she concentrated on her new plan, straightening slowly to look at her attackers calmly.

A second later the barrage cut off, and the attackers stared. The Jedi still stood, her robe burned and in so many tatters it was close to falling off, but still in one piece and still very much alive.

"It's some, some kind of Jedi trick!" said the young man in the odd headgear, shaking his head as he switched out the disruptor's gas magazine. "Get the skimmer's gun in here, we'll try that next! If that doesn't work, we'll plug the bitch's mouth with a thermal detonator!"

One of the locals had been firing at something outside further down the hallway which led to the conference room. At that order he turned, moving into the room with a malicious grin at the Jedi visible through a crack in his visor. In his hands, which were both metallic looking, making Shaak realize he had prosthetic arms, was a blaster like the one Ranma used, only even heavier.

Shaak stared at his weapon, and after moment closed her eyes, centering herself in the Force once more, a faint smile coming over her face for some reason as she did. _When it comes to ways to die I suppose this isn't the worst I could choose._

It was an image that none of the locals would ever forget: a Jedi willingly sacrificing herself for them with a faint smile on her face and a look of serenity. It was a act that was recorded by a local newsagent who was among them having wanted to interview Shaak Ti without her knowing she was being recorded. That image would be broadcast across the planet and beyond soon enough, joining the other moments of heroism that had occurred this day.

Before that future event, however, several things happened in the here and now.

Unbeknownst to any, Shaak's lightsaber had rolled forward toward her attackers for the last few minutes. It now activated at a gentle Force touch and under the guidance of her mind leaped up into the air. The blade sliced two of the terrorists in twain before circling around towards the two who seemed to be in charge.

At the same time, the man toting the heavy gun fired a stream of large plasma bolts lashing out towards his target. Shaak grit her teeth as the bolts slammed into her, but she kept her concentration on her weapon, pushing it further around in its dance of death. Shaak's durability was not up to taking hits from that large of caliber a blaster the bolts seared into her stomach, shoulder, and thigh in a diagonal down her body

The Trandoshan was cut in half by the spinning lightsaber blade right under his chest, but the young human was able to duck under that attack, frantically trying to grab the lightsaber out of the air. Before he could, the locals, buoyed by the Jedi's sacrifice, charged forward. The men and women piled the remaining attackers under, smashing the turban-wearing man and his few remaining fellows into the floor, hammering them again and again with their fists and feet. This included the man with the heavy weapon, who went down under a mob of unarmed and enraged civilians.

At the same time the local police force had also finally broken into the hallway leading into the amphitheater and also came in from the emergency exit in a coordinated pincer movement. They gunned down several other attackers before they could kill more than a few of the civilians for attacking their fellows. But the damage was already done, with dozens dead and with the Jedi perforated by the heavy weapon.

As more police swarmed into the room and the last attacker fell Shaak collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, her eyes rolling back in her skull as she fell into oblivion.

 **OOOOOOO**

The aftermath of the scattered attacks was possibly not as the instigators of the sudden wave of violence would've hoped. Not only did few of these attacks succeed, but the New Mandalorians and the Reborn worked together to swiftly interrogate the prisoners taken and follow up any leads, showing heretofore unseen levels of cooperation the world over to determine what really happened. Even Bo and Satine got in on the act, publicly stating their belief that this had not been an attack by either of their parties, but instigated by some outside force, even shaking hands about it on live broadcast.

Much of the physical evidence and more than a few of the bodies pointed toward two clans from the far south of the planet being involved. They had been among those who wanted to return to the old ways, and been most vocal about the Jedi being involved in the debate at all, even as moderators. The Reborn moved against them with violence and vigor, crushing them both in a series of short, violent battles that left none of the warriors of either clan alive. The children of those clans were taken in by others swiftly, as were their few noncombatants, who had apparently not been involved in the violence. At the same time more evidence of who had funded and supplied the clan's weapons was found in the clans' scattered holdings.

On the other side of things the New Mandalorians began to trace the money trail as well as the weapons several of the attackers had used. Within a day a report was on Satine's desk. and she read through it before looking up at Obi-Wan. He appeared very much worse for wear, swathed in bandages from his own near mortal escapade. The initial explosion had burned half his body, including one of his hands up to the elbow, with second degree burns. Then during the ensuing assault, someone had used a very low-tech but horribly effective weapon, a small IED that was packed with nails. Obi-Wan had saved Satine and two of her palace's security team, but had taken several of the nails to his own side. It was only the fact he had slowed them with a Force Push that had saved his life at all, but several other security officers had not been so lucky.

Seeing her knight in such a bedraggled and injured state caused sorrow to well up within Satine, but she pushed it aside for now. "An ignoble part of me had hoped that the carnage over the past few days would have shown everyone that violence itself could never be a true indicator of our people's way forward, so I could repudiate my agreement with Bo Katan. Instead, the fact that an outside force went out of its way to interfere in our internal matters like this has done the exact opposite."

"I am sorry, Satine," Obi-Wan said softly, shaking his head. "I would truly like to live in a universe where nonaggression and peaceful resolution would be the norm. But we do not live in that universe; all we can do is work toward that future with whatever tools we can."

For a moment the two of them were silent, and then Obi-Wan asked, "What is Bo-Katan going to do?"

"Bo has the same information I do, so she will act as the dratted Resol'nare tells her to, of course: attack. Besides which, someone, I have no idea who, has already leaked the information to the public: that the cartel out of Hrything was involved up to its eyeballs. Many of the attackers and almost all of the weapons and explosives were traced back to there, along with the combat drugs used by many of the attackers. My investigators and Bo Katan's all agree the shouted slogans were not worth the air used to shout them, even if those two clans' warriors believed them." Satine shrugged. "I could wish for a peaceful solution, perhaps removing Lazlo or whatever his name is and installing a true legal government somehow, but that's not going to happen."

She looked at Obi-Wan, her eyes narrowing. "Beyond the fact we didn't want Mandalore to devolve into chaos or civil war there was one other point that Bo Katan and I agreed on surprisingly. We didn't like the amount of subtle and not-so subtle pressure the Senate attempted to bring to bear on you Jedi to influence the conclave. I can almost understand why they did it, since the Republic honestly doesn't have any other handles it could use to influence events out here, bar a full military intervention. But I would like to know if the Senate is still against the upcoming societal and governmental changes."

"In other words if you're likely to see attempts at economic sanctions or that direct military intervention you just mentioned?" Obi-Wan asked dryly, amused by Satine's 'politician speak.' "I believe Master Koon spent half of this afternoon discussing events in a joint meeting with the Senate representatives interested in this affair and the High Council. The Senators are, of course, appalled at the outbreak of violence, and many of them demanded you put off any decision in the clan conclave until enough time has passed between these violent events and the decision so that it is not influenced by said violence, but wiser heads have prevailed."

Obi-Wan smiled wanly. "Chancellor Palpatine was once more involved personally, and he controlled the conversation most adroitly, turning the Senators' attention back to more localized, i.e. important, events while also applauding the actions of the Order, our personal heroism and how we went about our duty here. So officially, the Senate will take a wait and see attitude toward Mandalore and the Mandalore sector as a whole."

"Unofficially?"

"The Jedi Order has no idea at present," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "Personally I feel the Senate as a whole probably won't do anything. You might see various sectors trying to impose sanctions or other ineffectual acts, and one or two Senators might push for more active observation. Most of them, however, know they can't project power out this far from the Inner Rim except militarily, and there is no way any such action would be taken without a majority vote."

Satine fell silent for a few moments, fiddling with some of the dataslates on her desk before looking back up at Obi-Wan, broaching another subject. "What of Ranma and Knight Ti? How is she?"

"Ranma is uninjured, though he has yet to leave Shaak's side, while from this morning's medical report Shaak is out of danger. I believe at the moment that is where Master Koon is as well."

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Plo actually had yet to arrive at the hospital where Shaak was being cared for. Bo had, and had just relayed to Ranma the same information that Satine had been sharing with Obi-Wan. "Transportation will be an issue for my forces, of course, but part of me is actually thankful for Lazlo's attempt to interfere here since it gives the Reborn our first target."

Ranma nodded, not looking up from where he was looking at the information on the dataslate she'd handed him, and Bo coughed somewhat uncomfortably. When he learned that bounty hunters had attacked Shaak for their bounty, Ranma had gone cold somehow, almost emotionless. His eyes, which were normally so bright and lively, were now dark, blue stones with all the life leeched out of them. The difference between his normal outgoing, happy-go-lucky manner and this cold, almost robotic persona was startling, and rather terrifying. _And is it just me, or is it cold in here?_

"It will be a long-term campaign once the orbitals have been smashed, of course, what they have of them, anyway," Bo went on hurriedly, her voice sounding strained to her ears in the cold silence of the hospital room, heretofore broken only by the hum of the monitoring machines. "We'll then have to secure a beach head then somehow garner local support," she went on. "But…"

"But while that attack may take the source of the majority of the attackers out, it does nothing about the bounty hunters or their guild," Ranma said, speaking up before she could go on, even his voice cold, emotionless. "Bounty hunters who chose not only to attack us, but planned how to go about attacking Shaak after deciding she was the easier target of the two of us, up to and including hostages. Is that right?"

"That's what the one survivor from the attack on Shaak says," Bo replied, proud that her voice had come out normally despite how very worried she was becoming about Ranma's state of mind. His tone was so…so cold.

Ranma nodded, setting down the dataslate lightly on a chair next to his, though when he lifted his hand off, Bo had to wince. His fingers had crushed the edges of the metal dataslate in one of those effortless shows of power that always reminded Bo that Ranma all too often held back, even in his spars with Shaak Ti.

He stood, staring down at Shaak for a moment. Her eyes were closed, of course, given her comatose state, while a small artificial lung machine had been placed over her face, and intravenous tubes were placed here and there on her body. Shaak's stomach, lower intestine and one of her lungs had been perforated by blaster bolts in the final attack on her. Her shoulder and thigh had been hit as well, though those wounds were minor in comparison to the internal injuries.

Those gut injuries were why Shaak was laid up here with a suit filled with bacta covering her upper body. Out here in the Outer Rim there were very few individuals or even governments like the New Mandalorians that could afford a full bacta tank. Bacta packs like the suit Shaak was in were slower, exacerbated by the fact that internal injuries were already slower to heal than external ones, but Shaak would be fully healed eventually.

The locals had paid for Shaak's medical care out of their own pockets. Shaak's sacrifice had done almost as much as Master Koon's apology to not so much do away with the hatred of the Jedi among Bo's people, but to garner them equal amounts of respect. The Jedi would never be loved here, but they could be respected rather than simply abhorred, and that would be enough.

For her part Bo was torn. Given her one-sided rivalry with Shaak, even putting aside the feelings Bo still had despite herself for Ranma, she should have felt perhaps not triumphant, but at least neutral towards the Togrutan woman being injured. But Bo didn't. She felt strange. She didn't like seeing Shaak lying there like this, not one bit. It felt almost unnatural. _Not, at least,_ she hastily added to that thought, _from someone else's hand rather than my own, anyway_.

After a moment Ranma turned away. "Shaak'll wake up in what, six, seven days, right?"

"Something like that. She'll still not be ambulatory for a few more days after that, while the doctors make certain that everything inside has healed properly and removed any lingering bacta from within her body. There's always a chance with internal injuries that they won't, or further complications due to that last issue."

"I'll be back by the time she wakes up," Ranma said with a nod, his voice and face still with that cold, emotionless edge even now. Bo reached out for his shoulder then stopped herself letting her hand fall away.

Bo Katan Kryze didn't ask him what he was going to be doing. Tess and the others who had died in these attacks would be avenged when Bo and the Reborn assaulted Hrything. But the Bounty Hunters' Guild had to pay too for letting their members attack a Jedi, or hell, anyone, in such a dishonorable fashion. Ranma would see to that. Bo understood. That kind of retribution was very much in keeping with the Resol'nare, which had no equivalent of turning the other cheek. So she simply nodded. "I left a box of toys that you might find helpful by the _Wild Light_ 's ramp with HK, Ranma. Good hunting.

Ranma twitched his head in acknowledgment of that and marched out of the room without another word.

Outside Ranma saw Plo Koon walking down the corridor. Plo stopped, waiting for Ranma to reach him. When he did and Ranma made to pass him without another word Koon held up a hand, the metal tipped fingers tapping once on Ranma's shoulder before his hand stilled. "Where are you going?"

"To get some payback and to make certain the Bounty Hunters' Guild knows they won't get away with this kind of shit in the future," Ranma replied, not turning to face the Jedi. This left the two of them talking to one another side by side, yet with both of them looking towards opposite directions of the corridor.

"Vengeance is not the way of the Jedi," Plo remarked, not so much against the idea as simply commenting. "Retribution is somewhat, but only against the true target."

Most Jedi might have thought it their duty to stop Ranma from going on what amounted to a vigilante campaign against a Senate backed organization, even one such as the Bounty Hunters Guild, which was seen by the Senate as a necessary evil. But Plo Koon was a Kel Dor, and his race's idea of justice was a simple one: an eye for an eye. The term rough justice was applied to their ideals rather often, and Plo Koon, for all his training as a Jedi, still followed that ideal. So he did not try to stop Ranma, merely warned him about the dangers of giving in to the desire for vengeance.

"How many times do I have to say it," Ranma said, his voice almost whimsical, but there was nothing whimsical about his face or body language which was still radiating cold to a degree Plo could physically feel through his hands, the metal on his sensitive fingers actually beginning to sting. "I…am…not…a…Jedi. The Bounty Hunters' Guild might be able to wave away their involvement in issues like this by saying, oh so-and-so was not a member in good standing, or was no longer involved with the Guild, thank you. I don't care about that. They were involved. Some chapter of the guild allowed that bounty onto the books. They will pay."

Plo had very good self-control, so he did not shiver at the tone of voice Ranma had, though his eyes narrowed behind their protective glass as he examined the youth standing beside him through the Force. There was nothing there, no response to the young man's rage, no hate or anger visible through the Force. It was as if Ranma had shut off all of his emotions, and Plo suddenly realized that was far more worrisome than simple Dark Side fueled hate or anger.

Ranma wasn't reaching out to the Dark Side; he wasn't drawing from the Force at all. But he had shut himself down to an extent that he more closely resembled an automaton than a man. And that, coupled with the cold he was putting out, was alarming. _If Ranma's normal desire to rein in his physical abilities has disappeared along with his emotions that is a very worrisome thought indeed._

"If an innocent dies in your attacks on the Bounty Hunters' Guild, that will make you no better than them," he said at last, turning to look at Ranma for the first time in this discussion.

Ranma also turned his head, staring Plo in the eye for a moment before slowly nodding. "I'll make certain that only bounty hunters feel my response to this event," Ranma said, his voice still cold but acknowledging Plo's concerns, at least. "You may be sure of that."

Plo nodded, squeezing the other man's shoulder once more, then let his hands drop and continued his way towards Shaak's room.

 **OOOOOOO**

From his position at the bottom of the _Wild Light_ 's ramp, HK watched his master march up into the ship and turned to follow him automatically. HK's thoughts were rather more like Master Plo Koon's than either would have liked to think. Though where Plo was shocked and wary at the change which had come over Ranma, HK was interested. There was a cold calculation to Ranma's eyes now that was a complete turnaround from his more laid-back nature, and he radiated cold. Indeed, as HK moved to take up position behind Ranma as he entered the cockpit the droid's heat sensors detected a decrease in temperature. _Astonished thought: I wonder how he's doing that._

Tune, too, noticed Ranma's entirely different attitude as he sat down, his face devoid of any expression. "Tune, can you calculate the fastest route to this planet?" Ranma asked while plotting in a planet's name and coordinates into the computer.

His voice sounded…not robotic, but utterly emotionless. If Tune had been a human of a similar age to his actual build, he probably would've shivered at that tone. "Yes, master!" He would not have admitted it, but Ranma sort of scared him at the moment. Tune had known for over a year now that Ranma was dangerous, his abilities quite literally superhuman. But Ranma was always happy, smiling, and enjoying life. This Ranma was something else entirely.

"Good," Ranma said, then looked over at HK. "During your time on the Hypercom have you ever found an especially important chapter hall or organizational point for the Bounty Hunters' Guild?"

"Respectful answer: Negative, master. The Bounty Hunters' Guild might be legitimate in the eyes of the Senate, but that doesn't do anything to combat their public persona, something that is only helped along by acts like the attack on the mistress. Each chapter is autonomous, and many are mobile, the better to be able to skirt both sides of the law. Even the meatbag Cradock the Trandoshan, the Guild's formal master, keeps on the move like that with his personal chapter of the Guild."

HK raised his normal hand, waving it side to side. "Purposeful supposition: However, my data indicates that whatever their home chapter, chartered bounty hunters are required to at least stop in and make a courtesy call on the nearest chapter house. If we attack the chapter house on this planet, as I speculate you mean to, we will possibly be able to find out which chapter accepted the bounty on the mistress."

"Excellent. I'd've hated to simply wipe out chapters one by one until we found the chapter leader responsible for this," Ranma said coldly, leaning back in his chair. "Do you have that calculated yet, Tune?"

"Yes, master. Shall I inform the port authorities we're leaving?" the astromech droid asked, his vocorder's voice hesitant.

"Yes. We're leaving now," Ranma said as he began to power up the ship. A moment later they were leaving Mandalore's surface, heading up out of its atmosphere and away. After a moment Tune asked, "I had thought that the Bounty Hunters' Guild had refused to take bounties on the Jedi. Is that not against their history of working with the Republic?"

"I do not know," Ranma said, his voice still so cold that Tune's receptors began to feel a literal change of temperature around him as HK had earlier. "I do not know, and I do not care, though it could be true since every time they've attacked Shaak she was with me, so it could be said they were attacking me. I want to send a message to these bastards. They **fuck** with my friends or any innocents, and I will **fuck** with them back."

HK nodded, saying nothing, though he was thinking, _Impressed observation: My master has a temper, or perhaps two stages to his temper. Better for all if he is shouting and raging, better still when he is having fun and playing around. This serious and deadly control is something else altogether._ And HK was glad to see it.

"Master," Tune said hesitantly, who was not at all happy. "You realize that any action against the Guild should probably go through the Jedi Order? Or perhaps even the Senate? They are a Senate mandated group, after all."

"They're apparently a Senate mandated group so long as they don't act against Republic interests. How has that been working lately?" Ranma asked, his words sardonic though they did not match the still cold tone. "And maybe even under these circumstances I should be working through the Senate or the Order, but right now I aim to misbehave."

It took the _Wild Light_ three short jumps and one rather longer one consisting of around forty minutes calculation and four hours in hyperspace before the ship came out of space in the system which housed their first target. Fontomo was a fairly unsophisticated Mid Rim world built around several dozen large agricultural hubs and two large space stations. It had a few ancient looking patrol craft moving around its orbit, and between it and a small dust ball of a world there looked to be some kind of small bio-cube.

One of the ancient craft homed in on the _Wild Light_ just as it reached orbit. "Incoming ship, this is the _Dawn Crusader_ ," a cocky, very young sounding voice said over the intercom, which Tune had opened without command. "State your business in our star system or I'm afraid I'll have to open fire on you."

HK shook his head slowly. "Aggrieved professional pride: That meatbag should be flogged for that kind of radio discipline, but I suppose allowances must be made for young meatbags who have never been away from their unimportant system."

Ranma didn't reply to HK's droll quip, clicking on his communicator. "This is the _Wild Light._ My name is Ranma, and I am here for retribution." With that he clicked the com off, and under his hands the _Wild Light_ dove like a fish into the atmosphere at an angle that the older patrol craft couldn't match, racing toward one of the cities below them.

"Tune, where is this Bounty Hunter Chapter Hall?"

"Top six stories of the McInnes building, master, in The'cmu'l. Coordinates for the city to follow," Tune replied promptly, having already connected to the local Intranet to find that information quickly. With Tune's direction they found the city swiftly, then the actual building, a tall one connected to a few others nearby by short, thin walkways. "The target building is the one with antiaircraft guns to our port side."

Ranma nodded, turning that way, lighting up the top of the roof with his targeting reticle. At that moment a shiver of regret that Shaak wasn't sitting next to him hit Ranma, but he ruthlessly ignored it. The Soul of Ice, which he had fallen into accidently as he tried to control himself after hearing about Shaak's brush with death, allowed him to do so with ease.

A second later his quad lasers lanced out, stitching the anti-aircraft guns on the buildings' roofs, themselves being quad lasers, and shattering them in succession before they could activate. "HK?"

HK was already gone, knowing the master would not use the proton torpedoes or the ion cannon unless he had to. After all, the more times you used a secret the less of the secret it became. The hatch opened, wind whipping around the massive droid with a force that would take most humanoids off their feet, but his clawed feet locked down magnetically. He raised his shoulder mounted cannon firing down with a concussion missile which impacted the roof seconds later.

The roof exploded, and he leapt out opening up his communications as he dropped down to the ground. "Joyful shout: I've made a hole, master. You are clear to go!"

Behind him Ranma unlatched himself from his pilot's chair, nodding to Tune. "Keep us circling until I call for you, Tune. Don't fire back against any of the local police forces that try to fire you, simply take it on the shields but dodge what you can, of course."

"Yes master," Tune said, grateful that he would not be involved in any actual bloodletting.

With that Ranma raced through the ship, shouting, "Close the hatch in five, four, three, two, one!" With that Ranma dove out, flipping himself through the air as two bounty hunters, who had come out onto the roof after his initial assault, opened fire. His dive actually carried him below their arc of fire, and he quickly pulled out his own massive rifle, blasting away at them.

He wished for a moment that it was a slug shooter, since then Ranma would have been able to use the recoil to slow himself down. As it was he had to flip himself twice more as he passed through the hole that HK had made, which was still spurting smoke and electrical sparks everywhere, the concrete around the hole shattered and slowly falling down into the hole.

He landed in a bar of some kind with several scattered bodies here and there and a door ripped in half to one side. _HK must've gone that way,_ Ranma thought to himself, his thoughts still cold, still subsumed by the Soul of Ice. Ranma couldn't bring himself out of it, not that he was trying really hard. For this, cold calculation was much more dangerous than red hot fury.

Activating his light pike, Ranma cut through the floor before turning it off and returning it to his ki space. He was not doing this as an ally of the Jedi; he was doing this as Ranma, lover of Shaak Ti, and he did not want the use of that weapon to bring the Order trouble from his actions.

Leaping up, he brought his foot down, kicking hard into the floor which he had previously cut into with the light pike. The piece of floor collapsed under him carrying Ranma downwards, and he kicked off as soon as he was through to the next level, hurling himself away from it as people opened fire on the opening.

There were fifteen frantic bounty hunters below him, as well as four dancers or possibly hookers, Ranma didn't know which, in one corner. Ranma landed in the middle of four of the bounty hunters, his hands and fists flashing out, smashing weapons and bodies hurling them away. Two of them dropped their weapons as his hits landed, shattering their neck muscles, some kind of alien with an external skeleton. Ranma grabbed their weapons and turned hosing half of the room, killing five more hunters even as he pushed himself away. Rolling into cover Ranma dropped the guns quickly, then leaped up again out of the cover to close with the six remaining.

Once he was within hand-to-hand range, only one of them was able to block his first punch, and that one failed to block a follow-on sweep kick that took his legs out from under him. A hammer kick descended, crushing his skull into the ground.

One of the others who had tried to play possum jumped on Ranma's back with a vibro knife, but Ranma turned quickly, his hand moving into a knife formation and pointing up, laced with ki. The blow blew through the man like a cannon round, exploding his center of mass and sending bits and pieces of him everywhere, covering Ranma in blood. But he was so deep into the Soul of Ice he didn't even notice or care, only turning away slightly so the gore did not get into his eyes.

With that Ranma looked around, staring at the four exotic dancers or something that must've been busy on the poles scattered around the room before his attack. The sight of their terrified fearful faces staring at him caused Ranma to blanch, the Soul of Ice shivering around him. _No,_ _ **no.**_ _I am a martial artist, a defender. I am not a monster, not a killer, not someone to be feared, I won't…_

With that Ranma's Soul of Ice finally cracked, and Ranma gasped, his emotions coming back in a whirlwind. He grit his teeth, turning away and grabbing one of the poles, his fingers bending the metal under his grip before he was able to control himself. Anger, hate, love, worry, concern, all of the emotions he had been feeling since hearing about the attack on Shaak hammered through Ranma then.

A corner of Ranma's mind somehow noted that he should be thankful that he did not feel the odd reverb effect that the Jedi did, that he had to consciously reach out for the Force rather than always have the Force flowing through him like they did. _That would have been bad,_ he thought to himself, shuddering at the very idea.

He turned to the group of dancers and shook his head again, holding his hands up to show they were empty. _Not_ _that after what I just did that will really reassure them,_ Ranma though sardonically."Do you have anything to write on, like a permanent marker or something?" he asked.

All of them shook their heads. "You know the way out of here?"

One of them, a Twi'lek girl, nodded, and he nodded back. "Well, I suggest raiding their pockets for any money they've got and then getting out of here. This fight's not over yet."

Realizing he meant them no harm they all moved out from the bar they had been using as cover while Ranma pulled out his own permanent marker, something he had picked up on the Kashyyyk during his prank war with the Jedi younglings. Then he moved over to the few bounty hunters who he had just knocked out, writing messages on their foreheads and faces before stripping them of their clothing. Then he tied each of them in turn to the dance poles.

While he was doing this the dancers had actually taken his word and began to search around the dead bodies for credits chips and anything they could sell. They didn't come away with much, however.

Seeing this Ranma sighed, reaching into his ki pocket and pulling out several thousand credit chips, tossing them to the girls. "Take those, and hopefully find a new line of work. I can't imagine any girl would actually choose to do this for a living if they had any other way to make a living."

Two of the girls shrugged their shoulders, indicating they didn't really want to answer that question, though one of them was smirking slightly as she did so. The other two looked at one another, then grabbed up as many of the credit chips Ranma had tossed as they could. One of them was the young Twi'lek girl who, Ranma thought, was only a few years older than him.

A second later the doors banged open, and HK entered, causing all four of the womenfolk to squeak as HK paused, staring at Ranma's work. "Amused acclamation: Both humiliating and terrifying, an excellent synergy, master." Like Ranma, HK was liberally dabbed with blood here and there, as well as cuts and a few seared segments showing where he had been hit by blaster bolts.

"Informative statement: The remaining bounty hunters are holed up in what looks to be their Chapter Master's room, a small alcove on the floor directly below us. The first three floors are holding cells and penitentiaries."

"That's an odd layout, isn't it?" Ranma asked his brow furrowing.

"Experienced tone: Not really, master. The nearest rooftop to the west of us is a landing area, and it has an extrusion which can connect to the lower-level of this one. I doubt the meatbags of this chapter house have anything whatever to do with the rest of this planet. This Chapter Hall is simply a strategic location to them."

"Understood," Ranma said with a nod, and HK noted that he was no longer radiating the cold that had so startled him before. Logically HK knew that was probably a good thing, but probably not as fun for him personally.

"Do their defenses look as if they'll be able to stop us?" Ranma asked as the girls quickly moved around HK and made their way out of the building.

"Droll response: Doubtful master, very doubtful."

Moments later the two of them advanced down the stairs and towards where the bounty hunters were holed up. Four of them had tried to move away from their defensive position to find the attackers, but Ranma dealt with them easily, leaving them unconscious and tied together head to crotch with the same messages he had written on the survivors of his initial attack.

"Awed joy: Master, you truly do know how to make enemies."

"Actually when we left Mandalore I was thinking more along the lines of mountains of skulls than humiliation, but that can wait. This place isn't important enough to make the real start of our terror campaign," Ranma said, and for just a moment HK could detect a hint of coldness there, a controlled fury.

They eventually made their way from the entrance to the long hallway leading to the Chapter Master's room. "Analytical observation: Master, I am detecting at least seven heartbeats, as well as two sets of moving servomotors. Logic would then dictate they have at least two combat droids, size indeterminate, and seven meatbags."

Ranma nodded, gathering himself, and then launched himself around the corner of the room into the hallway. "Moko Takabisha!" he shouted, sending a massive sphere of cerulean light hurling from his hands even as he continued his leap, moving out of the doorway. HK moved in his wake, both hands full of blaster rifles as his heavy cannon came up off his shoulder opening fire at the same time.

Down the hallway were two heavy, blaster-rated ferocrete blocks pulled there from somewhere, or perhaps they were routinely here to provide a last ditch defensive position. Using them currently were four humans, three aliens and two attack droids of a configuration Ranma hadn't seen before . The droids were as large as HK, hunched back without hands, but with twin disruptor cannons on their arms under a large, forward jutting head. They sort of reminded Ranma of something he'd seen in an American film once, something about a robotic policemen. It was only a glimpse of a poster though, so Ranma couldn't be certain.

HK's heavy cannon targeted those two robots as they opened fire, while HK dodged back out of the doorway, but too slowly. Several blaster bolts hit his armored frame, leaving burn marks and tiny indents, and one of the more powerful disruptor cannon blasts almost ripped the heavy cannon off his shoulder. Another nearly took his claw hand off. But one of the droids in turn collapsed to the side, its head gone, while Ranma's initial attack had destroyed the other, incinerating its head and much of its torso.

A second later the two of them had to move back as the bounty hunters hurled grenades of various different types. The explosions went off as one, wiping out a lot of the wooden frame of the doorway and cracking the wood of the floor underneath, but both their targets had reacted too fast.

Before the bounty hunters could realizes this and before the smoke of the various explosions had time to clear, HK and Ranma were back in the doorway, with HK in the lead for a moment. HK opened fire with the blaster in his normal hand, his knees bending at Ranma's shout of, "Duck down, HK!"

As HK's accurate fire took out two of the remaining bounty hunters, Ranma leaped up over the towering droid, bouncing off the ceiling of the corridor and back down into the remainder, dodging their frantic fire with ease. Two bounty hunters were knocked unconscious quickly, while the others responded better, grabbing at knives and trying to fight back. But it didn't do them any good, Ranma knocking all of them out with a few punches to the head or chops to the neck, their own attacks so slow it was ludicrous to Ranma.

Turning around Ranma lifted the ferocrete block out of HK's way, easily hurling it behind them through the still smoke-filled door. As the droid moved to stand beside him Ranma asked, "Would you care to knock for me HK?"

While the droid moved around Ranma, the pigtailed marital artist knelt by the comatose forms of the bounty hunters. Two of the humans and one of the aliens, a mask breather whose species Ranma wasn't familiar with, were alive but unconscious, while the others were not, dead from shots from HK in three cases. The last alien, a short mousy looking creature Ranma recognized as a Sullustan, had been crushed by the body of one of the large combat droids.

After tying up the three survivors with their own clothing, Ranma once more pulled out his permanent marker before writing out the messages 'murderer, child killer, terrorists, coward' and so forth on their bodies. Those messages and 'Ranma was here' on every face right over their forehead, so they wouldn't be able to forget who had done this and why.

By the time he was done with that, HK had moved around the last concrete block, using his battered claw hand to lift and toss it out of his way before reaching for the door with the same hand. The claws ripped into the steel of the door, and with a squeal of his servomotors he pulled the door off of its railings before being forced to use it as a shield for a moment as several disruptor bolts slammed into the interior side of it. "Wry observation: There seems to be someone at home, master."

"Who the kriff are you!?" shouted a voice from inside as Ranma moved to the doorway. "This is the Bounty Hunters' Guild, bastards! There'll be no place you can hide in all the universe after this!"

"You people chose to take out a bounty on a Jedi and go about it by taking hostages and attacking innocents," Ranma shouted back, his blue eyes going cold once more before he shook his head, pulling back from once more falling into the Soul of Ice. "You should've been prepared to reap the whirlwind."

"What?! No we didn't!" the voice inside shouted back, his voice querulous as well as shocky.

Ranma quickly moved into the doorway, dodging the incoming fire by ducking underneath it for a moment, a piece of rubble he'd picked up flashing out from his hand to impact the man inside before he could duck underneath his desk again.

The Chapter Master's room was quite small in comparison to what Ranma had expected, lined with data slates in a library to one side, with a few trophies on the other wall and a large reinforced metal desk set into the center of the room backed by a large set of windows. The guild master was a Bothan, a race Ranma had seen a time or two and had no interest in getting to know any better. He wore a rather decent looking suit with a bandoleer of throwing knives on his chest and a blaster holster currently empty at his waist, the weapon spinning away into a corner.

"You're no kriffing Jedi!" said the alien, his voice lowering into a low growl as he tried and failed to get his fur to go back to normal rather than standing up in a sign of fear. That was something only another Bothan could have recognized, but that didn't matter, as to most Bothans only the opinions of other Bothans and personal power really mattered. "The Jedi wouldn't retaliate like this, not before working through channels, and certainly not so…so ruthlessly!"

"If I wanted all of you dead you would all be dead," Ranma said simply, moving towards the man, plucking his throwing knives out of the air as the man hurled them at him desperately. After the first three the Bothan seemed to get the point and stopped, backing away rapidly as Ranma advanced, only to watch in something approaching shock as Ranma lifted his entire desk and hurled it to one side with almost lazy ease. "You took a bounty on Jedi Master Shaak Ti, who was residing on Mandalore recently."

"My chapter certainly never did!" the Bothan replied harshly, trying to regain some dignity and failing. "We **can't** take bounties on Jedi! That goes against our agreement to work with the Republic. If we do something like that, the Senate would repeal our charter, and we'd be no more than outlaws!"

"And yet the weapons they used, the bounty hunters themselves, all passed through this chapter. We captured their ship, and their astromech droid supplied us with the ship's last few jumps." Ranma held out a holographic disc, which showed the dead faces of Bossk and Dengar.

The chapter master jolted as he recognized them. His eyes, which looked like a very odd cross between a dog's and a cat's, widened in particular when he looked at the Trandoshan's image. "Bossk, Dengar," he whispered their names, shaking his head. "They, they were after a Jedi?! They only said…Bossk told us…that is…"

"Someone else, some other chapter master in your guild authorized this bounty if you didn't," Ranma said, his voice slipping into that cold monotone that HK recognized from before they had left Mandalore. He held that tone for a moment before he shook it off. "Who? Where did the authorization come from? Give me a target, or I'll simply keep attacking chapter halls like this until I get the information I want."

The effect on the furry alien was everything that the hunter killer droid knew it would be. He quickly moved as far away from Ranma as he could, pinning himself against the wall of windows, his eyes wide as if he was staring at some kind of giant predator. Which, HK reflected, was remarkably astute of him. Far more astute than most Bothans would be, since he wasn't spouting threats or trying to buy his way out of trouble, something the few Bothans HK had any memory of dealing with had done.

"W-Wait a minute!" With that the Bothan hurried over to his table, picking up a data pad there and cycling through it quickly, while Ranma watched, crossing his arms and tapping one foot impatiently on the floor. After a moment the man looked up, his alien features twisted into an even more fearful look than it had been a moment before.

Ranma thought he knew why and spoke up quickly. "Look, if you give me the information I can guarantee that whatever guild master or chapter master or whatever the hell you call it, whoever authorized that bounty isn't going to be around to bother you again. So why don't you give me that information now, and we can both walk away from this?"

After staring at Ranma then over at the droid that had accompanied him the Bothan shuddered, nodding once,. "The Crimson Nova. I'll give you the coordinates of where their space station is. It, it's nothing to do with… I, I really, I mean, we didn't know! We were just told she was a Togrutan, that was all, there as part of some Republic group or other to watch the Mandos. We didn't know she was a Jedi!"

"I'd suggest looking into **why** people are given bounties before deciding they're worth going after," Ranma said coldly. "After all," he said pointing at his own face, "you have a bounty for my head too, don't you?"

The man nodded hesitantly, and Ranma went on. "Mine was placed on me by slavers," he said, not wanting to mention the fact that at least one of those bounties was from another source. "Not from the Republic, not from the Senate or anyone else legal, but from the fucking Hutts. You need to start choosing your clients better or somehow start to manage who can buy your services and how you bounty hunters can go about your business, or else your entire guild will be just as bad as the fuckers you're supposed to be hunting down."

Ranma looked into the man's eyes, his eyes becoming lighter and deeper, with a blue that seemed to pull at the Bothan's soul for a moment. "I will destroy this Crimson Nova group. That will be enough for now. But if any bounty hunter tries to come after Shaak again or kills an innocent to get to me, I will randomly choose another chapter of the Bounty Hunters' Guild and wipe it out, man and woman, do you understand me? I left at least half of the people here alive…" Ranma paused then, looking over at HK, the coldness receding from his eyes, "Didn't I?"

"Analytical assessment: Perhaps a little closer to a third, master. After all, I was not taking prisoners and I ran into at least twelve of them myself moving down from the top floor along the stairwells."

Ranma nodded and turned back to the man who was staring horrified at the droid. "All right, a bit closer to a third. How many chapters does your guild have? How many chapters can it lose before it stops being able to act as a guild at all?"

"You can't, you can't do that!" the Bothan whispered in fear before trying to straighten up in an effort to regain his courage. He hadn't even listened to the provisos Ranma had given him. "The Senate, we're a Senate chartered guild. The Senate would never stand for it!"

"You lot are supposed to have some kind of code you follow to stay on the good side of both the Order and the Senate, but most I've run into don't seem to care about that. How's that working out for them these days? If the Senate can't police you, that makes you no better than a criminal syndicate. Especially if you're willing to take on any bounty so long as you're paid. Money doesn't make right, remember that."

The man stilled, staring at Ranma, then Ranma turned away, flipping the Bothan the bird and moving away out of the room. HK leaned down so that his faceplate was close to the alien. "Arrogant warning: Pray that we do not have to come back and finish the job, meatbag. Because if we do, I will do so gladly. I do so hate to leave enemies alive regardless of the reasons. "

 **OOOOOOO**

The _Wild Light_ performed a small random jump away from Fontomo to another, somewhat nearby empty system designated solely by a random number, stopping there for a time as Tune calculated the best route to their true target. "Master, it will take us at least two days to get to this space station. While the time in hyperspace will not be overlong except for the initial jump into that sector, the system the space station is located is in the middle of a nebula, which will force us to make many small separate jumps, and I will have to stop and calculate each one," Tune said eventually, his tone far happier now that his master seemed to have returned to normal.

"That's fine. I need to spend some time meditating anyway…on a lot of things, really," Ranma said, letting out a faint sigh as he leaned back in his chair in the cockpit. "So long as you think we can get back to the Mandalore within a few hours of when Shaak is supposed to wake up."

"Introspective interjection: I believe you are missing the point that the tin can was trying to make, master. It is almost certain that this Crimson Nova chapter will be prepared for us when we arrive," HK cut in.

Ranma let his shoulders rise and fall just once to show his disdain for that idea. "Let them. However ready they are, it won't matter a damn. We can use those days to plan too, after all. Tune, get us situated for the jump. HK, you think you can repair that hand and your cannon?"

"Certain tone: If I remove that one damaged blaster barrel, I should be able to simply replace it. The hand will take some more work, but given that it is only the fine motor functions that have been damaged, it does not matter as much."

"Good. Tune, will you need me in the cockpit for those jumps?"

"For a few of the last ones, master, yes. We might need evasive maneuvering. I will inform you when we arrive at that point, however," the droid replied, not having made any comment about HK's tin-can comment, but plotting revenge for later.

"Good." Ranma waited for a few moments as Tune calculated their first jump, then eased the ship around into position before activating the hyperspace engines. After that he left Tune in charge of the ship and headed back into the sitting area. "Let's open Bo's bag of gifts, then I want some food, and then I need to meditate, damn it."

HK followed him quickly, interest radiating off the droid. Ranma opened the box Bo had left for him outside the hospital, reaching inside. He found two handguns, one disruptor grade rifle, one of the Mandalorian wrist rocket launchers complete with two rockets, and a jet pack.

The box did not include a helmet or armor. Evidently Bo knew that Ranma wanted to go in as himself rather than as some random warrior. And frankly any kind of armor she had access to wasn't as good as Ranma's body was, so that was all right. Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma placed the blaster pistols on his hips. Once they were placed to his satisfaction Ranma began moving around the sitting area quickly to get used to them being there, jumping up and down before kicking out a few times, readjusting the pistols' holsters to make certain they stayed in place.

He wouldn't normally wear them at all; Ranma preferred to go unarmed or with his weapons in his ki space rather than out and about since he thought it escalated things all around to be visibly armed, especially with guns. But for this mission the ability to get to them quickly was a telling point. "The rifle's yours HK, and you think you can use this jet pack?"

"Prevaricating response: My legs have ventral thrusters on their backs, master. They already give me some maneuverability even in zero-G. The jets could allow me far more maneuverability in that environment, however. You have a plan, I take it?"

"A start of one, anyway," Ranma said with a smirk and another shoulder shrug. "First I'm going to pull a trick out of the Jedi's book. Shaak explained to me a few times how the Jedi are sometimes able to calculate hyperspace jumps on their own and come much closer to planets and other things than even astromechs like Tune can. I'm not used to using the Force in that manner, but there's a first time for everything."

The hunter killer droid stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Philosophical observation: Slamming into a black hole, asteroid, or sun would at least be a fiery and rather painless way to die, master. And it would allow us to take the meatbags that are our current victims by surprise, so you have my full support in this."

"Heh, that's one way of thinking, I suppose," Ranma said with a smirk. "Though I don't intent to die. You wouldn't happen to have a schematic of this space station or whatever or the original dreadnought it was supposedly converted from, would you?"

"Wry rejoinder: Why no, master. I don't have that specific data in my incredibly erratic long-term memory."

Ranma frowned. He didn't want to access the Jedi information network for that kind of thing as it would implicate the Order in his attack. Not that he thought the Order itself would have an issue with that, but the Senate might, and he doubted everything between the Order, his friends in the Order, and the Senate was sunshine and roses at the moment, anyway. "We'll need some way of getting some more information, then. For now, work on your repairs. I have some things I need to think about."

Taking up a meditation pose on his bed, Ranma began to think hard about what had happened since he had first heard of the successful attack on Shaak. Part of his reaction had been because the first reports he had gotten said that the 'Togrutan Jedi' had died in the defense of a few civilian hostages. Hearing that had made Ranma's already frayed self-control, thanks to the death of Tess and more than a few others with whom he had become friendly, deteriorate further.

This was made worse by his first sight of Shaak being carried off by a medical team, her body limp and still as he reached her, taking her limp hand in his and trying to sense if she was alive or dead. Indeed, Ranma had gone further, trying to push out his own ki into her to jump start the healing process, but it hadn't worked. With Shaak comatose Ranma had been unable to forge a connection between their body's ki reserves.

All the times they had been together, all the emotions he had felt towards her since meeting Shaak for the first time had rushed Ranma all at once. It had been like Ranma was being torn in different directions, this way and that. Hate for those who had attacked her; grief, sadness, fear, loss; it had all come tumbling into Ranma more than he'd ever had to deal with before. Ranma had tried to control them, but as he had also been reaching out to see if he could sense Shaak's life force, for once he found himself caught up in the reverb effect the Jedi had to deal with.

He had far more experience with controlling his emotions than the Jedi, of course, and he had fought them back down, which was when Ranma knew he had made his mistake. Instead of simply fighting them then escaping the city to work through the emotions, Ranma had entered the Soul of Ice to keep them at bay.

But there was a reason why Ranma had not fooled around with the Soul of Ice since arriving in this universe: with ki and chi being all mixed into the Force here, he had been worried about what the Soul of Ice would be like. And Ranma had been right to be leery about it. Instead of letting him simply subsume his emotions under another hard layer of control, the Soul of Ice had acted like a void and absorbed them, sucking them **all** away from him, pushing them out into the Force around him thanks to his attempt to connect to Shaak's ki. And then it had drained not just the emotions he'd been dealing with, but all his other emotions. The Soul of Ica had allowed him to function but it had removed all his inhibitions and self-control making him more ice than man.

 _Luckily I brought myself out of it in the end, but even that was harder than it should have been. It was like I couldn't even realize anything was wrong until those dancers looked at me with such fear. It didn't exactly take me over, not really, but it damn sure affected me more than I like. And I nearly slipped into it again a few times afterward when I had to control my anger. That's not good. I'm going to have to be very, very careful I don't slip into that state of mind again; it could be even harder to break out of it a second time._

With that thought, Ranma began to deal with the emotions of Shaak's near death experience and his grief over Tess and his other new friends dying. He let them out in a controlled fashion, then thanked the fates that Shaak had not joined the others in death, before promising himself that the first thing he would do when he saw her next would be to kiss her senseless for worrying him, then try to come up with a way to show Shaak how much she meant to him.

At the next jump Ranma had to access the local Intranet, first looking up any information about the Crimson Nova's space station. It turned out, however, that it actually hadn't started as a space station, or rather the original place hadn't been custom built as a space station. Instead it had been converted from an ancient dreadnought, which Ranma imagined was the equivalent of a cruiser.

HK was even able to find a historical schematic of the original dreadnought this space station was based on in the online archive of a university. This gave them an idea of the power output the converted ship could sustain, as well as the exterior weapons it could theoretically have and the number of people it could safely hold.

Added to this HK had at one point in as he put it, "my no doubt storied if sadly forgotten past," been on refitted space stations, and knew how much interior space would be taken up by the, as the droid again put it, "various meatbag needs such as food, air circulation, and water."

"Further," said HK, "they have no doubt added to the superstructure over time. The original ship was rather small, and no amount of refitting could make it house the number of meatbags found in most bounty hunter chapters."

They played around with the old schematics over the next few days, trying to figure out where those targets places would be. They also worked on a plan, which made HK rather gleeful in its simple but efficient bloodthirstiness.

Ranma took breaks from these planning sessions to meditate, reaching out to the Force as Master Fay and Shaak had so often tried to teach him. It was hard for Ranma because he was not mentally capable of opening himself up entirely to the Force like the Jedi were trained to do since birth. He was able to use the Force to recharge himself if needed, and he had learned to also return that energy later under Master Fay's tutelage, but reaching out for it and asking for guidance like this that was entirely new.

And unfortunately the Force didn't seem to be cooperating. Instead of telling him a single answer when he was able to get anything at all, it gave him hundreds, all disjointed flashes of information and knowledge which Ranma promptly ignored, pushing it all to the side. Ranma had no interest in knowing his path or what actions he should take or whatever the Force was trying to tell him. He would make his own path forward.

 _Dammit,_ he thought, somehow sending that thought out into the Force, _I just want to know if I'll be able to calculate the damn jump!_ Ranma groused, once more taking up a meditation pose as the _Wild Light_ continued on its way.

 **OOOOOOO**

Sheev Palpatine looked up from where he was sitting in the Chancellor's semi-formal receiving area, leaning back in his chair and gesturing the three Jedi to join him. "Well," he said, his tone philosophical. "That was interesting."

The three Jedi in front of them all stopped for a moment taking in the Chancellor's appearance. His suit and uniform looked immaculate, but his face showed a harried sort of air completely at odds with his normal controlled appearance. This was compounded a second later as he threw back a tumbler of fine Savareen brandy as if it was water.

At their looks he shrugged his shoulders, setting the empty tumbler aside. "The debates on this issue have been particularly vociferous, which, coupled with everything else my predecessor left me to deal with, has made me rather regret I was elevated to this office in the first place."

Master Gallia nodded her head, indicating she agreed with that sentiment, as did Coleman Trebor. The Vurt Jedi master was there instead of one of the other political specialists because he understood how the media worked better than most, while Master Dooku was there for his military knowledge. Normally that would have been a task given to Master Bulq given he was assigned to the Temple as a teacher, while Master Dooku was otherwise assigned to some kind of special assignment which Palpatine wasn't supposed to know about.

He did, of course. Sidious also knew that Dooku and Master Windu were not making any headway whatsoever in finding any connection between Darth Maul and the legacy of Darth Bane, the Sith who had survived following the Rule of Two. He had long ago set up his assassin's past to confuse anyone looking into him, with thousands of false leads and with nothing concrete that the Order could find.

As the three Jedi sat, Sidious took a brief moment to look at all of them. Not with his foresight; he didn't want to chance that with three Jedi Masters of their caliber so close to him. He trusted his Force Cloak and the Veil, but why take chances since even his physical senses could tell him that all three of them looked harried.

Master Gallia was easily the worst. Her normally immaculate appearance was somewhat in disarray just like Sidious's own, but in his case it was a carefully contrived look rather than reality. There was obviously no sweat on her, Jedi could control their bodies to ignore heat cold and perspiration to a certain extent if they so wished, but even so she looked tired.

In contrast the far older Master Dooku looked exasperated. His eyes were narrowed, the hand resting on his lightsaber flexing, certain sign of irritation in the dueling Master. Yet there was also a faint smile on his face, as if he found amusement in this latest issue with the Mandalorians, or perhaps the maddened response to it in the Senate.

Coleman Trebor, on the other hand, looked almost as if he was enjoying himself. His eyes were alight on the sides of his pointed, angular head, his face almost beaming for his species, and there was a certain frenetic energy to him. The Vurt was the most dangerous at this moment in time, Sidious knew.

Trebor's connections to several intergalactic news agencies and companies made him a threat to the ongoing, if incredibly subtle campaign to alienate the common man from the Jedi among the Core Worlds. It had to be subtle, of course, or else the Jedi would recognize it. And it had to seem spontaneous, or else they'd start looking for connections. And it couldn't be too widespread, or even that would be a sign of someone trying to control things. But that campaign had been in place for centuries, and Sidious knew he only had to tweak that campaign occasionally to keep the machine running.

But to Sidious's irritation Trebor had already started a counter campaign, not so much making the Jedi out to be heroes, but simply informing the public about what the Jedi really were about: about their Oath, about what they could and could not do, and what their place was in the Republic. Among the Core Worlds it hadn't had much of an effect just yet, but Sidious was watching public sentiment there just in case.

After a moment Palpatine shrugged his shoulders. "Well, this was a hard fought victory, my friends, but a victory nonetheless. The Senate will not move against the Mandalorians militarily unless they prove themselves a threat. That was the best we could hope for, really, though I can't say the same for all of our disparate species and special interest groups. A few of them might strike at the Mandalorians themselves, and since the Mandalorians are not a part of the Republic, what we can do to stop such is limited."

"I think the Mandalorians can handle any small group like that so long as the Senate Navy isn't involved," Dooku said wryly. "The Reborn certainly have an organizational structure already in place, and if they can build up enough of a military force quickly they'll be able to defend themselves."

"Is the Jedi Order truly happy about this?" Palpatine asked, allowing a bit of a question and worry into his tone. "I have to admit to being unhappy with the idea of the Mandalorians taking up their own ways even under this apparently more enlightened methodology. While the New Mandalorians were not exactly important in the great scheme of things, they at least kept the lid on the Mandalorian culture for us. If they were to go back to their conquering ways…"

"That sector needs the Mandalorians, or some other strong hand to pull it out of its slide into anarchy. The debates over the past few days in the Senate have proven that the Senate is unwilling to extend itself to that extent, so we can hardly turn around and say that the Mandalorians can't do so instead. If they move against the planet Gargon then we'll have to revisit this issue," Dooku replied.

"As for the Jedi Order, we are watchful and wary, but the apology for the Excision had to be made, and I believe Masters Ti and Koon did an admirable job in both keeping us as neutral parties and redeeming the Jedi in the eyes of the locals there. They have, after all, allowed us to emplace a Sector Jedi there for the first time, and agreed to allow said Jedi to watch their campaigns going forward," Gallia said smoothly.

Despite her smooth response, it was obvious to Palpatine that Gallia did not, in fact, believe the words she was saying. Nor did the Trebor seem overly happy, his ebullient air dissipating for a moment, though Dooku's eyes were shining with some kind of satisfaction, the source of which Sidious could not detect.

"While angering quite a large portion of the Senate," Palpatine said shaking his head. "I understand the reasoning behind the decision to remain neutral out there. I even applaud it as it showed a keen understanding of the local pressures. But you lost several friends in the Senate because of it; you can't deny that."

"No, I can't," Gallia said, shaking her head sadly. "Nonetheless, the Jedi's adherence to justice was maintained. That is the important thing."

"Justice and political reality rarely coincide," Palpatine said, sighing and leaning back.

"I have to congratulate you, however," Master Gallia said, actually smiling at the Chancellor. "You played this very well and have come out in a far more powerful position. Your Moderate Oversight faction has most definitely grown."

"Yes, hopefully that will allow me to enact some further changes to how the Senate is run and the overall bureaucracy." Palpatine's face turned grim at that. "I do not want another debacle like the Trade Federation trials."

Nute Gunray had gotten off with a slap on his wrist and a few years of home confinement after the embargo of Naboo, which was fine given how he had been acting as a moderating force during the invasion. But it had taken months to charge the former executives, and half of them had somehow disappeared from their jail cells during that time, while the trials for the rest had been restarted several times due to allegations of hung juries and bought judges. Sidious had them all killed, of course, but no one else, not even Gunray, knew that

Worse from the Jedi's perspective was that the attempt to repeal the Arming Rights Act had failed. The Senate had been unwilling to let the Trade Federation alone be removed from the act, and they really did need defenses on their ships, which were the sole trade ships seen in dozens of Outer Rim sectors. And the others who had recently been added to the rights refused to go along with their own disarmament just to remove the weapons from the Trade Federations.

"The Republic judicial system needs a vast overhaul at the senatorial level," Trebor said with a nod. "If you do nothing else in your tenure as Chancellor, if you can accomplish that you will go down as one of the greatest men to ever hold that office."

"That is one thing I'm aiming for. That, and more control over groups like the Tech Union and the Trade Federation, as well as enlarging our judicial branch so we can stop relying on the various groups and sectors to police themselves. The recent rise of hate groups is proof such is needed," Palpatine sighed as the Jedi all nodded.

The fascist groups rising scattered around the Republic were draining a lot of the Jedi Order's current numbers away. They were making some headway against the violent groups, but that did surprisingly little to combat the growing racial tensions in the Core and portions of the Inner Rim.

"But we're getting off topic. So, who will be chosen to watch this Reborn faction as they grow into power?" Sheev asked, visibly turning back to the current subject.

"The Duchess Sabine has promised to oversee a gradual and controlled change of office. Knight Kenobi will remain on planet until the changeover is complete, along with Master Plo Koon. Then they will be replaced by another Master and padawan pair, who have yet to be chosen."

The first sector Jedi for that sector," Palpatine said smiling. "A true coup, that. The locals' agreeing with that idea put forth by Bo Katan was a major point in my faction's decision to not get involved."

And it would make acting against that both the Mandalorians and the Order later on easier if Palpatine could create some data to show actual collusion going on between the groups. Such an alliance would terrify many in the Republic, despite it having been more than a thousand years since the Mandalorians were an actual threat.

What the Jedi didn't realize was that while his moderates had indeed gained ground during this campaign, that was because most of those senators were now personally loyal to Sidious rather than the moderate position. His own power base had grown because of that, and he could act somewhat more openly now in certain areas like the judicial system, which he would have completely under his control soon enough.

Any corruption there then would be his, serving his purposes. It wouldn't be precisely what the Jedi had thought, but there would be a marked improvement from their point of view, furthering their impression that Palpatine was someone they could work with going forward from here on, as well as a political force to be reckoned with. _And I will soon even have that busybody Antilles out of the way._

"I hope this Mandalore issue does not come around to bite us all, in the long-term," Palpatine said now, allowing his face to frown for a moment. "If it does, the Order will be vilified for your stance, and my own position weakened harshly."

"The future is as the Force wills," said Gallia, shrugging her shoulders, though her eyes showed her worry. "We will see the future when it arrives; borrowing trouble in the now will do us no good."

After a few more moments of discussion about how various senators had reacted to the ongoing debates in the Mandalorian system and the final outbreak of violence there, Palpatine signaled the end of the discussion by standing up and stating he had to get on with the rest of his workday. As the Jedi were moving towards the doorway Palpatine said, "By the way, allow me to give you my condolences on the loss of Master Ti. I did not know her well, of course. I had only met her briefly right after the Trade Federation's embargo of my home planet ended, but she struck me as an intelligent and forceful personality."

Dooku turned back, smiling widely. "Your condolences are premature. Master Ti will pull through her wounds, something we are all thankful for."

"Praise the Force. That is the phrase, yes?" Palpatine said, his face now smiling though inside he was railing at the news. "That is good news." Palpatine's face shifted into a concerned gaze. "Though there is also a report I have from a Mid Rim world called Fontomo of someone attacking a chapter house of the Bounty Hunters' Guild? Senator Boradull's own daughter apparently saw the attack, and saw fit to contact her father about it, hence why I heard about it."

"That would be an ally of the Order, not a Jedi himself. He has some specialized Force techniques that we are trying to slowly merge into our own," Dooku said hesitantly, a little startled at how Ranma's actions had just popped up.

"I see," Palpatine said, frowning thoughtfully. "That sounds rather odd, but I won't comment on it. The Jedi Order's business is its own, of course. But I would ask you to pass a message on that in the future acting unilaterally like that is something the Senate will frown on."

Dooku winced, while the other two Masters stood, their faces showing no emotion. "I'm afraid that Ranma is a sort of uncontrollable personality, and Master Ti was a close friend of his. Indeed, her mission these days is to essentially keep him out of trouble. And the Bounty Hunters' Guild assaulted her in an underhanded fashion, taking hostages to her good conduct."

"Ah, if there was actual evidence of that, that these were truly bounty hunters and they acted in such a manner, then it becomes more understandable. Yet even so this Ranma fellow and the other injured parties should have worked through official channels rather than turning vigilante. There are laws in the Republic, after all."

"We will inform him of such, as soon as it is shown that this Senate and the Republic as a whole are able to control the Bounty Hunters' Guild. The bounty hunters were not just implicated, they admitted it in front of the hostages they were using at the time," Dooku replied, his voice turning cold.

Sidious inwardly cursed, not because that could ever lead back to him, which was impossible, but because if the bounty hunters were proven to have taken such a bounty and chased after it in such a way, the Jedi and the Senate would have to move against them. Even trying to mitigate their actions behind the scenes would lose Palpatine quite a lot of political capital, and he could never do so openly. Like taking bounties on senators, there were some things that the Senate would just not abide from the Bounty Hunters' guild, though that did not, of course, stop illegal bounty hunters, more assassins than anything else, from taking such jobs anyway.

"I see," he said, allowing his lips to form a grave line. "In that case, whatever actions this Ranma took I will unilaterally allow under Republic law. If you ever contact him, tell him good luck for me. Terrorist acts like that need to be repaid, after all."

All three Jedi thanked him for that, and he watched as they left before turning back to his room. He waited a few moments then moved over to one of his new office's interior walls. Reaching out through the Force with a tiny tendril of power he pulled a latch on the other side of the wall which allowed him access to his hidden throne room.

Sitting down in the chair there after changing out of his formal robes, Sidious sighed, leaning back as he let the last vestige of his Palpatine guise fade utterly. _I did not get everything I wanted out of this. The Dark Side take the Chaotic Locus! The Togrutan female should have died, at the very least. Beheading the Reborn would have been an excellent addition, but no, neither occurred. Worse, the Jedi Order seems to have succeeded in calming the hatred between their order and the Mandalorians. I would never have imagined such a thing was even possible. Yet the Reborn are still too weak to be a threat._

For a moment Sidious thought about the future when his clone armies would be active in the galaxy, and let a thin smile appear on his face. _The genetic clones of the greatest warrior of their society, against the society itself. I wonder what the outcome would be? Of course my legions will be limitless in number, but the bloodshed would still be very great, as would the irony. It would be even more delicious if the clones are commanded by Fett himself._

Sidious's thoughts moved on, much calmer now. _Despite none of the Jedi on Mandalore dying, others have died elsewhere, which is serving my purposes. That, and the cracks between the Senate and the Jedi Order are growing, and my apprentice successfully extricated herself and our more useful pawns. True, she was forced to kill her alter ego, but that body double she prepared in advance certainly served its purpose. I also have more than enough information about this Ranma's training and speed technique to re-create them to a certain extent, though that energy shield he was able to create will probably take me years to devise a Dark Side equivalent of. And there is no hint of my involvement anywhere. As the fools said,_ _my position as Chancellor is stronger now than it was._

At a faint touch of the Force a hologram of the Republic came up, a far more complete one than most anyone else could've gotten. Even the Jedi Order wouldn't be able to match it as their databases were missing several planets, including Kamino, Wayland, and a few others that his order had hidden in the past and made a point of deleting from any records. At another gesture the Republic's icons began to change. They showed those planets he controlled via political or economic means, those planets whose leaders knew his overall goal (few and far between, of course), those planets whose loyalty he could count on, the planets that were loyal to the Jedi Order, and those upon which his control was limited, like Alderaan.

Those he controlled grossly outnumbered the ones he did not, but they grew further and farther between the more you moved out from the Core Worlds. His influence out there was more sparse, but also somewhat more important given his ongoing plans. _The Tech Union, the Trade Federation, the Commerce Guild, the Banking Clan. The four powers I will use to form the Separatist movement in the future._ Three of them already answered to Sidious, lock, stock, and barrel, and the Commerce Guild would come around within the next few months, though he would soon have to send Komari Vosa as his 'advisor' to their current group of leaders.

After a moment's contemplation of that map he shifted it once more, watching as one planet in particular glowed bright red, the color he used to denote a specific interest. Other planets were already glowing the same color, but he concentrated on this one for a moment.

There Master Bulq was acting on a hint he had passed on to find a wayward Jedi padawan who had given herself to the Dark Side after her Master had died during their attempt to bring several warring warlords on that planet to heel. The power of that padawan was one he had felt in the Dark Side, marking her as more powerful in terms of raw strength than even Vosa. He had done so while meditating on the collapse of his plans on Mandalore, as if the Force itself was aiding him to make up for that debacle. _Truly, it is my destiny to ascend to the position of Emperor and wipe out the Jedi!_

While Master Bulq would be unable to take that young being on full-time as his padawan given Quinlan's ongoing reeducation, that padawan would disappear for a time from the Order, staying away from the temple and everyone else. During that time Palpatine would finish the work he had begun, turning Bulq, the padawan, and possibly even Vos to his purpose, while also moving the Great Plan forward. He would then use Bulq, Vos, and Vosa as his hidden blades, while making the padawan into his mailed fist, his assassin as Maul had been.

"Dance on your strings however you wish, Jedi," he thought to himself as he allowed himself a moment of dark humor. "Do whatever you wish, move however you wish. The future belongs to the Dark Side, and thus, to me."

 _Indeed, I could also turn the Chaotic Locus's rampage to my own ends. Judging by my reports about it, the Chaotic Locus is not very analytically minded. If so, I could both warn the Crimson Nova he is coming, and provide them some weapons from a few of my underground contacts. Yes, they might well serve to finally kill it for me…_

 **OOOOOOO**

The Force remained recalcitrant during the next few jumps and right up until the moment where Ranma would have to put his possible skill to the test. He was once more on the bridge as he had been for the last few jumps, and Ranma had already seen what Tune had been talking about in terms of this being a nebula.

For one thing the backdrop of stars was bright, with far more stardust than he had ever seen before. There was literal color out there between the thousands of stars. For another, the star systems were younger. All of the stars were far younger in their lifespans and closer together than anywhere else he had been before.

And they had way more junk in each star system. The entire nebula was known as a major mining center for the rest of the Republic, with a lot of starships moving in and out, mining here and there on small planets, and even asteroid mining. But all of that junk, the stars and the scattered wayward planets which seemed to change hands between systems every few thousand years, made for an ever-changing astronavigational mess.

Their target was supposedly orbiting a gas giant whose gases had been mined out several hundred years ago, but before that had been a decent gas mining operation. The ship might have actually been involved in the operation at some point, but it must've been left behind or sold before winding up in the hands of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, and in particular the Crimson Nova chapter.

This chapter was one of the larger branches of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, with over a thousand long-term members and a few hundred bounty hunters who were affiliated with both it and one of the other chapters. Ranma didn't care about that, it was enough to make a fight of it, sure, but he had an objective and he would see it through.

With a sigh Ranma nodded over to Tune who had already turned the ship in the proper direction for the hyperspace jump into their target system. "My turn, huh?"

"Sardonic drawl: Of course it is, master. You, after all, said you would be able to do this."

Ranma scowled, but bent his head in acknowledgement. His hands cocked over the controls ready to input the coordinates, he closed his eyes and reached for the Force, and this time this time the Force actually gave him a response. _Okay,_ he thought, _obviously the Force really doesn't want to try to control me. Or rather knows it can't control me now beyond a certain point? Whatever, unimportant right now. It's not like I'm going to ask the Force for guidance often or anything like that._

 _Still, it's giving me an answer now, and that is the important thing._ With that, Ranma began to input the coordinates, his mind's eye seeing the destination. It was weird, strange, and very unusual, but he could deal with it.

Nonetheless, Ranma input the coordinates then looked over at Tune seriously. "We're going to be coming in right on top of it. HK, get ready by the ramp. The moment we come out of hyperspace I'm opening it and you're going! You know what to do."

"Ecstatic glee: Raise hell, cause chaos and carnage, master. You are just too good to me!" HK declaimed, then turned without another word making his way back to the landing ramp.

"Tune, once I blast our way inside I'm going to land the _Wild Light_ wherever the hell I can. I'll try to aim for an actual landing bay, but don't hold high hopes for that. After that, after I disembark, you'll be in charge of defending the ship however you see fit."

"Understood, master," Tune said, his tone telling Ranma that he was unhappy with that prospect. On the other hand, his tone was firm too. Tune liked Shaak as well, and knew that this place was the origin for, if not the actual bounty, the place that agreed to take said bounty.

Ranma nodded and hit the button. A second later they jumped into hyperspace. Fifteen minutes later they came out, heading almost straight towards the Crimson Nova's space station with barely five kilometer's distance between them, which was the equivalent of spitting distance in space.

The gas giant behind the Crimson Nova's rig was monstrous, three or four times the size of Jupiter and was far more orange and purple then Jupiter or Saturn was in the pictures Ranma had seen back on Earth. It was ringed and possibly surrounded in large areas by debris, within which was the target.

The space station which was their target was the largest chunk of metal in orbit, and didn't look at all like the ship it had been originally, having been added to over the decades so that it was fifteen times its original size. Yet it was a speck in comparison to the gas giant it orbited. But it was large enough to take the _Wild Light_ 's attempt to ram it and survive relatively intact.

Tune let loose a loud electronic squawk of alarm, and Ranma cursed, pulling up on the controls, aiming between two of the nacelles at the back of the original dreadnought, flipping open one of the screens that hid the ion cannon from view as he began to fire. _Kriffing Force, trying to get me killed, I swear!_ "Go, HK!" he shouted.

Instead of powering up his shields Ranma opened the landing bay. If he had been looking back at the hatch into the cockpit he would've seen a warning light showing that it had detected that there was now no air beyond the cockpit for a moment. Already in position by the landing bay HK rocketed out using the jet pack strapped to his larger than average back towards the space station below them just as the _Wild Light_ crested over the back of the massive ship.

His jump jets carried HK straight down onto the retrofitted space station, where his claw like feet clamped on magnetically. Looking around he detected the nearest weak point in the armor, a turbolaser turret that was even now turning to try to track the wildly swerving _Wild Light_. Swiftly HK fired one of the small Mandalorian rockets at the turbolaser.

The weapon's barrel shattered under the blow, and HK rushed forward quickly, or as quickly as he could using magnetic grapples for feet. Then he began to rip and tear at the surrounding turret making his own entrance into the ship.

Elsewhere Ranma juked and dove under and around incoming fire, returning fire with his ion cannon, and shutting down whole swaths of the space station's defenses. The original dreadnought's shields were energy guzzlers and slow to bring online, hence why this particular design had been mothballed hundreds upon hundreds of years ago. Having had other junk added to it in such proliferation had not done anything for that, and there was only a faint heat signature to indicate that the shield generators were coming online. Ranma also noted several dozen starfighters out beyond the gas giant's orbit where he supposed the normal hyperspace jump-in points were located.

Swiftly realizing the danger, Ranma targeted the shield generators with his ion cannon. These were small bulbous tubes or cylinders laid out lengthwise, sticking out slightly from the hull here and there. Ranma couldn't tell which had been part of the original dreadnaught's design, and which had been added later with the rest of the junk. Regardless, the ion cannon short-circuited each of his targets in a blast of electrical fire, which flared for an instant in the dead of space. Ranma also used his quad lasers to good effect rolling here and there to fire down on the unprotected turbolasers and quad lasers that were trying to hit him in turn.

He couldn't dodge all of the incoming fire, though, causing Ranma to realize that a single person could not fight using the _Wild Light_ as well as two. _Of course, that's partially why I'm here. If Shaak was still flying next to me I wouldn't've come here in the first place._

But Ranma put the space station between him and them for a moment. He kept the sections which he had already pretty much demolished facing behind him at all times so he didn't have to deal with incoming fire from behind, then began to target the incoming starfighters slightly beyond their own range.

Three of them died to his quad lasers, another to one of his proton torpedoes and then he was in and among them. "Tune, watch our shields. Redirect energy from our ion cannon. Shut that down for now and pull it back in," Ranma ordered, grimacing as the dogfight began. Normally he would've been able to do that, but concentrating on both firing and flying was difficult enough as it was.

"Affirmative, master," Tune replied, then went on quickly. "HK reports that he has infiltrated the target. The interior security seems to sub-par at the moment according to him, but he believes that is 90% because of surprise rather than lack of weaponry or knowledge. The bounty hunters are all well-armed and seemingly have interior defenses as well."

"In other words I need to finish here quickly or he'll be overwhelmed?" Ranma asked, turning two weird looking Uglies into so much shrapnel with a single burst from a quad laser that strafed them both out of space behind him. With the two dead he turned the ship around on a dime to dive below several others as they tried to come at him from every direction. Six more blasts from each quad laser, and six more old looking starfighters died.

Among the Uglies were a few far more dangerous ships: a few Cloakshape fighters, two modern-day Sprites, and several larger ships. One was obviously a yacht, another looked like a custom patrol ship. Another was a little heavier than the others, some kind of Corellian designed merchant ship, Ranma thought. Whatever it was it wasn't built to look pretty, being a small hammerhead design, with large weapons systems up on the front and thrusters at the back, but for all that it was rather maneuverable.

Realizing that it was probably the most dangerous threat Ranma locked it up with two proton torpedoes and sentenced it to hell in a burst of protonic fire. He then stitched up the yacht after a series of exchanges that pushed the _Wild Light_ 's shields into the yellow for a moment. That loss seemed to put the fight out of the seven ships remaining. They all retreated quickly towards the space station, moving to take up defensive positions above the portions that still had weapons.

Ranma, however, didn't bother closing with them once more. He corkscrewed around until he was facing them and gunned the engines. As he accelerated towards them, he locked up each one in turn firing a single proton torpedo, destroying them before they could turn back towards him.

"Return power back to the ion cannon and trot it out Tune." Almost immediately Ranma noticed that doing so took their shields down from the yellow into the red. That dogfight had taken it out of the ship more than he had thought, but that was all right.

The space station couldn't rotate, either because of the damage Ranma had already done, or because it lacked the maneuvering thrusters to do so given all the junk that it consisted of. Regardless it was a weakness Ranma exploited once more. With another proton torpedo Ranma smashed open the entrance to a hangar bay on the damaged side of the ship, entering quickly and letting the _Wild Light_ settle down onto its landing gear without even engaging the rest of the space station's defenses.

Sensibly the locals hadn't decided to try and defend the landing area, instead letting Ranma enter and pulling back their defenses to more defensible positions. On the interior of the hanger bay was a large interior hatch which was currently closed, but it opened as Ranma neared it before closing after him automatically, showing him into the interior of a large airlock. _Hmm, now either that is a program or other they haven't been able to do anything about, or they have a trap prepared and want to lead me to it. Hmm… Yeah right, with my luck it's obviously the second one._

As if to give that thought further emphasis the interior door opened quickly only to close behind him after he stepped through with a clang and an ominous sounding groan. Inside the gravity was still on, which meant HK hadn't made it to his objective. "HK, where are you?" Ranma asked into his wrist computer/communicator as he pulled off his rebreather.

"Crisp report: About two floors away from my initial objective, master. I have run into heavy resistance."

Ranma frowned, thinking of where the droid would be from his current position as he raced forward, only to stop at the first intersection. "Ahh, there we go!" Instead of trying to defend the intersection, the bounty hunters had pulled back in each direction from the hangar bay and now laid down a withering hail of fire from all three directions.

Bouncing to one side Ranma bounced again up off the wall in an effort to dodge the incoming fire, but he was hit multiple times in those first few seconds, since the bounty hunters were simply trying to fill the space with blaster fire, an enfilade rather than aimed fire. His durability, however, was up to this challenge, and he returned fire with both of the pistols Bo had given him as he continued to bounce around, starting to cling to the walls and ceilings for brief moments of time.

His return shots were aimed single shots impacting the bounty hunters gathered to one side of the intersection. As the last fell he raced forward towards it, taking more shots in the back which caused him to wince before he dived into cover, turned and began to return fire.

"Holy hells, what kind of armor is the kriffer wearing!?" shouted one voice.

"Who the kriff cares, pour it on. Eventually his armor or whatever will break!"

"I didn't even see him wearing any armor! It's just his skin; so much for his being human!"

Amongst these shouts the group from the direction Ranma had initially been going came out from behind cover, moving towards the intersection. They began using the corridor's edge as cover to fire around it at Ranma, while Ranma fired back towards them and the fellows from the third direction.

Realizing how close this second group was Ranma stopped trying to fire with one blaster. Flipping it up into the air he grabbed at his belt with his now free hand, throwing a thermal grenade forward before grabbing the blaster rifle out of the air and hurling himself up and over the concrete block that he had been using as cover following the grenade.

"Look out, back off!" The grenade exploded while that group rapidly tried to back away, getting in each other's way as they did. Ranma ran into the smoke and fire of the explosion, getting in amongst them and leaping sideways down into that corridor with them to get away from the third angle of this defense.

Fists struck like hammers, legs like pistons, and even those aliens naturally stronger or faster than humans, such as a few Trandoshans, one mangy black-furred Wookie, and a few others, could not stand against Ranma in close combat. Grabbing two of their bodies he hurled them out into the corridor containing the last group. The bodies slammed into a few bounty hunters who had broken out of cover to try and take him under fire once more then Ranma raced on.

Behind him the few remaining defenders tried to move after Ranma, hoping to catch up and maybe take him from both sides when he ran into the next defensive post. But Ranma was gone when they rounded the corner. "Wh…where'd he go?"

"Look for some grates or a loose plate. Or maybe he hid among the bodies back theEEEE!" Suddenly Ranma wasn't gone, appearing out of nowhere right in their midst, his fists flashing and legs smashing out as he came out of the Umi-Sen-Ken. Within seconds the last bounty hunter went down, his thorax, he was a kind of bug alien, crushed.

All of the bounty hunters here were similarly dead, a marked remove from Ranma's normal habit of incapacitating most and killing only a few. Ranma might not have given into the Soul of Ice, and as such it did make him feel rather guilty, but given the actions on Mandalore, not guilty enough to stop him from wiping out this entire chapter of the Bounty Hunters' Guild.

After a moment spent staring at the bodies, Ranma raced on. Idly he wondered if he should just disappear into the Umi-Sen-Ken technique entirely, but decided not to seeing as he wanted to pull some attention away from HK. But given the amount of garbage, refuse, and other stuff that he was moving through, it didn't seem necessary just yet.

The next defense Ranma ran into was far more serious than the first. It was at another cross section in the ship's corridor on this floor, but it also had a spiraling staircase leading up and down in one corner and had been redesigned to look like a large amphitheater.

"There he is! Fire!" An instant after he came within sight of the location fire came at him from practically every direction within it. The defenders were hiding behind ferocrete blocks, and they were also far more heavily armed than the first group. Skimmer rated blaster rifles, SAWs, a few quad cannons set up on pintle mounts, several portable concussion missile launchers, and surprisingly one portable turbolaser. It looked as if someone had stripped it from an old tank or something of that nature and put it on a tiny mount. Ranma didn't know how they'd come up with that, but it was certainly deadly.

"Damn it!" Ranma ducked back into cover, but that cover, a door leading into a small garden of some kind, disintegrated under a blast from the turbolaser. The blast liquefied the door and portions of the corridor, and Ranma hissed in agony as the molten metal hit his arms, quickly backing away pulling it off along with portions of his skin.

 _My durability isn't up to that!_ Luckily Ranma's healing factor kicked in quickly, the wounds healing as he watched. Sighing he raced forward again, disappearing into the Umi-Sen-Ken technique between one step and another.

"Where did he go?!"

"I don't krfiffing know, yah spasmer! Everyone stay in position, damn your eyes! Zac, take three people and move forward. See if you can find him. He might've just retreated entirely, trying to get around us to get to that damned droid that the others are pinning down." This last was spoken by a large alien that looked wolf-like, like a Shistavian but not quite. He was obviously older than the first speaker, a gangly looking humanoid of the same race as Master Poof, who Ranma had met briefly on Coruscant.

"Sure, but it'd take him way out of his way. They're nearly finished with that damned droid anyway, so even if he is it won't matter!" said another bounty hunter, a human this time.

"Moron, we'd still have to hunt him down, you know!"

Ranma appeared again, coming out of the Umi-Sen-Ken technique in amongst the group that had two concussion missile launchers, deciding that they were the greatest threat. Ranma could survive a single turbolaser blast, but being hit by concussion missiles might be a little worse, especially given the fact there were several of them as opposed to the one turbolaser. But even as he laid into them, destroying both missile launchers and killing several of them, Ranma forgot one thing: that bounty hunters with their backs to the wall like this were just like any other scum, and would willingly throw each other under the bus.

The group with the portable turbolaser turned on that position quickly, and Ranma howled in agony as the turbolaser's beam of plasma found his side, hurling him down the corridor. **Pain** , agony like nothing Ranma had ever felt seared his skin and shattered bones from the sheer impact of the weapon. But he was healing even as he rolled away, his healing ability up to the task if far slower than normal given the severity of his wound.

He lashed out with a finger at a wall, growling "Bakusai Tenketsu Revised!" then leapt forward into the mass of cylinders and fizzing electronic cables as more fire crisscrossed the area he'd just been in. _Okay, I need to get out of here and cloak. Can't let them find me as injured as I am…_ With that thought Ranma started to smash his way through the walls to one of the other corridors leading into the amphitheater.

Smashing through the guts of the ship like this wasn't quiet, and the defenders in that corridor were ready for him, or they thought they were, anyway. When the wall right behind their position exploded, they'd already turned in that direction. But Ranma wasn't there, their blaster bolts hitting nothing.

"Just fire!" shouted one of them, immediately following his own suggestion. Even the turbolaser fired at the space where they thought Ranma should be just in case he had some kind of Jedi trick that could make him invisible.

Ranma, however, had retreated slightly and came into the same meeting area again from a different direction, blasting open the wall directly in front of a group of bounty hunters who were defending their fellows' backs. "GAAHh, he's over URghgh!"

The exploding wall perforated their bodies and they went down as Ranma leaped over their dying bodies into the other group with the turbolaser smashing it with a "Moko Takabasha!" A sphere of cerulean energy lashed out, blowing up the semi-portable turbolaser as he closed with the rest. His body still healing from the turbolaser blast he hadn't been able to dodge before the bounty hunters lasted a lot longer in close range than most would have normally but that didn't matter. With Ranma no longer limiting his strength and speed they were still no match for him once he got within arms' reach.

Moments later the last of these defenders went down, and Ranma pulled out his radio again, his skin still badly blistered from that blast and a few more cuts bleeding here and there from vibroblade strikes, but still fit to fight. "HK, did you hear that bit of action?"

"Distracted tone: Yes, master. I think you are about three hundred feet to the left and one level above where I am currently pinned down. I regret I cannot break out without risking sufficient damage to my person to render me inoperable until repaired."

Ranma nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be there in a moment."

Still limping and with one rib stubbornly refusing to heal properly, Ranma moved on more much more slowly now. After leaving the amphitheater behind via one of the spiral staircases he slipped once more into the Umi-Sen-Ken and didn't run into anymore defenders until he came upon the group pinning HK down. Before they knew what hit them he was in and among them, and within moments he had cleared the corridor. "HK, it's clear now."

At his words HK came out from hiding behind yet another one of the ferocrete blocks. The droid's claw arm hung limp at his side, once more damaged, and his anything goes shoulder cannon was now completely shorn off. But he still had a blaster in his hand, and moved forward with alacrity, showing no significant damage to his torso or legs except for a few burn marks here and there on his robotic hide. "Respectful approval: Excellent work, master. Should we still follow the plan?"

"Have you been able to download a schematic of this place?"

"Aggrieved tone: While I was able to access the ship's computers, they do not have one on file, master. Nor is there any kind of engineering sector. I was able to find and shut down one of the lesser power generators, master, but not the gravity emitter. Upbeat report: however there are few places on a ship this size where such a device could be stored." Gravity emitters did just what the name implied, they created gravity on ships and space stations. The larger the ship, the larger the emitter had to be, though no gravity emitter was small enough to fit in a starfighter.

"That sucks. Still, are you good to split up again?"

The droid clipped his blaster rifle to his thigh guard for a moment with a magnetic strip, then began fiddling with a piece or something on one of his shoulders. A second later his claw arm twitched, coming alive again, though it spritzed every time it moved to the left side, and didn't seem to be able to move far in that direction. The claw itself seemed stuck in the open position too. "Analytical response: I am about at about 89% combat effectiveness, master. I have also dealt with over three hundred hostiles at this time. Might I inquire as to your own kill count?"

Ranma shrugged, keeping his emotions in check through control rather than the Soul of Ice once more. "Something like that. Not nearly enough yet. Anyway, I'll go that way," Ranma waved vaguely in the direction he remembered being the one which would lead him to the front of the space station. "You head the other, and we both start breaking shit, 'kay?"

HK nodded agreeably, and the two parted ways.

The rest of the battle against the Crimson Nova was somewhat anti-climactic because of two things: one, the bounty hunters seemed to have used most of their heavy weapons during that second attempt to ambush Ranma, and two, Ranma used the Umi-Sen-Ken technique almost continuously to get in amongst them. Once there, the bounty hunters would throw what honor they had out the airlock and would turn their heavy weapons on one another, but they did much more damage to themselves than to Ranma.

Twice Ranma was still tagged by concussion missile explosions, and his leg was mangled at one point when someone actually used an anti-tank mine, killing himself but also wounding Ranma badly. But even with that wound Ranma won that fight, and by the time he found more bounty hunters the damage had been healed.

Ranma's charge towards the front of the ship and the bridge, or rather the place where the bridge used to be and where the guild master's room was now, brought in all the remaining bounty hunters scattered around the ship. Ranma ran into over five hundred more bounty hunters in the next few hours, whereas HK only ran into a bare two hundred, cutting them down quickly before destroying his objective. "Gleeful pride: Master, gravity is going off line in four seconds!"

Ranma and HK could both move in zero-G much more easily than most of the bounty hunters could, and after that, the fight was pretty much over.

"Tune, did any of them try to escape via survival pods?" Ranma said into his communicator, the thing crackling with static thanks to the intervening hull.

"Negative, master. In fact I've done a survey of the outer hull of the ship as we attacked it, and I have only found a single survival pod. It is situated near the front of the ship, and it is obviously old but also not part of the original ship."

Ranma nodded his head slowly, holding onto a wall for a moment before kicking off it, heading forward once more. "Good." After a few more small clashes he finally reached the large doors leading into the bridge.

The area around them had refuse strewn in places and a lot of rust, as well as a grease trail indicating that the doors must have stood open at one point. But at the moment they were closed, with a single body left on the floor in front of them. The body in question was a middle-aged man who had been missing an arm prior to his death, a single blaster bolt through the chest being the cause of said death. This wasn't the first dead bounty hunter Ranma had seen, the bounty hunters having turned on one another, possibly a few wanting to parlay with him while others wanted to try and hold out, but that was only a guess.

This man's death, however, seemed far more deliberate, as if it had been a message to others. There was, in fact, a message carved into the man's bald head as if by a knife or claw. Trying to read it with his limited ability with the local written language, Ranma remembered the times Shaak had tried to teach him the language, only to feel another pang of grief at her injury before he pushed it down for now. "Cowards die first, or die now, something like that… Well, they were right about the first thing anyway."

Moving back, Ranma put his back against a wall, hooking his legs into a bit of piping that stuck out of the floor there, then launched his hands forward shouting, "Moko Takabisha!"

The cerulean blast of ki, or Force, slammed into the door, and Ranma kept up the attack, powering it into a beam of energy rather than the normal sphere. Ranma estimated that it took about thirty seconds for the ki attack to burn through the heavily reinforced security door, which was enough to make him feel the drain, but not enough to worry about.

As he had expected the defenders inside were ready. They opened fire the moment the ki blast dissipated with even more weapons than Ranma had seen so far, including two more semi-portable turbolasers. Over the cacophony of the barrage two voices could be heard shouting encouragement of a sort. "Kill him or die ourselves, it's that simple, you kriffers. We will prove we are the strongest!" shouted one, while the other shouted, "His bounty will buy us a fleet to replace the Rig if we can only take it!"

After a brief second Ranma launched himself forward, spring boarding up over the now incredibly mangled doorway. The two turbolasers couldn't recharge before he was in the room, his hands lashing out to either side. In one hand he held a blaster pistol, which stitched the controllers of one turbolaser to pieces. The other hand launched another Moko Takabisha, hitting the other portable turbolaser's rear.

It exploded taking with it several of the bounty hunters on that side of the room, and Ranma kicked off of the ceiling launching himself to the side and down into another group, kicking and lashing out, bouncing here and there, using each attack or block to move around in zero-G like he was born there, while the rest of the bounty hunters couldn't move nearly as fast despite most of them having magnetic boots.

Two of the bounty hunters made a fight of it, closing with fang and swords. They were both of the same race, one that looked enough like a feline to make Ranma start as they charged him, but not enough, thankfully, to send him running off in terror. After all they were walking on their hind legs and shouting actual war cries rather than wordless snarls. One was a massive male, dwarfing Ranma by a few feet, with black fur and wielding a sword in one hand. The other was a svelte looking female slightly shorter than Ranma with brindled fur of orange and white. "Kill the karking Jedi!"

"I'm not a Jedi. A Jedi would try to take you scum alive," Ranma said coldly as he matched their charge with one of his own. He grabbed the male's outstretched arm, flipping under it and kicking out hard enough to shatter his head, using the momentum to hurl himself back toward the female.

She had a disruptor in her hand, trying to aim at the insanely quick Jedi, moving remarkably quickly in her magnetized boots to dodge out and away from Ranma's lunge, shrieking in fury in her own tongue. Before she could hit Ranma, however, HK arrived, gunning her and several others down, ending the fight.

Ranma stared down at her, then over at HK. "Find the one who's supposed to be the guild master."

HK pointed his gun at the female cat-like alien. "Amused drawl: this one matches the physical discretion of the chapter mistress, master. The guild's image of her will have to be updated on account of half of her face now missing."

"Good. Now let's see if their communication systems are still up. See if you can open a communication to whoever the hell is supposed to be in charge of the Bounty Hunters' Guild as a whole."

Moments later Ranma was staring into a computer screen set to one side of the bridge, which had been turned into a hangout of the chapter mistress and her closest cronies, or so Ranma assumed. It was certainly cleaner and had been better lit than the rest of the ship, though that wasn't saying much.

The Trandoshan on the other side was older looking than any other of his race Ranma had seen so far, with gray scales almost in places, not green or brown, and he looked as if he had scars upon scars on his shoulders and face. "You are not the chapter master of the Crimson Nova," The Trandoshan said, then blinked at something off-screen. "You are the bounty, Ranma."

"There is no more Crimson Nova chapter. I just killed it," Ranma said bluntly. "The Crimson Nova chapter master authorized a bounty on Jedi Master Shaak Ti. They attacked, then held hostages, forcing her to lower her weapons before trying to gun her down, killing twenty five civilians during the attack along with ten first responders. I take offense to this, both the civilian losses and the tactics."

"You lot can come after me one-on-one if you want, or three hundred on one, I don't **fucking** care! When you harm innocents I will strike back, and when you take on the Jedi like that all bets are off. I destroyed the base they used to resupply themselves before arriving on Mandalore, and then tracked the bounty authorization here. They were ready for me, and I bet the entire Crimson Nova chapter was here on hand when we arrived. Certainly the numbers we've seen match that. It didn't save them."

Ranma leaned forward. "They became the hunted. Pray you do not give me an excuse to hunt again. Understood?"

The Trandoshan, whose name was Cradock, was not used to being intimidated. But as Ranma was talking, HK had held up the dead body of the chapter master in the background, and he could see the room beyond the droid. The amphitheater/party hall/meeting area that had been the workspace for the chapter master of the Crimson Nova was littered with bodies. _There were only the two of them, that attack droid and this warrior…against over one thousand bounty hunters._

He wouldn't, of course, take their word for it, but he would act at least as if he did for now. And if the story was true, well one of the creeds of the Bounty Hunters' Guild was no bounty was worth their own lives, and that certainly seemed to be the case now. Besides, if a bounty hunter had taken on a bounty for a Jedi he'd have enough fecal matter coming his way anyway soon enough. It wouldn't be the first illegal bounty taken, but it would be the first high-profile one since he had disbarred Aurra Sing's membership in the order. _And did not that poisonous bitch also die recently, right after this human's bounty first appeared?_

With a brusque nod the alien cut the connection, and Ranma turned away. Let's get out of here, HK," he said, suddenly tired, more tired than he'd been in a long while. Healing his body after so many wounds and blasts had taken a lot out of him, and his stomach told him he needed to be refueled in no uncertain terms, growling at him like a monster.

It took the two of them about ten minutes to traverse the space station back to where Ranma had left the _Wild Light_. Astonishingly none of the bounty hunters had tried to attack the ship, but Ranma wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. A moment later Ranma put on his rebreather again, and the two of them made their way out to the _Wild Light_.

As they were moving out of the hanger bay Tune said, "Master, I had a thought. The Bounty Hunters' Guild could come back and still use this base. It's a powerful one, after all, and a very decent hiding space, especially if the engines could be repaired."

"What would you suggest?" Ranma asked. "We don't have enough proton torpedoes left to destroy it unless we find something inside that'll cause a secondary explosion."

"We don't need to, master. We just need to destroy the rotational thrusters. I analyzed it, and those thrusters are all placed on the inner edge. They are why the space station is keeping orbit over the gas giant and can't move otherwise. Destroy them, then push the ship slightly down towards the gas giant, and the planet's gravity will do the rest."

Ranma nodded, and followed the suggestion, using the ion cannon to burn off more of the outside of the ship, and then used proton torpedoes to attack weak points, shattering segments of the space station. Almost immediately he began to see a noticeable difference in the space station's altitude as it was pulled, at first slowly, then faster and faster into the gas giant's atmosphere. Ranma watched for a few moments until it became obvious nothing could save the station, then sighed, turning away. "Let's go, we're done here."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

I know the Rig, the Crimson Nova ship, wasn't nearly that large. No, I don't care. Given the size of the Republic, having a chapter of bounty hunters number a little over a thousand isn't a stretch, and no way could they all, or even a large number of them, live on a ship the size of the original Rig.

I hope I mixed politics, violence, and the random romantic moments/Ranma style comedy well in this chapter, and that you all enjoyed the chapter. I had a devil of a time coming up with ways to show the political side of things without trying to sound as if I was either trying to fix everything or reinvent the wheel.

As always, if you enjoyed it please leave a review. I am particularly interested in whether the bits of scattered politics were enough, since I didn't want to delve into them too much but also wanted to show enough that the reader could understand what was going on.

From now on, Ranma and Shaak will start having more of their own adventures, while events elsewhere continue as in canon, so I won't have to continue to deal with politics. Well, not after a final bit with the Mandos anyway. I'll also be able to start introducing more characters that can actually challenge Ranma.

August's poll should be up by Sunday evening at the latest. And since it's been three months, A Third Path to the Future is up for voting! Why isn't it automatic you ask? Well I have decided that at this point, I can cut down on the chapter size of ATP without losing any of the impact and world building. So from now on it will be up in the monthly poll! If you want it or one of my other stories updated this coming month take part in the poll here or join up over on P at Ron. I have story ideas, several omakes and teaser chapters up there, as well as the One Piece/Ranma story Stallion of the Line, which is already in the Grand Line!


	14. Chapter 14

Not named George or Takahashi. Also think I have a better handle on what romance is than either.

As all my readers who also read Magic of the Force know, I had chosen to update this story since I wanted to take a step back from Magic in order to do some research/planning. So this is the November SW story. Next months an ATP month and December, so there will not be a poll here on fanfic, only on Patty Ron. I will still be sharing other stories here on fanfic, but they will be stories I have already written for my Patty Ron fans.

 **Warning, this chapter has lemons. They are marked {} so you can avoid them if you want.**

This chapter has been edited by Michael, and as such should contain far less in the way of small errors. Please send him your thanks, and now, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Time in the Light, Moves in the Dark**

Having watched the destruction of the dreadnought-turned bounty hunters' hovel, the _Wild Light_ and its inhabitants started back to Mandalore. Ranma was surprised to find, however, that they weren't able to take the same route out of the nebula as they had come in. "I thought that stars and stuff moved around slowly, not so chaotically on a day-to-day basis."

"Master, you of all people should never mention the chaotic nature of anything else," Tune retorted, his synthesized young boy's voice rather too sarcastic for the type.

"You really have been hanging out with HK too long, haven't you?" Ranma mused. "Still, why?"

"It's not just stars, master. Its planets, asteroids, and above all, black holes. Whenever you have more things affecting gravity in a single area, the more chaotic it is. There is no set hyperspace route through a nebula, master, there are simply too many stars, even stars dying and being born, for hyperspace routes to remain clear for very long. Trying to calculate how hyperspace routes will change is an astronomical endeavor. Luckily for us, this nebula is relatively well-known and the movement of its stars have been mapped out and hypothesized for centuries. I'll get us out within three jumps, but will have to calculate each in turn for several hours. From the edge of the nebula, we will be able to head towards Mandalore with only three very quick jumps."

"All right. Thanks for explaining, Tune. I'll leave you to it, unless, you need me here?" When the astromech droid replied in the negative, Ranma nodded and stood up, patting the droid's domed head for a moment. "HK, let's see what we can do about repairing you, okay? After that, I hear my bed calling me."

The next two days passed uneventfully on the _Wild Light_ , much to Ranma's happiness, since he needed some time to internalize what he had done against the Crimson Nova bounty hunters. It wasn't so much that he had taking vengeance on them for Shaak's injury, but Ranma knew that he had lost control. Yes, fighting the Bounty Hunters' Guild as he did had been necessary, in a way. The Guild could not be allowed to get away with the idea of their members taking hostages to receive their bounties, could not be allowed to basically work with terrorist groups or to target Jedi who were given bounties. J _edi, hell, they shouldn't be allowed to target my friends,_ Ranma thought grimly. _Hopefully they'll have learned that._

Despite that understanding, however, the number of people he had killed sat poorly with him. For those first few nights he woke up in sweat, the faces of those he had killed haunting him, mixed in with the faces of the dancers who had been so afraid of him during his first strike against the guild.

Added to this was the way he had started going about it and why: the fact he had fallen into the Soul of Ice. There was something terrifying about how he had fallen into the emotional control technique, coupled with how hard it had been to break back out. Having dealt with how and why he had fallen into it in the first place during the trip to the Crimson Nova's headquarters, Ranma now tried to figure out if the technique was salvageable at all, or if he should set it aside entirely.

After two days of meditation Ranma still felt the technique was just too dangerous. Even without his trying to reach out as he been to Shaak at the time, Ranma decided there was no way to safely use the technique, not with his inability to end it on his own. Ranma felt that he would have to entirely cut himself off from the chi of the universe around him, what the Jedi called the Unifying Force, to stop the emotional siphon effect which made it so incredibly dangerous. Of course the technique was so hard to break out of that Ranma couldn't exactly experiment with it, but that was his impression after nearly two days of thinking and meditation.

Almost immediately after exiting the nebula, however, Ranma's meditation was interrupted by Tune telling him that the ship was being hailed by a Hypercom transmission request. Frowning, Ranma powered up the _Wild Light's_ Hypercom uplink that the Jedi Order had installed on the ship in order to communicate with him and Shaak. The encryption program activated immediately, and the hologram went fuzzy as the two systems exchanged electronic handshakes before the link fully opened, revealing the faces of Masters Yoda and Windu.

"Is this a social call, or were you calling for Shaak? She's not here right now. She's still back on Mandalore, as you lot should know," he said, knowing full well what this was about and wanting to put it off for a bit. After so long meditating, trading verbal jabs with someone other than Tune and HK sounded like a great idea.

To his dismay, neither Master rose to his challenge, simply staring through the pickup at Ranma placidly. "What have you been up to, Ranma?" Mace asked bluntly.

Ranma's eyes grew hard, and discarding his desire to put this off he leaned forward. "You wouldn't be calling me if you didn't already know what I've been up to, or at least the first half of it, **and** why I was doing it in the first place."

"Anger caused by the pain of a loved one, understandable it is," Yoda said slowly. "Targeting the Bounty Hunters' Guild as a whole, too far that would be. Powerful friends, the Guild has. Stand against them, alone you could not."

"I wasn't alone, and anyway, I might surprise you," Ranma said, his lip twitching upwards into a sneer. "And I didn't strike against the whole guild. I understand the bounty hunters sometimes do good work, like, one out of every fifteen bounties, say. And I wasn't about to go on a massive murder spree." _Not really, anyway._ "Instead I searched for answers; found the chapter that accepted the bounty as well as facilitated the operation on Mandalore."

Yoda closed his eyes, and somehow Ranma knew that the little frog was feeling out the truth of Ranma's words despite the monstrous amount of distance between the two of them. When he opened his eyes, he slowly nodded. "Did what you had to, yet what you should not have had to, you have," he said obliquely, though his meaning came across. "Survivors, did you leave?"

"They all fought me," Ranma said flatly. "I would have liked to, but they all fought me, and…" He looked over at HK. "HK, forward to the Jedi Temple that stuff I asked you to work on yesterday."

"Proud statement: Of course, master. I am certain the merely fleshy Jedi will be in awe as to the amount of information I was able to glean simply by going through our memories of the action," the droid replied from where it had been standing against the far bulkhead, out of the range of the Hypercom pickup.

"What are we going to be looking at?" Mace asked quizzically. Given that this conversation was happening via Hypercom, any information would come through the temple before it was then sent on to Kashyyyk, so he would see the information first.

"HK was bored the other day, and I asked him to analyze the bounty hunters defenses and weapons, mainly as make work, I'll admit," Ranma said with a light chuckle, looking over at the assassin droid. "However, he came up with some very interesting information when we put both our parts of the battle together."

"Aggrieved jibe: While my master's lackadaisical attitude toward after action reports is sometimes irritating, he was correct in giving me this task. The bounty hunters were ready for us," HK cut in, shaking his ancient, heavily modified head.

Mace was silent for a second, watching the information show up on his screen, but it didn't take long for him to see the point HK was making. "You mean they were ready for you specifically," he stated.

"Ready for me and possibly ready for a combat droid of some kind, though not one up to HK's tonnage, and I mean that affectionately, HK," Ranma said, smirking at HK. "The weapons they had: the portable turbolaser, the man-mounted concussion missile launcher; their tactics. All of it points to them both knowing we were coming, and the fact they might've had some help getting weapons from someone else, since heavy weapons like that are proscribed weapons save for legal militaries. Added to that, nothing in their system, which Tune busied himself with while the fight was going on, could tell me where the original bounty on me or Shaak came from. The bounty bitches were being used by someone," Ranma finished flatly.

"The use of such heavy weapons actually doesn't mean much, though the proliferation of them might, if they all were military grade designs rather than cobbled together," Mace prevaricated. "Out of the Core Worlds weapons are easy to come by if you know where to look, despite ostensibly being outlawed. The money might give us some more points to investigate at the very least. Thank you, Ranma."

"Don't mention it," Ranma said. "Seriously, don't mention it. Whoever this is has decided to target me and mine, after all."

"Shaak is one of ours," Mace replied with a slight downtick of his lips. "Surely this was a way to target the Jedi Order, possibly to set us against the Mandalorians in some fashion?"

"No," Yoda said simply, looking through the pickup at Ranma, his ancient eyes shrewd. "Worried someone you have personally, Ranma. On the lookout, you should be."

Ranma nodded grimly. "I know, and unfortunately if they use hostages like they did against Shaak there's very little we can do to stop them. I mean, it isn't as if Shaak or I won't do our best to protect any hostages they try to take, regardless of how predictable it makes us."

For a while the three of them were quiet at that, then Mace spoke up. "I think that whoever this is will have a hard time finding catspaws after your recent actions. I speak of not just your assault on this bounty hunters' chapter, but the campaign you fought on Yavin 4 and the death of two Hutt crime lords before that. Your willingness to retaliate or even escalate like that makes you a very dangerous individual to anger, and that will get around the underworld quickly."

Yoda, however, had fallen silent, his mind moving on to an entirely different problem. He was still trying to feel out Ranma's emotions, which from this distance, even with the mental tether of his actual image in front of them, was extremely difficult. In fact if he had been anyone else, it would've been impossible, and even Yoda couldn't get a lot of information this way.

"Come to Kashyyyk, you should," he said abruptly, interrupting Mace and Ranma's discussion. "Healing, we can offer if needed."

Ranma looked at him and shook his head. "Shaak should be fully healed by the time I get back to Mandalore. As for myself, I'm fine physically, so…"

"Healing Shaak, not what I was speaking of. Healing of the mind, important as well it is. Further, help with young Ahsoka, Shaak Ti will."

Ranma sat up abruptly, leaning forward and looking at Yoda in concern. While he personally thought she was a cute rugrat, he wasn't really close with Ahsoka beyond their shared appreciation of pranks. But he knew that Shaak was, so he felt obligated to ask, "Is she all right? What's going on?"

"Physically fine the youngling is, but a vision of Shaak Ti's death she saw. A strong image it was, especially for one so young, and with the Veil blocking all sight. A powerful Jedi in time, youngling Tano will be. But the vision, shaken her it has. Issues with controlling her emotions enough to interact with the Force, the youngling has developed. Lashing out at others she is at times."

Ranma nodded at that, making no comment. What he was reading between the lines there was that ever since this vision, Ahsoka might be dealing with a lot of anger and, more importantly, problems with feelings of fear when reaching out to the Force. And while the teachers would no doubt deal with that in time, Ranma couldn't imagine it was the first such example they had dealt with. After all, Shaak's presence would speed up that process. _And given the normal Jedi bias…_ "I suppose that such an emotional response might have set some of her teachers against her?"

Yoda nodded slowly. "Even here on Kashyyyk, teachers who believe in suppressing rather than controlling emotions there are. Worse, in terms of Ahsoka's training, a dangerous time it is. Centering themselves in the Force, on sending thoughts out into it, the younglings are learning. A time when most vulnerable to setbacks, and to the Dark Side, this is. The Veil, a very large danger it is."

"Understood," Ranma said with a nod. "We'll be there. So long, that is, as Shaak doesn't feel we need to go elsewhere. That's the way you Jedi do it, right?"

"Not exactly. That's the way Master Fay does it," Mace cut in dryly. "Most Jedi are assigned missions, as you well know. Still, if Shaak can get an idea of where you two should go next, more power to her, but I don't think she will be able to. The Veil is too strong."

Ranma nodded, not mentioning his own thoughts on that point, then cocked an eyebrow. "Anything else?"

"We were asked by the Chancellor to inform you that going off like a vigilante like this would be frowned upon the next time you tried it," Mace said, his tone still dry. "However, I don't think that will be necessary against the Bounty Hunters' Guild, and there is no other legally organized group that would be involved in going after you or Shaak Ti. If another Chapter Master decides to take a bounty out on you or on Shaak, I believe the phrase 'evolutionary dead end' would spring to my mind almost immediately."

Ranma laughed at that, then cocked his head at the Jedi. "Will my wiping out those bounty bitches cause you issues with the Chancellor or the Senate?" His tone was academic; after all, he couldn't take his actions back, but it had also not been his intent to cause issues for the Jedi Order.

"No. They made their bed; they'll now sleep in it," Mace replied, shaking his bald head. "Especially if we bring the Chancellor and his new anti-corruption security division in on looking into this information you just sent us. He's put together a larger team of crack computer analysts and slicers, so it might prove to be a good idea if we can't find any physical thread."

The two Jedi exchanged a glance, but said no more on that score. The fact was, Mace and Dooku's mission to find any kind of hint as to where to look for the Sith that was still out there had turned up nothing. There was no longer any physical trail to follow, and every attempt to ask the Force for guidance led to nothing. They were at the point where they were thinking about bringing more people into the search, or going out of the Order to find more help.

And the Chancellor had impressed the Jedi who worked with the Senate with his anti-corruption stance and his willingness to listen. They weren't willing to ask him for help yet, but if a year or more went by without any new clues turning up, they might well have to take that step.

Ranma nodded. "In that case, Yoda, I will see you on Kashyyyk. Mace, good luck dealing with all the politicians." With that jab and a jaunty wave, Ranma shut down the link before either Jedi could respond.

As the hologram shut off, Ranma leaned back in the sofa, putting his feet up on the table as he thought. Yet despite the serious nature of the previous conversation, that wasn't what he was thinking about now. Now his thoughts had swiftly drifted back to Shaak, not for the first, or even the thousandth time in the last few days. It had been barely more than a year since he had come to this dimension, but for most of that time Shaak had been by his side. Looking back on it now, Ranma wondered when the idea of her being around had changed from simply normal to a central fixture in his life. Like breathing or practicing the Art.

He remembered the first time he saw Shaak. She had stood in front of him in those exercise togs the Jedi used, her red skin, beautiful face, and exotic looks grabbing his attention. He remembered her eagerness to learn, her willingness to joke around, and the way it had made Ranma rethink the idea that the majority of Jedi were simply robot-wannabes.

He remembered living with her on the Mon Calamari's homeworld of Dac. He remembered their discussions there, training with her, laughing with her. The philosophical discussions they had, the first such he had ever really had with anyone; growing together, not just in skill, but in understanding of ki and how the Force acted and existed here.

Ranma remembered her kisses, her body moving with his, how Shaak reacted to his touch. Ranma remembered her face when he gave Shaak his promise gift, how she wore it so proudly, and how he felt seeing her in it.

He remembered Shaak's understanding of him, his past, and even more importantly, of the Neko-ken. That, her understanding, Shaak's willingness to learn, to change somewhat for him, and the fact that Ranma knew that he too had changed for her, struck him now with added force.

 _We've both grown. We've both grown stronger, not just together, but as people, since we met. I think that makes me love her even more. The Jedi might have the Force, but I have the martial arts and Shaak Ti. The two pillars to my universe,_ Ranma thought, his lips quirking as the rather poetic words went through his head despite the fact that he would never think of even saying them aloud, or rather, knew that if he tried he would screw it up.

 _I want to marry this woman,_ Ranma thought. _Blessed Buddha, I want her in my life. I want her as my wife! I want everyone else to know that we are together. I want her to know every day of the rest of our lives how much she means to me, even if I don't always say the words. I told her when I gave her that promise gift that we would make things official. Well, proposing after I nearly lost her might not be romantic in the classic sense, but I think it makes a hell of a lot of sense for us!_

HK's metal finger pushed into Ranma's cheek as that thought hit him. "Bland question: Master, are you dead? If you are, does that mean that I may assume possession of the _Wild Light_? Or does its and my own ownership revert to Shaak Ti? I suppose being a droid to that particular Jedi wouldn't be so terrible, but it would also be so very much more boring than being yours."

"What are you on about, HK?" Ranma asked, shaking his head and looking up at the droid.

The droid's optics went out for a brief second in the droid equivalent of a blink. "Querulous rejoinder: Master, Tune has been calling you for the last three minutes. What were you thinking of so hard? Do we need to get you medical aid? I understand that fleshbags often hurt themselves when they try to perform actions they are not accustomed to."

"Meh, I'd give that a three out of five, HK. Nice allusion, but it took you too long to get to the punchline," Ranma said, wiggling one hand side to side.

HK tsked at that, but Ranma turned away before he could try again, directing his next words to the speaker set into the wall nearby. "Sorry about that, Tune. I wasn't ignoring you, just meditating. Listen, instead of taking us directly back to Mandalore, can you look for a planet that has a Togrutan presence? I want to stop and buy something."

 **OOOOOOO**

At the same time that Ranma was enacting his own sense of justice on the bounty hunters' chapter which had been so self-destructive as to take a bounty on Shaak Ti, Bo-Katan Kryze was busy doing much the same, if not for such personal reasons, on another group that had decided to stick their noses where they didn't belong. She was busy leading the Reborn against the criminal gang which had supplied the grunts and the majority of the weapons used in the terrorist activities which had occurred to cover the assault.

The Reborn came out of hyperspace in the system of Hrything, a cloud of forty starfighters of various different types and abilities, with twelve large troop transports, each of them carrying upwards of a hundred Mandalorian troopers. Those transports were old; in fact they were relics of the New Sith Wars a thousand years ago. But they were tough and could take a beating, else they wouldn't still be around.

The planet had some space-based defenses: a few hundred simple weapons platforms with one or two centralized computer hubs to control them. Those were no real threat to any attacker, though. More the sort which could threaten unshielded civilian ships. The several dozen starfighters, of heavily modified and ancient design for the most part, led by a very new looking and heavily armed yacht of some kind, were a different story.

The yacht wasn't a variety Bo had ever seen before, but judging by what their sensors were telling them it was armed with six quad lasers and four turbo lasers. It also had decent shielding for its size. However, Tanner Kildreen, clan chief and a former Death Watch member who had defected with his men to the Reborn's side during the campaign on Yavin 4, scoffed loudly. When Bo looked at him he opined that with that heavy shielding and armament, the ship's actual armor was probably paper thin. "And in terms of maneuverability it will wallow like a bantha."

As the Reborn's reinforced flotilla moved forward,Tanner's prediction was proven correct. The yacht barely moved out from orbit, falling well behind the starfighters. Of course, that would possibly let it provide long range fire for its fellows, but despite its firepower it wouldn't be able to do so to a level where it would matter. "And once we get close, there's no way that ship will be able to dodge anything!" Tanner snorted. "In fact, I don't think that it even has hyperspace drives! They pulled the hyperspace drives and the generators for them for shield emplacements!"

"Good, that'll make it all the more easy to destroy, I suppose, and no one will be able to use it to run away," Bo replied, nodding her head grimly. That was always a danger when trying to crush a criminal organization: you had to be thorough lest it spring up somewhere else later on.

"But I'll leave that part of the operation in your capable hands, Tanner," Bo went on, rubbing her hands together. The crushgaunts she was wearing creaked and groaned as she did, her eyes alight with battle lust. "I have a date on the ground."

"Have fun!" the other clan chief said with a laugh.

Moments later Bo-Katan walked into the troop hold, her helmet connected to her suit, the Darksaber at her side, and the rest of her armaments in place. Five dozen Reborn troopers including her Night Owls stood with a clangor, their feet thumping down as they saluted in the Mandalorian way, their fists slamming hard into their chests.

Acknowledging that salute Bo did the same before marching to the far edge of the troop hold where her Bes'uliik stirred. It rose up, fully repaired, its weapons primed, its robotic intelligence restored to full connectivity, and now fully acclimatized to Bo as its master.

It warbled at the sight of her, its nose out and nudging into her front. Despite being comprised of heavy armor and numerous sensors as well as a few guns, it somehow was still able to act like a faithful animal, pushing its head at her. She scratched it metallic gun mount right where it met the rest of the Bes'uliik's head, her power fist making loud screeching noises against the metal while it rumbled in pleasure.

An instant later Bo pulled herself up into the saddle, looking down at the controls for a moment and nodding. The atmospheric entry shield was fully online just in case, the internal generator was fully powered, and all of the weapons were glowing green. With a final pat on its control and a whispered command of, "Up," the beast rose from its haunches to stand solidly on its four feet.

The Reborn troopers all around her looked on in awe. Though possibly every Mandalorian alive had heard the rumors about it, of those present only the Night Owls had ever seen the Bes'uliik before. She had chosen to lead as many newcomers to the Reborn faction in this action as she could, so as to block any idea she would be playing favorites immediately before it could gain momentum.

From her perch on the Bes'uliik's back Bo pulled out a blaster rifle that was heavily modified, with a longer snout and a larger gas container. It would allow her to fire at some of the same targets that the great Bes'uliik would be able to, and would last longer than a normal blaster rifle, its energy needs taken from the Bes'uliik's generator.

When she saw that the connection was good, she nodded around at her people. "We will wait for the signal, then we will attack," Bo said simply. "A full drop right on top of the original capital city, as we said in the briefings. Be ready for intense anti-air fire immediately upon entry. And if you can, keep behind myself and my Bes'uliik here. Let us take the brunt of the fire until you are within range of your own weapons."

The troopers all around her nodded seriously, and then they waited. The space battle was brief as far as they all could tell. Their accompanying starfighters first mousetrapped the too aggressive by far starfighters, losing several of their own, but the outcome there was never in doubt, really. Even when the small defense platforms came online, all it did was tell the attackers which were the control satellites. These platforms killed a few more of the Mandalorian's starfighters, more than had died under the guns of the defending starfighters, but not many.

After the starfighters were gone, the yacht proved just as immobile as Tanner had said and died from long range concussion missile fire. Its quad lasers killed a few of the incoming missiles, but the speed and range of the missiles allowed the starfighters firing them to get away before any of them died. The yacht, which must have been some high-ranking gangster's personal little toy, died without taking a single one of its attackers with it.

A few minutes after seeing that report, Bo felt the troop transport hit atmosphere, the impact rattling her troopers in their safety nets. A bare minute later they felt several more blows, a quick staccato burst which punched through the shields to impact the hulls. The captain of the ship's voice came over the intercom. "We have heavy incoming fire, so heavy I don't think we'll be getting down anytime soon. In fact…"

The communication broke off into static, and when it came back the prognosis was not good. "Our engines are out! We won't be able to land at all! If you're going to go, I suggest you go now!"

Bo glanced at one of the many bits of information playing over her helmet's internal heads-up display, scowling. "We're not close enough!"

"We're going to break up soon," the captain said bluntly. "There seem to have been micro-fractures in the shield generator we didn't catch, and we are defenseless right now. You need to go. I'm not even certain we'll be able to open the doors for you as it is!"

"Don't worry about that!" Bo said, pulling on the yoke of her Bes'uliik, twisting its head around. A second later one of its cannons fired, the bolt smashing into the interior door of the troop transport and blowing it off its hinges.

It growled then, a deep, heavy sound, as if it took pleasure in the fact that it had been able to use its weapons after so long. "Soon, my friend! Not very long at all now!" she shouted, her voice nearly inaudible against the roar of the wind echoing through the troop transport.

All around her the other Mandalorians disconnected from their safety harnesses. Once her HUD told her they were all standing and ready to go, she pushed the yoke of her controls forward, and the beast rumbled towards the sliver of sky visible through the shattered entranceway. "On the bounce, Mandos!" she shouted, gesturing with one hand.

Underneath her the Bes'uliik roared, the sound even louder than the wind and the sound of incoming blaster fire. Then, without any direction from her, it picked up speed, racing forward on surprisingly nimble legs before flying out into the air beyond, its thrusters activating and pushing it forward and down. As soon as they were out of the troop transport the metallic beast's shields flickered to life around both itself and its rider, so close that Bo could almost reach out and touch it.

If she hadn't been wearing Mandalorian armor like she was, Bo would swiftly have been in danger of radiation poisoning from staying this close to an active shield for too long. But she was, and the speed and power of the Bes'uliik under her was intoxicating. So intoxicating she yelled aloud in sheer delight as they raced down to the ground.

Anti-air fire was streaming up at the troop transports. Not just the one that had contained Bo and her personal troop, but also the other troop transports with their attack. One of them had even been forced to withdraw, and another had been shot so full of holes that it looked as if it was going to come apart. Mandalorians were disgorging from that transport as best they could, actually aided at this point by the incoming fire, which blew open its sides and shuttered its hull. Each of them activated their backpack rockets as they gained the air.

A moment after Bo had noticed this, that transport's engines were hit, and it went up in a large explosion, killing at least a dozen troopers as well as its crew. She gritted her teeth angrily, shaking her head and whispering a mantra. "They died in battle; they died well; they will be remembered."

Putting that small tragedy aside, Bo took in the rest of the battle at a glance, letting the Bes'uliik have its head. This was, after all, what the beast had been designed for, and it did so easily, diving down at a sharp angle, keeping its shield between the enemy and its nearby allies. At the same time it assessed the threats its sensors could detect and began to fire on them with deadly accuracy. The Bes'uliik was heavily armed, more heavily than any skimmer and even most starfighters, and its attacks were withering.

Bo wasn't really paying attention to that, however. Instead she was concentrating on the larger picture. The defenders could not be strong everywhere, but they had known this fight was coming, and they had a unique defensive strategy. They had lots and lots of mobile anti-air guns, odd ones which looked like they were cobbled together from starfighters and placed on speeder bikes, of all things. It allowed them to both gather and disperse their defenses and made them hard for incoming fire to lock onto.

They had concentrated these defenses, a good move to defend their so-called capital, but one which had allowed the other attacks to land almost unopposed. Bo had planned to use seventeen different drop-sites, each of them containing three to five transports like this assault. Fourteen of them were already down and disgorging their troops without a shot fired yet, much to the disgruntlement of the troopers inside them, of course. Each of those other assaults were being led by a clan chief or a Reborn officer that Bo trusted, and were targeted on a different settlement known to the Mandalorians from the time when this planet had fallen under their aegis. The other two had run into minimal resistance, but that was slowly changing as they pushed out from their beachhead.

The defenses here over the capital were heavier than anywhere else, of course, since Bo had assigned herself the assault on the original planetary capital. It had made sense to Bo and her advisers that the criminals would use the infrastructure already in place to control the planet. The center of that infrastructure was a large, if simply designed castle like structure that was really more of a bunker than anything else, and from which only scattered fire was coming.

 _It feels as if there were two minds at work in this defense, fighting one another,_ Bo mused, while her Bes'uliik smashed two speeder bikes in quick succession. _One person planned for mobile defenses, possibly a full guerrilla war. In that case the bikes would have hit as many of our invasion points as possible before pulling back, possibly repurposing into long range arty. And the other mind decided to instead bunker down, throwing most of their defenses into protecting his personal ass! Maybe there's been a recent shakeup in the gang's leadership? Either way, it makes for an exploitable weakness._

 _Better, if we smash them here, and they will lose a lot of their fighting strength,_ she thought to herself, analyzing the palace and the incoming fire. The palace in question was made of heavy ferrocrete and reinforced steel, and it was massive, the same size as the ziggurat on Yavin 4. Yet for all of that, the bunker's offensive punch was nearly nothing, and the defenders' fire was rather flawed, leaving gaps here and there that she and her people could use to get close.

Twisting the controls of the Bes'uliik, Bo forced it ever lower, twisting it to the rightmost section of the battle, cutting down several of the AA bikes as they went. Behind her, her troopers began to follow, some of them breaking off here and there to rush down faster to the ground. Bo noticed two of them had cut their jump-jets entirely, falling like stones.

As she watched, however, they came back online barely four stories above the buildings of the city below, looping this way and that as they bled off inertia. At the same time they fired at the nearest defensive emplacements, including a few AA bikes in the streets below. Several of them exploded, and the first Mandalorians were down.

A second later, after a brief series of orders with the remaining troopers behind her, Bo twisted her Bes'uliik back to the left of the city and down. A lot of the AA fire began to concentrate on her as she barreled towards the bunker-like palace, but from this angle the AA bikes moving around couldn't get a range on her, and the bunker's own defenders could only bring a few guns to bear.

The Bes'uliik's shield shimmered from a few hammer blows, but then they were through, and just under the range of the guns which could bear on her. Another gun popped up, obviously designed to protect this blind spot, but too slowly, and Bo's modified rifle blew it apart. At the same time, the Bes'uliik concentrated its offensive firepower on the wall of the bunker, hammering it.

The palace/bunker didn't have shielding, not exactly unusual out here in the Outer Rim, but the building's armor held for a while. Not for very long, however, and then Bo and her beast were through, smashing into and through interior walls of the building.

Disconnecting her rifle and kicking out of the saddle, Bo rolled to the left even as the Bes'uliik's shield shut down. It roared, lashing out at a few mobsters that had raced for the hole from numerous directions, killing several. "Stay here and guard this place!" Bo shouted in Mandalorian. "I will return."

Behind Bo half of her troop landed, their jumpjets flaring out. "We're down to fumes, Alor'sa (boss-feminine form)!" shouted one of her Night Owls, cutting down a gangster who had been trying to use the rubble as cover.

"Fine. Judging from the layout we're seeing now we might not be able to use them anyway. Four of you stay here with my Bes'uliik, the rest of you with me," Bo ordered. And then, without waiting for the troopers to get themselves organized, she moved off, racing forward, her blaster held in one hand, her other hand flicking on the Darksaber.

The group of six troopers fought their way through the palace until they ran into a defensive position they couldn't bypass: a intersection of numerous corridors with heavy guns set into the ceiling and floor. The Mandalorians fell back save for Bo, who used her jump pack to leap up to the ceiling, where she cut into it with the Darksaber. Jetting straight back she avoided more fire before zooming up into the hole.

From above she then cut into the floor of the story above, racing on as the rubble fell down on the defensive positions below her. "I'm heading up; follow me when you can!" Bo shouted. _First rule of warfare: keep the kriffing pressure on!_

With that thought Bo raced on, now behind whatever defenses the locals had been able to prepare in the palace itself. Soon she reached the top floor and found what she had known she would, a control room cum throne room. _What is it with planetary rulers and delusions of grandeur, regardless of wherever the hell they come from?_

The room was large, about as large as the interior of the troop transport, its walls lined with furs and various gaudy statues. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to them, save for the fact they looked both expensive and gauche. A lot of computers and other things had been added to these, and there were at least fifteen or so people, nearly all of them working frantically at the computers, presumably communications gear. At the far end of the room from the entrance was a small raised dais, on which there was a throne.

The being on the throne was a Duros, wearing what looked like typical spacer's gear, albeit with a admittedly rakish hat complete with long feather in it. His green skin was noticeably pock-marked here and there with both some kind of skin disease along with numerous scars. Many of those scars, though, looked more like those which a druggy would have, rather than those gained through combat. His eyes, noticeably blood shot and even wider than was normal for a Duros, seemed to agree with that assessment. "Nice hat," Bo commented, pointing the Darksaber at the man. "Don't suppose I could get you to surrender?"

"Why thank you; I do like being fashionable. The man who made it and I couldn't agree to a price at first, but eventually I got it for a song!" the Duros said before smiling crazily. "The song of blood on the carpet, heheheh! But I see you have a lightsaber. I do too, you know."

He pulled out a long cylinder at his belt and activated it, revealing the cylinder to be a lightsaber, a bright blue in color. "I found this in Boss Lazlo's stash. Heheheh, he didn't want to part with it or the leadership of the gang, and we had a bit of an argument about it. By the end of which, well, he had just about lost his head!"

"Spare me the horrible jokes," Bo replied, rolling her shoulders and debating just shooting the kriffer. _As if just having a lightsaber is enough to make you able to use one!_ "If you're going to fight, fight; don't try to talk me to death."

The Duros glared at her, the fingers of his free hand tapping out something on a small bit of machinery set onto his upper arm. As she watched, his body stiffened, and one of the lights on the machine dimmed noticeably.

 _Some kind of injector device, kriff!_ Realizing the man had just pumped his body full of some combat drugs, Bo opened fire, her high powered rifle using up all its internal power in a few shots, followed by her firing off some of her gauntlet's micro rockets. But she was a little too slow. The man blocked one of her bolts with a crazy swing with his lightsaber, more luck than skill if she was any judge, and lunged to the side, avoiding the others.

Behind Bo-Katan the rest of her team had finally arrived, and they and the com operators, bodyguards, sycophants, or fellow druggies began to open fire in turn. The Duros howled like a wild beast, racing forward to close with Bo, who had to move towards him in order to let more of her people enter behind her.

The two of them met with the snap, hiss, and crackling discharge of lightsaber combat. The drugged up gangster used his lightsaber like a club, smashing all around him, but his drug-induced speed was such that it took a few exchanges for Bo to notice the weakness in his actual style. When she did, she struck, dodging one blow instead of blocking it, her blade coming up in a short, economical slash to the man's outstretched arm.

The Duros, however, didn't even seem to feel the pain of his limb being seared off like that, instead charging her bodily. Whirling away, Bo brought her lightsaber back to cut the man's head off, then stood upright as the headless body continued walking forward a few steps before shuddering to a halt.

"Kriff, that was anticlimactic. Ke nu jurkad ti Mando'ade shabiir (don't cross swords with a Mando you screwup)!" Bo said, looking around as the rest of the thugs were put down by her own troopers. "Now, time to make sure the rest of this campaign goes as smoothly. And someone get an assayer in here. Those statues look valuable, even if they are ugly as kriff."

 **OOOOOOO**

Sidious stared in shock at the computer screen in front of him, which was showing the news his agents had discovered about the fight between the Chaotic Locus and the Crimson Nova Chapter of the Bounty Hunters' Guild. This wasn't much, since there had been no survivors, and the dreadnought's central power had been destroyed halfway through the battle. But a virus his agent had sent along with the last message to the female Farghul who had led the Crimson Nova had infected the dreadnought, sending a copy of what its internal cameras recorded out until the power died. It had bounced around for a long while before reaching a secret receiver buried on an asteroid, and then deleted itself from the Hypernet System.

Now watching some of the videos, Sidious was impressed and furious in turn by the amount of damage that the Chaotic Locus had done in his rampage. _To wipe out an entire bounty hunters' chapter, one warned and armed against his coming: this Chaotic Locus is even more dangerous in personal combat than I thought. A team of Jedi Guardians would've had trouble against that number of bounty hunters and would no doubt have lost at least one or two of their members during the attack! And this Chaotic Locus did it with just himself and a single combat droid._

At that thought the Sith Lord's fingers tapped out a note to himself and to his agents to look into information on this combat droid. It was evident that the thing was far more dangerous, and simply far **more** than Sidious had first thought. He had initially assumed that it was simply a guardian droid that the Chaotic Locus had commissioned on Corellia, but the droid was too deadly to be an entirely new droid, regardless of its programming. And there were a few reports that the droid's head came with the Chaotic Locus. _That is interesting, and if so, my agents should be able to at least track down where it came from, given time. There are only so many planets the Chaotic Locus visited before Corellia, after all._

He also made a mental note to look into somehow creating a troop of his own attack droids to combat this one, as well as the Chaotic Locus itself. It was evident that he would slowly be running out of willing pawns to use against the Chaotic Locus. _Yes, the bounty hunters' chapter's death was a nuisance, but more of a nuisance will be the fear that the Locus's actions will create in the criminal element that will make finding further pawns difficult. Or that of the Jedi he is involved with, the Dark Side flay her soul!_

 _That relationship is a weakness, true, but not for the Chaotic Locus! I can weaken the Jedi politically, push the Senate into possibly demanding more control of the Order and creating more issues there. But that will not get rid of the Chaotic Locus!_ Sidious thought, leaning back in his throne room.

The darkness of the room, both physical and mental, acted like a balm to his nerves, allowing him more self-control than even he would have normally, especially in light of such a dangerous setback. It enveloped him, warmed him, empowered him as only a true Sith could ever understand.

 _And_ , he thought after letting the darkness work on his mind for a time, _the relationship between them does make them somewhat predictable. They are mated, and will want to go through with the mating ritual at some point. Like all such weak creatures they will want to put their marks on one another in some fashion. And that will probably mean a trip to Shili, which I've already started to prepare for. The shape shifters will be in place there soon._

 _And my foolish apprentice has returned as well. Though using her against the Chaotic Locus would be both counterproductive and a waste. Pity, already she has proven that, like most females, she is an illogical being._ _She can still be used, however, just not against the Chaotic Locus lest I have to put down her rebellion in time._ _That means I must find some other means of combating him. For now I must step back from this issue._

With that Sidious stood up from his throne. It took him around forty minutes to make himself presentable, then he quickly touched a few buttons, and a small panel in the ceiling disengaged, allowing him to step up from his hidden throne room up into the Chancellor's private living quarters.

Yet even as he pulled his Palpatine persona around him, Sidious's thoughts were elsewhere. _I've already put in place many traps for the Jedi should they attempt to follow up on the weapons sent to help the bounty hunters. It will lead them out into the Outer Rim, which is all to the good. They must never realize where my real power base is. And it will allow me to kill some of them, perhaps. Just like cockroaches, it is always good to cut down their numbers._

 _Yes, play the long game. Use pawns to continue to try and remove this Chaotic Locus while preparing the vergence to do it for me if they cannot. He has no idea of the power of the Dark Side. So long as I remain hidden and unknown, his ability to directly impact me is minimal._

At that thought, as Sidious sat down at his desk, he smiled sinisterly. _But I know who does! Now, what kind of disease can I catch in order to distance myself from the public eye for a time, and how? I won't be able to put this task on my Vosa. But yes, the former apprentice of Darth Zannah will do magnificently, both to distract the Jedi further and to kill the Chaotic Locus in time. Of course, finding him will be difficult, but we will see._

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak Ti woke up, somewhat bemused to discover that she was, in fact, able to, but as a Jedi, that moment passed remarkably quickly. Others would have been, perhaps, feeling a moment of existential uncertainty or fear. After a life or death situation that would've been understandable. But as a Jedi, Shaak Ti had gone through more than a decade of meditation training to help her mental control. So, after taking a swift census of her body, she noted where she was still sore and began to reach out to the Force to aid the healing process.

Beside her Master Plo Koon watched in interest as the healing process begun by the bacta patch on Shaak's stomach was hastened along, so fast he could actually watch its progress. That was nothing unusual; many Jedi could heal themselves, and Jedi Healers could do so to others. But what was interesting was the speed with which it was occurring and the fact that he could feel Shaak's efforts, and they didn't match up with what he was seeing. The Jedi normally reached out to the Force around them to perform feats of this type.

But Shaak was only using a faint trickle of the Unifying Force, as it were. The rest was coming from her own stores of Living Force. _I believe this must be an example of Ranma's training,_ Plo mused, before smiling behind his mask and standing up to go to the doorway and see if he could order some food to be brought up. _In which case, she is going to be rather hungry when she wakes up._

About twenty minutes passed, by which time Plo had returned with a tray of local food. So as Shaak opened her eyes, looking around with her physical senses as well as her Force senses, Master Koon was standing by the bed, looking down at her. As she watched, the Kel Dor reached down, lifting a smoothie of some sort from the bedside table. "Hungry, my friend?"

"Very. Thank you, Master Plo," Shaak slurred, reaching out with a weak hand to grab at the smoothie. It took her a full minute to be happy with the strength of her grip before she took it from Plo's hands, bringing it to her lips swiftly. Slurping it down, she closed her eyes, letting the electrolyte and protein heavy smoothie work into her system.

For several minutes the room was quiet save for Plo's quiet chuckling as he helped convey food from the tray to Shaak's mouth. "I take it that there are some negative effects of using Ranma's method to heal," he said after the first sandwich had disappeared and Shaak was now sitting up, working on the heavy soup he had found for her.

"Somewhat, yes. Healing yourself like that it is somewhat easier when you pull from your own Living Force reserves then from the Force as a whole. Ranma has trained his body so that he can do so automatically to a certain degree without any conscious input on his part. I am not quite up to his level yet, but I will be," Shaak said simply, before her predator's pointed teeth flashed in a brief smiled.

"Although I would say if I had more body fat it probably wouldn't be that large an issue. Indeed, that would probably be an interesting diet plan. Get injured and then heal, and you could lose upwards of five pounds in under an hour," Shaak went on.

The joke elicited another chuckle from Plo Koon, the sound reverberating slightly from behind his mask. To many that sound would have seemed unusual or perhaps disconcerting; to Shaak and those who knew him, it did not.

"How do you feel?" the Kel Dor asked seriously, gesturing down to Shaak's stomach. "Gut wounds like that are tricky, after all."

"I am somewhat stiff and sore, but otherwise well enough," Shaak replied before polishing off the soup, stretching out her Force senses at the same time and then cocking her head in query. "Might I ask where Ranma is? Knowing his personality, I would've thought that he would be by the bed waiting for me to wake up. Unless there is still violence going on elsewhere, and the attack on me was just a prelude?"

"You have been out for several days, and the violence the attack on you was a part of calmed down almost immediately. We discovered quickly that it was caused by a mixture of malcontents, a criminal organization on the planet of Hrything, and two bounty hunters willing to use any and all means to claim your bounty," Master Plo said, answering a portion of that statement first. "As to where Ranma is, he is out avenging your injury. Apparently a chapter of the Bounty Hunters' Guild actually accepted the bounty on you as a formal, legally binding bounty offer. Needless to say, Ranma was very…displeased."

For a moment Plo debated with himself on whether or not he should share his observations of the pigtailed warrior before he left. The coldness the young human had given off had been rather disturbing at the time. As had the lack of any emotion or thought that Plo could discern in him as he left.

After a moment, however, he decided that it wasn't his place to do so. No doubt if it was something worrisome, Shaak would be able to get it out of Ranma easily enough, given their relationship. _And that is still a bit…not a wrong, but certainly a disconcerting term to use in connection to a Jedi. Yet a good kind of disconcerting, I suppose, if not for the feeling itself, then for what their relationship represents._

Shaak frowned slightly in thought. "They actually took a bounty on a Jedi?" she asked slowly. "How could that work out for them?"

"I imagine the chapter in question buried their involvement in many different ways, but the Guild itself had records, and Ranma apparently attacked another chapter's headquarters and was able to find that information. Other than that, I have no knowledge of how it has gone. Though, given Ranma's abilities and those of his rather amusing yet equally deadly droid, I doubt it will have gone well for the Chapter Master and anyone who stood with him or her."

Plo allowed himself his people's version of a thin smile of amusement behind his mask. While others would have problems with Ranma taking such actions, he felt them right and proper. "We will discover more when the Jedi Temple gets in contact with us later today. We have been talking almost nonstop since the events here, mostly placating the Senate and the rest of the Jedi Order more than anything else, I'm afraid."

The two Jedi fell silent, Master Plo letting Shaak think for a moment. She knew that as a Jedi she should be somewhat ambivalent, or perhaps even worried that Ranma had decided to act out in something that could be called vengeance all too easily. Yet as a Togrutan, for some reason Shaak Ti found it rather endearing of him, a sign that he truly cared for her, which was an odd thought, really, to her Jedi analytical mind. "I see? And was I attacked at any point during my convalescence?"

"Ah, no. Obi-Wan, despite his own injuries, and I switched off guard duty every day, and there were a squad of Reborn in the building at all times. You made quite an impression on them." Master Plo chuckled once more. "But as you are seemingly almost ready to leave the hospital, can I call on you to lend your aid to certain ongoing matters here?"

"I take it by that statement that you would like my help in, what, controlling the transfer of power from the New Mandalorians to the Reborn?" When Plo nodded, she nodded back. "Very well. I suppose that without Ranma here I will have quite a bit of free time."

That portion of the discussion went on for about an hour before Master Plo left, allowing Shaak to dress herself. As she did so, Shaak's thoughts were not on her the tasks that Master Plo had asked her to take up. Rather, they were on Ranma and the fact that she had nearly died.

Shaak Ti had fallen into oblivion happily, having given her life to defend others. That was perhaps the best death a Jedi could wish for. For a Jedi, death was simply another aspect of life: not to be feared or searched for, simply accepted when it came. And she would have done the same, except for one thing. Leaving Ranma behind, **that** she would have mourned.

They had been together for a little under half a year now, or perhaps longer, depending on how you measure such things. Yet even so, there was so much they had yet to do together; so much they had yet to experience, to see; so far they could grow together.

Shaak Ti was not blind to how she had changed since meeting Ranma. Indeed, she doubted anyone who had known her previously could miss it. But Ranma too had changed, the two of them growing together, changing one another. _For the better,_ she thought, _though that could be, perhaps, a bit of pride speaking._

Above that, it was the times together they had shared that went through her mind now. The first time Ranma had given her a massage. The first kiss. When she had won a philosophical debate with him. The moment Ranma was forced to reveal what he thought of as his greatest shame, the Neko-ken. She remembered the kissing and the dates and above all, the warmth and the laughter and the feeling of being together, of sharing their days, their nights, their lives, their love.

 _I do not wish to wait any longer to tell the universe he is mine, to have our lives be truly bound together as one,_ _And of course this would also keep people from flirting with either one of us, a not small issue for certain._ Shaak thought to herself, almost giggling at that last thought. _And as a married woman if someone flirts with me I can be far more_ _ **direct**_ _in my disapproval. To say nothing of what I can do if someone flirts with him in front of me, or vice versa._

Exiting the room to find Plo Koon waiting for her, she smiled at the older Jedi. "Tell me, do we have time for me to make a stop before heading on to the palace? There is something I wish to purchase."

 **OOOOOOO**

Around three days after Shaak had woke up found the Togrutan waiting with seeming serenity on a portion of tarmac of the capital bio-cube's landing area, looking up as the _Wild Light_ descended. But this serenity was only on the surface. Inside she was anticipatory, eager, her pulse pounding in her chest with her eagerness to see Ranma. _And judging by the speed of the_ _Wild Light_ _'s descent, I imagine he is as eager to see me as I am to see him._ That thought warmed her just as much as the idea of seeing Ranma in person, and she was already walking towards the _Wild Light_ before the cooling jets finished their work on the ship's underbelly and landing gear.

She was met halfway by Ranma, who leaped out of the ship's landing ramp before it was fully open, and suddenly she was in his arms.

Ranma had no idea how he'd crossed the intervening space. Indeed, in later years he would continue to wonder how he went from point A to point B without crossing the distance between them. But at the moment he didn't care. Shaak Ti was in his arms again. She was real; she was **alive** and unharmed. Her mouth was moving on his, her pulse thundering in his ears. Pulling away from her mouth with difficulty, Ranma licked at the underside of her slightly thicker, slightly rougher than human tongue which she had thrust into his mouth. It had remained suspended in the air in the very slight space between their lips for a moment before she could retract it, her eyes half-closed in pleasure. "You, you cannot be injured like that ever again, Shaak! That was, that just about ripped my heart out!"

"I can't promise that," Shaak replied, gasping slightly. "I can only promise that I'll try not to." She leaned back slightly, taking in Ranma's features, one hand reaching up to trail down his face before pulling gently at his pigtail. There seemed to be something in Ranma's eyes, some hidden worry or concern. The origin of that she didn't know, and she could barely make it out, the love in that expression almost overwhelming the concern, but she felt it was something to do with his reaction to her injury. She resolved to bring it up later.

"I…I can understand that, at least. I know I wouldn't be able to promise the same," Ranma said reluctantly before leaning forward slightly, dipping to one side and kissing Shaak lightly on the lips, then moving back two steps, his hands reluctantly falling from where they had gripped her around the middle. "Still, that just makes me more determined to do this than ever."

Before Shaak could ask what he meant, Ranma had moved back somewhat, going down on both knees before bowing form the waist. Before she could comment Ranma launched into what was obviously a well-rehearsed speech, though at first she didn't really understand what he was doing. It was only when he pulled out a large torque made of white gold twined together with a small blue diamond set at one point that Shaak understood. Since the idea of tattooing had begun to go out of favor, such torques, placed on the back lek, were marks of being married among her people.

Ranma had looked through several dozen jewelry stores before he found one that had anything like a torque which could fit around a Togrutan's lekku. Then he had problems trying to find a design he liked and a metal and gem that would go with Shaak's colors. He ended up with what was called white gold, which was actually so common on the planet he was shopping on that he had to stop the saleswoman from trying to sell him something else. The blue diamond he had ordered set into the torque however had forced Ranma to hunt down a few illegal casinos and take the houses for all he (though at the time Ranma had been in his female form) could.

Her eyes widening in shock, Shaak looked up from the torque to Ranma's face, and he smiled at her softly, his voice somewhere between formal, scared, and loving. "Shaak Ti of Clan Jedi, I ask for the honor or joining our lives together. I have naught but my honor, my arm, and my mind, but I hope you find me worthy, for I have come to love you."

For a moment Shaak simply looked down at where Ranma was kneeling, then began to laugh quietly. "…I will refrain from answering for just a moment. Because I too have a question for you."

Feeling an imp of mischief grow in her, Shaak smirked, her black eyes flashing in the white marks that surrounded her eyes. "However, since you have gone out of your way to ask your question in this manner, I think that I should do the same." So saying, Shaak swiftly pulled a small flask of water out of her expanded Force pocket, splashing it in Ranma's face before he could register what she was doing.

As the redhead sputtered and began to glare at her lover, she found Shaak suddenly kneeling in front of her, one knee on the tarmac as she held out a small box containing a simple, burnished steel ring with an intricate design of a fanged beast on it. "Ranma, I have come to love you. Will you do me the honor of taking me as your husband?"

Ranma and Shaak looked at one another for a moment, then the sheer silliness of the moment got to them both, and they fell together laughing, until Ranma's mouth again found Shaak's in a kiss. Her smaller mouth allowed Shaak to lead the kiss for a time, until Shaak pulled back, nibbling and licking down the redhead's neck. "In case you couldn't tell, that means yes, Ranma, I'll marry you."

"G, good!" Ranma moaned, before twisting her head slightly to the side and beginning to kiss Shaak's jugular, moving down one lek to where it started to fall below her chest. Then she stood up, hauling Shaak up with her, twirling around with Shaak in her arms as they both laughed.

Then the redhead stopped, wrinkling her nose at Shaak. "But I will say right now, I will be in my male form when we marry." Her eyes widened and then narrowed, considering, though Ranma's lips twitched, showing her true feelings. "Hmm, I wonder what you would look like in a dress…"

"Ugh, not white, please. While it goes well with my skin color if done well, it would clash with the blue and white of my lekku," Shaak replied with her own smirk. "And that is rather a pity Ranma. You certainly have the legs and waist to carry a dress off. And I could then wear the pants, physically as I would in terms of our relationship."

"Oi!" Ranma said, and they both broke out into laughter again before Ranma turned toward the _Wild Light_. Still carrying the taller woman, Ranma moved in that direction as they continued to trade jokes.

A few hours later Ranma and Shaak joined Duchess Satine, Master Plo Koon and Obi-Wan, sitting with them around a low slung table and listening as clan chief Clento explained the ongoing campaign on Hrything. The campaign was going well already, with the criminal group beheaded and most of the cities falling in line. However, putting in a longer term government there would be harder, and there was still fighting in two of the cities and sporadic raiding from outside them. Despite that, the criminal group under their new leader had paid for the temerity of trying to impact Mandalorian politics.

"This is sort of an example of being hoisted by their own petard, isn't it?" Ranma asked, leaning back, his arm wrapped around Shaak's shoulders and his hand gently stroking her lekku where it merged into her montrals. It wasn't quite proper to do so in public, but neither was in the mood to care right now. In fact, if the couple had had their druthers, they would have retired to the _Wild Light_ and not be seen for a few days.

This was why Shaak was leaning against his shoulder, her right hand grasping his left on his upper thigh. The small smile on her face was incredibly warm as she leaned against him.

"I mean," Ranma continued, "these criminals tried to interfere with the conclave to stop the Reborn from going after them the moment they could in your push to stabilize the region. But all they did was call you all down on them even sooner. I don't get that at all. I mean, how could they think that could go?"

"It is a bit of…call it natural justice, I suppose. There seemed to have been a change of leadership recently. The older and far wiser leader was killed by a youngish upstart with delusions of intelligence and an ego the size of a small nova," Clento said, his lips twitching as he remembered the pithy way Bo-Katan Kryze had described the fool in question. "At any rate, that campaign is going well, and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that it's going to be excessively thorough. While this gang did not go into outright slavery, they didn't really have to, because they had a homegrown population that they could use and manipulate without anyone truly challenging them. Some of the imagery she sent us is ugly, to say the least."

Shaak sighed looking over at Master Plo and Obi-Wan, who both nodded grim understanding. "Yes, that is unfortunately what happens in a power vacuum. The best and the worst are given a chance to rise to the top, and unfortunately, in this case it was the worst. We did a grave disservice to the worlds of this sector when we did not help them rebuild after the Excision."

The Clento faction leader did not comment on that, simply nodding his head. He knew that all three Jedi felt that the Excision itself had been a mistake, so saw no need to mention it further here. Instead he turned to Duchess Satine. "How goes the transfer of authority?" In another culture that might have been called the transfer of power, but the power already had pretty much changed hands at this point, from one social view to another. It was the authority, the governmental organization, that had yet to make the transition to follow that change.

"Slowly," the older Kryze sister replied tiredly. She seemed to have aged somewhat since Ranma had last seen her; the fact that her people had chosen what she saw as barbarism over the way of peace obviously wearing on her. Despite that and her ongoing disgust with Bo-Katan and the Reborn, she had been as good as her word, helping the peaceful transition along as much as she possibly could.

"It's not as if we had a set method for this kind of thing. Within my own faction we did, and the Mandalorians of old of course had their own way of choosing new leaders." She fought hard to keep an edge of disgust out of her voice at those words, and generally succeeded. "We also are trying to work out how to truly share political power within the bio-cube cities, which are the bedrock of my faction's power structure and the planet's economy. It's been a peaceful process, generally speaking, since that spate of violence, but it is a lengthy one."

"Will you need us here for this?" Ranma asked, gesturing with the hand which had been stroking Shaak's lekku at himself and Shaak before letting it fall back. "I mean, I know there's nothing I can add during this whole thing, but I imagine another Jedi's help would be a big thing?"

He looked over and down at Shaak, who smiled. "Actually, I have been helping out since I woke up from my coma. At this point I don't think there is enough work for three Jedi any longer."

"Truly. Indeed, at this point there are only two or at most three disputes I would like an outsider's perspective on, and even there using a Jedi would be overkill," Satine said. "As far as I'm concerned, the Jedi Order has performed its tasks here impeccably. Not as I or the Republic Senate would have liked them to, but by the letter and spirit of their Order and their mission." That bit came out slightly sourly, but she moved on quickly. "I would like you to leave a single observer until our new Sector Jedi arrives, but that is all."

She did not mention the fact that Shaak Ti and Ranma's relationship was a bit of a sore point for her. Satine was still somewhat sore about Obi-Wan's rebuffing her subtle interest in him, and it was hard for her to leave her girlhood crush on him behind. A problem exacerbated when she witnessed Ranma and Shaak's relationship like this.

Obi-Wan, of course, knew that, and had made a point of somewhat distancing himself from her. He had moved out of the palace, and was always formal, if friendly, when they were together, but no more than that.

"If that is the case, Obi-Wan will return to Coruscant, and I will remain here as an observer," Master Plo said smoothly. He too had noticed the tension between Duchess Satine and Obi-Wan. Shaak hadn't, since she had not spent much time around the duchess and Obi-Wan.

Clento said hesitantly, "I believe that Bo-Katan wanted you to remain until she returned, Ranma. She wanted you to be a part of the ceremony to install her as the Mandalore. Of course," he went on, now looking at Ranma through half lidded eyes, "there are significant numbers of our people pushing for you to claim the helmet and all that goes with it."

Ranma burst out laughing so loudly Shaak flinched away slightly. Ranma looked at her apologetically. "Er, sorry about that, Shaak, but come on! I'm no leader. I mean, maybe I could see myself as a squad leader; you know, point me at a target and let me go kind of thing; but I'm no strategist: I'm a tactician. On top of that, I certainly don't want to stay here; that was never part of my deal with Bo. Thirdly, I'd have to deal with politics, and I'd much sooner jump naked into a black hole." Then his eyes widened, and he pointed at the man dramatically. "Don't tell me that Bo herself is one of the people who might push for me to be Mandalore just so she can get out of dealing with politics!"

That brought a round of laughter from around the table, but Clento had been telling the truth. Yes, Ranma's points were all correct, but for the Mandalorian on the street, they didn't really care about all that stuff. They saw who was the strongest, who was the best fighter, and that was Ranma. Whether or not he would be a good leader they would discover in time.

"Bo-Katan also wanted to speak to you about something else, an idea to continue to train a small cadre your style and abilities from a young age," he said, changing the subject. "I understand that the younger you start, the easier it is?"

Ranma nodded at that, though he and Shaak exchanged a glance, speaking without words while the others watched, before Ranma turned back to them. "I suppose we can think about that when she returns. But…" He looked again at Shaak, who looked back. "You mentioned earlier having talked to Ahsoka? Were you able to help her over the Hypercom?"

"Not to any great degree," Shaak said softly, her face shifting into a thoughtful, indeed rather worried, frown. She had been informed of Ahsoka's issue the same day she had woken out of her coma and had talked with her over the Hypercom for a time. Yoda had spoken the truth when he said that this stage of her training was a very dangerous one in which to have such a negative reaction occur, and Shaak wanted to do all in her power to help the young Togrutan to get over it.

But without being physically present she could not use the Force to do so, and her face and voice over the Hypercom had not helped as much as she would have liked. The young of most species were very irrational and emotional, something the Order's training tried to mitigate and control, but in this case Ahsoka had fallen into fear. Not fear of failure, but fear of the Force itself and what it could show her, and of death. She had yet to lash out at the teachers, but she had withdrawn into herself, becoming almost unresponsive.

If this sort of thing had happened a few years ago, the Order might have already made the decision to send her to the farming collectives. Such was the danger of a youngling of Ahsoka's power possibly falling to the Dark Side, in this case due to fear mixed with anger at Shaak's apparent killers. But it wasn't a few years ago, and Yoda was on hand to stop any such move in its tracks. He was personally helping Ahsoka now, but while he could begin the process, it couldn't go very far without Shaak being there in person, thanks to the centrality of the vision about her in Ahsoka's current troubles.

"You have an ETA for Bo's return?" Ranma asked, looking back over at Clento.

"Bo herself should return in a day or so. I know she intends to leave a clan chief behind to head up the local government. I doubt I could ask her to expedite leaving, though," the other man said apologetically.

"Very well. We can wait a day, but no more," Shaak said firmly. "If she is not back by tomorrow night, I think Ranma and I will leave regardless of her wishes. I am sorry, but youngling Ahsoka's mental health is far more important to me than any ceremony could be. Indeed, if not for my wish to see this mission through I would rather we leave now."

Clento nodded his head at that, and the talk turned to other matters for a short while before the Jedi excused themselves. As they walked through the palace hallways, Obi-Wan looked at the martial artist and the Togrutan Jedi for a moment. "So when is the wedding?" he asked as they began their descent down a flight of stairs.

Ranma twitched, looking over at him as Shaak nearly missed a step, but Obi-Wan simply quirked an eyebrow at them, chuckling internally at the chance to tease the two of them. "I am well aware of human marriage rites, of course. The ring on Ranma's hand is somewhat obvious. And then I connected it to that ring of white gold on your lekku."

Shaak coughed, looking away, somewhat embarrassed. "I…we…haven't talked about the actual wedding as yet." She looked over at Ranma, smiling tenderly. "Of course it will be small ceremony. There's no need to make a big deal about it." She was a rather insular individual after all, despite her Togrutan nature and relationship with Ranma. On top of that was her wish to not rub their relationship in anyone's faces.

"Just so long as we have a single ceremony. I'm not big on ceremonies at all, so one small ceremony would do me just fine," Ranma replied.

"The first Jedi to marry in a little over a thousand years, the first Jedi to be allowed to remain within the Order and have a relationship in under a thousand years. And you don't think it's going to be a big deal, no matter how you try to hide it?" Obi-Wan said slowly, enunciating each word and giving the couple the driest look he could contrive.

"…Well, when you put it like that," Shaak muttered, looking away, now quite off-balance, a very unusual thing for her. "Though I think we have a better chance of hiding it for a time than you think. The universe is vast, after all. We could find a little out of the way Outer Rim planet and marry there."

"Yeah, but then if we do that we wouldn't be able to invite our friends to the ceremony, would we?" he asked, looking between the two of them. "Then again, these two, Dooku, and Kit're about the only people I could ask to be on my side of things. And I haven't heard anything from Kit since he was assigned as Master Fay's guard before we left Kashyyyk for Corellia."

Despite Ranma's personal history, the only wedding he had been involved in had been the wedding fiasco, and he had had very little to do with its organization for some obvious reasons at the time, and others that only became obvious in hindsight. But it seemed that in many cultures, including the Togrutan ones, it was normal for both the wife and husband-to-be to have several people in their corner, as it were. The names of those positions varied, but it was normal for each of them to have three or so each.

The two Jedi exchanged shocked glances at that, while Shaak Ti broke out into giggles, causing all three men to look at her quizzically. "Oh, just thinking. If we do go for a larger ceremony and try to create some kind of amalgamated ritual from the common human and Togrutan traditions, there might be a carrot I can use to help motivate Ahsoka's efforts to reclaim her internal equilibrium. I thought the online images of the, what did they call them, flower bearers? Something like that at any rate, were very cute."

Rolling his eyes playfully, Ranma turned back to the other Jedi, asking a few questions on what the normal Jedi response to the two of them marrying would really be. Neither were certain of how it would be taken, but they agreed that going small and finding an out of the way Outer Rim planet would probably be the way to go. At least for a while, since Shaak Ti had begun to be almost as famous in the Jedi Order as Ranma was. She had also begun to gain fame out of it, given that the recording of her surrendering to save the hostages had begun to spread via the Hypercom.

Eventually, however, the group exited the palace and broke up, and like Duchess Satine had said, Shaak and Ranma were allowed to have most of that day to themselves. They, of course, spent it together, simply traveling around the planet, taking a boat ride at one point, a train ride at another, just seeing the sights. And that night, Shaak and Ranma took the _Wild Light_ up into space, setting it into orbit around the planet and leaving Tune in the cockpit there make certain the ship stayed where they wanted it to.

While Shaak was seeing to that, Ranma very deliberately left HK in the cockpit as well, ordering him to shut down. "Once bitten, twice shy, HK. At least this way, you won't be forced to see what you call our 'fleshbag mating ritual,' and I won't have to deal with a desire to kill you if you try to walking in on us again."

"Jaundiced reply: Truly, master, it is a win-win all around. Powering off."

With that Ranma watched as the light in the droid's eyes dimmed, and he nodded slightly before exiting the cockpit. He found Shaak already at work making dinner for the two of them and joined her quickly. The two of them worked around one another seamlessly, working quickly together to put together a decent meal. It was the local equivalent of a steak for Shaak, marinated in a local sauce Ranma had found, the smell of which caused her to smile in pleasure. The same meat had been cut up and placed onto a sandwich for Ranma. If they touched occasionally, hands rubbing down sides, fingers weaving into hair or trailing along necks, those touches only served to make the moment more enjoyable for the two of them.

With that done the two of them moved back into the sitting area, cuddling up on the sofa, Shaak sitting propped up against Ranma's side. For the most part, during the meal, they talked about nonsensical things, mainly about what they would like to do going forward so long as the Order had no mission for Shaak.

They eventually began a discussion on what types of planets Ranma would like to see and which ones Shaak had been to before. "We've already done jungle worlds, whatever the hell you'd call Coruscant, desert worlds, water worlds, forest worlds, and what I would call earth-like worlds. An ice planet sounds cool, no pun intended," Ranma said.

Just like when they met up on the tarmac, Shaak saw something in Ranma's eyes there that made her decide that now was as good a time as any to switch to a more serious topic. "So long as you wear the correct sort of protective gear, ice worlds can be amazing, though you have to be careful on a lot of them. Many ice planets are so cold that any skin that is left to the elements will be frostbitten within moments. And they have their own brand of predators, many of whom make up for size with durability and ferocity. However, that is a conversation for another day."

Turning around, she put her back against the edge of the sofa, reaching out to touch his chin and turning him slightly so that they were eye to eye. "Would you like to tell me what is bothering you?" she asked simply. Best to get such things spoken aloud where they could be discussed in the open, after all.

Ranma flinched slightly at that, but under her touch couldn't move, instead looking away for a moment.

When he looked back, Shaak added, "I will not judge you for whatever it is; you should know that. Simply tell me what is bothering you, and let us see if by talking about it we can help whatever it is."

At that Ranma sighed, but nodded. "When you were wounded, when I heard how bad your wounds were, I, I lost control. But I didn't do it like a berserker would, at least, not really. See, there's this technique back home called the Soul of Ice. It's really just an advanced way to control your emotions, or it was back there. I've told you about my ability to create tornadoes, right?"

Shaak nodded, having heard that story when they were on Dac. She had not actually believed him at the time, but after seeing everything else that Ranma could do she had become a believer. They had yet to be involved in any fight that would force Ranma to break that technique out, which, for some reason, she was truly thankful for, but she had no doubt it would be both fascinating and horrifying when she saw it. "Yes. I take it this was the technique you used to create your aura of cold?"

"That's it exactly. But the problem here was it didn't just lock them out, and I didn't reach out or activate the technique, not really, not like you would be able to use a meditation technique, right? I tried to use it to control my emotions when I saw you injured, but I fell into it. I didn't control it; it, it controlled me. And while I was under it I didn't feel any real emotions. And it wasn't just my emotions that went."

Shaak frowned for a moment, then looked down to where his hands were before reaching out with one of her own to the nearest one, feeling the strength of them. "Your self-control," she murmured, "Your willingness to hold back?"

"Yeah. I, I am **so much** stronger than most people, Shaak. Even now, even with all the training we've done, you can't really… I mean, you can probably understand, but, but I couldn't control it. Eventually, it only broke after I saw…" Ranma paused, then steeled himself and began to describe the battle against that first bounty hunter chapter headquarters, how he and HK had ripped them to pieces, sometimes literally. He covered the battle until he had rammed his fist straight through one of the bounty hunters, after which, covered in the man's blood, Ranma had seen the fearful expressions on the dancers' faces.

"After that I was able to break out of it, but it was, it was the strangest feeling. Back home I could end the technique with some mental maneuvering; here it was so incredibly difficult. And I couldn't control it," he said, again shaking his head.

Shaak nodded slowly, looking down at their joined hands for a moment, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand, then down his own thumb and back up slowly as she thought. "You will only use it as a last resort?" she asked.

Ranma nodded fervently, and then blinked as she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Then nothing more needs to be said. I trust you, Ranma, and I can see how horrified you are now. Further, even when you were under the grip of this technique, you did not harm the innocent. You did not harm those dancers, merely scared them, which was enough for you to realize what you were doing. Never doubt that you are good man, Ranma, because I surely won't."

Staring down at her, Ranma was silent for a moment before a small, if exceptionally warm, smile appeared on his face, and he leaned down, kissing her hard on the lips and pulling her to him. After a moment he pulled away, murmuring "Thank you", then dipped down to kiss Shaak again and again.

 **{Warning Lime incoming!}**

Soon, however, the tenderness of the moment gave way to passion. Their mouths opened, tongues pressing against and around one another, exploring one another's mouth as Shaak began to moan and Ranma breathed heavier. It was as if having been apart for so many days, or perhaps the moment they had shared earlier that day, had made their desire to continue to take things slow go out the window.

Shaak found herself on her back on the sofa, Ranma on top of her, the fur cloak he had given her splayed out underneath her back. Their hands began to explore, pulling at clothing as their mouths stayed fused together almost desperately. Shaak was able to undo Ranma's belt, and between the two of them they were able to discard everything but his underwear, while Shaak's clothing took a few more minutes, and like Ranma's shirt, forced them to stop kissing as they worked at it.

The moment her outer layer of clothing was gone, Ranma pulled off her bra, unlatching it with the experience he had gained since their relationship began. Then he leaned down quickly and found one of her chalk white nipples, taking it into his mouth and sucking first lightly, then more forcefully, nibbling at it with his teeth, almost biting down on it. One of his hands found her other breast and began to play with it while his other began to run up and down her lekku.

Moaning and now slowly thrusting her hips up against Ranma's, Shaak was not content to be a passive target for her lover's ministrations. Her hands quested between them, tugging his engorged shaft out of his boxers, both hands beginning to play along his length. One then began to rub along the bulbous tip, massaging it, feeling some pre-cum already beginning to appear. Then, just as Ranma had begun to do with her, the gentleness of her motions began to fade. She squeezed harder; her hands began to move faster.

Leaving off his work with her now pebble-hard nipples, Ranma moved up her body with both hands now, moving to play with her nipples as he trailed kisses up to her mouth. The kiss was once more ferocious, what little tenderness fading rapidly into a sort of animalistic fervor. Ranma's fingers on her nipples began to twist, adding some pain to the pleasure, heightening the sensation somehow.

One of Shaak's hands moved from grasping at Ranma's cock to pulling at her own underwear, trying to remove the silky little number she had decided to wear today. Then she yipped, actually biting at Ranma's lower lip with her sharp predator's teeth as one of his hands moved down and simply ripped her panties off, hurling them to the side. "Darn it, Ranma! I liked those!"

"I'll buy you new ones," Ranma said huskily, leaning down to bite at her neck, leaving dark hickies there and causing Shaak to hump her lower body up at Ranma.

Snarling, Shaak grabbed at his ponytail with one hand and his still boxer-clad rear, pulling him to one side and rolling with him. Once Ranma was pinned underneath her she pushed upright with her arms, thrusting her hips down, catching Ranma's shaft between her aching, drenched core, and his stomach. There she began to rock back and forth wildly, moaning continuously now and working her weeping slit along his shaft, which jumped and twitched underneath her. All she would have to do would be to pull back and sit up for just a second, and the two would be joined in the most ancient method known.

Lifting himself up with just his ab muscles, Ranma threw his arms around Shaak, kissing her so hard both of them felt some pain in their lips from it, their tongues flicking and dueling with one another in her mouth. One hand then moved to rest on her rear, moving slightly underneath and between her legs, finding the bottom of her slit past her other hole, which they had both decided was a no go zone.

Even as their hips began to thrust at one another wildly, Ranma retained just enough control to know that going all the way right now would be a bad idea. While the fact it wasn't the most romantic moment was one reason was true, that didn't register. No, the fact that the two of them were so needy, so almost desperate for one another at this point was what Ranma realized at that moment. He had read the books Tofu had given him and knew that a woman's first time was almost always painful, with the speed of the initial penetration usually adding to that. He didn't want his and Shaak's first time to be marred by that, however.

So when Shaak wildly tried to pull away just enough to raise herself up, just enough to let his shaft point up to her waiting flower, Ranma didn't let her. Instead he held her even closer and rocked his hips against hers even harder. She whined into their joined mouths, but the friction was doing its job for both of them.

Their movements quickly became even more frantic, and then Shaak broke their kiss to bite as hard as she could into Ranma's shoulder. Used to his lover's needs by now, Ranma had already weakened his natural ki toughness enough to let her teeth sink in, while his own hands clenched Shaak's rear hard enough to leave bruises as he too finished explosively, his cock spurting out rope after rope of cum that drenched both of their stomachs.

 **{End Lime section}**

Slowly the two of them came back to themselves, exchanging languid, loving kisses, with Ranma falling back to lay on the sofa once more, Shaak following him. She broke off their latest kiss, nuzzling into the same shoulder she had just bitten, her montral gently tapping against the side of Ranma's head. Before their relationship had begun that might have freaked Ranma out. Now Shaak's nonhuman nature; her montrals; her skin color; her lekku, currently twitching spasmodically due to aftershocks from her orgasm; all of it simply served to make Shaak more exotic and desirable in his eyes.

Shaak smiled a truly pleased smile at the mark she had made there on her mate and at the feel of the marks he had left on her own throat. The marks she could feel stinging her rear now that her adrenaline was fading were a bit much, but she could deal with them with some Force assisted healing. _Although I bet it has been a very, very long time since any Jedi has ever needed to use it for such!_ she thought, letting out a breathy little giggle that caused Ranma to chuckle along, even if he had no idea what she was thinking.

After a moment, however, she looked up at him, eyes shining with love, and kissed him tenderly. "Thank you," she said, making no mention of what she was thanking him for. Both of them knew it, knew she had lost control there, and that going all the way when they were in the grips of such a frenzied passion would not have been pleasant for her. Togrutans tended to actually feel more pain upon first penetration than humans did, even if they did not have the membrane that humans did inside them.

Ranma nodded, kissing her back just as lovingly before letting one hand start to play with her still spasming lekku, his other already wrapped around her. "We came a little close there. Um, I know I shouldn't blurt this out, but do you want to wait for our wedding? Sorry, but I haven't been able to find anything on the Hypernet I trust about whether or not that's important in your culture."

"That would be because it depends on a lot of other factors, and marriage is something that varies from clan to clan. As for myself…no, I don't think so. I want this, Ranma," Shaak said, her voice deepening as did the color of her eyes as she went on, reaching down to gently touch Ranma's still hard tip. "I want this inside of me. I want to feel you as close as physically possibly. I want to give you that final sign of my love for you. But I also want our first time to be special. If we had taken that final step here and now, it would not have been. Merely a reaction to having been apart, to my own near death experience. That would not have been right."

Ranma's own eyes had darkened with desire as Shaak spoke, and he leaned down kissing her again deeply. "I love you too, Shaak, and I swear, I'm willing to wait until it will be special, I promise."

"Thank you," Shaak replied, whispering the words against his mouth, her breath hot against his lips, before she smirked, beginning to move down his body and out of his hug. "That doesn't mean, however, that I'm done with you right now. Not just yet…"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day Bo came home victorious as Clento had said she would. She left behind Skirata and his clan, an honorable but not very aggressive clan who could be both the organizers of a new, real government for the planet and examples of the Mandalorian way of life.

Not fifty minutes after arriving back on Mandalore, Bo sent a message to Ranma and Shaak asking them to meet her in the clan conclave. They entered the building and found Bo standing as she had during the debates on the floor of the amphitheater, looking around and frowning in thought. "The old palace, the old home of the Mandalore, is gone," she said, not looking over at them. "This remained, or was rebuilt or something, after the Dral'hain; our records from that time are obviously very muddied. I'd like to think it was rebuilt, frankly, so that there's really no physical connection to the old ways except for the rest of Keldabe, of course, which I know for a fact was mostly rebuilt since then."

Bo-Katan turned to them at that point, smiling as she saw the torque that Shaak was wearing on one of her lekku and the ring on Ranma's hand. While she personally didn't know any other Togrutans, the meaning of the ring was clear enough, though Mandalorians very seldom used such. "I'm happy to see you two," she said simply, then looked away once more as she deliberately changed the subject back to what she had just been saying, as if those six words had never left her mouth at all. "I'm thinking of possibly building an adjoining building right next to this one, something utilitarian. It'll be the headquarters of the bureaucracy of government, but it won't be the soul of our people. That we will build as the years go on by various means, but not in the trappings of self-aggrandizement, like a palace or castle or anything so ostentatious."

"Oooh, shots fired!" Ranma said with a laugh, shaking his head. "What about the palace Satine and the New Mandos're using now?"

"It'll remain in use for another year or so in its current format as the organization of our takeover is finished. After that, I suppose I could turn it into a resort or something," Bo mused, smirking at the idea. "It depends on how much effort it would take to relocate the Hypercom.

"And what will you do with your sister? She remains a powerful symbol of both the peaceful unification of your people and the New Mandalorian faction," Shaak asked calmly, cocking her head as she looked at the human woman. She had been happy to hear Bo's blessing a moment ago, but was just as happy to move on as Bo obviously was. Their aborted rivalry for Ranma's affections would always be in the back of Bo's mind, that was obvious though for her part Shaak had moved beyond that jealousy by this point.

"She'll still be part of the government for a long while," Bo replied with a shake of her head. "I'll just have to learn to get along with her, I suppose. I doubt we'll ever see eye to eye, but the fact is Satine's honorable enough in her own way, even if she doesn't follow the Resol'nare, and she kept her word about helping to pass control of the planet to the Reborn peacefully if we won in the conclave. And you're right, I'll need her in the long term, I think."

"A lot of the New Mandalorians, though, are going to go," she went on firmly. "The industrial leaders they had involved with the conclave for one thing, the guild leaders and others. They did not impress me, and I don't want them around to tray and stall things as we start to move more and more of our industry onto a space-going footing."

"You mean making more ships, right?" Ranma translated. "Makes sense, but does that mean you already have plans for the rest of the sector?" This was a bit he was actually interested in, concerned that in her euphoria after this last campaign, Bo-Katan would decide to use similar methods against every planet, just because it worked once. _Or at least it worked in giving them control of the planet. Making it stable is another story._

"We've had overtures from fifteen different planets since you left on your mission of justice, Ranma," Bo-Katan said simply. "All of them wish to open dialogs with us about joining us once more to make this a profitable and, above all, law abiding sector. Four of those planets had already sent representatives to the clan conclave, so they're the ones we'll reach out to first. Then we'll engage with the farming worlds, then the mining worlds, and once all the agreements with those fifteen are in place, the economy of the sector might slowly start to recover." She shrugged. "This is such if a huge project you can't really make specific plans, not beyond those first four planets, anyway."

"Hmm… Well, I doubt this is what you called us to talk to you about. Perhaps we should get to the point now," Shaak said, looking at Bo-Katan thoughtfully.

Bo-Katan nodded and gestured the two of them over to join her. Bo-Katan perched on the intervening wall between the amphitheater's floor and the sitting area. Shaak sat on one of the chairs, and Ranma lounged next to her, sticking his feet up on the wall next to Bo-Katan.

"Clento told you that I wanted to talk to you about being part of the ceremony tomorrow, and I do. Did you know that the helmet of the Mandalore, his symbol of office, was here on Mandalore this whole time? It was stuck in a museum, of all things. Everyone who has seen it has always thought that it was a replica. Hell, I thought it was when I was brought there as a child by my father. But it turned out that it was the real thing, hidden in plain sight."

Bo stopped for a moment, letting loose with a laugh that that was somewhat caustic in nature. "You have no idea how many clan leaders there've been over the centuries who would have leaped to possess the Mask, or how bad my former boss would have reacted if he knew. Hell, even the New Mandalorians didn't know, which I'm thankful for." She shuddered, thinking of her sister's reaction to such a relic. _She'd have just had it melted down for scrap!_ "Anyway, the portion of the ceremony I want you involved in tomorrow, Ranma is an exhibition match."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. Then he slowly nodded. "That was the way leadership changed hands in the past, right? One-on-one challenges?"

"Exactly. There is no Mandalore left for me to challenge now, of course, but with how important your techniques proved to be in gathering support and with how your talks influenced my restructuring of the Resol'nare, it makes sense."

"You realize that if you fight me one-on-one, you're going to be beaten, right in front of everyone?" Ranma asked slowly. "I mean, I'm not going to go easy on you. Not unless you want it to be a farce, and there's a lot of people out there who probably know enough about my abilities to spot a rat if I throw the match."

"No, we won't have an outright fight. That would serve no purpose; you're right about that. Instead, this is going to be a bit more of a contest than an actual spar," Bo-Katan said. "Mandalore's Mask is still in the museum where it's been for one thousand years now, and that museum has a lot of security. The contest will be which of us can get the helmet and then get it out of the building."

"This doesn't sound like a spectator sport," Shaak said, chuckling as she imagined it before looking between the two of them. "I imagine you're going to have to do something about that?"

"Yes, we will. We'll be wearing Mandalorian helmets of our own, and they'll be fitted with video recorders. The entire place is also fitted with security cameras, of course, and both of those will be meshed into one by a group of operators. This signal will then be sent out across the entire planet. It will have a more party atmosphere than anything else, and I hope to pair it with both the fact that the Jedi are have pulled out, their job done, and that you, Ranma, have agreed to take on a few apprentices in your style."

Ranma and Shaak exchanged a glance. "How young are we talking about here?" Ranma asked. "And when do you think we'll be taking them on? The _Wild Light_ sure as hell doesn't have enough room, and I'm not certain I'd want to even attempt to redesign the interior to change that."

"Not for a while yet; don't worry," Bo-Katan replied, shaking her head about that. "I want us to build a training ship they can move with you wherever you go. I also want to use it as a symbol of what the New Mandalorians and the Reborn can do when we work together. It'll be designed from the ground up and built by us, right here on Mandalore. That'll take years. And we've got enough training ideas and katas from you to get on with for a time."

"And let me guess, you'll start off teaching the younger set what I know, and then I'll come back when this ship is built and take on the best of them? The most I'd be willing to train at the time, by the way, is four or so," Ranma cautioned.

"That's fine," Bo-Katan said with a nod. "So you'll agree to it?"

"I am willing to help you with the ceremony, I guess," Ranma said slowly. "That sounds like it'll work given how weird this whole changeover thing is to your people anyway, what a symbol that helmet is, and the way the Resol'nare is seen by your people. As for taking on these students…"

Ranma looked over at Shaak, who looked back for a moment before nodding and turning back to Bo. "There is a youngling among the Jedi on Kashyyyk with whom I have already begun to form a padawan/master bond. That is a Force connection whereby the Force pairs a Jedi with a youngling above a certain age who he or she will teach until they are ready to become a Jedi Knight. It is an apprenticeship ranging from seven to fifteen years long. She will not be ready for that for at least another three years at a minimum. Once she is ready, she would then live with Ranma and I as we travel the galaxy, learning from us. At that point we might well need a new ship in any event. We could somehow connect the two needs, could we not?"

"Build not just a training ship, but something for the three of you to use as living quarter? And stay in touch with the two of you, so as to have your input?" Bo asked hopefully, smirking at them both. "That works."

Ranma snorted, rolling his eyes at her eagerness to keep in touch with them, but couldn't really hold it against her. As he had already seen, any warrior culture would love to learn what Ranma had to teach, and Bo would be a fool to let them cut their ties with her at this point.

"In that case," he said aloud, pointing at Bo, "you need to get in touch with the Mon Calamari from Dac. They're the ones who designed the _Wild Light_ for us. There are a lot of things they built in that ship that I would want to see on any new ship we get: the redundant shielding, the redundant generators, and other things."

That made Bo-Katan frown, leaning back as she held onto the edge of the wall, her feet kicking out as if she were a little girl as she thought, not noticing, or rather, not caring about her two friends' amused looks. "I can bring in a few specialists if they are willing to come, but I couldn't bring in whole teams. That would defeat the point of using the project as a way to unite the two factions. Although I suppose I could come up with some other way of doing that. Hmmm… How much would a Mon Calamari design adviser run for?"

Shaak quickly prompted a figure, and Bo-Katan balked for a moment before frowning and eventually nodding. "The _Wild Light_ has impressed me with its capabilities a few times, and the Mon Calamari I've heard like to build one-off designs, whereas most people mass produce things, my own being no exception to that. Okay, so let's toss out the idea of using the training ship as an example of unity. Replace it with, say, building a new space dock. And if I do that, you'll agree to take on these apprentices?"

Again Shaak and Ranma looked at one another, and Shaak spoke for them both. "We'll write up a list of requirements for the ship. If all of those are met, and if you are willing to wait until the ship is built, then we will agree. Realize, however, that the students of yours will not return here for a few years at best."

"How young are we talking about here, anyway?" Ranma asked.

"Sixteen to eighteen," Bo replied promptly. "Mixed gender, of course. In fact, I know for certain that one of the students is going to be the younger sister of one of my Night Owls. Janice impressed a lot of people during the recent campaign, and she'll only be turning fifteen in a few months."

"That'll work," Ranma said. While he, of course, had begun training at a very young age in his techniques, he wasn't willing to train beginners, and certainly wasn't willing to put any child through what he had been through.

"We will, of course, be able to screen these prospective students even if they win whatever contests you use to decide who is going to become a student," Shaak stated.

"You'd have to give us reasons for rejecting them, but yes, of course you'll have a voice on who you take," Bo replied.

Shaak and Ranma nodded, while Shaak breathed a faint sigh of relief internally at how easily Bo had given in on that point. Bo wasn't looking to use this learning opportunity as a way to garner support from her fellow Mandalorians; that was good. Also good was the fact that they would be able to determine their character before taking them on.

 _That point is especially important considering Ahsoka's age and the fact that she might be entering puberty when I take her as padawan,_ Shaak thought drolly. _Hopefully Alice will be ready by the time puberty hits._

Puberty was one of the toughest points of Jedi training, and a lot of the training and, above all, meditation the Jedi went through during this point were among the things Shaak had begun to question since meeting Ranma, so hopefully her young apprentice would not need to go through it. _Or else I might spend a few months just correcting the mistakes other people have made,_ she thought more seriously. _Just as I will be needing to help her get over her current problems._

"Then we have an agreement," Shaak said aloud, holding out her hand. Bo-Katan hesitated, then shook it before doing the same with Ranma, grinning at them both. "You won't regret this!"

"We probably will," they said as one, looking at each other and laughing before Ranma went on. "We probably will, but only for a moment or two, so long as you and the Reborn continue to follow your new code," Ranma said, cocking an eyebrow at Bo-Katan, who nodded seriously.

Ranma would return to that point later today, but for now he allowed Shaak to carry the discussion as she asked some questions about Bo's plans going forward, while he leaned back, ostensibly listening in, but really his mind was on something else. He had a bit of a performance to plan for later today, after all, and he needed to get his mind around what he wanted to do…

 **OOOOOOO**

Later that day Bo stood in front of a massive crowd with Ranma next to her, both of them dressed as Mandalorian warriors. They were also armed as Mandalorians, with jump-packs, wrist launchers, rifles, and handguns, along with long vibro-knives, but no lightsabers. Beside them stood several others: academics from several local universities and the museum curators. Ranma made that armor look very good, Bo noted, and she wasn't the only one in the crowd who did. _Still a damn shame he met with the Jedi before he did us_ , she thought, even as she went into her prepared speech. She had prepared this the moment one of the curators, who had joined the Reborn faction, told them all about the real history of the so called 'fake' helmet of Mandalore held within the museum.

Bo-Katan first explained to the crowd and the watchers all over the planet why they were there, amused by the massive susurration of noise that went through the crowd at the fact that the helmet on display in the museum was the real one. Then she challenged any of them to step forward to challenge her for it. No one did, though Bo knew that that state of affairs wouldn't last for long.

After that she explained the contest Ranma and she would have in lieu of her challenging the previous Mandalore for the title, mentioning the traps and automated weapons that had been installed to aid the museum's own security. She ended with a nod towards the curators. "Don't worry. All of the other historical artifacts have been removed by this time, and we'll be careful not to bring the roof down on ourselves."

That caused some muted laughter, and Bo went on. "The two of us will enter from different entrances. The helmet has been set at the direct center of the museum. From there we will fight our way forward and through those defenses, and then against one another. The winner must be the first to get the helmet out of the museum. Other than death or crippling, anything goes."

Ranma chortled a bit at her word choice, though only Shaak Ti, watching from nearby, understood the reason behind that sound of amusement. His attention turned to the crowd, however, as someone asked, "But what if Ranma wins? Will he become Mandalore?" From the man's tone of voice, he felt that might have been a good idea, though if so he had never met Ranma himself.

Shaking her head, Bo explained that Ranma had no desire to take up the position (a manifest understatement, in Ranma's opinion) and that if she failed, they would set up further such contests until there was a winner. The crowd all muttered at that, many of them wondering if they should root for Ranma in that case, but the majority seemed to be behind Bo winning this thing. Those who knew about Ranma's abilities, those who had trained with him, however, were wondering if Bo was sneaky and adaptable enough to figure out a way through this.

Bo knew that, but she also knew that given her people's ancient rites there was no way she could simply claim the helm without fighting for it. It was either this or an all-out brawl, and in that event a lot of the upcoming and established leaders among the Reborn, specifically a lot of clan leaders and others, would die. There had to be a challenge; there had to be something for the people, all of them, not just those who knew her, to see and understand that she was the new Mandalore, regardless of her not having challenged the previous one.

She fielded a few more questions, after which the two of them were led to the entrances to the museum that they would use. They clicked on their helmets, and waited as the tech operators moved through all the different cameras that would be used, and then two announcers came on, chosen from the curators of the museum to explain the area the two of them would be moving through. There would be no further commentary beyond that. While this was meant to seem interesting, it was also somewhat serious, despite the tongue in cheek nature of it, so having commentary like it was some kind of sports game would be a step too far.

After a moment the two contestants received a signal, and the doors to the museum opened before them. "Good luck!" they both heard, then there was a gong in the distance, and they both raced forward. Ranma ran on his own two feet, conserving the jet fuel in his pack for now. Bo roared forward on a blast of jet fire, eager to get as much of a lead as possible. _Can't beat him in a straight on race; have to outwit him, get ahead now, then use my knowledge of the interior to stay there._

Ranma tore into the museum, taking a brief glance around and realizing that he was in one of the newer sections, judging by the paintings and various historical pieces that had been left in place. _Not a weapon or piece of armor around. Yep, has to be from the New Mandos rather than the old._

Getting his bearings quickly, he stared at the three different doorways leading further into the museum, then decided on the central one for now. _If I'm wrong I can correct by going to either side and not lose any time. If I'm right I can go straight there._ A moment later he entered the next wing of the museum, which was covered from floor to ceiling in what looked like local writing, quotes, if he was reading them correctly, bits and pieces of stories from during and directly after the Dral'hain.

That was all Ranma had time to recognize before he tripped an infrared alarm. Over the sound of the alarm's whoops Ranma heard several panels to either side open as the lights in this section of the museum switched to red.

Ducking forward into a roll, Ranma dodged what looked like a few darts of some sort, followed by jets of water from above, much like those which riot tanks used to disperse crowds. They missed but splashed onto the ground, and Ranma soon found himself somewhat drenched. Luckily for him, however, for some reason the water was hot, so did not yet activate the curse. And for some reason he didn't pretend to understand, the curse didn't activate by merely being damp. It was the actual touch of cold water that caused the change.

It didn't occur to Ranma that the stinging hot water would have been more than mildly irritating for someone else, but that also didn't really matter right now. What did was the blast doors closing at the end of the hallway. Instead of having to move slowly thanks to the now-slick tiles of the floor, Ranma started to hop off the walls as he raced forwards, dodging several more darts in midair as he made his way towards the closing blast door.

But Ranma was too fast to get caught that easily, and he leaped through the rapidly closing opening, allowing it to clang closed beyond him. "Next!"

Elsewhere, Bo-Katan had run into more serious defenses coming in and moving through an area labeled, 'An introduction to the Huang.' "Interesting, but I could do without the stun bolts coming my way!" she grunted inside her helmet, dodging this way and that. With her helmet on and her Mandalorian armor, the bolts would do little but slow her down and maybe make her woozy, but the accompanying blaring alarm and the taser blasts were another matter. The taser would conduct through her arm and hurt like a chakaar, which she knew from experience. Again, it wouldn't stop her, but it would slow her down.

Which, considering that just like Ranma she was facing a series of slowly closing blast doors, was a bad thing. However, unlike Ranma she knew which direction to go to find the center of the museum. She was able to dodge through all the fire coming her way and into the next hallway. From there she raced on, using her jetpack for a bit before slowing down as the hallway began to curve.

In the next areas the two entered they ran into more serious defenses even than that which Bo had faced, actual blasters flaring out with intent to kill whoever had invaded the museum from the corners of the next several rooms. Ranma was forced to tank a few hits, a lucky shot having caught him in the back and disabling his jetpack. However his ability to dodge by using the walls and other bits of cover stood him in good stead. His not knowing where the hell he was any longer, though, slowed him down. Bo, in contrast, took a few hits on her armor as she entered the room, but destroyed each installation with blasts from her gun before moving on.

Because of this Bo-Katan was the first to reach the room holding the helmet of the Mandalore. It was a wide, almost spherical room, with a tall domed ceiling and smooth sides. Portions of it were covered by old paintings of various Mandalores going back to the time of the Huang. There were spots here and there, as well as a few empty cases, to show where other pieces had been before they were removed for this contest.

But Bo had no eyes for any of that. Her concentration was all on the helmet. It sat in the center of the room on a plinth, a small light overhead lighting it up with normal yellow light, a stark contrast from the rest of the room.

The Mandalore's Mask, as it was called, looked old and weathered, yet somehow that simply added to its presence, as did its unique design. It had a vaguely T-shaped visor, unlike most modern helmets, and looked to have lines built up out of the surface radiating from the center of the visor, like rays from a sun. The metal of the helmet was a coppery color, which gleamed in the overhead light.

Looking around, Bo stopped in the doorway, lashing out towards it with a bit of her monowire, wrapping it around the top of the plinth. She wasn't surprised to see the crystal of the case remain in one piece, but loosening it, she was able to let the lasso of monowire fall further down the plinth before cutting into the base of it. This set the plinth collapsing towards her, the top of it, the crystal encasing the helmet, rolling off. "Yes!" she hissed, moving into the room towards the helmet slowly.

Before she made it halfway across the room, however, Ranma burst in from the other side. Ignoring the helmet entirely, he charged straight at her, leaping forward and crossing the intervening distance like a Jedi who had just done a Force Jump. Cursing, Bo-Katan ducked aside, raising her vibroblade only for Ranma to smack it aside with a hand, not even noticing the vibrating edge, though his gauntlets had been cut badly with that bit of impact. Then he was in under her guard, throwing a punch she barely dodged and grabbing her knife arm and pulling her close.

"Not gonna happen, Bo!" Ranma shouted, but not over the intercom of his helmets built in speaker. Instead he slammed his helmet into hers, so close she could hear him without use of the speaker, though she doubted any of the microphone pickups around them could. "Just sneaking in and sneaking out, that wouldn't show the courage of a real Mandalore, right?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Ranma!" Bo snarled back, bringing up a knee into the armor of his cup with as much strength as she could, lifting Ranma slightly off his feet. Thanks to the cup, however, she didn't do any damage, but a point blank blast from one of her micro-rockets smashed him away from her, letting her break the grip on her arm. A punch caught him in the side of the head a second later, but his helmet took it, and he returned fire with a kick that dented Bo's chest armor and caused warnings to flare up on her HUD.

The two of them continued to exchange blows, and Bo-Katan watched as her punches, empowered by her crushgaunts, began to damage Ranma's borrowed Mandalorian armor. Yet at the same time Ranma didn't seem to feel them at all, and the one time she tried to grapple him in turn, the armor of his shoulder armor buckled, but Ranma simply tore it off after punching her away. He wasn't bothering to try and dodge, certain in his ability to take anything she could dish out, which was right, after all.

By this point, while Ranma was apparently uninjured despite the damage to his wardrobe, Bo was sporting bruises galore and at least one rib broken along with a few fingers. _Like I thought, any head to head contest just can't go any way but Ranma's. Luckily I figured that would be the case. Now, where were those pressure sensors?_

With that thought, after the next exchange Bo-Katan deliberately went with a punch that staggered her backwards, smashing into one of the empty exhibition cases. Immediately the alarms, which had not in fact been going off in this room, went up, and several large portions of the walls and floor slid away. The ones in the walls began to hammer out quad blasters, while the ones on the floor released what looked like gas. The lights in the ceiling also began to strobe and flare the better to disorient anyone in the room.

It worked like a charm. With her helmet's programming ready for it, Bo was barely put off, and she was also on internal air supply already. Ranma was neither, and he began to hack and cough, grunting as blaster bolts slammed into him, firing back with his suit's micro rockets and pistol. A second later, however, Bo-Katan hammered out two blows into Ranma's helmet which shattered his visor and deformed it to such a degree he could barely see.

Then, knowing she had nothing that could finish him, she ran towards the helmet still encased in its crystal. At the same time she hurled her vibroknife at the last quad cannon, taking it out in a screech and fizzle of electronic fire.

As she straightened up from picking it up, however, Ranma's fist smashed into it, shattering the crystal with an ease that a portion of Bo's mind noted was rather terrifying. The same hand that had just shattered its protective crystal then grabbed the helmet, pulling it out of her startled grasp as a kick took Bo in the center of her chest, hurling her away.

She landed where she had been when Ranma had first appeared, something she rather woozily noted, then her mind concentrated suddenly on one thing: the blaster pistol she had been carrying when he arrived. Her rifle was gone, destroyed somewhere along the way by one of the security gun posts. Twisting, she pulled it up, firing from the hip, then activating her jets, again zooming forward and hurling herself bodily into Ranma, trying to grab the helmet out of his hand.

But Ranma turned and, still hacking and half blind, snagged Bo-Katan's outstretched arms, pulling her into a classic judo throw. Instead of grabbing it out of his hand she found herself slammed pack first into the ground, her back creaking alarmingly in her armor. The helmet went flying up towards the ceiling end over end. Using her jetpack once again, Bo took Ranma's feet out from under him, dumping him sideways into one of the recesses in the floor as another round of gas began and the lights began to flare even more wildly.

With Ranma distracted and out of position, Bo aimed up at the ceiling with her last micro rocket. The rocket zoomed past the spinning helmet, smashing into the ceiling and shattering it, opening the room to the sky beyond.

Rolling and activating her jetpack, Bo almost paused as Ranma opened communications, helmet to helmet. "You go, Bo. And just remember, keep to the version of the Resol'nare you've created and not the older interpretation. If you don't, we're going to have… **problems**."

Before she could really understand what that implied in terms of their current fight, her jetpack activated, hurling her up into the air and towards the new 'exit' to the museum. On the way Bo-Katan's hand snapped out, snagging the helmet of Mandalore. Then she was out, flying up into the sky with a roar of triumph echoing out from her helmet's speaker to the cheers of the crowd.

Later that day, Bo-Katan stalked over the tarmac to the _Wild Light_ , Mandalore's Mask perched on the back of her jetpack, having replaced her helmet. The rest of her armor still showed the scars: the cracks and dents from the battle. Despite that, she would have still been at the party her friends and chief aids had thrown for her, if not for word reaching her that the _Wild Light_ , and more importantly, Ranma, were planning to leave. Even as she walked up to the closed ramp she could see the repulsors powering up along the ship's underside and the engines at the aft.

Ignoring that for a moment she bellowed, slamming her hand against the exterior speaker. "Ranma, open the kriff up! You chakaar, you think you can just whisper what you did in there and then run off without giving me an explanation!?"

She stepped back as the landing ramp opened, then stomped up it to find Ranma and Shaak both waiting for her at the top of it, right in front of the ship's main sitting area. Ranma cocked his head to one side innocently, and Bo growled, marching straight up and poking him in the sternum with a finger from a hand that was still wearing her crush gaunt. "You, you kriffing di'kut! Either you said that to rile me up, or you threw that match, which one is it!?"

"Can't it be both?" Ranma asked, his voice matching his face for a moment. When he saw Shaak rolling her eyes, he dropped the act, looking at Bo seriously. "Would you rather I have just steamrolled you, Bo? You know the minute we met up in there I could have." Bo scowled, but was forced to accede that. "Instead I fought you as close to even as I could and look like I was struggling to any of your people who have seen me in action. This way it's obvious to everyone I could have eventually overpowered ya, but you won through tactics."

Bo paused, thinking about that, and had to again agree. Everyone had been talking about it, about how Bo had used guile and cunning, and above all, knowledge, to offset Ranma's massive physical advantages. And a lot of people who had been somewhat leery about her leadership abilities seemed to have taken her ability to plan on the fly as a good sign, despite that being in the heat of battle and their being worried about her in the political arena. _Still, that's the Mandalorian mindset for you. Even the NMs sometimes see skill in combat mattering in other areas,_ Bo thought, somewhat proud and somewhat amused by her people.

"Do not let your pride cloud your judgment, Bo-Katan. Beating Ranma was not your task, nor even truly claiming the Mandalore's Mask," Shaak said softly. "You needed to show you were worth the leadership of your people. The Reborn will be behind you now to a man, or woman. Even some of the New Mandalorians will have taken this as a good sign: no deaths, a true break from any old tradition on challenge, and a leader who is adaptable."

"I can see that, but damn it!" Bo whined, rolling her eyes moving away. "Why couldn't you at least have let me imagine I beat you fair and square?"

"Because I know your people's history, and I know how easy it is for a people to become so certain of their own ability no one else matters. It happened to my nation, and we paid for it, but not before tarnishing our honor for all time," Ranma said, his voice still serious, but now with a grim tone added to it.

He held up his hand, which began to glow blue, making Bo flinch lightly. "And I want to know that you Mandos won't go down that route again. I wanted you to know what would happen if you did."

"I promise, as long as I'm alive the Reborn will never fall back to the old ways of conquest by the sword. We will only expand peacefully; we will keep to the Code that we've talked about," Bo replied, actually holding a hand to her heart. Then she smirked, reaching out to thump Ranma on the chest before looking over at Shaak. "Farewell for now, you two. Just remember our deal, and I'll see you in a few years."

With that she turned, walking back down the ramp without another word. The two lovers watched as she walked out, waiting until she was beyond the ferrocrete barricade before turning to head up to the cockpit. When the two of them entered the cockpit, Shaak's lips twitched, and she nudged Ranma in the side. "And you say you're not a strategist?"

"Nah, that was tactics, Shaak. And knowing what I wanted to get out of this, not just what Bo wanted," Ranma replied with a grin. "Besides, ever hear of a bluff?"

Shaak turned to stare at Ranma, then laughed, her lekku flying as she shook her head, while Ranma smirked at her. "You, you mean you didn't throw the match?"

"Oh, I, um, I kind of intended to, but I wanted to make it really close, you know, without using my ki techniques, anyway." Ranma replied, pulling on his pigtail sheepishly. "But, um, I sort of forgot about that when we were fightin'. So I sort of blurted that out at the end, ta make her think I let her win."

"Only you, Ranma!" Shaak said, still giggling, the sound sending a thrill of pleasure down Ranma's back.

"Now, what say we blow this popsicle stand?"

Shaak stopped walking towards the pilots' chairs, staring at Ranma as he sat down in his chair, his fingers already moving on the controls. "What exactly does that mean?"

Ranma laughed, but didn't answer, simply gesturing her into the chair next to him before powering the repulsors up to full, lifting the _Wild Light_ off the tarmac.

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day after that bit of fun, the _Wild Light_ came out of hyperspace, and as was usual in most civilized star systems it was hailed soon after, though in this case it was a very friendly hail as the Wookies knew this ship from the numerous times it had been to their planet before. Moments later they slid into orbit over Kashyyyk itself.

" _Wild Light_ , this is Kashyyyk space control. Welcome back. We have a lane clear for you down to the surface. The normal guide lights will guide you in from there," said the Wookie on the other end of the communicator, smiling widely at Shaak through the transceiver.

Ranma leaned back in his copilot chair, intertwining his fingers behind his head as he sighed theatrically. "Can you ask them to wait a second? I want to savor this feeling."

"What feeling is that, Ranma?" Shaak asked, realizing only after she said that that she had just played the straight man for an incoming joke.

"We weren't attacked. This is only the second time since we left Tatooine that we haven't been attacked somewhere on a trip like this, and no, I ain't counting my mission against the Crimson Nova. I just want to savor this feeling. It probably won't ever happen again."

"Knowing your luck, perhaps not," Shaak said, her cheeks dimpling as she smiled for a moment. "Yet on the other hand, this could be the start of a new trend." She paused, waiting until Ranma turned to look at her before going on. "In that we'll only get in trouble planet-side rather than both there and in space."

"Now that's more like it," Ranma said with a laugh before the two of them turned back to the chuckling Wookie on the screen. As they did, Ranma took over the controls, while Shaak leaned back in her own chair, steepling her fingers as she began to concentrate on the Force. That little joke notwithstanding, it was time to get serious once more.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ahsoka Tano was a very precocious youngling in many ways, though nowhere near as powerful or advanced as Anakin Skywalker was. She was well above the curve in anything dealing with the physical side of the Force, and somewhat below the curve on the mental side of things. She had little to no patience, far too much energy, and a significant amount of power in the Force. Ahsoka was also markedly stubborn and had a wild sort of spirit, clashing with the teachers on a nearly daily basis for being too rambunctious or being unable to sit still for very long.

For all of that, though, she was likable, outgoing, and hard-working. If she had not been all of those things, the teachers might well have washed their hands of her already and recommended that she be sent to the Farming Collectives even before her latest troubles began.

Those troubles were due to the fact that the youngling clan that she was a part of had started to learn meditation in order to center themselves in the Force and reach out to it four months ago. This was not an unusual thing, of course. It was simply a normal part of the younglings' training, and the teachers had, as usual, brought in several other teachers to help them work with the students, to make sure that they were not using emotions—good or bad—to reach out to the Force, rather doing so with a sense of serenity and control.

It was also during this time that the teachers truly began to hammer down on any of the differences and personality issues the younglings might have. To their shock, Ahsoka hadn't needed much help in that area. She had calmed down considerably, taking her studies much more seriously since Master Koon and Master Ti had talked to her the last time the two of them had been on Kashyyyk.

Because of this Ahsoka had not been watched as closely as she would otherwise have been given her headstrong nature as she meditated. And one such meditation fell into the same time frame during which Shaak was being attacked on distant Mandalore.

Even that would not have been an issue, if not for one other problem: Shaak and Ahsoka had begun to create a padawan and master bond in their interactions, though Ahsoka had no way of understanding what exactly that bond was. The bond had carried Ahsoka's Force senses well beyond what she would ever have been able to do at this point in her training herself. A few of the teachers also speculated that since it was a vision which could only harm Ahsoka, the Veil of the Dark Side had not hindered it at all.

Regardless of how it came to be, Ahsoka had seen the vision of Shaak being attacked and cut down in real-time, as it were. The shock and horror of that vision had reverberated down the budding bond, shattering it and filling Ahsoka with fear, anger, and hate. Given the vision those emotions were very natural, but ever since, every time Ahsoka reached out into the Force she saw flashes of the same image. She could not fight the fear of it or the growing hate and anger she felt towards Shaak's attackers.

Today was no different. She sat in the meditation pose, trying to center herself, trying to feel the Force around her. She wasn't even really sending out her senses, more trying to open herself to the rest of the Force. Yet still after only a few seconds Ahsoka flinched, fear radiating off her, breaking her meditation as she hugged herself, shivering in a cold that only she could feel.

In front of the youngling Yoda tapped his gimer stick on the ground, then tapped it against her palm for a moment to get Ahsoka's attention. "Fear, you feel," he said simply. "Understandable, it is. Let it control you, you cannot." He then chortled in his way, and reflexively Ahsoka found a smile replacing her teary scowl. "Easy to say, for one so old, hrhrhrm? Easy to do, it is not." With that he poked her in the chest, right over her heart. "Easy to feel within, it is not, hrhrhrm?"

After parsing what the ancient Grand Master had said, Ahsoka nodded slowly. "I can't… Every time I try to open myself to the Force… Master, I **know** she's alive!" Ahsoka suddenly wailed, not noticing the other younglings turning and looking at her, some of them frowning, as did a few of their teachers. "I know she's alive. I've talked to Master Ti on the Hypercom; I've seen her image there. But, but every time I look out into the Force, all I see is Shaak's death, and then…"

"Then your own death you see in her place. Fear you feel; hate and anger too," Yoda said simply, again tapping her with the end of his gimer stick, this time right between the eyes. She blinked, leaning back slightly, touching where the gimer stick had touched because that tap had felt a lot heavier than it should have.

As she was trying to cross her eyes to look at where Yoda had tapped her, Yoda turned his attention to the rest of the class. His ears cocked back slightly as one eyebrow rose. Suddenly all the other Jedi and younglings found themselves far too busy to notice what was going on between the ancient Grand Master and the Togrutan youngling. Harrumphing to himself, he turned back to her just as Ahsoka turned her attention back to him.

"Jedi, told death a part of life, we are. All things pass; nothing is endless save the Force. Again easy to say, not so easy to feel the reality of, yes?" Yoda said soothingly.

Some of that went over Ahsoka's head, but she nodded understanding with what she could from it. "I, I've heard something like that before from the other teachers. That we should not form bonds, because if we do, when a person passes, we feel the passing all the more."

"HRHUMPh!" Yoda said, shaking his head and moving closer, gesturing for her to stand up. When she did he leaped onto her tiny back, scrambling up onto her shoulders for a moment. The young girl ooofed at the surprisingly heavy Grand Master, but he simply pointed her out of the room. The other students tried to hold back snickers unsuccessfully, thinking that she was being punished in a rather funny manner, while the teachers simply looked on.

Yoda noted both attitudes and decided he would have another **discussion** with the teachers later on. He knew that at this point in the younglings' training individuality was discouraged, and for some good, solid reasons. But the teachers seemed to be willing to take that a little too far. On his way out, however Yoda noted that Master Rahhdool had also noted that, and had called the teachers together by the time the door closed behind the two of them. _Good. Leave that in his hands, I will._

Alone in the corridor leading to the main hallway, he began to talk to Ahsoka again. "Hrhrhm, the age of Yoda you will guess."

"Older than dirt?" Ahsoka asked brashly, earning herself a light whack on the back of the head. She winced, then sighed in relief as Yoda leaped off of her, landing easily.

She watched in something like amused surprise as Yoda turned to her yet also continued to walk backwards as easily as if he was able to see in both directions at once. "Always such mouthy little creatures, younglings are," he mourned dramatically, then stopped and looked at Ahsoka, his eyes grabbing hers with such power she could not look away. "Think you, old I have always been? Think you, I do not understand? Your fear, understand it all too well, I do. Your hate, too. All things pass, all things go, all things healed, they can be. Healing now will begin."

"How master? How can I ever get over this when every time, every time I see first Master Ti's death, then, then my own, and this, this darkness and this fear…" Again Ahsoka began to tear up, her whole body shivering. "And then I feel so much anger, so much hate, and…"

"Healing, it will begin now," Yoda said, suddenly stepping aside and waving one hand. The doors to the Jedi Temple, which Ahsoka hadn't even noticed they had reached, opened behind him at that gesture. And there, as the door opened, stood Shaak Ti, with Ranma right next to her.

At the site of Master Ti, Ahsoka began to tear up, but before she could really start to cry, Shaak was there, kneeling in front of her and pulling her into a gentle hug. "There, there, daughter of clan Jedi. I am here. All will be well again. We will work through this, I promise."

Ranma smiled at the sight then looked down as Yoda moved over towards him, cocking his head to one side. It was a tender moment, but one Ranma just could not let pass without comment. "You just did that whole ancient inscrutable master shtick of yours, didn't you?"

"Hrhrhrm, few pleasures the post of Grand Master leaves me. Take them where I can get them, I do," Yoda replied with a bit of complacent smugness to him that caused Ranma to grin.

A few hours later Ranma and Yoda sat on the roof of the Jedi Temple, talking quietly as they stared out and through the forest of wroshyr trees, darkness bringing its change to the feeling of the planet as the more dangerous nighttime predators came out. Not that they were discussing the view at present.

Shaak had convinced Ranma to tell Yoda about the Soul of Ice, thinking that the older Jedi Master would have some insight as to what had happened. Yoda had in fact heard of somewhat similar meditation techniques, but despite that Yoda had no great insight into the technique. Those similar meditation practices had originally been created by a sect of Force users who eventually used it so often they simply stopped feeling emotions at all, which was enough to get them outlawed by the Jedi Order. Something which surprised Ranma, given how the current permutation of the Order felt about emotions before Ranma had come around and started to kick them in the rear.

When he gave voice to that thought, Yoda harrumphed and smacked him upside the head with his gimer stick, leaping up lightly to do so. Ranma didn't even try to dodge, figuring he deserved that one. "Difference there is between controlling, even abstaining from feeling emotions, and not having them at all. Already know the difference, you do. What a man with emotions will not do, a being without emotions, will."

"You don't hold back, is what you mean; you don't have any sense of inhibition," Ranma said grimly. "When I attacked that first group of bounty hunters, I didn't hold back my strength. I tore them to pieces; simply saw no point in holding back."

"Yes. Great danger there is in shutting down emotions to that extent. Difference between a sentient trooper and a simple robot, it is. Trooper, follow orders he **could** , to cut down the innocent. A robot, question the order or feel anything, it would not." So saying, Yoda looked at Ranma. "For you to be careful, ask I will not. Know you will, I do."

"I will," Ranma replied, then snorted, with a roll of his eyes. "And to think, I thought that the Soul of Ice was one of my least destructive techniques."

"Fills me with fear, that statement does," Yoda said dryly.

Elsewhere in the temple Shaak and Ahsoka had spent the rest of that day talking quietly. During this time Shaak always made a point to reach out and touch Ahsoka's hand or her budding montrals. Physically touching like that was not something that most Jedi would do, especially at this point in the training where the younglings were supposed to be started to be weaned away from such overt acts of affection. However, it was the way Togrutans reassured one another of their presence, and it was working to help Ahsoka find her sense of serenity once more.

By the end of a few hours Ahsoka was once more centered enough to reach out to the Force, and with Shaak guiding her senses, she did so. Again, however, she found the image of Shaak's death hanging there, waiting for her. But Shaak's physical presence beside her, the older Togrutan's hand clasped with one of her own, allowed her to break through, banishing some of the fear.

Not all of it, however, a fact that Shaak pointed out after they came out of their meditation, though in the same breath she praised Ahsoka for coming so far. The two of them talked for the rest of the day about some of the other issues that this had brought to the surface before Ahsoka finally fell asleep, sitting there.

That evening Ranma and Shaak stayed in the _Wild Light_. Shaak still had no desire to rub their relationship in anyone's faces, hence why she again wore a normal Jedi's robe and had even removed the torque Ranma had given her. Yet she had also gotten used to sleeping with Ranma beside her and had no wish to give that up.

Their talk, of course, centered around Ahsoka, how long they would stay here, and what Ranma would be doing while Shaak spent time with the younger Togrutan. "Yoda told me that some of those Nova Guard guys are here and want to talk to me. How much you want to bet that they want to make the same kind of agreement or something similar that the Mandalorians did?" Ranma asked.

Shaak chuckled. "No bet. I will admit to some interest myself in the long term effects of all this training. A lot of your training was able to carry over, helping those who you trained in becoming faster, stronger. But you haven't been able to train a group to the level that you would have to in order for them to use your universe's Force abilities."

"Aren't you worried about that? I mean, if I can, then some of the Jedi's monopoly on Force powers will disappear."

"Not as much as I probably should have, admittedly, although that so-called monopoly isn't as strong as you seem to think," Shaak replied, her lekku flicking slightly. "However, I don't think you will be able to. I don't think the Living Force inside them will be able to build up to the level where they can consciously use it. I think you'll find that anyone you train will eventually be able to heal themselves and heal faster in general, but actual energy attacks, no. Speed attacks are a gray area, I think."

"So you don't mind my talking to them and maybe making a long-term agreement with them like we did with the Mandos while you deal with Ahsoka? And how long do you think that will take?" Ranma asked.

"I'd like to spend at least a month with Ahsoka. Not only to deal with the issue facing her ability to use the Force, but to also to try and help her through a lot of questions about the Force which this has brought to the fore, as well as the Jedi Order and her place in it," Shaak answered, tapping her lekku thoughtfully.

Ranma looked at her quizzically, and Shaak chuckled wanly. "I have mentioned before that this was a very dangerous time for Ahsoka to face such a setback. I've already dealt with much of the fear; now I need to deal with some of the specific things she fears to finish that process. Then the anger, as well as why certain types of anger are to be avoided at all costs, and above all why a Jedi should never hate."

Ranma nodded. **That** was one aspect of the Jedi Order that he agreed with. He did not agree with how the Jedi put all sorts of anger under one label, of course, but he knew how destructive hate could be, as well as fear. _Funny thing is, I think fear's a little more…sneaky, I suppose, in how it can effect ki users than hate or anger. Here I'll bet that problem's multiplied._ "I'll leave you to it then, unless you need my help for something?"

"No, but since we're here, I don't suppose we could go on another hunting date?" she asked, batting her eyes at him playfully. Ranma nodded eagerly, and she laughed, pulling him into a deep kiss. When it became a little too heated, however, she pushed him away lightly. "Save that for the date, if you please," she said as primly as she could manage, only to whoop as Ranma began to tickle her.

After a bout of tickling, the two of them discussed what Ranma would tell the Nova Guard the next day. In terms of a plan, so long as they were right about what the Nova Guard were here for, Ranma would start training them in the mornings, while he would also train himself in the toughness training center in the basement of the Temple in the afternoon and talk to Yoda about that and other things.

Apparently Count Dooku had not only been able to redesign the speed technique, but had actually taught it to one of the other Jedi Masters, a Master Tholme, who Ranma had yet to meet in person, though he had seen him over the Hypercom. He also wanted to talk to the old frog about whether or not they had been able to find any new leads from the data HK had handed to them from their fight with the Crimson Nova chapter.

"Will you talk to Anakin as well?" Shaak asked quizzically. "I talked to the teachers after putting Ahsoka to bed, and Master Qui-Gon and several others were praising how far he has come. Apparently he is so advanced that within another month or two they will be looking for a Master to take him on full-time."

Ranma looked at her sharply. "Are you asking me to…"

"No," Shaak said just as quickly. "Unless you are feeling a connection to him?"

Ranma shook his head quickly. "No, nothing like that. I mean, he's an okay kid, and I'll talk to him, sure. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks about the training here, given the fact that he's a little older than most of the younglings they put him with. But beyond that, he's just one of many rug rats here to me, despite the fact that he stowed away on our mission to Naboo and we rescued him from Tatooine."

Shaak nodded at that, and then asked, "What will you train the Nova Guard on?"

Ranma frowned, leaning back and thinking hard. "That's what I'm going to talk to their leader about; can't remember what Yoda called him right now, though I got the impression he was a sergeant or something like that. I've got some ideas, but do you remember the fight on…? Well, of course you remember it, but do you remember how differently the Nova Guard and the Mandalorians fought on Yavin 4?"

Falling silent, Shaak narrowed her eyes as she went through her Force assisted memory for a moment before replying. "The Nova Guard were better at digging in and defending from positions of strength. They weren't slow, by any means, to move, but they weren't as maneuverable as the Mandalorians. They were good hit and run tacticians, but it didn't seem to be their normal operating procedure. And, they were much better at usage of heavy weapons and especially crew served weapons, I think."

"That's pretty much it, yeah. With them I think that I'm not going to emphasize speed so much as durability. The problem is that building up durability like that is slow as freaking hell!" Ranma said, shaking his head. "I'll have to figure out something else to do with them in order to keep them interested. That is…" he stopped, grinning "so long as they're able to match my ante. Just helping us out on Yavin 4 isn't enough to make me think of taking on a few of them as students permanently. I sort of saw that more as payment for helping that squad that had been betrayed by Gardulla. After all, they only sent a single squad, whereas the Reborn brought in hundreds of fighters over time."

"Mercenary!" Shaak said with a laugh.

"When it comes to martial arts, one should always be on the lookout for new things to add, no matter how you do so." Ranma said, mock arrogantly.

"Then you should ask them about their staff techniques. I believe the Nova Guard are as respected for them as the Echani were famous for hand-to-hand combat. Given your light staff, it would make a natural addition to your personal style."

Ranma nodded, but then blinked as Shaak leaned up, kissing him this time. "And that, I think, is enough talking about such matters for the night." She slowly pulled back so that Ranma was lying on top of her, their bodies flush against one another.

Before Ranma could reach up to her, however, Shaak stood up abruptly, pushing off him and to her feet, moving towards their shared room. "Good night, Ranma," she said, looking over her shoulder at him with a wink.

Ranma groaned, shaking his head. "Tease!"

 **OOOOOOO**

The next morning Ahsoka woke up early, eager to head to breakfast and meet Master Ti. She found both Master Ti and Ranma waiting for her, with Ranma having already gotten some food. Anakin and a few of the other younglings had joined them, as Ranma was explaining a balance exercise with Head Teacher Rahhdool, who was nodding, scratching at his white-furred chin thoughtfully. "We will be able to make that work, I think," he said, looking around at the younglings, who, to an individual, began to cheer.

Even Anakin, who normally these days had begun to act as if these kinds of effusive acts of happiness were beneath his dignity as a Jedi in training, joined in. Though he was also looking at Ranma closely, as if examining him, while to one side Master Jinn was doing the same.

Ahsoka wondered what she had missed, but put that to the side as Master Ti turned to her in welcome. Ranma too looked up as she came by, winking and gesturing to the plate of food between the two of them which was stacked high with the Order's special flatbread. "You lot should seriously think about selling this, by the way," he said, looking over at the Shistavian. "It's the best bread I've had in this universe."

Some of the younglings looked confused by the word choice there, but Rahhdool merely chuckled and replied easily. "We actually do. Many people and even large scale companies have tried to reverse engineer the recipe, as it were, in various ways, but none of them have ever succeeded."

Ranma chuckled, then looked back over at Ahsoka. "Hey, Rugrat," he said companionably, reaching over and rubbing her tiny montrals. "Shaak has a big day planned for you, so I suggest you take on some fuel now."

Ahsoka nodded, sliding into a chair next to Master Ti at the older Togrutan's invitation and reaching out for some of the bread. "Today you will work with me for the majority of the day. We will have a calisthenics exercise this morning with the rest of the younglings, and then you and I will go on a bit of an adventure. I believe that getting in touch with nature will help us, and in particular you, with a few of the lessons I wish to go over with you in the next few days." Shaak said.

"How long will you stay, Master Ti?" Ahsoka asked hesitantly. She was ecstatic that Master Ti was here, the older Togrutan's presence having solidified her own sense of self and banished some of the fear that she had been dealing with for more than a week now. _But if she goes away again, won't the fear come back?_

Looking closely at the young girl, Shaak smiled slightly before replying. "We will remain here for at least five months, possibly longer. Ranma?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "That's fine, I guess. After that, though, I'd like to get exploring again. No offense to you, Ahsoka, but while I'm a friend of the Order, I'm not part of it, and I don't want to wear out my welcome or remain in one place when there's so much out there to see." He gestured over to a group of Jedi Knights and Masters who were looking at the table they were all sitting at rather nonplussed. Noticing that they had been seen, they all looked away, and Ranma shook his head at their backs. "Like that."

"Ignore him for now, youngling. Eat," Shaak ordered. "Ranma was right; you will need your energy."

Ahsoka nodded and quickly began to dig in. Around her the rest of the younglings and Rahhdool moved off, chattering to one another about whatever training idea Ranma had passed on to them. The two adults talked over Ahsoka's head for a few moments while she was too busy eating to listen in, then she and Shaak left to join the clan for its calisthenics exercise. Ranma did not go with them, something about how he would take too much pleasure in showing up the other Jedi, which Ahsoka sort of understood from the times she and the other younglings had been locked into a prank war with the pigtailed man.

After that Ahsoka was dressed in a youngling robe, a heavy brown and white affair, and then followed Master Ti out of the Jedi Temple. They made a stopover in the city, where the older Togrutan searched out a specific Wookie with russet-colored fur streaked with grey.

Here Shaak instructed the girl in how to use the Force to reach out to translate the Wookie's words. It was **tough** , first concentrating on reaching out like that, then concentrating on a single individual mind, that wasn't her master's, anyway. Once she was able to do that, she then had to try to understand the impressions she was getting and somehow link them to the meanings of the words. She only could get a few before she broke off, shaking her head as if she had a headache, which wasn't too far off the mark.

"That will be enough for now. It will come in time, don't worry," Shaak said with a chuckle, laying one hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. She turned back to the Wookie she had been talking to, explaining what had just occurred and then asking him a few questions about the forest around the city. Getting the information she needed, she bowed deeply to the Wookie, with Ahsoka emulating her swiftly. The Wookie chuffed in laughter and did the same before watching the two of them walk off, still chuffing in laughter.

As they walked Ahsoka tried to keep her curiosity under wraps as much as she could, before finally blurting, "Master Ti, what did you ask him?"

"I asked Showkierrrrnoo. That is his name, and you should use it," Shaak said, without any heat, but with a note of order in her tone. Ahsoka nodded quickly, and Shaak went on. "He is one of the Wookies in charge of the defense of the capital city against any encroaching animals. As such, he is what other planets would call a game keeper almost, but of course on this planet a lot of the game is deadly to the so-called gamekeepers."

"Really?" Ahsoka felt a mixture of emotions. Some of it was anticipation, but some of it was fear. She opened her mouth, uncertain which side of that emotional scale she was about to give voice to.

But Shaak stopped, kneeling down next to her and looking Ahsoka in the eyes before Ahsoka could speak. "The fear of the unknown is a powerful thing, but a Jedi should not take countenance of it. Prepare for everything, prepare for anything, trust in the Force, yourself, and your fellow Jedi, and do not be afraid," she said softly, yet earnestly.

Shaak held Ahsoka's eyes, and slowly Ahsoka nodded, her fear disappearing and anticipation building its place. Shaak felt that through the Force and smiled at her, predatory teeth glinting, eliciting an equal grin from the younger Togrutan. "Good. Now come."

Since she was a youngling, Ahsoka's ability to use Force Push and Force Jump were minuscule. She could barely move around the city without resorting to the trails and roads. Out of it, where the wroshyr trees grew wild, she could barely move at all. Despite that, she was very game now, almost eager, and feeling adventurous with Shaak beside her. Numerous times she jumped from one branch to another, her young muscles straining. She fell short several times, but a gentle Force Push from Shaak helped her along.

They did not, of course, go very far, and they did not in any way go down. No youngling could be taken below the fifth level of Kashyyyk's ecosystem, no matter who they were or who they were with. Rather, Shaak led them up above the fifth level where the Wookies made their home.

There they found some of the animals that Shaak had wanted the two of them to observe, and followed them as they cavorted through the canopy of the wroshyr trees. Here Shaak began to instruct Ahsoka in feeling out the life forces of those around her, feeling the Force of the trees. These were things that she had already begun to learn from the teachers, of course. Shaak was merely building on the already existing foundation.

She also talked about the cycle of life and how death was merely a part of it. "Living our lives, feeling the passage of others, even pain, both emotional and physical, all these have lessons to teach us," Shaak said as the two of them crouched on a limb, watching a pack of predators work together to drag off the carcass of a much larger predator that had attacked one of them, thinking it was alone. "A Jedi takes them all in, learns, and moves on. A Jedi acts as he or she must to defend life and the Light Side of the Force."

Ahsoka looked at her, nodding slowly. She had heard those words before, but out here, having watched what they had just watched and having seen Master Ti give her life, as she almost had, in her vision, they meant more. There was one thing she noticed there, though. Her teachers had always said to 'defend life and the Force.' Master Ti had said the Light Side of the Force. She wondered what the difference was there, or rather, why Master Ti had emphasized that, whereas when the teachers talked about the Light Side of the Force they usually just bundled it up into 'the Force' as a whole.

"That is our duty, our charge," Shaak went on, smiling at Ahsoka's attention. "With great power comes great responsibility. Politicians have it…" _Or should feel it, at any rate,_ Shaak thought. "Leaders the universe over have it. We Jedi were born with the ability to use this mystical power, and we must use it for the betterment of others. It is a stern duty, but a fulfilling one."

Again, Ahsoka had heard that before, but now she felt brave enough to ask the question she always wanted to. "But where is our own happiness in that?"

"Ah!" Shaak said with a laugh, leaning back. Below them the animals looked up, but beyond chittering to one another in seeming amusement of their own, made no move to leave or attack. "Searching for and making your own happiness is yet another way to learn."

Ahsoka scowled at that, and Shaak leaned over, flicking one of her montrals. "I first found my happiness with a few friends in my clan. For me, too, there was meditation: feeling the first time I felt the life of the forest around me. There is happiness in a job well done at times. In painting. And then, then I met Ranma, and found a whole new level of happiness." As she said that, Shaak chuckled, wearing a small smile that for some reason made Ahsoka feel weird.

"Now," Shaak said, clapping her hands. "We will meditate once more, but not about the Force in general. Rather, about this tree." Shaak patted the branch the two of them were sitting on. It was so wide that Ahsoka's entire body could lay out flat lengthwise and still have room left over, and it wasn't the largest in sight. "And then we will talk about your other classes, not your Force related ones."

Ahsoka nodded at that. As younglings, there was a **lot** that the clan had to learn on a day-to-day basis, and half of it didn't even have to do with the Force. Reading, writing, some computer work, calisthenics, even some ethics and some Republic law. Later on would be added combat classes, piloting classes, and other things of that nature. It was a lot of work, as Shaak was all too aware.

By the time they started back to the temple, Ahsoka was tired and mentally exhausted, but somewhat happy with the amount of progress she had made today. She was still having flashes of the emotions she had felt from seeing the image of Shaak's death, and she was still too easily losing her center. Yet she had been able to reach out to the tree and feel its Living Force, and she was no longer seeing the actual vision. Without that reinforcing those feelings, it was only a matter of time before she could rebuild her focus and mental balance entirely. And the feel of the tree's Living Force had been absolutely amazing to the young girl.

Heading back was quite a bit slower because Ahsoka was so tired, forcing Shaak to use her Force powers to help her along more and more. Eventually Shaak simply lifted the girl onto her own back, flipping herself through the massive branches with an ease a Wookie would have approved of. However, just as they came within sight of the outskirts of the city, having moved somewhat around it from the temple, Shaak stopped, looking around.

"What is it, Master Ti?" Ahsoka asked sleepily, looking over the older Togrutan's shoulder.

"Hmm… I am beginning to think that either Ranma's so-called luck has rubbed off on me, or that his theory on the Force having a perverse sense of humor is accurate. Look around. Try to sense your surroundings, not just with the Force, but with your physical senses. Your montrals should help you in this." Shaak ordered.

Blinking at Master Ti's serious tone, Ahsoka did just that. Tired as she was, she couldn't gather the concentration necessary to use the Force, but her physical senses and her mind were still active enough. After a moment she understood, and she frowned. "A lot of the background noise isn't there anymore. The animal and bird noises, I mean. And…it feels almost still, like the forest is waiting?"

"Very good." Shaak approved, though she had slowed their passage through the trees, her Force senses flickering out around them while one hand flipped out her lightsaber, activating it with a snap hiss. "And there can only be one reason for that on a planet like Kashyyyk. No sentient moving around would cause that kind of reaction on a planet like this. Only predators from lower down the ecosystem would…"

Just then, ahead of them Shaak saw a flash of something shining in the light filtering down through the canopy of the wroshyr trees. _A web?_ Glancing around, she noticed more and more tiny, weak seeming webs scattered everywhere, but she knew the weakness of the webbing would no doubt be deceptive.

She stayed put for a moment, glaring around her, her lightsaber moving from side to side as she used her hearing and Force senses to try and find the predators she knew were hunting the two of them now. And it was because of the enhanced hearing her montrals gave her that she was able to hear movement coming from directly below her and behind her at the same time.

"Hold on, Ahsoka!" Using a Force Jump, Shaak leaped about forty feet into the air just as there was a faint skittering from below them. Flipping herself in midair to Ahsoka's startled squeak, Shaak was first able to see the animals that were attacking them. Or arachnids, in this case, for they were indeed giant spiders. They had massive, rounded bodies, around the same size as a normal sentient, and large legs, which added to their height, each leg tipped here and there with serrated edges. Numerous intelligent looking eyes looked at the world from above a large maw fit to bite an adult Wookie in half, marked out by mandibles the size of Shaak's arms to either side, curved and lethal looking. They also seemed to be dripping with venom currently, too.

Latching onto the bottom of the wroshyr branch that had been directly above their previous position, Shaak Ti looked down, deliberately locking eyes with the giant spider creature, which she knew to be a Wyyyschokk, or giant weaver, one of the two or perhaps three most dangerous animals on the planet. _And this is Kashyyyk, rather spoiled for choice in terms of dangerous animals. Best not to try and fight it, not with Ahsoka here, anyway._

Pushing out with a telepathic probe she spoke, her voice echoing into the spider's brain. "We are not prey; you will find no food here. Only a hard battle and injury. Even if you win, you will be too wounded to survive the scavengers. Do not push things."

The spider was intelligent, she could tell that almost immediately. Not up to the level of a sentient, but perhaps just below that, though its thought process was hindered greatly by the need to hunt and eat, and it enjoyed the pain it caused. The beast wasn't of the Dark Side—there was no taint to it—this was simply its normal thought process, which made it no less terrifying.

The spider barely paused, launching itself up at them, and Shaak cursed, lashing out with a Force Push to slow it down. The spider was much heavier than it looked, however, and its upward leap overpowered her push. Despite that the Force technique bought Shaak time, and she slid to the side faster than most eyes could track, her lightsaber lashing out in the speed technique she had learned from Ranma.

The lightsaber's green blade struck one of the Wyyyschokk's legs and then its body, searing it in places, but not cutting through its armor, as she had feared. The thing screamed, kicking out towards Shaak with several of its legs as it turned, lunging forward to try and bite her.

Shaak simply let the technique she had been using to latch onto the underside of the branch fade, falling past the creature's lunge. She then thrust up, her lightsaber stabbing into the Wyyyschokk's back. There it penetrated, but not much, as Shaak was falling away even as she thrust upwards. Still, that told her that the arachnid's back was vulnerable.

The Wyyyschokk screamed a chittering, maddened sound that caused both Togrutans to wince, but even that was a trick. Instead of retreating, it launched itself down at Shaak where she had landed on another wroshyr branch, mandibles quivering for her flesh. She was able to dodge its main lunge and the poisoned mandibles, but one of its legs crashed into her with all the impact of a punch from a Wookie. And for all her durability, Shaak Ti didn't actually weigh all that much more than a normal woman her size, nor had she been able to use the Force to latch onto the wroshyr branch.

So she didn't try. Taking another page from Ranma's training, she allowed the punch to hurl her backwards, redirecting the momentum in such a way that she again bounced off another wroshyr branch, coming back at the beast. The arachnid twisted around, opening its mouth with its mandibles twitching in eagerness, its front legs spread out wide. That eagerness halted abruptly when Shaak threw her lightsaber forward with a Force Push, aiming it into the Wyyyschokk's opened maw like a hurled spear from barely a foot away. However durable its skin was, the interior of the arachnid's body did not have the same properties. Her lightsaber plunged into the thing with ease, sizzling and burning the Wyyyschokk from the inside out.

Shaak skidded to a halt, dodging a reflexive grab from one of its legs before pushing off and away again. Huffing slightly from the exertion, she stared as the Wyyyschokk convulsed, it's legs folding in on itself as it rocked to and fro, the life, the almost hideous, sadistic life which had graced its eyes dissipating as she watched. When she was certain it was dead, she looked over at Ahsoka's frightened face. "Well, that was a bit more of an adventure than I had wanted us to see today. Are you all right? Any injuries?"

Ahsoka shook her head, still clinging to the older Togrutan's back. She had not been ordered to get off yet, and frankly after the fight Ahsoka wasn't certain her legs would have been able to hold her up, she had been so scared. The spider's speed and lethality had been beyond anything she had ever dreamed of, and for a moment there she was certain she would see a reprise of her vision of Shaak's death in real life, followed swiftly by her own. "I… Y,yes Master Ti. I'm fine."

"Good," Shaak replied, not turning away from looking at her young passenger over her shoulder. "Because I think we should be moving on. I think our battle will have drawn more predators, and I need to report this monster's presence in the area. From what little I know of them Wyyyschokk are only rarely seen at this level. The Wookies need to be warned. Thankfully they are solitary hunters, so it might be the only one who has come up here, but we need to make certain."

With a wave from one hand Shaak summoned her lightsaber back to her, catching it easily and powering it down. She spent a second to look at her lightsaber closely, making certain it hadn't been damaged, before clipping it to her belt. "Now, do you still have a good grip back there?" At Ahsoka's hesitant nod, Shaak smiled. "Good, because I think it is time for us to run."

With that she raced off through the trees, faster than Ahsoka had ever seen, let alone felt, someone move, racing back to the capital city.

 **OOOOOOO**

While Shaak and Ahsoka were off having their adventure, Ranma had met with the Nova Guard on planet. Speaking to their leader, the Nova Guard was indeed very interested in learning what they could of his techniques, and had, in fact, been promised the opportunity to ask by Master Ranicsis. When he in turn asked what they had to offer, the two men spent several moments arguing about an equivalent exchange, but eventually they reached an agreement. The sergeant would teach Ranma all he could about his people's staff techniques in return for two months of training with Ranma.

The toughness training, however, was another matter, since that would be a long term thing. As such, an ongoing agreement was something he would have to push up the chain. Unlike with the Reborn and Bo-Katan, Ranma felt no obligation to share his techniques with the Nova Guard. In the Reborn's case he did, and also viewed it as a carrot: a way to make certain the Reborn couldn't fall back into the Mandalorian's old methodology before the new interpretation of the Resol'nare could really gain hold. And unlike the Mandos, the Nova Guard had never been an expansionistic threat.

Ranma was open to the idea, but the Nova Guard would have to have something to offer him in the long term. Or perhaps the Jedi Order, Ranma wasn't certain about which.

Despite training with the Nova Guard in an exercise area near their temporary house, Ranma was back at the temple by the time Shaak and Ahsoka returned, racing through the foliage and up to the temple. Cocking his head in surprise, he asked, "Why's the rugrat doing a koala impression?"

"That was an insult, wasn't it?" Ahsoka said, glaring at Ranma over Master Ti's shoulder.

"A mild one. Don't worry about it, Ahsoka. After all, I'd have to explain what a koala is to let anyone get the joke," Ranma said, waving that off, then blinking as Shaak smacked him lightly in the head. "What was that for?"

"For somehow infecting me with your brand of luck. It really is like you act like a lightning rod for everything unusual or strange. And now that aura has spread to me," Shaak said tartly.

"Meh, it was bound to happen eventually, and it isn't like you've been all that unhappy with the other aspects of being around me…" Ranma said, somewhat teasingly, and was delighted to see Shaak blush in the manner of her people before she lightly smacked him upside the head again. "Now come on, I feel the cafeteria calling me. You can tell me all about it over a meal."

 **OOOOOOO**

A few days after their arrival, while Shaak was once more busy with Ahsoka, Ranma found himself talking to Anakin as he had said he would. Ranma had been busying himself at times with helping out with the younglings' physical exercises, and Anakin had buttonholed him after class today.

"So, Ranma, what is up with that training room in the basement?" Anakin said bluntly, looking up at the pigtailed martial artist. "I've seen a lot of Jedi heading into it, but when they come back out they're always wincing and walking slowly."

Ranma shrugged. "It's called toughness training, kid," he said, ruffling Anakin's hair, since he knew Anakin hated that. "It toughens their bodies up. It's painful, but necessary. I think Yoda was supposed to push for it to become mandatory training for all Jedi, but from what he told me he's only been able to get it to become mandatory for the Guardian sect, while the Consulars and Sentinels can choose to take it if they wish. It's one of the slowest training techniques I know in terms of seeing real results, but those results are king of cool."

"Oh, never mind then," Anakin said with a shake of his head. "Although, if it has anything to do with the Force I bet I could do it a lot faster than you might think." Anakin's voice was somewhat smug and a little arrogant as he said that, but not enough for Ranma to notice.

"If it did, you might. It doesn't though, not consciously anyway. It's training your body, just like calisthenics exercises, until the Living Force within you starts acting without your direction in a certain way."

Anakin scowled. While he could use the Force to heighten his speed and strength to a certain degree, which was quite a bit more than most of the younglings in his assigned clan could do, the teachers routinely made certain that he knew that there was still a long way to go there. And Ranma made the same fact abundantly clear without even trying, showing up even the teachers during exercises, in Anakin's mind, anyway. "Are you ever going to teach us more about your own techniques? I've been hearing stories about some of the stuff you can do."

"Those are advanced techniques, Anakin," Ranma said sternly, narrowing his eyes at the younger boy. "You might be advanced in terms of your clan, but that doesn't mean you're ready to learn my techniques." _And that doesn't mean I'm ready to teach you, either._

That was one of the plus sides to teaching some of his skills and abilities to teenagers or late teens, though Ranma hadn't really realized that before he began. By that point the teens in question had already begun to form their personalities to a far greater degree than a child. This allowed Ranma and Shaak to form a clearer impression of them, of how trustworthy they were and how they would use their newfound abilities. While Ranma did not have any real concerns about Anakin's personality, he also wasn't about to favor him further with more training. The boy was already getting some preferential treatment from Master Qui-Gon and even a few of the other teachers.

It wasn't like he was being granted special privileges, but Anakin **was** being given advanced lessons from them on the side. If the class had to deal with the Force, one or another of the teachers would work with Anakin solo, simply because he was so advanced in controlling the Force, coupled with his pure brute strength. The boy had begun to show a bit of an ego because of that. Not much of one, in Ranma's opinion, but in any Jedi youngling that kind of thing was noticeable.

On top of that Anakin was allowed to remain in communication with his mother, something that the rest of the younglings were not allowed. Admittedly, that was because his mother actually lived elsewhere on Kashyyyk, something almost unheard of among the Jedi. Of course, Ranma didn't see a problem with that, bar the fact that the other students didn't have that kind of communication with their former parents. It was just another way to mark Anakin out as different, or special, which given Qui-Gon's belief in this Destined One crap was not a good thing.

On the other hand, Shmi seemed to do a good job of keeping Anakin grounded, from what the other teachers said, and they didn't talk all that often. Only once a week, from what Ranma could discover. Anakin also didn't approve of the fact that his mother apparently had begun to date the smuggler that had helped them escape from the desert planet, Booster Terrik. Hearing him complain about their relationship was kind of hilarious to Ranma the few times he'd overheard it.

As Ranma continued to walk towards the temple, Anakin kept up with him, and Ranma wondered what else the boy wanted to ask about. When Anakin did speak up, his voice was calm, almost lackadaisical, yet also very controlled. "I understand that you and Master Ti are…involved?"

"That's one way of putting it, kid," Ranma said with a nod, groaning internally as he knew where this was going now and had no idea how to handle it.

He was proven correct a moment later when Anakin went on. "…I thought Jedi weren't allowed to form attachments like that. That's what we've been told all along."

Trying to stave off more discussion on this point, Ranma said, "For the last thousand years that was right, but before that it wasn't. And I'm not the one to ask about this kind of question, Anakin. Remember, I'm not a member of the Order."

"But you're the only one I **can** ask about it!" Anakin said, shaking his head and reaching out to stop Ranma from walking on, his hand on Ranma's sleeve. "None of the other teachers want to answer that question at all. They all looked grumpy about it, or disapproving, maybe, and then pile on the work until I'm so tired I can't think straight, let alone about what I asked."

Ranma rolled his eyes with a laugh. "That's their problem, not mine. And yours, too, come to think of it."

Ignoring that dig, Anakin went on doggedly. "So how was Shaak able to get special dispensation? Or is it going to change that Jedi will be allowed to form attachments?"

"I don't know, Anakin!" Ranma said, emphasizing each word in turn. "Like I said, I'm not the one to ask." So saying Ranma decided to go on the attack, hopefully to throw Anakin off this topic. "But I thought we had already talked about obsession and attraction not being love anyway? Or is there someone in your clan that you find…interesting? It's not young Ahsoka, is it? 'Cause that would open up a whole can of worms."

"Eww, no! She's so flat and young!" Anakin said with a flush. "It's just I, I was just interested, that's all!"

With that he hurried away, and Ranma smiled, job well done. The next day, however, Anakin again buttonholed Ranma after a calisthenics exercise, which he joined that day because the Nova Guard troopers were still sore and battered from the previous afternoon's exercises. He began to press Ranma on helping him further with physical exercises, which Ranma agreed to, figuring it might help pop Anakin's ego a bit.

Halfway through, however, one of the as yet unassigned younglings of an age to become a padawan came up to them. Like young knights waiting to be assigned missions, padawans performed as messengers around the temple. "Youngling Skywalker, you have an incoming call from Chancellor Palpatine," he said, his voice devoid of any censure or interest. Catching Ranma's quizzical expression, he could only shrug.

"Oh, awesome!" Anakin said, hopping to his feet from where he had been doing push ups. He groaned a little, touching his arms and glaring up at Ranma. "Slave driver! I haven't hurt this bad since…since that time on Naboo, darn it!"

"You're the one that asked for more exercises, Anakin, then and now," Ranma said, smirking back at him. "Just because I gave you what you wanted isn't any reason to call me a slave driver. But why is the Chancellor calling you? Isn't that the name of the Republic's high muckety?" Ranma had deliberately not learned overmuch about politics, local or otherwise, figuring he would be personally happier that way, and not really caring over much in any event.

"Ohh, Chancellor Palpatine's talked to me a few times since the Battle of Naboo. He was really amazed about how good I was as a pilot, and has since been asking me questions about starfighters and other things like that. I think…" Anakin said, pausing, as he knew that sounded strange. "I think he talks to me because I don't really treat him like a Chancellor or anything like that. I just talk to him straight, you know? And Master Qui-Gon lets me talk to him; says that getting to know politics from the other side of things can only help me later."

Ranma shrugged. "That makes sense, I guess?" Though really, he didn't think it did. _Surely what's his face, Palp-something or other, has people closer to home that he could talk to if he wanted to be treated like just a normal person?_ Still, he didn't think too much about it, and moved over towards a wall to grab a water, tossing it back to Anakin.

He caught it quickly then gestured with his head to the messenger. "Come on! Have you ever talked to the Chancellor? You'll like him."

"I doubt it, but whatever. I have nothing better to do for the next few hours until Shaak finishes up with Ahsoka." Normally in his free time Ranma would either meditate or talk to Yoda, but Yoda was busy with some large debate he had begun recently about some group called the Altisian Order and reconciling with them. Ranma didn't know what that was about. The training areas were all booked or under repair, he had read all the books he could, and Ranma didn't feel like meditating much, nor was he interested in trying to learn how to read Republic Standard without Shaak around to cajole, that is, teach, him _. I suppose I could go get HK and spar with him, but ever since Shaak told Yoda about HK's past the Jedi around the temple get twitchy whenever they see him._ Shaak had pointed that out to him a few days back, and he was willing to go along with things, for now anyway.

So it was more to stave off boredom than any actual interest in speaking to any kind of politician that found Ranma ensconced in a small communications room, looking into the pickup at the somewhat aged, aquiline, and austere features of the Republic Chancellor. At first the older man didn't address Ranma, simply looking in his direction once and nodding his head before smiling at Anakin. "Hello, Anakin. I'm sorry it's been a while since we last talked, but time and politics wait for no man. Were you able to finish up that report I asked you to do on the various starfighter designs I sent you?"

"I'm almost done, Chancellor," Anakin said. "I'm proofreading it now, and I'll send it to you this evening, if that's okay? Our training been stepped up a lot in the past few months, and I also wanted to ask for a few Jedi Masters' input on the report."

"That is fine. That's part of why I asked you to do it, after all," the Chancellor said with a shrug. "I could wish that I knew more about the Jedi Order's members so that I could pick out one or two of them to assign to this, but with the Senate's…irritation at the Jedi over Mandalore issue and various other clashes, I can't go through the normal channels for this. Especially since I hope to assign many of these starfighters to the Jedi themselves eventually."

"The new design coming out of Kuat is the one that I would say is the best for Jedi, sir," Anakin said respectfully. "And the others I've talked to agree with me." From there he went into a discussion about how the new Sprite class was too responsive and a little too flimsy for most starfighter pilots to handle. He then went on to explain what was wrong with the other designs, ending with a scoffing, "And don't get me start on the one from Tallaani Shipyards! It looks good, but the actual performance would be pure dung!"

The Chancellor nodded throughout, then turned his attention to Ranma when Anakin stopped to take a breath. "That sounds fascinating, Anakin, and I look forward to your report."

He really sounded like he did, Ranma reflected not that it mattered much given the man was a politician.

Then the Chancellor spoke up again. "However, we have been rather remiss in our manners. You would be Ranma, correct? I believe we saw each other in passing during the time directly after Naboo occupation was ended. Thank you for your part in that, by the way. I'm still not exactly clear about your relationship with the Order," Chancellor Palpatine said with a chuckle. "Indeed, the fact that you are not a Jedi yet are involved with the Order is possibly the only fact that I know about you for certain."

Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, that's me. As for more information about me, I guess you could say that I belong to an extinct Order of Force users, who decided to leave my planet to see the wider universe."

"Interesting," the Chancellor said. "However, as you are a Force User you fall under the purview of the Jedi Order, at least for the most part. But you see, your name has come to my attention recently. You might not quite be aware of it, but the Bounty Hunters' Guild is somewhat well thought of among the senator class, and has numerous high-ranking backers. It is simply the easiest way of making certain a criminal cannot escape justice from one jurisdiction to another. It makes sense to use them rather than try to completely impose a Republic wide judicial system for every little thing."

He shook his head ruefully. "Trust me, that would be the proverbial unending mission. I have enough going on just trying to clean up the bureaucratic corruption on the senatorial level, let alone trying to combat something on a sector or even system level."

"Ultimate power not all it's cracked up to be?" Ranma asked, grinning at the older man.

"Alas, the actual power of my position is not nearly as much as you would think upon first blush," the Chancellor replied dryly. "Something that I have discovered to my intense chagrin since taking this post. I like to think that I have done some good work here, but my efforts are constantly stymied by the entrenched bureaucracy and by other senatorial factions."

As Anakin seems to inflate himself with indignation at the idea that justice could be blocked like that, Ranma merely nodded. "Politics suck," he said commiseratingly. "But I doubt you want to talk to me about any of that. You brought up the bounty bitches for a reason, after all."

The Chancellor let loose a laugh. Not a guffaw, but a laugh, Ranma thought, though it seemed a spontaneous one at least, while Anakin stopped puffing himself up and looked at Ranma in shocked amusement.

"Indeed not," the Chancellor said after getting control of himself. "Your complete annihilation of the Crimson Nova chapter has been noticed, as was the fact that you did not have 'nearly enough evidence in terms of Republic law' to go after the guild as a whole like that." He shook his head in something like disgust as he parroted words he had heard recently before going on. "You are not going to get into any trouble over it, but your name **is** beginning to be known among the senatorial class, and if you take your feud with the bounty hunters further, I may be forced to take action. You do not, after all, have the protection against the law that Jedi have. And Jedi would have taken care to not to go as far as you did."

"If the bounty bitches stuck to this code they supposedly have, I wouldn't have had to attack them like I did," Ranma replied bluntly. "I'm fine with bounty hunters coming after me personally, but if they take hostages or use explosives where they could harm other people, the gloves come off, and I will start hunting them down in turn. I gave this same speech to the Bounty Hunters' Guild leader, some old Trandoshan, I think."

Chuckling, the Chancellor leaned back in the pickup slightly. "Cradock—that is his name—has canceled the bounty placed on you. One of the tenets the Guild keeps to, after all, is that no bounty is worth their own lives, and you have most decidedly shown that they will be taking their lives into their own hands if they come after you. I have tried to track down who placed the bounty on you and this redheaded girl, and why the bounty on a Jedi was allowed into the Guild's system at all, but have had no luck so far. I understand from rumors that she is your sister, Ranma, or something to that extent? Master Windu and others were not very forthcoming on the nature of your connection, but I hope you can get word to her about her being safe from the Guild now."

"Or something," Ranma and Anakin replied dryly, exchanging grins before Anakin went on. "You have to see it in person to believe it, Chancellor. I doubt even if we showed it to you over the Hypercom you'd really believe us. Just take it as a given that the redhead will learn about this conversation and move on."

"That is rather mysterious. I shall put it down to simply a Force thing, then," the Chancellor said.

Ranma noticed that the older man had seemingly loosened up a little as the conversation went on, and now agreed with Anakin. The old guy just wanted someone to talk to that had no personal agenda. He wondered how this odd friendship between Anakin and the Chancellor had begun, but it seemed genuine to him. Mind you, you really can't tell much about body language through a computer connection like this, but he was willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt.

"But let me get back to the more serious topic," the Chancellor said, interrupting Ranma's thoughts. He then asked Ranma some questions about his own sense of honor, probing him shrewdly for whether or not he was willing to obey the laws of the Republic without coming right out and asking.

After a few questions Ranma figured this out and decided to simply cut to the chase. "Look, I understand why you're asking all this, so I'll tell you flat out. I'm not a great believer in laws. I'm more of a common sense kind of guy. However, as long as the laws of the Republic don't counteract or stop me from following my own Code of honor, you won't have any problems with me."

"I will take your word on that for now. But mark my words, my young friend, there is a limit to how far outside the law you can go without facing repercussions. I could wish it was otherwise, but I am clamping down as hard as I possibly can on illegal activity among the Senate and trying to do away with corruption as much as I can. I cannot do that and then turn a blind eye to a friend of the Jedi breaking the laws of the Republic. Not if he makes a point of doing so again in as grandiose manner as you did this time with the Bounty Hunters' Guild. Keep that in mind." So saying, the older man stared hard at Ranma, his face and bearing now every inch the Chancellor.

After a moment he let the look fade, seeing that it hadn't really had much impact on Ranma, and smiled at Anakin. "I look forward to that report on starfighters, Anakin, and more, I look forward to the time when you are able to pilot one as well, but unfortunately, as Chancellor I have other duties and have to end this call now. Until the next time."

Anakin said goodbye at that, and the Chancellor turned to Ranma. "It has been interesting talking to you, Ranma. I hope it will not be the last time. Indeed, I would like to talk to you in person, if at all possible."

"Doubt that's going to happen anytime soon," Ranma said with a laugh. "I hated Coruscant big time when I was there, so there's no chance of me willingly going there again. Still, if you're ever elsewhere, maybe we could at least chat again, Palpy."

The man on the other connection twitched at that and growled. "It's Palpatine, actually."

"Oh, sorry," Ranma said, smirking unrepentantly. "My memory for names isn't the best."

"It's…quite all right," Palpatine said slowly, obviously reining in his outrage. "But on that note, I think we're done here. Until the next time chance allows us to talk, farewell."

With that Palpatine cut the connection. Anakin looked up at Ranma and asked, "So what do you think?"

Ranma shrugged. "Seems a decent sort of politician for the breed. I'd have to meet him in person, though, to tell ya more, kid. He didn't seem ta like that joke I used on him there at the end.

"Do you poke fun at everyone in power you meet?" Anakin asked quizzically, having had to hold back a giggle at the name Ranma had used for the Chancellor.

"Hell, yes, whenever I can. You have to or else they can get a swelled head," Ranma said with a wink, before going on, laying one hand gently yet inexorably on Anakin's shoulder. "Now, speaking of swelled heads," said Ranma, "where were we just now…?"

 **OOOOOOO**

 _Palpy!? PALPY!? Oh, if I wasn't certain you had to die before, I am now!_ Sidious snarled to himself, his Force powers roiling so badly he actually had to concentrate so his presence would not become visible to any Jedi nearby. Once he got his thoughts and anger under control, however, his thoughts turned cold. " _I need to step up my efforts to get away to find my chosen tool for this task. If the Chaotic Locus interacts with Plagueis's artificially created vergence overmuch my long term plans there will be disrupted._

So thinking, he opened a communicator and called his Senatorial aide to him. Sate Pestage would need his marching orders when Sidious was finally able to get away.

 **OOOOOOO**

A few weeks later Ranma had finished incorporating the staff techniques of the Nova Guard into his personal style and was once more keeping himself busy with little bits and pieces here and there. He did, of course keep up with his personal exercises, in particular putting himself through as much of the toughness training as he could. But that didn't take more than half the day, leaving him at loose ends, which in turn made him spend more time helping the youngsters.

Thus Ranma was happy to hear that Count Dooku had arrived. He spent the evening of his arrival with Master Yoda and then slept in the next day until around lunchtime, when another messenger asked Ranma to join Dooku and Yoda for a meal in Yoda's quarters.

Ranma looked at the two of them, then sat down across from the two Jedi Masters at a small table, looking around in interest. Despite being Yoda's personal living quarters, this area was as utilitarian as most, not showing any of the Jedi Grand Master's personality save for a few gimer sticks in each corner and several data chips kept in very small recesses in the wall of the wroshyr wood here and there. A crystal of some kind sat on a table, lighting the room with a pale, warm glow.

Finishing his perusal, Ranma turned his attention back to the Jedi Masters, then blinked and turned to the door an instant before it opened to reveal Shaak coming in. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, moving to sit next to him. Sitting like that, the two of them almost radiated a natural closeness that made both of the other Jedi Masters chuckle internally. Yoda thought, _Glad I am, allowed Shaak to retake her oath in the old way, we did. Obvious, connection between them is. Relationship, will change the Order and galaxy, if flourish they can._

"How did your latest mission go, Master Dooku?" Shaak asked politely, while Yoda turned his attention to pouring each of them some tea. In terms of look or taste it was barely acceptable to Ranma being Japanese, but it seemed full of energy somehow. After a single sip, he looked quizzically at the old Grand Master, with Shaak following suit a second later.

Yoda chuckled, but did not rise to the bait, turning his attention to his former padawan, who began to talk. The mission Dooku had been on had been to his home planet of Serenno, to look into rumors of a connection between it and the Trade Federation. Given how restive Serenno was under Republican rule and how rich it was, any connection between it and the Trade Federation, especially if both parties were trying to hide it from the Republic, needed to be looked into for reasons of security. This was made all the more serious given how the Trade Federation was still under a cloud of suspicion after their invasion of Naboo.

Unfortunately, in this case there was some reality to that rumor. Dooku was able to head off any real trade or defense agreements between the planet of his birth and the Trade Federation, but it had taken him weeks to talk the Council of Counts down from that, and he had burned a lot of personal political capital there and elsewhere in the sector doing it. He had helped the council make other agreements which might be more profitable in the long term, and which would also help the Serennoans become more independent of the sector capital, which was something they dearly wanted.

But even so, he had been forced to tell the Sector Jedi to keep a much closer eye on the Council of Counts from here on. Dooku, as he dryly explained, was the last man to tell anyone that the Senate and the Republic as a whole should be seen as any paragon of virtue, and a part of him agreed that the Republic was simply too huge to really give planets enough say in how they were ruled. But the Counts did not seem any more careful about who they became friends with than the Senate. Further, he was hopeful that ten or fifteen years of Palpatine as Chancellor could possibly do away with a lot of the corruption and self-aggrandizement that made him so leery of the Senate.

"But that is not what I him here to discuss with you," Dooku said, shifting minutely from where he sat on a cushion. He often times enjoyed talking to his former Master, especially these days, since Yoda now treated him almost like an equal and had stopped teasing him by calling him 'my padawan.' One thing he had not missed about being in his Master's quarters, however, was the lack of any backs to the seats, because right now he would have liked to lean back and steeple his fingers to look over them commandingly at young Ranma. _Sitting on a soft cushion, I just can't pull off enough gravitas for the moment._ "Would you care to explain how since the last time I talked to you I have begun to feel younger than my years?"

Ranma and Shaak exchanged a glance, and Shaak sighed, speaking for them both. "Actually, Ranma and I have discussed this point. However, Masters, could we first make certain that we are not being overheard, not even by any other Jedi?"

Yoda chuckled dryly. "Secret this would have to be, I already knew. Beyond what we have seen so far, implications of this there are." He gestured to the crystal. "Generates white noise as well as light, this does. Electronic devices, the instant they come within range of it, short out they do. A Jedi within hearing range, there is not. Alone we are. Remain secret, this will."

Then his old eyes locked on Ranma's, easily exhibiting the serious and commanding air that Dooku had wished to. "Slow the aging process, your techniques can? The Living Force within the body, build up it can to that degree?"

"Yeah, basically," Ranma said with a nod, impressed at how fast the Jedi were to realize the cause of what Dooku was experiencing. He looked over at Dooku apologetically. "It can't reverse the effects of aging, but it can take your body to the upper limit and then beyond. It can also be used to give you the energy of a younger individual for short amounts of time, or at least it worked like that in my old universe. In my world there was an old Master named Happosai, who was able to sort of siphon what you guys call the Force from…"

Ranma blushed, looking over Shaak, whose lips twitched into a smile. "From women. Their, um, their bras and underwear..." he stammered. Saying that in front of these serious Jedi, or semi-serious in the case of Shaak, was just as embarrassing now as it had been talking with Shaak about it one-on-one.

"And whereas this Happosai creature had to use that method," Dooku said thoughtfully, "my Living Force reserves are constantly being filled up with my connection to the Unifying Force as a whole. So, how long will I live? Can you even guess, Ranma?" At first Dooku had hoped to reverse the aging process on his body with this technique, but apparently that was beyond Ranma's knowledge. If it was possible, then Dooku would discover it on his own in time. He was not going to worry about it now, not when the future had already been opened to him to such a degree.

"No idea, not in this dimension, considering I hadn't really made that connection," Ranma replied ruefully, internally wondering what that would mean for his and Shaak's lifespans. While he didn't automatically fill his 'Living Force' reserves from the what the Jedi called the Unifying Force, he could do so at need, just like Happosai had drained ki from women's underthings. "Happy was something like four hundred years old, and for a demented little troll he was still way sprier than anyone could believe, so there's that.

"Four hundred years, you said. A human living four hundred years?" Dooku asked carefully, his controlled features now showing far more surprise than he would normally let show.

Ranma nodded, then looked over at Yoda, wondering if the old guy would ask him to help Yoda in his training. _Heh, of anyone here he's got the most Happy-like body, I suppose, though I don't know if he could really learn them. Heck, has Yoda even learned the toughness or speed techniques?_

But Yoda caught his glance and laughed. "For me, this technique is not," he said definitively before going on and answering Ranma's other unasked questions. "Old I am. Already learning new tricks, this Jedi is. Your toughness training technique, punishment enough it is on this old body."

"Further," he said, shaking his head. "No wish to live beyond normal lifespan do I have. Before I go, a thousand or more solar cycles will I have seen. Enough, that will be."

Indeed, if Yoda thought that he could get away with it he would retire from his position as Grand Master and either become a teacher in the Temple or a recluse somewhere else in the galaxy. But Yoda knew he couldn't. The coming confrontation, which was still blinding the future to every Jedi in the galaxy, would be his to deal with. No one else could lead the Jedi through those troubled waters, not from the position of Grandmaster at any rate.

For a moment they fell silent, then Yoda looked over at Shaak. "This one too? Age, Master Ti will not?"

Ranma looked over at Shaak, and both of them shrugged their shoulders. "Master, right now neither of us are of an age where aging really is going to be visible enough for either of us to notice," Shaak said, her lips twitching again in a near-smile. "Ask me again in ten or fifteen years, and maybe we'll have a definitive answer."

Yoda chuckled, but nodded seriously. "Keep this to ourselves, we must. Humans, others of similar lifespan, always wishful to extend it, they are. Even among Jedi, issues this would cause. Dozens there are, Jedi who fell or Sith, interested in doing that, there have been."

"I was intending to keep it a secret anyway even before Shaak pointed the same thing out when we first talked about it," said Ranma. He looked over at Dooku, looking truly apologetic for the first time that Yoda and Dooku had seen. "Sorry about how you found out about it without being warned or anything. But I didn't honestly think you'd be able to take your inner Living Force to that level, given how we only had a few weeks training together, all told."

"True. But I was building upon my own training as a Jedi, and I had reverse engineered your speed technique already. More importantly, I had seen several of your other abilities in action, which told me there more I could learn through trying to manipulate my internal Living Force rather than the Unifying Force. Do not worry about it. I would, however, like to continue my training with you while I'm here."

"That's fine by me!" Ranma said eagerly. "That'll give me something else to do besides training, training the younglings, and meditation. Unfortunately, Shaak spends most of her time helping Ahsoka over some issues she's run into, and she says it makes the other Jedi wary if I spar with HK."

Dooku looked over at Yoda and Shaak quizzically. "Is there something wrong with his droid? Visually, I mean. From what I recall the droid's basic sanity is questionable at best, but that is not enough to make Jedi visibly wary about them."

"Ah!" Shaak said with a laugh. "That is a bit of a tale, Master Dooku."

 **OOOOOOO**

Smirking evilly, Palpatine waited, hidden in the shadow and in the Dark, his Force Cloak and Stealth both up to a level which would have fooled anyone in the galaxy, let alone the half-trained, semi-mad fool who though himself a Sith that he was here to find. _Still, as hiding places go this one is…adequate._

It had taken him nearly a full month to discover where his target was hiding. This task was made harder, given that he barely had anything to go on beyond a description and that he wanted to use the Veil sparingly on this, forcing him to use his spy network, and that even more frugally. The target, after all, was wary, continually hiding himself from the Jedi and the Republic, as well as all the physical tools of a Jedi and some of a Sith's. Indeed, given his age he might well have more such tools than Sidious knew.

Despite this, Sidious had found a starting point: a report of a drifter which matched the target's description walking out on a bar tab at a bar which was being tended to by a group of robots. The robots had reported it, and that had been caught by one of Sidious's agents. With that starting point, Sidious had been able to search out the mind of the individual in question, subtly tracking him via the Veil of the Dark Side.

When he sensed the man's intention to remain on a planet for a week, Sidious set a robotic spy on the man's ship. These were rather large droids, but they had the latest espionage and ECM available anywhere in known space. They could latch onto vessels, send out signals to reports their location, and spy with relative ease. They were expensive even for someone with Palpatine's shadowy resources, but worth it in this case.

After several weeks, Sidious had been able to isolate his target's home base. With that done, Sidious, in his Palpatine persona, caught a somewhat debilitating and very contagious disease, forcing the man to quarantine himself. The Jedi offered to send over a healer, but given the current attitude towards the Jedi, Palpatine had graciously declined, giving the Jedi the impression that while he was indeed ill, he was also going to use this opportunity to take a break from his massive workload.

Thus able to retreat from the public life for a few weeks, Sidious had left Coruscant with no one the wiser, leaving behind Pestage and several droids programmed with his voice to relay orders, just in case. And surprisingly, once he had arrived, the man's defenses were easy to bypass via the Force. Now he waited for his target's return, a sense of anticipation filling him.

Sidious watched as the small personal ship his target used came down, entering the equally small but very private landing bay here on Nal Hutta. _Hmmf, I could have wished for more time to examine some of the relics he has found over the centuries, but I suppose I cannot have everything go my way just yet. And there is something to be said for your target being punctual, after all. And at least I was able to disable his emergency exit._

Sidious waited, his body entirely still, his beating heart slowed down to almost nothing, waiting, just waiting. Eventually the small ship, an ancient looking Corellian yacht, as Sidious had known it would be, powered down. The doors to the landing bay closed, shutting out the sight of the lowest level of Nal Hutta's green, gaseous atmosphere. The whole planet was dominated by the swamps which had given rise to the Hutts. Hiding here among the scum made a lot of sense for one like his target. Though getting out here and down unseen had been a trial even for Sidious in the _Scimitar_ , the ship he had designed and had built to carry Darth Maul across the galaxy on his missions.

After that, the ship remained, as the individual Sidious was here to capture and turn to his purpose began a scan of the area. _Only the most paranoid would have survived for this long without being found by the Jedi; I should know._ Sidious thought, rather amused by the similarities between the Dark Jedi and the true Order of Two.

He continued to watch as the ship finally powered everything down, and the ramp lowered. The man he was here for strode down the ramp, scowling at something in his hands and shaking his head, actually talking to himself as he did. It was only as he came closer that Sidious could see that it was a data chip of some kind. "Insanity and madness! Madness and insanity! The very idea of experimenting with such, and for what, to try and awaken the Force in his victims, to control them? No wonder the whole planet has fallen into such pure Darkness. Nothing usable for me here, no, no. A wasted trip, bah. Yet still, at least I can hide you away."

The man currently speaking to himself was a tall, almost rail thin man of seeming middle age. He had pointed, almost gaunt features, with straight light blue hair down to his shoulders. He had two blasters on his hips. One of them was of normal configuration and the other a disruptor. As he turned, Sidious could see he also had a lightsaber strapped to the small of his back. It looked almost like a shoto, a short bladed lightsaber, but the length wasn't quite right.

The moment the man was far enough away from his ship, Sidious glided forward, covered by his Force Cloak and Stealth still, the Veil all around him, hiding him even from another Dark Side user. Soon he was standing right behind the man as he made his way towards a corridor leading away from the landing area. Once there, and not incidentally standing between his target and the ship he had arrived in, Sidious activated his lightsaber, pulling in his Force Cloak and Stealth at the same time. "Set Harth, the Order of the Sith requires your life."

Set Harth, Dark Jedi and one-time apprentice to Darth Zannah, apprentice of Darth Bane, turned, his hands flashing faster than any non-Force user would have been able to follow. One hand fell to his disruptor, the other used a Force grab to pull his lightsaber out, activating it at the same time. His blade, like that of Sidious, glowed red in the near darkness of the hidden mansion. "I think not!"

The disruptor bolt sizzled out, but Sidious batted it aside with his lightsaber. "You speak as if you have a choice!" A Force grab reached out, intending to disarm Harth, but Sidious was somewhat amused to find Harth able to block his power with his own.

Firing the disruptor rapidly, Harth charged forward, leaping up at the last second, his lightsaber flashing out and down to attack the other Sith. More, Harth wanted to gain the center of the landing area, to both put himself closer to his ship, and to also have more room to use his modified Ataru form against his enemy.

Sidious chuckled evilly, blocking all the disruptor bolts and then also the lightsaber strike, lashing out with numerous Force Grabs and Pushes—small, very focused ones. Still, Harth was able to block most of them, showing his skill and ability. Only one slipped through, grabbing at a metal bracelet on the other human's arm. Even as Harth flinched back and tried to lash out with his own Force Crush at Sidious, Sidious's assault destroyed the slave circuit, which might have let Harth start his ship by remote. "None of that, fool!"

"I'm older than you and more experienced! I have hundreds of relics of the Sith, learned from one of the original of your Order! How dare you call me a fool!?" Harth bellowed, seemingly incensed by Sidious's slight use of dun'mak. With a roar he charged, using Force Crush and telepathy to try and get into Sidious's mind, trying to fill it with illusions. Nothing extravagant, just minute changes, his lightsaber being an inch off to Sidious's senses in comparison to its actual position.

These attempts failed, Harth's telepathic attack disappearing into the vast dark shadow that protected Sidious's mind. So, too, did his attack. Sidious, powered by the Dark Side of the Veil, could feel Harth's attacks coming easily, Harth's Battle Precognition utterly swamped by Sidious's own. His Force attacks were somewhat more serious, but there, Sidious could still match them. All in all, however, Sidious was pleased with his tool's combat ability. It was just a very bad match up for him, since Harth's modified Ataru was far worse than Yoda's, and Sidious had trained to beat him and other master duelists of the Order.

Realizing this, Harth tried to fall back into a defensive stance, but it was obvious that he had not been practicing his lightsaber skills. He pulled out his blaster and tried to use it in conjunction with his lightsaber, but this style had never caught on among Sith or Jedi for a reason. Harth, however, did have a way to make it work for him.

Jumping over Sidious's, he hurled his lightsaber forward like a spear, causing Sidious to stumble backwards as he batted it upwards. Then, before Sidious could react, Harth had grabbed it out of the air and pulled it back, setting it to spin between the two of them as he opened fire on Sidious with blaster and disruptor.

Sidious snarled, batting aside the blaster bolts, unable to deflect them directly back to Harth's weapons or even Harth at all given the spinning lightsaber. His attempts to use his own Force telepathy were stymied by Harth as well. For a time they were at an impasse, with Sidious stopping Harth from retreating but unable to get through Harth's defenses, not without killing him at any rate, which wasn't what Sidious was here to do.

Yet this lasted only a few minutes, as Harth's attention and Force powers began to flag. He simply lacked the raw power of Sidious. An attempt to use Sith Lightning overextended Harth's mental powers for just a moment, his lightsaber pausing in midair. Sidious blocked the pitiful attempt with a simple raised hand, then lashed out with his own Sith Lightning, thinking it rather amusingly ironic as he did so.

"GAHHH!" Harth screamed, convulsing, his concentration broken as the Force Lightning send him skidding backwards. A second later his lightsaber flew to Sidious's hand as Sidious deactivated his own. Before Harth could overcome his agony, Sidious was in his mind, crushing his psyche, and Set Harth fell into unconsciousness.

Smiling widely now, Sidious laughed, looking down at the Dark Jedi who had once attempted to become a Sith and who had such interesting potential for his worth as a tool. Then there was this facility and what it held. Searching through it would take time, but Sidious had already claimed his greatest prize.

 **OOOOOOO**

As they were walking down the Temple steps after that evening's meal and then from thence out towards where the _Wild Light_ was waiting for them, Shaak turned to Ranma. "Ranma, you mentioned being wishful of having more to do now that the Nova Guard are gone?"

Thinking he knew where this was going, Ranma nodded, but replied quickly, "Yeah, but don't worry about it, Shaak. I know that your duties as a Jedi are important to you, and right now helping Ahsoka is part of that. I'm not about to complain about that. Heh, I ain't that needy."

Shaak laughed quietly, reaching out to touch Ranma's arm lightly, bringing him to a halt as they reached the tunnel leading through the main trunk of the tree which housed the temple's hidden entrance. "I was not going to ask if you were. I would not be comfortable apologizing for something like that in any event. Instead I will apologize for not thinking of something you could be working on during this time sooner. Though I'm leery of asking you to do so without me, so it is something that would take up more of the time we would otherwise spend sparring."

"What is it?" Ranma asked, taking her hand in his and running his thumb over her red skin gently.

"I think it's time that we start trying to cure your fear of felines," she said simply, smiling at his touch. "Give me a few days to think about how, and then I would like us to spend, say, ever other evening working on that." Shaak watched Ranma's face as he balked at the very idea, fear and shame crossing his face in a way that was so unusual for him that it was jarring, his eyes almost flinching away from her own.

But then he seemed to control it as Shaak reached out to touch him on the chest, forcing his eyes back to hers. Once they had locked eyes, she spoke again. "Ranma, this is not anything you need to be ashamed of. Rather, this is something your father should be **damned** for! I wish to help you through this fear. I am not making fun of you; I have never judged you. I think that with my help you can overcome this. That is all. The question is, do you trust me to help you in this?"

After a moment Ranma slowly nodded his head, and unmindful of the fact they were still technically within the Temple environs, pulled Shaak into a hug. "I do trust you. And, and thank you for this, love."

After letting him hug her, Shaak gently pushed Ranma away, looking around to make sure that they had not been observed. She still had no wish to flout her relationship with Ranma in front of the other Jedi. "It will be a lot of hard work," she cautioned. "And moreover it will be mostly meditation and control work, not physical. But we will get through this, Ranma, and you will be all the stronger for it, I promise."

"I believe you!" Ranma said with a laugh, looking at her with such love in his eyes that it almost overrode his still present fear at the idea of confronting his fear of cats.

Shaak was as good as her word, and a few days later the two of them, along with Master Yoda and Master Dooku, the only two other people in the Temple that Ranma wanted to know anything about his fear, who watched as Shaak and a small felinoid sat across from Ranma. Ranma's back was against the far wall, his eyes wide as he stared at the creature, but Shaak was there, holding the animal back, her eyes locked on Ranma as she spoke soothingly to him.

Shaak reached out to Ranma's mind with a Force probe, connecting them briefly but as deeply as she could, her own sense of serenity and peace flowing into Ranma, trying to combat the ocean of stark fear that had permeated his mind. She didn't have much luck that first time, and after only about forty minutes she sighed before turning around and handing the animal over to Master Dooku, who left the room quickly.

As Ranma began to come back to himself and blushed in embarrassment and self-loathing, Shaak moved over to him, hugging him tightly. "None of that! I said before, and I will continue to say it, possibly every night just to make sure the point gets across: this is **nothing** to be ashamed of! This is simply an obstacle to overcome, and we will do so together. We will take this mistake your father made and make it a strength!"

Ranma laughed weakly, hugging her back, only now noticing that both Dooku and Yoda had left to give the two of them some privacy. "Now that, that I can get behind."

 **OOOOOOO**

Set Harth woke up and found himself floating in a bacta tank. The normally light blue or clear bacta was tinged red, which was not a good sign to anyone who knew the qualities of bacta, which Set did. The fact that he was waking up at all might have been considered a good sign by most sentients, but given his last memories, Set did not let himself feel such false hope.

Looking through the red tinted water and the glass, Set didn't recognize the surroundings, which was another bad sign. It was dark, almost pitch black, but with some small red lights here and there and a medical droid of some kind at the far end connected to a series of control panels. There was no one here.

With that thought, Set concentrated, bringing up his hate, anger, and fear, and began to reach out with the Force. Before he could finish, however, a door to one side slid open, and slowly the light level rose in the room. Not much, it was still dank and dark, but it was now enough to see by, at least.

Letting his hate and fear simmer at the back of his mind, Set watched as his captor moved towards him, his features still hidden by a cowl. Underneath the cowl Set could also see something like a mask, or a half mask, perhaps, further hiding the man's identity.

"The droid says you are nearly fully healed. That is good. Now, before we get to your training as well as telling you your mission, know that there are now several small pain devices emplaced in your brain. They can either kill or send extreme amounts of pain into your brain the instant I wish them to. They are not solely electronic in nature. Rather, they are a little bit of Sith Alchemy which my teacher developed, though he never used them often."

The voice was cold, yet conversational, almost courteous, yet commanding and filled with power and arrogance. "I also found all of your cloning cylinders and have taken the opportunity to move them to a place of my choosing. They are rigged to explode if anything happens to any of them that the droid I have watching them determines is a sign of life. So do not try to transfer your mind to someone else. You will only do so if I allow it."

"Who, who are you?" Set asked, his voice echoing over the tank's intercom from the mask he was wearing, which was in turn connected to an air pipe. The full depths of his predicament made his ever present anger and fear grow further so that Set was now straining to hold it back. "What do you want with me!?"

"The Sith Order has need of your services, Set Harth," the man said, his voice now containing a tone of cruel humor. "I told you that when we met. You will serve, willingly or no. As for what you will be doing, you will be my tool against possibly the greatest threat to the Great Plan that has ever existed."

"The Great Plan?" Set asked, narrowing his eyes, his emotions somewhat receding as they were replaced by an even more powerful emotion, the same that had driven him to break with the Order and his former Master so many decades ago: that of a obsessive need for knowledge. "You're from the Order of Two, then? You are **a real** Sith, not a pretender. That makes sense. But what, beyond my life, is it in for me?"

"Knowledge," the man replied. "And the opportunity to once more attempt to become a true Sith. My current apprentice is powerful, but also willful and has delusions of grandeur which has proven her to be unworthy for this task. This **specific** task, Set Harth, for which I have found you. You will be prepared as a weapon, a weapon against a very specific single target. Your worth to me, and thus your continued existence, are based upon how well you both prepare and then perform this task. Realize that, and you will be a much happier fellow going forward."

"You speak as if my happiness concerns you at all?" Set asked, scoffing as best he could with a mask on. Already he was getting a read on the man in front of him and was becoming somewhat more awed as he did so. It wasn't the power, or even the method the man had used to force his compliance. No, it was the control of the man in front of him that awed him. "Please don't bother attempting to be courteous!"

The man in the cowl and half-mask chortled. "We understand one another. Serve, and you will live. Turn against me, and you will die. Fail me, and you will die. Try to escape, and you will die."

"I understand the gist, yes," Set said dryly. A normal individual in Set's place might have been unable to find any humor in it, but that was not Set Harth's way. And the idea of more power and more knowledge was alluring to him, of course. After all, if it wasn't, he wouldn't have spent the last nine hundred plus years transferring his mind from one clone to another as he searched the galaxy for Sith artifacts.

That thought, however, brought jolt of fear to his mind, and his eyes flared red with anger, his Force power gathering in an instant. "My collection! What did you do with it!?"

"It is safe and being categorized by a few droids," the cloaked man said. "Some of the information you have gathered is actually useful, and I know the trick of opening some of the holocrons that you have found over the centuries, whereas you, obviously, did not."

Set flushed in anger at that. Anger, his old friend, just like fear, and he again reached for the Force. But then he felt his throat constricting, his Force powers snuffed out like a candle in the wind. Darkness pushed into his mind, into his very soul, so much that Set could only compare it to his duel with Darth Bane.

"Remember what I said!" the voice snapped out, even colder now, and if it had been possible Set would've shivered, but gripped entirely by the Force he couldn't. "Your life now belongs to me. Do you understand?"

The grip loosened just slightly, and Set found himself nodding his head so hard it moved his body up and down within the tank.

The grip loosened entirely, and the man turned to the droid, ordering it to release the glass, which would allow Set to exit the tank. As Set rubbed his throat moments later, which had already begun to bruise despite the attack having occurred in the bacta tank, he looked at his new Master. "You never told me your name, Master," he said, his voice now subservient, almost obsequious.

"I am Darth Sidious," the man said flatly, tossing him a robe. "Now come, we have much to do."

 **OOOOOOO**

Three months passed on Kashyyyk with Ranma and Shaak training his mind to get over the fear every evening. During the afternoon, Shaak worked with Ahsoka to get over her issues. Shaak's own training, of course, proceeded apace in the morning, with Ranma replacing his time with the youngling clan with training with Shaak in brutal all-out spars that pushed Shaak physically and mentally to the limit. This was made worse, or better, depending who you asked, when Dooku joined them during his month long stay. The older Jedi proved himself time and time again one of the greatest dueling masters the Order had seen, pushing both Shaak and Ranma in different ways, while learning just as much from them as they did from him.

This new daily regimen was, of course, noticed by other people in the temple, and at one point Anakin, with Master Jinn's aid, asked Master Dooku for help in his own training. Dooku declined, but allowed the youth to start training his body further for lightsaber dueling, pushing forward the time that Anakin would become a padawan.

The debate on who that would be raged among the Jedi Council of Reassignment, as well as the High Council itself. The idea that the young padawan to be was the Chosen One had unfortunately begun to make headway among the Jedi, given the slowly rising strength of the Veil of the Dark Side, and the fact that several Jedi had been lost in various missions of late, combined with the sheer number of missions that ended in violence.

Yoda and others pushed to choose a Master who would not let Anakin fall to the hubris of arrogance, and one with a strong hand to curb his headstrong attitude. They also wanted to separate him from Jinn, who they all could see believed in the Chosen One prophecy. Thankfully, there seemed to be no bond between them as there was between Ahsoka and Shaak. So the forerunners at this point for that task were Master Giiett of the High Council and Master Jorus C'boath, a Consular well thought of as a diplomat and a Force user, a decent duelist who was also known as a disciplinarian.

Not that any of that really mattered much to Ranma, or even Shaak Ti. Shaak was too busy helping both Ahsoka and Ranma confront their very different fears, and was not high enough in the Jedi hierarchy, despite the amount of respect, even awe, she had earned exorcising Exar Kun's Force Ghost. And Ranma was not only an outsider, but uninterested in being more than a sometimes-there teacher figure.

Thanks to Shaak, Ranma began to feel less fear in the presence of the local feline-equivalents. He slowly began to see a time when he wouldn't have this fear at all, and that made him put even more effort into overcoming it.

Five months after they had arrived, Shaak was happy enough with Ahsoka's progress to allow her to rejoin her clan at last, though she would still like to stay another week to make certain that Ahsoka did not backslide. Ranma quickly came up with the idea to fill some of that time, as well as sort of celebrate her work with Ahsoka being so near completion.

"We haven't really had much **us** time since we arrived here. I know why that is, but other than snuggling at night we haven't gone on dates or even had many meals alone. So how about the two of us head out and have an adventure date?" Ranma asked, coming out of the bathroom, toweling at her wet hair.

Shaak's black eyes lit up with delight, and she leaned over, pulling the redhead into a one armed hug for a moment. Ranma's time in female form had caught up to him a few days ago, and the monthly monster had once more reared its ugly head. "That will be lovely. In fact, let us make an entire day of it." Then she cocked her head. "But why are you still in female form? I thought that your period had ended yesterday."

"It did, but I took the time to look up today's weather. There was our 'date' on Yavin 4 and that time on Mandalore, so I'm sort of worried that the water attraction part of my curse is coming back. So I thought I'd head it off at the pass, so to speak?" Ranma said, ending her last sentence in a questioning tone as she looked at Shaak.

Despite having gotten assurance numerous times in many different ways, some of them quite…emphatic, that Shaak didn't care about his curse, Ranma still sometimes needed assurance that such was still the case. This the aquatranssexual received now, a smile and a nod followed by a kiss that made her toes curl. "Just let me get my cloak."

For the rest of the day, the two of them moved through the wroshyr trees that covered Kashyyyk practically from pole to pole. They had simply chosen a straight line to go in, moving out and away from the capital city or any of the other settlements on the planet. They were in no rush, simply taking in the sights, sometimes playing tag, other times racing through the massive branches of the even more monstrous trees.

They were only attacked twice, and dealt with both easily. The first time was by two small predators of a size like the ones Ranma had hunted to make Shaak's fur cloak, which seemed to take offense at the two sentients moving through their territory. After defeating and killing them handily, Ranma cooked the duo a simple meal before they again set off. Now, however, the couple stopped more frequently to exchange kisses or touches, and they traveled far more closely together now, their bodies brushing against one another. Ranma in particular began a small game. She would randomly wait on a branch for Shaak to land beside her instead of forging ahead and then surprise the taller girl with a deep kiss, before leaping away, leaving Shaak panting until the Togrutan raced after her.

Occasionally they saw Wookies, sometimes hunting parties, sometimes single Wookies, moving through the forest. But after staring at the two offworlders for a moment, they would always move away the instant they spotted Shaak's lightsaber at her belt.

In the late afternoon they were attacked once more, as something a little below and to the left of their current track caught Ranma's eye. "What's that?"

Shaak landed beside the redhead, putting one arm around her, letting her hand trail down Ranma's back to the smaller girl's shapely rear, lightly kneading it even as she looked in the direction Ranma indicated. There was a patch of something there, shimmering in the light coming down through the numerous branches. "Hmm…some kind of still water pool? I understand that rainfall does often accumulate like that in the wroshyr trees. Did you know the leaves of the wroshyr trees actually serve as sluices to help send the rain down further? But many times the water will pool like that in a little grotto or furrow in the tree until it is absorbed. I understand that searching out those pools is a priority for some Wookie communities."

"Huh. Let's go see," Ranma said then leaned in to kiss Shaak for a second. Both of them forgot about the pool for a few moments until the need for air forced them apart. "Um, yeah, let, let's go," Ranma stuttered, her chest heaving as she gasped in air.

Licking her lips, Shaak nodded, reluctantly removing her hands from around Ranma's hips and watching as her lover leaped off. Shaking her head, she raced after Ranma, using her Force powers sparingly. At this point in her training Shaak had developed her physical skills to be able to nearly keep up with Ranma. When traveling through Kashyyyk's unique bio-system, anyway, not in a fight.

A few minutes later the two of them stood over an idyllic scene. There was indeed a pool there, one that was possibly more permanent than most of that type. It was situated on a thick lateral branch between two even larger branches growing upwards, both so large they looked like they could house entire clans of Wookies. The lateral branch connecting them seemingly had a hollowed out portion right in the middle between the two main branches. To one side another branch seemed to have sprouted about ten feet above the first lateral one, which was wide enough to almost, with its leaves added in, look like an awning.

There were moss and lichen of decent size around and within the pool. There were also several small branches the size of a normal tree coming up and out of the larger branch which housed the pool. There were dozens of heavy vines crawling up the main branch to one side, with numerous tiny, sparkling, pink and dark purple flowers.

"Wow," Ranma murmured, leaning her head against Shaak's shoulder, their arms around one another. "That is really cool."

"Yes," Shaak said simply, not having any wish to waste words in trying to explain the wild beauty of the scene in front of them.

Their moment, however, was interrupted by a loud growling, as a massive beast of some kind roared out of a nearby crevice in the wroshyr tree. It was taller than either of the two lovers, with an insect-like body held up by four massive, powerful looking legs. It was covered with dark grey-green fur, and had a somewhat small mouth lined with teeth that showed it was an omnivore. Its eyes were small and deep set, protected by thick ridges or muscle. To either side of its mouth it seemed to have little feelers swaying in the breeze of its passage. The thing roared, racing out at them from its hiding place, faster than a charging horse, its legs thumping powerfully against the branch below them.

"A walluga," Shaak shouted, as she and Ranma leaped forward, away from the thing. The two of them flew through the air, landing to one side of the pool, whirling around to face the thing which quickly scaled down the tree towards their present position, its limbs as dexterous at climbing as they obviously were at running. "It's a dangerous predator, but doesn't usually attack sentients. We must have roused it from its sleep."

"Is it impact or lightsaber proof like that snake or the spiders you ran into? If not, is it tasty?" Ranma quipped, rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles as she pulled out her Light-pike, activating the blade with a snap hiss.

"No, it's meat is utterly inedible, both because of poison and stringiness. I think the Wookies do something with their bones, but I do not know what exactly," Shaak said, activating her own lightsaber. Her focus and her Force powers were directed at something else, however, as the walluga found when it reached the branch holding the pool. "And we need not always end such interruptions in violence, Ranma. Remember that beast that attempted to interrupt us on Mandalore? There are other ways to deal with conflict."

So saying she reached out with the Force, her powers reaching out to touch the various vines the walluga was currently trampling through on its way down toward them. The vines moved almost as if they were alive, growing dramatically and latching onto and around the walluga's limbs, pulling it to a stop within seconds. "Plant Surge," Shaak explained to the cacophony of the beast's roars and snarls. "It allows a Jedi to control plants to a certain degree. And now, let me see if I can convince the beast to leave us be."

So saying Shaak performed much the same technique as she had used against Jabba's rancor, calming the walluga down. The walluga was a bit more intelligent than the rancor had been, and also not nearly as violent. It was but the work of a moment to banish its anger at their presence, and another to convince it to leave peacefully.

With Ranma standing by, the vines receded from around the beast. It finished its climb down to the branch the two lovers were standing on, then, after looking at them for a few moments, climbed out and then over the edge of the branch, heading down into the foliage below, its fur blending in swiftly with the surroundings.

"Huh," Ranma mused, looking at the vines in thought. "You used that technique against the giant snake too. I can understand its use on a planet like this against various predators, but is it really useful against another thinking being? Or on other planets at all?"

"While you are correct it is a somewhat esoteric power, I think you'll find it can be used against other sentients…" Shaak said, pushing the redhead lightly in the back, causing her to stumble as she had not expected it. Before Ranma could recover, she found her legs and arms wrapped up in vines. She struggled for a moment, straining as hard as she could, but without leverage she couldn't pull her limbs back out from the vines, which had the prehensile strength of steel cable.

"You see?" Shaak said, smiling impishly, as she leaned in to kiss the redhead hard, thrusting her tongue into the shorter girl's mouth.

Ranma moaned, her tongue battling with Shaak's for a moment as she strained forward, eager to deepen the kiss if she could, but finding she could not, thanks to being tied up. Eventually, however, Shaak stepped back, licking gently at Ranma's lip before pulling away entirely. Ranma simply stared at her for a moment, both of their gazes half-lidded with passion, before Ranma made another attempt to move, bringing back to her mind her current predicament. "Okay, I, hah, concede the point. Only, can you let me go now? Er, I'm having some flashbacks to some doujinshi a few acquaintances of mine in my old dimension told me about."

"What?" Shaak asked, not releasing Ranma just yet. "What is a doujinshi, and what in the world does it have to do with your current predicament?"

"Um…" Ranma paused, thinking how to explain hentai, and in particular tentacle porn. After a moment as Shaak stared at her, Ranma did so hesitantly.

Shaak was silent throughout this explanation, after which she waved a hand and the vines holding Ranma captive receded. "Ranma, don't take this the wrong way, but your people were sick."

"Yeah, I can't argue that." Ranma sighed, moving to enfold the taller woman in a hug.

Her lips twitching, Shaak wondered if she should point out Ranma's fascination with her lekku. But given the differences between them and the fact that Ranma had never made any indication that she would like to try some of the things with her lekku that she had described just now, she refrained. _Besides, while my lekku are very sensitive, they certainly aren't that sensitive, or prehensile, or…well, anything like those tentacle thing, really._

Before her thoughts could continue down that somewhat odd path, Shaak was brought back to the here and now by Ranma's arms falling down her back. One hand began to play with her back lek, the other grabbed Shaak's rear, as Ranma kissed Shaak just as hard as Shaak had kissed her previously.

Their passion, which had been somehow set to the side during the discussion about Japan and its tentacle porn, came back now. Shaak kissed Ranma back just as passionately, her arms going around the shorter girl's as their lips and tongues dueled for dominance. Shaak's hands went in different directions, one hand curling around Ranma's pigtail, the other kneading her rear.

They were interrupted once more, this time by the crash of thunder and the sound of rain beginning to hit the leaves high above them. "Great, just great," Ranma groused as the two disengaged, staring up through the verdant forest. "Guess staying in female form wasn't enough to save us from a dousing. Unless the leaves will block out enough for us to stay dry?" she added hopefully.

"Not this high up, no. Not entirely, at any rate. Rains on Kashyyyk tend to be quick, but very, very heavy, and as I said, the leaves serve as sluices to help send it down further," Shaak replied, feeling out the weather with the Force as much as she could even while she replied to Ranma's question. "We could head down deeper, but to go deep enough to get away from the rain would carry us down below the fifth level. But I feel that our best bet is to just to get under cover."

Quickly moving around the pool of water, the two of them got under cover just as it began to rain. At first Ranma had no idea what Shaak was talking about, as the rain seemed rather gentle, from what she could see. Then she cocked her head, and began to listen more than watch. The sound of rain from on high was a deep, thrumming sound against the branches of the wroshyr leaves.

Turning from watching the rain sluicing down through the leaves, Ranma found that Shaak had shed her fur cloak, tossing it down to form a primitive sort of bedding. She had also sat down in the middle of it, leaning against the back of the trunk that made up the back of their small hiding place. She smiled at Ranma, beckoning with one hand, and Ranma moved quickly to her side, kneeling there before leaning in, kissing Shaak once more.

 **{warning Lemon Content incoming!}**

A few moments were spent simply kissing, nuzzling into one another, then Shaak decided to move things along. Her hands found their way to the bottom of Ranma's shirt, pulling it up, interrupting their kiss as Ranma leaned back, pulling her shirt off and tossing it aside. By the time she had, Shaak had done away with the leather undershirt she had been wearing as well as the silk bra underneath, laying it to the side with a mock warning glare at the redhead. "Now remember, I like this set, and you still haven't bought me a repmmm!"

Ranma interrupted her with a kiss, which continued for a while, Ranma's hands traveling up from Shaak's washboard stomach to one of her lekku, while the other moved down, beginning to play with the top of the pants she had worn under her robe. With only one hand, however, there was little Ranma could do alone, and she refused to stop playing with Shaak's lekku. Shaak reluctantly let her hands fall from the redhead's back to pull first at Ranma's pants, then her own. The two pairs of pants were kicked to the side so hard they nearly fell off the edge of the branch.

Pulling back and panting, Shaak kissed Ranma's cheeks and neck as Ranma moved to cover Shaak's body entirely with her own, pulling her down so they were both laying down instead of leaning against the back of the wroshyr branch. Ranma mewled at her touch, but then reached between them with both hands, playing with Shaak's C-cup breasts. Tweaking her chalk white nipples caused Shaak's head to loll back as she moaned, thrusting her hips up lightly.

But before Ranma could concentrate further on that, Shaak pulled the redhead down, nuzzling and licking at Ranma's neck as her hands began to roam Ranma's body in turn. The smell of Ranma's female form, of flowers, grass, and a hint of alrdriga, invaded her senses, as Shaak's own scent did the same to Ranma. That scent was otherworldly, almost, her skin and sweat smelling slightly spicy to Ranma's senses, with some kind of orange-based scent there too.

Shaak slowly ran her sharp teeth up and down Ranma's collarbone, reminding Ranma once more of the otherworldly nature of her lover. _And damn it, but I wouldn't have it any other way!_

In return, Shaak's naked body was once more open for Ranma to explore, which she did, marveling once more at how in her female body the passion of the moment seemed…not less, but softened, somehow. Why that was, Ranma didn't know, only that she had yet to feel the same near out of control feeling she had run into in her male body. _Then again, last time was a bit of an exception even there._

Setting those thoughts aside and smiling tenderly, Ranma used her position on top of Shaak to move down her body, halting Shaak's attacks on her own neck. Instead she began to lick at Shaak's breasts, nipples, and lekku, her hands busy with the other side of Shaak's chest at the same time.

Once more Shaak found one hand playing with Ranma's hair, enjoying the feel of it through the fingers as she undid Ranma's hair tie, letting her pigtail loose in a curtain of fiery red hair. Her other hand squeezed first Ranma's rear, then moving up and around to grab Ranma's breasts. There she began to play with one of Ranma's cherry-red nipples, while looking down at where Ranma was now licking her own.

Biting her lip lightly, Shaak pulled her hand away from Ranma's hair, letting it trail down the shorter woman's back, first squeezing her rear again, then moving around and between them. Her fingers stopped on the tuft of hair right above Ranma's privates. She locked eyes with Ranma for a moment, then at Ranma's nod, began to run her fingers up and down Ranma's cleft.

Ranma shifted slightly upwards to let Shaak have better access to her lower body, one hand moving down to Shaak's privates while she used the other to reposition herself. Immediately Ranma began to play with Shaak's small, engorged pussy lips. Already very wet, the whiteness of them against the backdrop of Shaak's red skin amazed Ranma anew as he looked at them.

Both women began to moan almost continuously now, leaning in to exchange tender kisses or to run their lips and tongue over necks and naked shoulders, while their fingers took most of their attention.

Ranma soon found the little bud right above Shaak's small pussy lips, lightly playing with it. Shaak moaned even louder, then pulled Ranma into a kiss, their tongues dancing as the tempo of their lovemaking began to pick up.

Pulling back from the kiss Shaak raised the same hand that had been playing with Ranma's privates between their faces. As Ranma watched, she gently licked her fingers, first one, then two, and finally three. After a second she let the hand trail back down towards Ranma's privates as Ranma watched, their eyes still locked together.

Realizing what Shaak was asking, Ranma gulped, then nodded convulsively. "Bet, better to see something of what it will feel from this side of things before we um, try it in my male form, y'know?"

Shaak's black eyes seemed to light up, and her whole body shuddered. The idea of being with Ranma, of 'going all the way,' as it was called, with his male form, called out to her Togrutan side and her female side at once. But despite that, she knew the concession Ranma was making and knew she couldn't go fast.

So she slowly, gently, returned her hand to Ranma's privates, playing with the edge of her slit for several minutes while Ranma simply panted and moaned, leaning her head against Shaak's shoulder as she watched. Then, just as slowly, Shaak inserted the tip of her finger.

For her part, Ranma had to fight back the urge to squeal and leap away, just like she had retreated from the same kind of sensation on Mandalore. But Ranma fought the thought down with difficulty. _It might be new, it might feel strange, but that doesn't mean it's wrong, and it can help me later on to make certain it feels good for Shaak; remember that, Ranma,_ she thought.

Watching Ranma's face, Shaak paused, waiting until Ranma nodded at her before gently moving her finger deeper. The feel of Ranma's slit clenching around her finger was strange, but not unpleasant. So she continued, slowly pressing her finger deeper.

Eventually Ranma was able to get used to the odd sensation enough to become an active participant once more. Nipping and biting at Shaak's neck and collarbone, Ranma let her other hand trail down to Shaak's uncovered flower. Like Shaak had done with her, she took her time, slowly inserting her finger and moving it around gently. At the same time, Ranma slowly eased around so that their bodies were once more lying flush against one another, her legs on either side of Shaak's.

They stayed like that for a time as Shaak explored Ranma's privates and Ranma began to once more do the same to her. Then Shaak suddenly flipped them, the move startling Ranma so that she didn't even fight it. "What…"

Chuckling throatily, Shaak slid off Ranma's body, flipping herself around. Now she hovered over Ranma's form, her now dripping flower hovering over Ranma's face, as her own face hovered over Ranma's thighs.

Realizing what she wanted, Ranma decided to preempt her and leaned up abruptly, locking her lips around the tiny nub above Shaak's flower, sucking gently. Shaak convulsed, moaning loudly enough to scare any animals nearby, slumping down against Ranma's thighs. Smirking, Ranma leaned away, blowing lightly on Shaak's pussy for a moment, then more gently beginning to play with her lover's beautiful white flower, enjoying the taste of her juices on her lips, a tangy, spicy, apple like taste, almost, her hands gripping the red skin of Shaak's thighs.

Shaak slowly recovered from Ranma's sudden assault and immediately began to return the favor, nuzzling into Ranma's small snatch of hair, amused again that it felt so different from one form to the next. One hand gently kneading Ranma's thigh, she began to hesitantly lick at Ranma's slit, wondering what it would taste like. It tasted somewhat tangy, almost, but Shaak could not for the life of her explain why, or make any further comparison. Regardless, she began to once more insert her finger. She felt Ranma stiffen, but she did not try to protest or move away, and Shaak continued, eventually inserting her finger up to the second knuckle.

For her part Ranma couldn't say she really enjoyed the feeling of being penetrated like that; it was just too strange to her mind. On the other hand, the feel of Shaak's tongue along her slit was almost enough to take Ranma's attention away from working Shaak over.

It might have been the fact that Shaak had felt this feeling several times before, but it was Ranma who began to lose control first. Her body began to spasm under the taller girl, her hips thrusting up into Shaak's mouth as she moaned continuously, pulling back from Shaak's flower as her head lolled against the fur of Shaak's cloak underneath them, her hands falling to the wood to either side of the cloak. Gleefully Shaak redoubled her efforts, throwing the redhead over the edge as she pulled her finger back out of Ranma's slit as she bit down lightly on the tiny clitoral nub at the top.

Shaak found herself lifted slightly off the redhead into the air as Ranma bucked, screaming her orgasm out. Her fingers actually gouged slightly into the bark of the branch under them, which Shaak noticed with amusement, not concern. _My toughness training seems to have had a secondary objective,_ she thought ruefully.

Despite the depths of her orgasm, Ranma recovered far faster than Shaak had thought, going by her own example. This was why Shaak found herself being pulled down into a kiss that made her moan. A second later the smaller redhead had twisted them around until Shaak was once more on her back, the fur of her cloak gently tickling her back. Before Shaak could do anything, Ranma was moving down her body, leaving kisses all over her stomach and chest before her tongue dove into Shaak's white flower.

While she hadn't been as quick as Ranma, Shaak still was close to the edge, and it didn't take long for Ranma's ministrations to send her over. She howled, her mouth open wide as her fingers twined through Ranma's hair as she came, only loosening their hold when Ranma moved away from her flower to kiss her inner thigh.

Her eyes still halfway closed as her lekku twitched in aftershocks, she watched as Ranma stood up for some reason. The redhead looked outside, and Shaak noticed that the rain had stopped. She continued to watch, her body feeling quite boneless, as Ranma walked out of their small hiding place. The redhead then did something to the pool of water which caused steam to rise up into Shaak's line of sight.

Ranma stepped into the pool of water, feeling the change hit him. Then he turned back, somehow unsurprised that his arousal had carried over, and he was now as hard as a metal bar. Returning to the small overhang, Ranma kneeled down next to Shaak, looking at her in question, his eyes filled with love and desire for her.

Smiling at him Shaak nodded her head, opening her legs wider and laying back, giving herself over to his ministrations entirely, anticipation and love blazing in her deep black eyes. As he moved between her legs, however, she felt a tremor of, not fear, exactly, but perhaps trepidation, seeing Ranma line his large member up with her tiny flower. "Just, just go slow, please, Ranma?"

"I promise, Shaak. I love you, and the last thing I want is to cause you pain," Ranma said seriously, then smirked. "Cheesy, I know, but true."

While Shaak giggled in response to Ranma's purposefully lame joke, Ranma slowly slid the head of his cock into her pussy. Shaak's giggle broke off into a gasp, then a whine as she began to feel sensations she had never had before. Yes, Ranma had fingered her before, but this was different; Ranma's member was so much wider than his finger. And staring into Ranma eyes like this, feeling his breath on her face, his pulse throbbing through his member, simply amplified the feeling. As did seeing the love within those deep blue eyes.

Ranma was somewhat in the same boat. Instincts from the most ancient part of his brain were demanding him to go faster, to drive deeper into Shaak. But he refrained, keeping his eyes locked on Shaak's face, watching her for any twinge of pain. The love in those black eyes of hers, however, showed no pain, and he slowly inched his cock in further. As he did so the sensations threatened to overwhelm him. Shaak was so tight, so hot, clamping around him like a vice. It was beyond anything Ranma had ever imagined, let alone felt before.

Twice Ranma had to stop as Shaak looked like she was in pain, muscles that she had never exercised before now twinging in distress. But each time the pain was only momentary, and as Ranma slid further, so too did the pleasure rise. Eventually Ranma's pelvis met Shaak's, and for a moment he paused, staring down into her eyes, waiting.

Instead of just nodding, Shaak reached up, putting her arms around Ranma and pulling him down into a kiss. Before their lips touched, she whispered, "Move, love," before lifting her open mouth up to meet his.

Kissing Shaak back deeply, Ranma began to move his hips, slowly dragging his cock in and out Shaak's hot, tight tunnel. The tightness had receded only slightly. She still felt like a velvet vice around his dick, and the friction now simply added to the sensation.

 _Holy_ _ **FUCK**_ _! No wonder Hiroshi and Daisuke were so obsessed with girls and sex. This, this blows everything else out of the water._ The only sensation he had felt that was nearly as powerful was when Shaak had played with his female form's clit. But then the sense of wrongness she felt about Shaak's finger penetrating her had taken away from that. Now there was no wrongness, only closeness, only love, heat, tightness, and immense pleasure.

It couldn't last. Even with their initial passions worked off, this was the first time they had gone all the way, and like in any physical exercise, practice did help in this particular field. It still felt like an eternity to the two lovers, or perhaps just long enough. Ranma broke their lip lock, whispering his words between moans, "Shaak, I, I'm gonna…"

"Do it, do it!" Shaak moaned, feeling her own end coming, her walls spasming as Ranma continued to hammer his length into her. "I want to feel it. More!"

Ranma nodded, then went even faster, his hips jackhammering into Shaak as she raised her hips to match. Ranma continued, nearly pulling his shaft out of her several times before slamming it back in. Then Shaak's tight tunnel clamped down on him even more, and she threw her head back in a howl, her lekku spasming once more so much that her back lek would hurt the next day. This threw Ranma over the edge, and he grunted loudly as he came, flooding Shaak's insides.

 **{End lemon content}**

Still shuddering, Ranma pulled out of Shaak, collapsing to one side so that most of his weight rested on one arm rather than on her chest and lekku. Nuzzling into her shoulder he murmured, "I love you, Shaak Ti," against her bright red, sweat slicked skin.

"I love you too, Ranma," Shaak shuddered, her lekku spasming even more than they had after her previous orgasm as she kissed and nuzzled into Ranma's neck. "Oh, oh my… That was…that was unbelievable. Force, I know this isn't the first time I've said this, but why in the name of the Unifying Force did the Order decide outlawing relationships was a good thing?"

"Heh, don't know. It's not like I'm the Jedi in this relationship, is it?" Ranma asked, slowly pushing himself up off Shaak until he was hovering over her once more. He idly noticed that his member had yet to flag, still pointed directly at Shaak's core.

Seeing the same thing, Shaak groaned, trying to put together another coherent sentence, but for some reason she couldn't. Her body was urging her to start again. All she could do was try to find something else to concentrate on, something other than the aftershocks still going through her, the urge to feel Ranma inside her again. Her roving eyes caught sight of the cloak under their hips, and for some reason Shaak blurted out, "Oh dear. I'm going to have to clean the cloak you gave me quite thoroughly, aren't I?"

Ranma smiled, leaning down to kiss her before whispering throatily. "We can hunt you a new one later. For now…" With that, he began to move again, and Shaak moaned in renewed delight, locking her legs around Ranma once more.

Elsewhere, plans were moving. Elsewhere, the Dark was still closing in. But here and now, there was only light, and the love of Ranma and Shaak Ti.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

So, more time elapsed, more fluffiness and continuing closeness, and more moves in the dark as Sidious continues to gather tools and resources, being far more proactive than he had to be in canon while doing so. This I think will be the way I fast forward the time frame. I won't use a real 'Two years later' sort of timeskip, unless I feel the need for it. We'll see. Anyway, hope you liked it, and the fact Ranma and Shaak have finally gone all the way LOL.

There will be no poll for December here on fanfic. Besides updating ATP I have decided to use some of the one shot/teaser chapters I have written for my patrons as my normal Christmas present to my fans here on Fanfic, while I will be having a poll over there as to what second chapter/story they want to see other than the next chapter of Stallion of the Line. If you want access to those stories now or a greater saying in polls going forward, please consider signing up.


	15. Chapter 15

I'm a guy, and Lucas or Disney ain't my last name.

As a lot of you know, last month for half of the month I had a poll up to decide which Star Wars Crossover I would post in January, since that month I was updating A Third Path. The winner of that poll was _Horse for the Force_.

While here on fanfic _Magic of the Force_ walked away with it, with 432 votes to 255 for Horse and on Pat R on won 567 votes, _Horse for the Force_ brought in 1,289 votes over there. This gave it the victory with a total of 1,544 to 999.

So even if I had decided to try and throw all my own votes behind _Magic of the Forc e_, it wouldn't have walked. Not that I would have in any event, since my muse doesn't seem to care one way or another in terms of which SW crossover I go for.

Next month however, I am going to update _Magic of the Force_. I'm not putting it up for votes; I'm just going to do it. That will give me a chance to address the number of guests who are using the review section to discuss where they think I need to take the story and also write up a story I greatly enjoy and several scenes which I've already worked on.

Also, someone asked me to share my thoughts on the new Star Wars movies, so here we go: Sad. So **sad**. The first new movie I thought had promise butwas let down by the **pathetic** space combat, the utter lack of believability in how the super weapon worked, and Kylo Ren. I mean, come on, would it kill them to come up with a physical style villain who wasn't a freaking emo!? Ugh. I have not watched the second movie and probably never will. I really, truly think that the movie producers, and this includes George Lucas himself, think too small, especially given the vast size of the Republic to work with. I also think that George Lucas in particular has something of a blind spot when it comes to psychology and morality, and showed a certain amount of cowardice in simply agreeing with Disney and saying the expanded universe from the books and comics is no longer canon.

By the way, just so there's no confusion - when talking about just one of them, the singular of lekku is lek. It's not a misspelling, though I had not actually known this until _Michael_ my editor pointed this out. I would further like to thank Michael for his work on this chapter. He really is very good at spotting my DNS fueled mistakes when I cannot.

And, without further ado, here we go!

* * *

 **Horse of the Force 15: A Nemesis Appears!?**

Ranma and Shaak Ti took their time returning to the Rwookrrorro the day after their love-making. This wasn't because Shaak Ti was slightly sore; while it would have appalled her teachers to use the technique in this manner, she had been able to use the Force to ease her sore muscles. Nor was their slowness because they were attacked on the way. Indeed, as the outskirts of the Wookie city came within sight, Shaak was rather surprised that she hadn't even seen any predators on their way.

Pausing as that thought occurred to her, she looked over at Ranma quizzically. "I just realized that we haven't seen a single predator or been attacked at all today. Could this be a start of a new trend?"

Ranma's blue eyes flashed with humor and other emotions as they locked with her black eyes, his lips twitching. The twitching of those lips which had brought her such pleasure made Shaak lick her lips even as she tried to concentrate on his response. "I doubt it. When you were, um…resting last night, but a few of the local animals tried to investigate the noise we were making. I sort of dealt with them the same way I dealt with that beastie on Mandalore."

"Hmm…" Shaak hummed, acknowledging the words but for a moment the two of them simply stared at one another before looking away with blushes on their faces. _This is utterly ridiculous. We have been a couple for more than a year now, and we had tried everything but the final sexual act together before last night. Why is it that now that we have finally made love that we both find it impossible to look at one another without feeling shy, of all things? We are acting like love-struck teens in one of those horrible daytime television shows that are all the rage on Coruscant._

Ranma too was grappling with his thoughts. Every time Shaak moved, his eyes tracked her. Every time her lekku twitched, he wanted to kiss them. Every time her hips swayed, he had to fight to keep from either grabbing them or running away with a fiery blush. And when her eyes looked at him, Ranma felt almost frozen, feeling too many emotions to control.

The sheer silliness of the way they were acting brought suddenly Shaak up short, and she began to laugh, using the humor of the moment to help center herself in the Force. As Ranma looked back at her quizzically, Shaak was happy to realize that her self-control had returned enough for her to concentrate. "It just occurred to me we are acting like overly emotional teenagers from a…"

"A teen soap opera or something," Ranma finished, laughing with her now. The laughter trailed off, and Ranma held out a hand, which Shaak willingly took. There was still the tingle they both had been feeling after last night whenever they touched, but they were able to deal with it now. Black eyes met blue once more as Ranma gently kissed Shaak's hand. "I loved you before last night. All last night should change is that we have a new way of showing each other that."

"Technically it was yesterday and last night and half of this morning, but I do agree with the sentiment my love." Shaak said, starting out jokingly, but ending with her voice throbbing with more emotion than she had ever shown anyone else.

Ranma leaned in, and Shaak met him halfway. The two stayed there kissing for several minutes, neither trying to deepen it. Right now it wasn't about physical pleasure, as nice as that was. This kiss was about reaffirming their emotional connection.

Eventually they pulled back, and Ranma gently turned them back towards the city as his stomach began to grumble. Shaak laughed, poking him in the side as they started to move forward once more. "Hehe, worked up an appetite, did you?"

"And whose fault was that, hmmm?" Ranma asked, and for some reason Shaak found herself blushing again before laughing with him.

"It's not yet lunchtime, so if we are hungry we should either look for a restaurant in the city which would cater to offworlders, or head to the ship," Shaak said as they reached the edge of the city. "And I do think we need to talk about last night. Nothing bad, just a talk, to get us over the last bit of embarrassment I know we are both feeling."

Ranma opened his mouth to protest that, but Shaak gave him a level look and his words stumbled to a halt. "I'm projecting, aren't I?" Shaak nodded, and he scowled. "I knew there had to be a downside to loving a Jedi. All right, fine, but you get to go first."

Shaak balked slightly at that challenge, but rallied quickly. "Very well, so long as you do the cooking."

"Agreed," Ranma said, internally snapping his fingers as his attempt to get out of what was bound to be a very awkward discussion failed.

Moments later they entered the entrance to the semi-secret landing bay and from there the _Wild Light_. The entrance was carefully concealed, and Ranma almost missed it even though he knew where it was in a general way, but Shaak lead them unerringly to it, leaping across from one Wroshyr branch to the lip of the entrance. There she nodded to a few Wookies who were working on installing a doorway to further hide the entrance, heading deeper into the now hollow wroshyr branch which served the Jedi as their landing pad, with Ranma behind her.

While Ranma was preparing two steaks made from a local meat animal, Shaak took a quick shower and came back, wrapping her arms around him as he worked at the stove, pressing her body against his back. She laid a kiss on the side of his neck before joining him, cutting and chopping at the salad things he had brought out to go with the steak.

The greens in question were nothing like that which a Togrutan would have had on Shili. But in the months they had spent here on Kashyyyk she had gotten used to their looks, and they tasted good, having none of the intense heat that the local meats produced, whatever the animal they came from. Indeed, half of Ranma's work on the steak was intended to deaden some of the spiciness so that their merely human and Togrutan palates could handle them. _Unlike my friend Aayla, who would be able to handle it as is_ , Shaak thought ruefully while putting the finishing touches on her salad. With the meal done, the two of them moved over to the table, for once not sitting next to one another while they ate.

The two of them remained silent at first while they ate, Shaak's own hunger, which she had kept in abeyance with Force exercises, being almost as acute as Ranma's. However, eventually their hunger was sated, and Shaak turned to the discussion she wanted the two of them to have.

"All right, so…" She hesitated, then pushed on quickly, thinking it best to get the embarrassment over with now. "Ahem, I enjoyed practically everything we did. I thought making love to your female form was just as amazing as your male body, though there are two things I didn't like. At the time I was too far gone with…positive emotions, shall we say," Shaak said almost primly, unable to find a word which really described the feelings of making love as they had. "But looking back on it I do not wish us to try them again."

Ranma nodded a blush evident on his face as he tried to avoid looking at her, unable to get over his own discomfiture even to tease her about trying to be prim and proper about such a topic. "Um, me too, er, but you're the one who wanted us to actually talk about this, so you first."

"Well for one thing, I think it was a mistake at the time, but I just want to make certain that you understand I am not only uninterested but disgusted by um…" Shaak's words faltered, her Jedi training failing as the trickle of mortification she was feeling became a flood. "R, rear, issues…" she finally squeaked.

"OH!" Ranma's blush now made his face resemble Shaak's normal skin tone, and her own had lightened her skin to a pinkish hue, the area around her eyes becoming even whiter than normal. "Erm, yeah, sorry, um, one of my fingers sort of slipped there; it was totally a mistake! I'm not interested in that area either." He laughed a little, trying to add humor to the moment to dilute the moment. "Um, your butt's cute, but that isn't really an interest I have."

"Good," Shaak said, breathing a sigh of relief. At the time she'd felt dread and something approaching horror for the brief moment Ranma's finger had touched that particular area, but the touch had been fleeting enough she had fallen back into the euphoria she had been feeling swiftly. Looking back on what they had done, it had stood out starkly, however.

The two of them fell silent, letting the discomfiture fade before Shaak went on, her voice much stronger this time. "The other issue was that a few times, you attempted to take full control of our lovemaking, Ranma." She paused, thinking how to say what she wanted to for a moment. "While that called out to my base Togrutan instincts, and I am more at home with said instincts than I was before I met you, that does not mean that I actually enjoyed that wholeheartedly. I would prefer to be an equal participant rather than a docile one."

"Huh, um, how does that dovetail with how you seem to, um…to try and dominate my female form?" Ranma asked quizzically, despite his blushing.

"It is a difference of degree, I think. When you are in your female body I know I have to take the lead and enjoy doing so. When you are in your male body I don't, but there is a difference between not being in the lead and being docilely controlled. I'm sorry I can't explain it better, but this is a first for me too, you know," Shaak said, shrugging and unable to come up with a better way of explaining her feelings than that.

"Understood, and I do know all of this is a first for both of us, Shaak," Ranma replied, his discomfiture receding at that admission as he reached across the table to take her hands. "As long as we make it up like this, by talking about it no matter how red that makes us, we're good, right?"

Shaak nodded, then fell silent, looking at Ranma expectantly.

The martial artist sighed, but nodded. "Um, besides sharing your aversion about um…rear entry stuff…there was only one thing I really did not like at all. I'm fine with how you like to take the lead when I'm in my female form; I even agree with your reasoning. Beyond hugs I'm just not comfortable enough in that body to take the lead. But I didn't like the feel of, of, um, your, your fingers in there," Ranma finished, just as uncomfortable. "It was just so weird, and wrong, that if not for how everything else had gone I might have stopped our lovemaking entirely."

"I will remember that, Ranma, and I can see that, certainly. After all, as you often say, your mind doesn't change, and there is no real male equivalent for that feeling. I think it's a pity, but understandable, and I won't press you," Shaak replied.

With the awkward discussion over now, the two of them turned their concentration to their food and other topics. Eventually they finished eating, and Shaak took a moment to change her underthings and her under-clothing before putting her Jedi cloak back on. She did not, however, remove the torque Ranma had given her from her back lek, instead covering it up with her Jedi robe. It was still there, obvious if you knew it, but not so obvious if you did not. In this manner Shaak continued her campaign of both embracing her relationship with Ranma and not shoving it into the Order's collective face.

While she was doing that, Ranma tossed the cloak he had given her into the wash before taking a short shower and changing as well. With that done the two met up on the landing ramp, exchanging one last kiss before heading up to the Jedi Temple.

There they noticed many of the Jedi they passed looking at them quizzically for some reason, or perhaps censoriously in many cases. Shaak, however, simply met such looks with her own serene gaze, and the other Jedi looked away. Other Jedi simply smiled at them, nodding to them as they passed or just smiling in general as they felt the emotions both lovers were broadcasting despite Shaak's self-control. The two of them were giving off this feeling of joy that those with any skill in reading emotions through the Force could feel. This broadcasting was aided by the amount of Living Force that Ranma, and to a lesser extent Shaak, contained within them. For those Jedi who felt that Jedi should abstain from all emotions, this was a sign of a lack of control, for those who felt otherwise, it was simply a very nice feeling.

The two of them did not stop as they walked through the temple, Ahsoka and the other younglings being in class and none of Shaak's acquaintances being present on Kashyyyk at this time. But Ranma shook his head as they ascended the stairs up to the fifth floor. When Shaak looked at him, Ranma laughed. "I just thought of another bonus of being in a relationship with a Jedi."

Watching Shaak raise an interrogative eyebrow, her white marking moving over one eye in a very telling fashion, he went on. "In a lot of stories I've read or seen on TV, the girl is almost always taken aside by her friends after her first night with a guy, and she tells them how it was and everything in enough detail to send the guy running. But Jedi don't gossip like that."

Shaak smiled lightly, the most she'd allow in public. "Indeed. The idea of discussing such an intimate thing would not occur to me at all. Though, I could see myself describing it in loose terms if Aayla or Luminara were here."

They soon ascended to the topmost floor were they met Yoda in his room. The diminutive Grand Master looked up from his meditations several moments before they opened the door, the feeling of love and joy they were putting out traveling before them to his senses.

It didn't quite serve to burn away the Veil of the Dark, which was always there, like oil on the top of the ocean, but it felt almost soothing to his mental senses, only subtly bringing attention to a bit of strain he had been feeling in keeping the Dark Side out before this. _Push harder for more emotional instruction and control, I must, but carefully. Strain in the Order, appearing already it is. Light side emotions, a balm against the feel of the Dark Side they are. Lead to further complications, opening ourselves up to the Dark Side they might be, but a defense against the Dark Side they are as well._

 _Yet wonder do I, what caused this increased outflow of emotion. Master Ti, one to project like this she is not._ He was still wondering later that day when the exercise ended having no wish to simply ask because he felt it rude and did not fit his position as Grand Master. His race was also against his understanding this topic, since he had only observed lovers occasionally outside the Order and none of those couples were Force sensitives.

This did not impact his ability to help Ranma with his Neko-Ken meditations. That day the martial artist was able to let one of the local feline-equivalents sit in his lap for twenty minutes, an impressive feat given that the day before they had only managed five.

As the two lovers were leaving Yoda however, he spoke up, arresting their movement. "Master Plo Koon, finishing on Mandalore he will be within a week. Coming to Kashyyyk he will be, before assigning his next mission we will. When he arrives, here will you be?"

"Uncertain at this time, old frog. I think it's time for us to move on. I even have the next few planets whose martial arts styles I want to explore lined up, but Shaak here wants to make certain her lessons with Ahsoka take before we leave, right?" Ranma said, first directing a teasing smile at Yoda than a far more tender smile towards Shaak, missing how Yoda seemed to be contemplating breaking in his new gimer stick on him for a second.

"Indeed. She has had two days now back with her clan, but I would like to observe Ahsoka's interaction with them and her solo meditation practices for a few more days," Shaak supplied. That this would allow the two of them a few more days mostly to themselves on Kashyyyk was also a bonus, which neither would voice to the Grand Master.

Shaak went on musingly as the three of them entered the corridor, making their way down to the commissary for the evening meal. "I also have to admit to some curiosity in talking to Master Koon about exactly how the changeover has gone. Bo wanted the power of Mandalore, but given her personality she might be regretting that now."

 **OOOOOOO**

On Mandalore at around the same time as Ranma had finished up his meditation exercises Plo Koon had just begun his. Despite that and the fact that he was alone at present on the roof of the hotel he was staying in, the Kel Dor Jedi Master could have told Shaak the answer to her question: a resounding yes.

While the process was still ongoing on the lower levels, the younger Kryze sibling had taken control entirely of the government of Mandalore by this point. She had not acted as part of Plo had been worried she might, only putting her own people in power in certain places, not everywhere she could have. She left the New Mandalorians in charge of many of the municipalities and parts of the government even while changing the government's fundamental structure.

One example of these changes was that Bo ordered the online learning system the New Mandalorians had developed expanded. Eventually it would cover the entire planet, though what was taught through it had been changed to include what the Reborn wanted the young to learn. Plo had been called in to keep the peace in those discussions more often than any other, but in his opinion the new curriculum was a decent compromise between the two dichotomous social messages. With it the young would have enough knowledge of the two belief systems to make a truly informed decision on which to join.

Of course training centers had sprung up overnight practically everywhere on Mandalore. More and more younger people were joining up with the Reborn even from the cities which were nominally NM strongholds. The changed Resol'nare, however, seemed to call out to the adventurer in the young. It brought them in by droves to either join up or to start training as Mandalorians in the first place.

Bo Katan had even let the NM's retain control of most of the planet's industrial base, acknowledging that they had been the ones to rebuild it and the fact that it was centered in the cities they controlled. She had, however, begun to push hard for more orbital industry, devoting a huge amount of the government's budget to that, pulling that money from other areas. Bo Katan wanted to build more ships and expand their influence while also patrolling the space lanes between the planets which had already joined them. Even now the first few orbital shipyards were nearing completion.

But Bo Katan had also learned the first rule of ruling: that it often means you spend a lot of your time doing things you don't like with people you can't get along with. Her personal training time had swiftly taken over her evenings and served as a much needed break from her duties. Plo idly reflected that such personal training, beyond being necessary under the tenants of the Resol'nare, were possibly the only thing keeping Bo Katan both sane and on Mandalore instead of leading the small separate campaigns going on to wipe out various pirate bands that made their home in this sector.

Pushing such thoughts aside, Plo settled into his meditation, reaching out to the Force as he would normally. He had never been the strongest Jedi in terms of his ability to reach into the future, though this was offset by his ability to discern what he had to do in the now. And with the Veil of the Dark Side impacting his ability, Plo rarely received visions these days.

This was not the case today. Barely fifteen minutes after entering his meditation Plo had a vision. It was of his niece, Sha Koon, who also was a Jedi. She had just become a Knight the year before, and had since been going through the acclimatization process all Knights did in being on solo missions. He had no idea, of course, what mission she was on currently; their last discussion had been before he left Coruscant for Mandalore a little under a year ago. He knew she was well, and as a Consular she had been working with various security forces on nonviolent crimes, but that was all.

The vision was so clear, at first Plo thought that she had reached out to him through their telepathic connection, a means of communication Kel Dor Force users could use over vast distances. The two of them had used it to communicate with one another during the Stark Hyperspace War when Sha was a young padawan, which had served the Order and the Republic well. After a moment, however, he realized this was not the case: the image was too vague and had none of the flavor it would have had if that was the case.

The vision was of Sha Koon in danger, uncertain danger coming on her suddenly, from an unseen source. Then of her being trapped, snared in something or perhaps in an actual cage. The same danger seemed to hover over her image, slowly closing its grip, a grip, moreover, made of shadows.

Coming out of his meditation, Plo let loose a long breath behind his gas mask, centering himself in the Force after the impact of the unanticipated vision. Then he reached out in the Force to the telepathic connection he and his niece shared, only to find…nothing. It felt as if she was unconscious, due to wounds or something else, he could not tell. And with her unconscious, he could get no feel for her location either.

With no target to assault Plo Koon had no means to deal with this sudden vision on his own, so he immediately went to Mandalore's Hypercom system and contacted Master Windu and Master Yoda. The Master of the Order and the Grand Master listened without comment for a time as he explained. And, when they spoke, neither attacked the veracity of the vision or the familial connection that had no doubt spawned it, taking it at face value.

Instead Windu simply told the other two what he knew of Sha Koon's mission. "Sha Koon was selected to go on a mission to the Dorin system about a month and a half back. Several sector-wide corporations were being investigated for insider trading and misappropriation of public funds, hence why the Republic was involved in the investigation. It seemed a simple enough job, but as the evidence was pointing to the perpetrators operating on or over Dorin, we had to choose a Jedi to send that could breathe the environment there."

Dorin was a type three planet, which meant it had a helium based atmosphere rather than oxygen. This meant that very few races could breathe on it. The planet was also home to winds that even on the local equivalent of a normal day could tear the skin off of less hardy species. For example, humans could survive the atmosphere for a few moments without a rebreather, but not the actual environment. This had contributed to how few native animal species there were, as well as the development of the Kel Dor as a sentient race.

"Her last report was that she had exonerated one of the companies, but was closing in on a negative verdict against the other two, and that she might have found an issue on Dorin itself that she was going to look into. Given how few even among Jedi would be comfortable operating in Dorin, Master Gallia and I agreed that she could remain after completing her assigned mission," Windu finished, frowning thoughtfully.

"You made the right decision at the time," Plo Koon said promptly. Given the unique environment of their race's home planet, other races could not operate there nearly as well, and few, indeed, even tried. "And given the sometimes confusing social mores of Kel Dor, Sha or I would have been sent to deal with any such issue in the first place."

Left unsaid was that a portion of this was because the Kel Dor justice system was **very** different than the Republic's. And the Kel Dor firmly believed that their system took precedence on their planet. It was harsh but fair to all, more concerned about preserving the community than anything else.

For example, in terms of blue collar crimes, embezzlement would see someone fined heavily, sometimes up to twice the amount of money they had misused. If they could not pay, they would be forced to do service for the local community until the balance was paid.

Murderers or rapists, on the other hand, would be put to death immediately after their guilt was proven. The Kel Dor had no place for prisons in their system. To them if you were guilty of something which you shouldn't die for, it was best you were free to make penance to society under the watchful eye of your fellows. If you were guilty of such, you were put to death, simple as that.

"But that leaves what kind of trouble she could have run into. The vision I saw made it seem as if the danger came from a source she had not anticipated, so it is doubtful it came from her official mission going bad," Plo went on. "It also leaves us with a quandary, since the same issues which made Sha Koon the obvious one to be sent there make finding someone to go after her difficult.

"Certain are you, this danger a shadow its form took?" Yoda asked.

"Yes, Master Yoda. It was like a grasping shadow suddenly took her from behind, a spectre of death or violence of some kind, coming upon Sha unseen," Plo Koon replied.

Master Windu frowned at that, leaning back thoughtfully as he looked over to Yoda, who said nothing, but looked back at him silently. Both of them were wondering about the symbology of that, and wondering if perhaps, just perhaps, this was a break they had been looking for.

Nodding his head decisively, Yoda allowed a thin smile to come to his face. "Send Ranma and Master Ti we will. Martial arts, your planet has. Interest Ranma it will, and antsy he is becoming here on Kashyyyk. Further, Jedi here on Kashyyyk, becoming…curious, they are, of certain recent changes between them. Remove the two of them, best it would be."

"Will Ranma be able to handle wearing a gas mask all the time? He isn't a Jedi, so might have issues with the particular brand of claustrophobia that wearing such brings to the surface," Windu asked. "I agree with your reasoning, but I am just wondering if he will be able to handle it as Master Ti will via her Jedi training."

"Foresee a difficulty there, I do not. Come up with a solution Ranma will if faced with such a problem. Unique it will no doubt be," Yoda replied dryly.

While Windu nodded agreement, Plo Koon bowed deeply, the gesture visible in the pickup of the Mandalore Hypercom array. "Thank you, Master Yoda. I had not wanted to ask to allow to go myself; that smacks too much of putting a personal concern and connection over duty. But it is gratifying to see you are taking this seriously."

"It would have only been putting your personal connection over your duty if you had broken away from Mandalore as I know you wanted to," Windu replied, while Yoda fell silent, neither of them wishing to tell the other man over a communication like this why they were taking it so seriously. "And while I would not have thought of Ranma, he and Master Ti will certainly be able to deal with any physical danger they face. If Sha Koon is a prisoner somewhere, they will rescue her."

"Your replacement, arrive next week local time he will," Yoda said, looking at Plo Koon. "After that, free to join them on Dorin you will be. For now, tell the two of them of our request, I should."

 **OOOOOOO**

Ending the communication, Yoda sent a message to the _Wild Light_. Shaak and Ranma had retreated to their ship for the night as they always did, and given the time he was unsurprised to get their astromech droid instead of either of them. "This is Tune. My master and mistress are asleep. May I take a message?"

Harrumphing, Yoda smacked his gimer stick against the communications device as if it was the droid in question. "Hrhrhrm, Master Yoda this is. Get them up, you will. Important issue, arisen one has."

Tune's childlike voice responded in a tone of finality. "I will take a message and tell them to call you back the instant they wake up."

"Hrhrhrm, asleep they are not. Get them on the line now you will," Yoda said gruffly, taking a brief second to reach out and feel for Shaak and Ranma's minds. He could feel something off about them, but they were certainly awake. He found it odd that Shaak hadn't felt his Force touch on her mind, but put it down to her concentrating on whatever it was they were doing, which strangely enough was heightening her emotions and her concentration on the physical world to an almost alarming degree. _Part of what has changed between them, it could be. Know I do not what that could be, but unimportant it is._

"I will not!" The droid's reply was just as firm as before. "My master and mistress are busy currently, and I will not interrupt them. The last time HK did that he nearly got his ugly head kicked off, and he's a combat droid. I don't want to chance them trying the same kind of attack on me."

Yoda spent several moments smacking the side of the communication device, glowering angrily at it as if through it he could force the recalcitrant droid on the other end to follow his orders. To say Yoda had issues with droids was a distinct understatement. "Time, of the essence this is. Life of a Jedi, on the line could be. Wake them up now you will, or come down there myself I will."

For a moment Tune fell silent, then there was the squeal of an electronic sigh. "If either the master or mistress scrap me because of this I will find some way of getting back at you, Master Yoda."

"Hrhrhrm, take that chance, I will," Yoda replied dryly.

Thankfully for Tune's continued existence Shaak and Ranma had just finished up their lovemaking for the evening so all they did was growl at him before deciding to take the communication from where they were in the sitting room. Once they were brought onto the line and the problem had been explained, Ranma and Shaak took a brief moment to look at one another before replying affirmatively.

"Of course, Master Yoda. If you feel this could be a lead on the Sith we all believe is out there, then we'll be happy to take it," Shaak replied for them both. She had also made certain the transceiver was only picking up their heads.

"Yeah, and besides, Plo mentioned some of the Force techniques his people's home grown Force group had developed. They sounded interesting, so even if this is a wild goose chase we might pick up some new tricks," Ranma said, pulling his hand up from where it had been resting on Shaak's naked hip, tracing the white claw mark there, to give a thumb's up in the pickup.

"We will need to wear gas masks. I will come by within an hour to pick them up, while Ranma contacts Kashyyyk Space control to tell them we're leaving," Shaak said. "That will also allow me to speak to Ahsoka before we go. I do not want to simply disappear in the night like this after what occurred the last time."

Yoda smiled at their willingness to help, even though Ranma had no obligation to keep helping the Order like this. Then again, Yoda reflected, the Sith had taken shots at Ranma himself before this, so he might well consider this a way to find his own enemy rather than the enemy of the Order and the Republic. A second later the connection cut out, and Yoda leaned back on his cushion, closing his eyes as he meditated. As the _Wild Light_ broke atmosphere Yoda had reached a conclusion, despite his visions of the future still being clouded to be utterly useless.

 _A sign of the Light breaking through this could be. Yet sense it is not, I do. Trap this could be. Still, trap to snare a Jedi, snare Ranma it will not. And if for Ranma designed this trap is, more attention on Ranma and Shaak Ti this will demand. Blind our enemy to more long term plans it will…_

 **OOOOOOO**

Sidious smiled in the darkness of his hidden throne room, ignoring the slight trickle of blood coming from his nose, a sign of the concentration and effort it had taken to influence a Jedi Master from so far away. He had to be very, **very** careful when using the Veil of the Dark Side to influence the Jedi. Like a thin layer of oil, the Veil was there whenever a Jedi reached out to touch the Force which in this analogy was the water under the oil. But if he wasn't careful the Jedi in question would feel the oil entering his system. And from this far away the difficulty was magnified, made all the worse by the ongoing effect of the Chaotic Locus.

 _Even so, I did it. A brief vision of his niece in trouble, and he will send it on to others. Yoda will then believe he sees an opportunity to ensnare me and will never realize that I am one step ahead of him._

With that in mind, Sidious opened up a connection to Set Harth electronically. Since Harth wasn't his apprentice, Sidious had not instilled a mental connection, though in terms of skill Harth was closer to becoming a Darth than Vosa. But Sidious wanted to be certain the man understood his place in the hierarchy, and talking to him via electronic communication rather than the Force was another way of making certain he did. And over the distance he had to reach, in this case, it was simply easier for the exhausted Sith Lord.

To keep Harth from sensing his exhaustion, Sidious kept the communication short: two simple sentences, in fact, loading them with as much menace and command that he could. "The trap has been baited; you will have them there soon. You had best be prepared."

 **OOOOOOO**

Dorin was a planet located in the Expansion Region's Daedalus sector, and the system was further caught between the pull of two black holes. Given that Kashyyyk was in the Mytaranor sector of the Mid Rim, they couldn't even rely on the trade routes that served Kashyyyk, save for the Randon Run, to start them off. It would, by Tune's estimate, take them at least four days to make the trip and over twenty small jumps after leaving the Randon Run before hitting the Celanon Spur in Corsin and going the rest of the way in one.

This gave Shaak and Ranma some more time to themselves, almost the same time they would've had if they had followed their original plans to stay on Kashyyyk another week, something they were both pleased about, even though they were worried about Sha Koon. They didn't spent every moment making love, but they could've been accused of spending half of their time aboard the _Wild Light_ naked, which invariably led to that, without much in the way of argument.

By the time they reached it, Corsin hadn't been the first inhabited system they had passed through on their way, of course. Indeed, most of the star systems they had to stop in to allow Tune to calculate their next jump since leaving Kashyyyk had been inhabited. But it was the first system where the ship's IFF code hadn't been enough to get them ignored by the locals.

The young lovers found this out when Tune called them up to the cockpit, his childlike voice sounding rather querulous. "Master, mistress, we are being hailed by someone calling themselves the system space control for the League of Free Humanity. Further, we are being ordered to lower our shields and wait to be brought into a freighter for a contraband search."

Shaak blinked, looking over at Ranma who looked back, one eyebrow rising in surprise. "Did you change the transponder at some point?" she asked.

"Shaak, I wouldn't even know how," Ranma replied.

"Then we should be registering as a ship on Jedi business to any friendly government. This is bizarre." Shaak frowned, reaching out with her Force powers for a moment. Given they had arrived in the outer system she couldn't reach to the planet very easily, but there were several small stations nearby and further out a series of living habitats on some asteroids. From these she could pull a sense of the gestalt emotions and even sometimes the thoughts of the inhabitants. "I sense…anger here, a lot of anger…and fear. Some kind of conflict is going on here, but it is not directed at us."

"I'll go power up HK, just in case. We've had him turned off for a while now, and if he misses the first chance at a real fight we've seen in months he'll be tetchy." Ranma said. "I'm assuming we're going to stick our noses in on this?" Ranma knew that Shaak, as a Jedi, would want to try and bring a halt to whatever conflict was going on, and he had to admit to wanting to see a bit of real violence himself.

"I'm afraid so, but I would prefer to use words rather than fists," Shaak said, frowning. "Let me see if I can talk to whoever is hailing us."

So saying, Shaak slid into her chair in the cockpit, centering herself in the Force and making certain she looked presentable as a Jedi, which over the past few days of travel had not been a consideration. _Rather the reverse, actually, considering our activities,_ he thought ruefully.

A moment later she opened the communication system to reply to the hail, idly noticing that Tune had highlighted a large freighter that had broken orbit around the nearest habitat and was making its way over toward them. "This is Jedi Master Shaak Ti on the Jedi-aligned private ship the _Wild Light_. We are passing through your space on urgent Order business. Please identify yourselves and authenticate your last transmission."

"This is the Corsin Space Patrol. Apologies, Master Jedi we…" The voice trailed off as the communication's video system activated, and the human male on the other end first stared, then his tone and even the vague feel of him in the Force changed from surprise to contempt to match his words. "That's a very unlikely story. It's well known the Order only travels in its own starfighters or Senate registered diplomatic ships. Regardless, we demand you heave to and prepare for inspection."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot comply with that request. As I said, we are on Order business and wish to move on as quickly as possible," Shaak replied, calm in the face of the man's sneering contempt for her while internally wondering if this was some kind of anti-Jedi sentiment.

A moment later, however, she found that this was not the case at all, as the man sneered. "I heard you the first time, but my orders still stand, Togrutan," he said, spitting the name of her race. "All alien ships are to be searched for contraband, regardless of their registry. We of the League of Free Humanity will never allow the perversity and lawlessness of alien races to continue to contaminate our way of life!"

Shaak blinked in surprise, but before she could reply the man on the other side went on. "Prepare to be boarded, Jedi, if that's what you really are. Your secrets and lies will not avail you against humans freed of the blinders placed on them by aliens like you!"

With that he cut the connection leaving Shaak to gaze in consternation at the communication screen. She looked over to the entrance of the cockpit, however, sensing Ranma there before he could speak. "What do you think about that?"

"Well, I suppose they have a point about the perversity," Ranma teased.

"Who was it who corrupted whom here?" Shaak shot back. "Besides, I've never heard you complain before this."

"True," Ranma replied equably before turning back to the current issue. "So, how do you want to play this?"

Shaak sighed, but smiled at her man's (at the moment, anyway) willingness to follow her lead. "Given this seems to be one of the hate groups the Order had told me about which have sprung up across the Republic, I think you should be the one to answer the boarding party when that freighter pulls us into its hold. It will be a tight squeeze, I think, but doable."

Ranma nodded holding back an entirely inappropriate quip about tight spaces for a moment, despite what they had been doing before Tune's call interrupted them. "You still want to see if we can get out of this without violence?"

"I would prefer to hold off on violence until we know more. The transmission came in over the local space control's approved signal system, so this particular group of racists might have taken control of the government in some fashion, possibly even legally. If that is the case, solving that issue will take far longer than our current mission would allow for. I wish we were closer to the main planets so I could sense if that was the case, but we are not," Shaak replied with a self-deprecating shrug of her shoulders. "So we might wish to tread lightly here for the moment, if only so we can get on with our mission."

"Yeah… Tread lightly… hmm, might have to look that one up in a dictionary, Shaak," Ranma replied with a laugh, but Shaak shooed him out of the cockpit, moving to follow him a moment later.

A few moments later the larger freighter had opened its large main doors to swallow up the _Wild Light_. The ship then kept moving, according to Tune, who had linked himself into it via the communication system. At the same time a crowd of individuals made their way over to the ship from a nearby doorway leading deeper into the ship, where they had been hiding behind a blast barricade.

Looking them over from the security camera, Tune reported to his master and mistress. "Masters, the locals do seem to wear a uniform. It is green pants and shirt, a long sleeve shirt with tight shoulders but wide sleeves. There seems to be an arm patch they all wear, a raised black fist on a white background. However, looking closer, I see more facial hair than most militaries would allow, their weapons do not match, though are of uniformly decent quality, and their boots, though serviceable, do not match. If they are a police or military unit, they are not a regular one. Further, they are all human males."

"More evidence they might not be real officials, or perhaps have thrown out the old establishment," Shaak murmured, while Ranma moved to lower the ramp.

A second later Ranma was leading the officers into the main sitting room. HK was nowhere in sight for the moment, hidden in the kitchen, slightly out of sight. "As you can see, gentlemen, we don't even have anywhere we could hide contraband, let alone anything else. This ship's our home, not a business ship."

"I can see that," said the one in charge before he snapped his fingers. Half the men following him spread to surround Ranma while the other half moved toward Shaak who was standing in the short corridor which lead to their rooms and the cockpit, ignoring the sight of the lightsaber at her waist. The man himself sneered at Ranma contemptibly. "Fucking alien lover with your little love nest. Well, both you and this alien slut are going to learn what we do to deviants like you in Corsin."

Shaak closed her eyes briefly, the words rolling off her easily thanks to her Jedi training. It wouldn't even occur to her to become angry at them, even if they offended her as a woman and Jedi both. But Ranma had never learned to turn the other cheek to insults, especially to someone he cared about.

"Yeah, no," Ranma said, reaching forward and lifting the man into the air by two fingers to his nose of all things. As the man screamed the others raised their weapons and, without hesitating, opened fire on Ranma, their guns not set to stun.

Ranma, however, simply stood there, taking the bolts, the only damage being to his shirt. A second later he turned, hurling their officer by the nose hook Ranma had used to lift him off the ground.

The ones who had moved around Ranma towards Shaak had joined in at firing on Ranma, turning away from her. Now they found themselves suddenly picked up by an unseen force and hurled past him out the still open landing ramp. Fighting an urge to say something like, 'and stay out,' Shaak looked over to see that Ranma had finished the ones he had hurled their officer into, knocking them out with sharp blows to the head. They would have concussions and possibly lose some badly needed brain cells thanks to that, but they would be alive.

Growling angrily still at the insult paid to Shaak, Ranma turned to the doorway leading into the kitchen. "Hey, HK."

HK's looming bulk moved out of the kitchen, taking in the carnage Ranma had left. "Depressed plea: Master, if you activate me, the least you could do is let me have some of the fun. Calling me out only after the fact is just plain mean."

"Heh, nope. This was more of a prelude, HK. Shaak, why don't you see if you can get in touch with any of the locals who aren't connected to this bunch of racist pricks? HK and I can handle this."

As Shaak nodded at that idea, Ranma turned back to HK. "This isn't a battle to the death, HK. This is more along the lines of a spanking, though that doesn't mean we have to be overly nice about it. So I want two out of three alive, HK. And not crippled unless you can do it in a humorous and edifying manner. Perhaps taking their blasters and shoving them where the sun doesn't shine."

"Upbeat response: Now that is more like it, master. Affirmative. I'd prefer to slaughter all of the meatbags foolish enough to attack you like this; it would probably better the gene pool in the long run. But at least this will be both amusing and technically difficult."

HK went on as he led the way down the landing ramp. A series of stun bolts flashed from his weapon at the pile of groaning boarders who Shaak had hurled off the ship, knocking them out. "Bemused tone: But what part of the body is specifically called the place where the sun doesn't shine? There are, after all, many parts of a meatbag's body that are not designed to see the light of day."

Watching the avatar of chaos and his homicidal droid, Shaak shook her head sadly, almost feeling sorry for the racist idiots who had decided to try and get in their way. Then she turned back and began to sift through the local communications network, trying to figure out what was really going on in this system.

The resultant battle for the freighter was exceedingly anticlimactic, despite HK's best attempts to mentally scar the surviving racists through various means. "It was like they didn't even realize we had knocked out their boarding party! They never even had any internal security respond to our attacks, and they thought I was one of them for the first few clashes! I like a good fight, damn it, and this wasn't good or challenging or interesting at all!"

"Disdainful tone: Many of the foolish meatbags even attempted to give me orders, as if I was a mere servitor droid. Smug comment: not that I allowed that notion to remain in their heads for very long," HK commented via the communicator as the _Wild Light_ exited the freighter's open hanger bay.

The instant they were out in space once more, the _Wild Light_ turned its heading toward the system's sole real planet, an orange and dark brown planetoid around the size of Kashyyyk. Behind them HK piloted the freighter as best he could to follow them.

"That doesn't surprise me. I doubt very much that this group is being led by intellectual giants, and stupidity tends to have a trickle-down effect," Shaak replied dryly.

"What did you find out, anyway?" Ranma asked.

"The group is one of many racist groups which have sprung up, somewhat more organized than most, and heavily represented among the asteroid miners, hence why we are heading in-system. As for the League itself, their platform is that humanity has been halted from taking its 'rightful place' by the nonhuman races. Whatever that is seems to vary from one propaganda broadsheet to another. Never mind the fact that humanity is by the far the most numerous species in the Republic and in many ways the most powerful!" Shaak said with a sad shake of her head.

"As for their being a representative of the government here, not entirely, but they are unfortunately heavily represented among the government,. Stopping ships like they attempted with us is a relatively new thing for them, and I have no doubt the main 'League' will disavow such actions in a tongue in cheek manner once the events today become commonly known."

At Ranma's quizzical look she sighed, but then explained her meaning. "Their leaders will say something like, 'Of course violence is never the answer. We abhor their actions, despite it being certain that the aliens coming in from other systems are indeed part of the conspiracy trying to keep us down,' or 'the trouble plaguing us,' or whatever they try to feed the mindless drones that have bought into their drivel. It will do nothing to stop the violence, and may in fact cause more."

"So are we going to do anything about it?" Ranma asked.

"No. Solving this issue will take the Republic getting involved and sending a diplomatic team. We can hand over our prisoners, and I will talk to the police. From there I will request that Republic intervention. With my voice added to that of the planetary governor, the Senate will have to act. I can also bypass them slightly and contact the nearest Ord system to have them send a starfighter squadron to Corsin to keep the peace," Shaak shrugged. "Other than that, I don't think that we can spend any time here at all."

"Will you need me around for that?"

Shaak's eyes narrowed at what she was feeling from Ranma via the Force just now. He was not happy with the idea of doing nothing, but there was also a sense of duplicity interwoven with his irritation with the racists. "Why?"

"Oh, I just thought HK and I could take in the sights," Ranma replied in an overly innocent tone of voice, but he wouldn't meet her eyes.

Leaning back in her chair, Shaak was torn between reaching out to the Force for guidance and simply going with her gut feelings about this. After a second she did reach out, and got a feeling from the Force that for some reason reminded her of the feeling she felt whenever Ranma shifted forms, like the Force was having a joke at someone's expense. And this time it wasn't Ranma, rather it was coming from him. "Very well, I don't actually have to know what you want to do."

"Nope, you don't." Ranma nodded beatifically at that, and then laughed, leaning over to kiss her tenderly on the cheek right below where her white markings began around her eyes. "Don't worry, love. I'm not going to fly off the handle, not entirely, anyway."

Later, as Shaak was talking to the local authorities and contacting the Republic about the issues here in Corsin, Ranma and HK took the _Wild Light_ back out into the outer system to the asteroid that had been the freighter's last port of call. There they locked the ship down and stepped out into the asteroid's hanger bay, smiling at the locals. Most of them were human men, and Ranma wondered idly if hate groups always had an easier time recruiting young male idiots than any other group for some reason.

Shaking off that thought, Ranma turned to HK. "No guns for this, HK, and no killing either. I sort of promised Shaak. We're here to humiliate, frustrate, and threaten, not pile up the bodies. That'll come if this group is still here and operating if we come back this way again."

"Resigned response: Understood, master. Irritated mumble: I never get to have any fun."

"I'll ignore that," Ranma replied with a chirp in her tone. Ranma had changed to his female form deliberately for this, figuring it would add another note to the symphony of humiliation she wanted to create here. The two of them moved towards the inner airlock which led deeper into the asteroid as Ranma contacted Tune, asking him to make certain this was the only real exit. When the droid answered in the affirmative, Ranma knew her impromptu plan was going to work.

The airlock opened up into a larger hollow area lined with shops, stalls, entrances to various homes, and other things. It was semi-crowded by miners, prospectors, and other such types, the noise a loud drone of hundreds of competing voices to Ranma's senses. A lot of them were armed, and the vast majority were wearing the same arm band the crew of the freighter had worn. Those that weren't were all older individuals who stepped around the ones wearing the arm band warily.

The moment the human girl and droid entered, they found themselves the center of attention. Every man there, even the older ones without the arm bands, eyed her up like a piece of meat.

Ranma shivered slightly at the looks she was getting, but since that was part of her plan, she didn't immediately do anything to the men who were quite obviously undressing her with their eyes. Instead she hopped over to the nearest armband wearing individual and asked, "Hi, I was wondering if I could talk to the leader of the Free Humanity League? I was thinking about joining up, but I don't really know enough about what you all stand for just yet. So I figured, why not learn about it from the ones leading the movement?"

With every word Ranma bounced lightly on her feet, the bounciness doing interesting things to her chest. The man in front of her lost any ability to question what Ranma was saying, how she had gotten here, or what the giant droid behind her was doing there. It was all he could do not to actually drool or just jump Ranma right then and there.

Instead he gulped, then put on what he probably thought was a saucy smile as he leaned down, putting an arm around Ranma's shoulders. "Damn, I could wish more women thought about joining up, but I suppose getting dirty like that isn't something that appeals ta most girls. But sorry to say, babe, no one sees the leaders until they join up and swear the oath. I could put in a good word for you, though…"

"Wrong answer." Ranma's voice had changed from a breathy sort of excited tone to a snarl with those two words, and her small, feminine fist shot down like a drop hammer, thumping into the man's balls with agonizing force. The blow lifted him off his feet and he fell, hands scrabbling at his very private agony.

As that man whimpered around his very private pain, Ranma turned to the next man. "You, where are the leaders of your band of merry morons?"

That man growled, reaching for her. "You little tart, I'm gonna teach YAGHGH!"

The second man's words ended in a screech of pain as HK reached out and grabbed his arm, hurling him away. "Eager announcement: my mastress is asking a simple question, meatbags. Failure to answer will result in pain and humiliation. Please do keep resisting. That will make this ever so much more fun."

Dozens of men rushed the two of them, and Ranma grinned in anticipation, cracking her knuckles and neck. "Now to find if you can cure stupid through violence and humiliation."

"Drawled interjection: master, if that was so, the galaxy's history would be vastly different," HK said before lashing out with his claw hand to one side, flinging several League members away while his other first punched out in a quick punch that rocked another man backward.

"Yeah, I know. Just remember to record everything, HK. We want this saved for posterity, after all," Ranma replied before charging forward.

The fight that followed was short, sharp, and very one sided. Even after the League members remembered they had blasters, Ranma and HK shrugged off their hand held weapons with ease. Ranma's shirt and pants suffered, which gave the last few men to fall to their assault a bit too much of a show for her liking, but Ranma used the Swift Change technique to change into a second pair of shirt and pants.

None of the group really owned up to being the leader at any point, but Ranma was fine with that. While HK began to move around, tearing armbands off people and destroying their weapons, Ranma started the humiliation part of his plan. Dozens of the League members found themselves trussed up by their boots to the habitat's ceiling. Others found themselves stripped to their boxers, with little slogans drawn on them with permanent marker. Some of these were simple, others elaborate, but all of them attacked either the idea of racism or the person in particular.

This took quite a while, given the number of people they were dealing with, indeed, quite a bit longer than the actual battle. But eventually it was finished, and Ranma moved over to one of the locals who several of the others had tried to protect during Ranma's rampage. He in turn had tried to get past Ranma and HK to the landing area, which Ranma figured was the way the leader of this group would act.

Ranma woke him from his unconsciousness with a slap to the face. The man snarled, then seemed to realize where he was and what had happened, quailing slightly as Ranma glared at him. "Okay, my man, here's what going to happen. I'm a human, and as a human I think you and your group are a bunch of fascist assholes. This ain't some kind of alien conspiracy; this ain't a Republic response to you. That would have given you legitimacy, and you don't have any. No, this is me, a concerned citizen, informing you that I don't like the way you've been acting."

The man made to speak, but Ranma slapped him once, not hard, just a light tap of the fingers, and he shut up as Ranma turned him around to look at the rest of the habitat to see what Ranma and HK had done to his followers. "Your League is going to shut down, you're going to no longer even think about attacking aliens or acting like pirates or rabble-rousers of any stripe. If you've got a problem with the way things are run, bitch and moan about it, but don't just attack all non-humans like they are the ones to blame for your own fuck ups or general lack of looks, skill, or intelligence. If you don't shut down your League BS, I'm going to sell the footage of this fight and make you lot the laughing stock of the Republic. Try to get yourselves taken seriously in your skivvies after being beaten by a single, very short, girl. I dare you."

The man remained silent after this small diatribe, staring at the wreckage of his Free Humanity League, which had really only just begun to flex their muscles. That kind of reversal to their public image would ruin them, and even might spread to the rest of the movement here in Corsin.

Ranma went on, smiling thinly. "I know your group ain't the only hate group out there, or even the only chapter, I suppose, of the League. So you just tell all the others you know about me. Tell 'em whatever you want; cover your ass however you can, so long as they realize that if they don't stop it with this fascist crap, I might be coming after them. Okay?"

With that Ranma dropped the man on a small pile of mostly naked men, patted him once on the head, and walked away. The man stared after the short, incredibly strong and scary girl before staring around once more at his followers as he wondered just what the hell had happened, and maybe if he tried hard enough he could wake up from this bizarre dream.

For their part, Ranma and HK took the _Wild Light_ back in-system to pick up Shaak, who had done what she could. She took a brief moment on the landing ramp to look at Ranma before shaking her head. "I'm not going to ask. I refuse to even speculate about what you have done, Ranma."

"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway," Ranma retorted with a laugh.

Ranma did so as HK powered down once more, and the ship headed out-system, preparatory for a hyperspace jump. Listening, Shaak laughed several times during Ranma's tale, blanching at others when Ranma went into a little too much detail on some of the miner's bodies, which were not flattering at all. "That is one way of dealing with the racist idiots that would never occur to me, embarrassing them like that in public and amongst themselves," she confessed.

"Meh, that's what you've got me for," Ranma said with a grin, her head on Shaak's lap. She had yet to transform back to her male body for some reason.

Letting her eyes slowly trace down Ranma's body, Shaak smiled, one hand gently sliding under Ranma's shirt over her stomach. Once under the redhead's shirt, Shaak's hand began to move in slow circles, tracing her fingers around the flat, incredibly toned stomach.

"Yeah, heh, not at all surprising, is it, considering how good I look," Ranma bragged, then shrugged. "And the fact there were no girls among the asteroid miners, well, it had probably been a while since they saw a woman.

Shaak chuckled quietly, her hand moving around Ranma's stomach, rubbing slowly against the bottom of her breasts. "Hmm, that could have something to do with the boarders' antipathy towards me as well, I suppose."

Shivering, Ranma felt her body beginning to respond to Shaak's touch. But there was one more thing she wanted to know before leaving this subject. "Shaak, these hate groups, do you think they could have been started by this Sith that's out there?"

Shaak's hand stilled just as she began to move it up to trace around Ranma's breasts, and she sighed, pulling her hand out from under Ranma's shirt. "The Order has looked into that, but while the hate they feel and the conflicts they are starting feed the Dark Side, they do not do so in a controlled manner. So if this mysterious Sith started it, he couldn't possibly control it."

"Hmm… Then…smoke and mirrors, to throw us off the scent?" Ranma mused. _God damn it, if only we had a real freaking target! I hope this mission of ours gives us that, because I am starting to get the impression I'm a freaking target for the opposition, and they know precisely where I am, when I know next to nothing about them._

"Indeed. That and don't forget that it ties up Jedi resources. Several Jedi have died thanks to these groups, but the tide seems to have begun turning against them. The Core Worlds have expunged most of the hate groups that popped up within their borders when we were on Mandalore, and the Chancellor's push for reform seems to have taken the—what is the term?—the wind out of many of the racist groups' sails. Their rhetoric doesn't make much sense, given that the Chancellor is human and works closely with several of the other races, and is pushing to do away with the corruption and 'perversion' the hate crimes rail against."

She frowned then, thinking as something about that sentence niggled at her senses. It wasn't a strong feeling, but it was there. _The Force is telling me_ _I am missing something there, but I can't detect what._

Before she could concentrate on it, Ranma leaned up, capturing Shaak's lips in a kiss as she pulled the taller girl's head down to her. "That's enough talking, I think. Now, let's do something to get our minds off the idiots…"

 **OOOOOOO**

"Well on the whole, I have to say this trip has been one of the most peaceful we've had in a long while. Dare I hope that this becomes a new trend?" Shaak quipped as the _Wild Light_ slid into orbit over Dorin.

Dorin was a planet only a few thousand kilometers bigger than Earth in diameter, with a dark orange and brown atmosphere with only a few clouds of white scattered here and there. The atmosphere was so thick you couldn't spot the lights of even ships entering or exiting the thermosphere, let alone anything below that, which you could on many planets.

There were several dozen medium sized space stations in orbit, and there looked to be a few large installations on the planet's single moon as well. The traffic here wasn't much and seemed to consist of a few scattered large freighters from out-system and dozens of smaller, local craft.

Shaak's hands paused on the controls as she noticed the look Ranma was giving her, then went over what she had just said and sighed. "If something happens after this, I will start believing in your idea that the Force looks unfavorably on such statements…"

"You mean when I said I was luck's bum bitch?" Ranma asked, mock-innocently, causing Shaak to smack him on the shoulder.

When she spoke next, however, her voice was serious. "I am going to meditate for a time before we head down to meet the government representative. I would like to know more about what might be going on down there."

"Right. Where's Sha Koon's ship? I'll go over and check it out, see if I can find any clues."

Now it was Shaak's turn to stare incredulously, and Ranma pouted. "Hey, it could happen!" Ignoring his lover's gurgling laughter at that, Ranma turned to HK. "HK, stay up here with Shaak just in case you're attacked while I'm away. And while we're flying down, I want you to reload with lethal weapons. There's a very good chance we're walking into a trap."

"Lofty response: But a trap for a Jedi will not be up to taking someone of my proven lethality. Begrudging addition: Or your own and that of your Togrutan."

Shaak ignored the dig sent her way like she did all insults, pulling her legs up under her as she began to reach out to the Force.

While Shaak was searching in her own way for some clues as to what had happened to Sha Koon, Ranma turned away and exited the cockpit. Their arrival had been noticed of course and a customs official was waiting for them, evidently not having gotten the memo.

As Ranma watched, the Kel Dor man stopped, however, looking down at his dataslate before looking back at the _Wild Light_. Then he moved toward Ranma once more, this time bowing deeply. "Master Jedi, I am Ono Door, a customs official on this space station. If you will follow me, I will take you to the ship the Jedi Knight Sha Koon had used upon her arrival. Although I doubt that you will find anything that will help you find her."

The Kel Dor's voice was low, a slight rumble in the air from behind his gas mask, and Ranma idly wondered why the Kel Dor hadn't decided to keep the atmosphere of their space station like that of their planet. He was also amused by the Kel Dor's first name matching Dr. Tofu's. "Why's that, Ono?"

"Upon her arrival in the system Sha Koon left her ship here after only a single night. We do not have a record of her ever returning." Ono replied.

 _Yeah, but that doesn't mean she didn't come back._ Ranma shrugged, gesturing the man ahead of him. "Well, I'll still want to check it out, and I'm not a Jedi, darn it. I'm a Force user, but I don't have a lot of the powers they do. I'm a combat specialist."

Ono merely nodded at that, making no comment and leading the way. His thoughts, however, were his species' equivalent of, "if it swims like a fish and acts like a fish, then it's a fish." Whatever Ranma said, to many the phrase 'Force user' was synonymous with Jedi. Even here on a planet that had developed its own sect of Force users that was the case, the number of Baran Do followers having shrunk over the centuries since contact with the Republic and being reclusive in nature in any event. To most Kel Dor they weren't even a rumor, though several government officials knew they still existed and kept that secret.

The two men exchanged small talk for a time as Ono led the way to the Consular class ship Sha Koon had been assigned for this mission. Sha's records that Shaak had shared with Ranma said she was an okay starfighter pilot, but didn't have her uncle's flair for it and preferred to not use starfighters unless assigned to a mission where she would see space combat. Like him, she was a Consular, not a Guardian, though like Plo, Sha had become skilled with a lightsaber, unlike the majority of that sect.

The ship opened before them when Ono used an override system, a small circular object set on the loading ramp's control pad. When he made to move forward, however, Ranma held up a hand, staring into the darkened interior. "Hold on, shouldn't the lights have come on?"

Ono looked at him, then nodded, moving back quickly. Ranma smiled at that before kneeling down, looking for a tripwire. He found it quickly right by where the ramp ended. "Huh. Someone was here, that's for sure." He looked over at Ono, gesturing him further back. "Get on the horn with whoever you need to to get a recording from the video cameras here."

As Ono watched, Ranma leaped up and forward, resting a hand on the ceiling of the interior of the ship before somehow flipping up and clinging to the roof like a spider. He moved inside quickly from there out of sight, and Ono decided to simply shrug that off as a Jedi power and go to do what Ranma had asked him to.

Inside, Ranma dropped down onto the main holographic table, then looked around, pulling out a light from his ki space and flashing it about. It looked much like the Consular class vessels Ranma had been on numerous times before Dac, and there was little around the place to say it had been used at any point, even by a Jedi.

If, that is, you discounted the number of thermal detonators lodged here and there. One of which was tied to the trip wire Ranma had noticed. Others were scattered elsewhere, the entire ship rigged to be a death trap, not to explode, but to kill anyone inside who tried to investigate.

But beyond that, Ranma couldn't see any hints of where Sha Koon had gone. _This…this wasn't an attempt to clean up after someone had come looking to get rid of evidence or anything. This ship is a trap, a trap for a Jedi…maybe even Plo Koon personally. How many Jedi have developed their Force senses to be able to sense traps like this? Damn few, I bet. I doubt even Plo would have if he wasn't tipped off by the lights not coming on._

With a sigh, Ranma moved through the ship via the ceiling, something no one could have known he could do. The door to the cockpit was closed and locked, and Ranma decided it probably wasn't worth the effort to get through a no doubt booby-trapped doorway.

Leaving the ship with a downward sort of leap from the ceiling of the ship, Ranma found two more Kel Dor had joined Ono out on the deck of the station. One was another man who looked older than Ono, his skin noticeably paler. The second was the first female Kel Dor Ranma had seen. Her face, what he could see around her mask, was slightly thinner than the men, and her body was distinctly feminine under her clothing, the same sort of utilitarian clothes all spacers wore.

The older man spoke up as Ranma landed. "Master Jedi, I have called for a bomb disposal team to be sent up to clear the ship. I am sorry to say, however, that our security cameras were…unhelpful in determining how this occurred."

"He means that they were cut out somehow, a computer program uploaded into the space station's systems blanked out the cameras in the area for in indeterminate amount of time," the woman cut in. "It was such a smooth job we don't even know how it happened or when the virus was uploaded into the system. We're doing a full purge now, but while that will make the systems secure, we can't help you find the perpetrator."

Setting aside the irritation of once more being called a Jedi, Ranma whistled, filing that information away. He also noted that computer attacks like that were another area that the Jedi could not combat very well. _Yeah, this was a major trap. For Plo personally, or just any Jedi sent to help Sha Koon?_ Setting that unknown aside, Ranma told the locals what he had found, then left them to try and cautiously sweep the booby-trapped ship.

He was met at the _Wild Light_ 's ramp by HK and Shaak both. "You discovered something?" she asked, feeling the answer in the Force before she asked it.

"Sort of," Ranma said with a shrug, before gesturing the two to enter the ship, following them in. He explained what he had found to both of them, and then fell silent, looking at Shaak expectantly.

Sighing, Shaak shook her head. "I wasn't able to find anything conclusive, only the sense of danger, and that whatever we are searching for, it lies on Dorin's surface. Whatever is happening here, we will need to go down there to find out more. Once I am down there I will try again, though I don't think doing so will give me any more information. Not unless we have found a physical clue to help me guide my Force senses or something that can give me a feel for Sha Koon as an individual. Never having met her is hampering my Force abilities so much, I cannot push past the Veil even being as close as we are."

"Well, we knew that coming in, so let's get to it. Worrying over what we'll find serves no one," Ranma said, somewhat eagerly, somewhat philosophically.

Lips twitching, Shaak led the way to the cockpit. "You almost sounded like a Jedi there." She then squawked when Ranma spanked her lightly on the rear, passing her and sitting down in his chair in the cockpit before she could retaliate.

Glowering playfully at him, she sat down in the co-pilot's chair. "We will head down to the capital, Dor'shan. There we should find some of the locals ready to greet us and give us more information. And I will get you back for that, Ranma."

"Promises, promises," Ranma replied, already powering up the ships repulsors to carry them out of the hanger bay.

Flying through the atmosphere of Dorin was a disturbing experience for Ranma, given that they had to rely on their ship's sensors to a degree he hadn't experienced before, the gases quickly becoming too thick for them to see through. But following the locals' signal trail, the ship eventually came down to the Dor'shan's spaceport. Hovering over what looked like a domed pinnacle of rock, they were vaguely able to see its top opening slightly to allow the _Wild Light_ to enter.

As the ship descended into this opening, the two of them were able to see more of the city around it. The city was built out of the side and top of several of those spires of rock, though Shaak was quick to tell Ranma that they were also built into the rock. They would find out more about that when they landed.

The _Wild Light_ joined several other ships on the ferocrete of the small spaceport, all of them bearing the markings of the planetary government, a large stone crag with several local words written on a sign on the front. Once down, they could see several of the locals coming out to greet them, giving Ranma his first glimpse of Kel Dor without their masks.

Their noses were almost like a downturned beak, below which they had a gaping opening that descended to the mouth, which had drooping fleshy strands all around it. Framing their heads were some kind of sensory organs, which Ranma could now see terminated in small black tusks, usually hidden under their masks.

"Damn, they're ugly," Ranma said with a laugh, no censure or repugnance in his voice, rather, a bit of humor. "Then again, I doubt they find us any more handsome. It takes all kinds."

Shaak chuckled, then hopped to her feet, leading the way through the ship. She and Ranma donned gas masks, which covered their mouths and eyes, then exited the ship, HK moving to stand behind them. The wind was hot and pressing in on them the moment they exited, but it wasn't anything they couldn't deal with.

As they did so, Ranma chuckled, the sound ringing with a rueful note to Shaak's ears through his mask. Turning her head to look at him, Shaak saw him shrug. "Oh, I was just thinking that maybe we should have contacted the Nova Guard before coming here. Since they're always going around with those full body suits, they'd probably be right at home here."

"Hmm… Actually, that might not be a bad idea if we decide we need more firepower. We'll see. For now, official face on, my love," Shaak said. She shivered in pleasure as Ranma let his hand rest on her back for a brief moment before he stood beside her, the touch unseen by the locals as they moved forward to join them.

As the two moved forward, Shaak quickly took the lead, bowing formally to the locals. "Gentlemen, I am Jedi Master Ti. I thank you for your welcome, even if my reasons for being here are not pleasant." Calling herself a master still felt odd, even near to a year since the High Council had declared her one, but it was becoming easier to keep that from showing these days.

"Master Jedi, we have been expecting you. I am Tal Kine, administrator of off-world business. With me is chief inspector Las Buow, and Apprentice Min Zoon." The two worthies so named bowed, the apprentice meeting Shaak's serene gaze with her own as she did so.

"An apprentice. Then you are a member of the Baran Do?" Shaak asked, smiling slightly wider now. "Master Koon had told me of your sect several months back, and that he had studied many of your techniques. I will be very interested to speak with you later. My companion will also be intrigued. Unfortunately, we must take care of business before the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake."

"Indeed." The local Force user nodded her head, her dark black eyes, glancing over to the man standing beside the Togrutan Jedi. Off-world Kel Dor had to wear eye guards set into their eye sockets to go with their masks, another way of protecting themselves from oxygen-bearing environments.

While not very powerful in the Force, Apprentice Min still could sense things through the Force, and the power of the Living Force within Ranma was just below blinding to her Force Senses, as was the smaller pillar in the Jedi. Combined they even pushed back the encroaching Darkness that she always felt on the edge of her senses these days. The Dark Side seemed to build up once more right on the edge, beyond the pillar of Light, still blocking her vision both in the present and into the future, . Yet being close to it did make her feel better somehow, as if it was somehow cleansing her. It was a very odd feeling.

"But I must ask; your presence here is somewhat telling," Shaak went on, bringing Min's attention back to her.

"All Kel Dor Jedi know of the Baran Do, and when they return here, we put them up in one of our small monasteries. We might be a secret order, but it is more that we are simply not talked about than that we actively try to hide from our own people. From outsiders, however, we do tend to hide. However, the Ancient Sage has decided to open up our monasteries to you and your companion in hopes of aiding you in finding Knight Sha Koon," Kel said.

"There are only twenty people in the government who know of the Baran Do, but those that do keep the secret, since they are a major aid in local issues. Their ability to predict storms alone save thousands of lives a year." Tal Kine supplied. Wind storms on Dorin were a major hazard even with modern technology, able to appear within moments and batter down even modern shields given time.

"I see. A more honorable use of the Force I would be hard pressed to find," Shaak said. She smiled internally as Min's back straightened just slightly.

Indeed, all the locals seemed to relax as they detected no condescension or censure in Shaak's voice. Given the fact that many Jedi had given the impression to Ranma that they thought they had a monopoly on the Force, Ranma could see where their hesitation came from. _But they were willing to show themselves to us in order to help us find Sha, remember that, Ranma._

"Would you like to be shown to the monastery first, Master Ti, or come with me to my office to go over what we know about Sha Koon's disappearance? Or do you already have a lead?" the police inspector asked. As the chief inspector, which meant something more like senior planetary investigator than what its label would suggest, he had worked extensively with Sha Koon, as well as any Jedi who had arrived on the planet as well as the Baran Do in the past, so was used to their odd powers.

"I think we will split up for now. I would like to talk to you first, but if you could show Ranma to your monastery, I will meet you there," Shaak said after a moment. "HK, if you could come with me, I might need your analytic skills."

"Prideful response: While I prefer to be known for my combat abilities, I suppose I can deign to aid you with my superior mental faculties. Just this once, mind you. Wouldn't want you to become too dependent on me to do your thinking for you," HK replied, to the concealed shock of the locals.

Shaak merely chuckled. "Indeed, if I ever want an aiming reticule to do my thinking for me, I know where to come, HK. Until then you can be put to other uses, if with difficulty."

"Rueful acknowledgment: Touché, mistress."

The police inspector looked closely at the visibly armed combat droid, but shook his head, visibly setting any questions about it to one side. He gestured for Shaak to follow him toward a waiting elevator which would take them down into the rock spire, where his office was located on a lower level. The spire which held the spaceport doubled as the city's administrative building, among other things. "Follow me, please." Both he and Tal led the way, with Shaak and HK following.

This left Ranma and Min alone for a moment, looking at one another. "Well then, Min, lead the way," Ranma said cheerfully. "Don't suppose we could go the scenic route, could we?"

"You might wish to take that back soon. Do not think that mask will always be enough to protect you from our planet's environment." With that Min led the way not to the elevator, but to the side of the spire, gesturing for Ranma to look over the side with her. Below them a hidden walkway was cut into the side of the rock. Beyond that, sticking out just slightly from underneath another series of clouds, was another rock spire, this one smaller and carved into looking like a building, but with several very odd crenellations here and there.

Smiling at the confusion on the human's face, Kel led the way down. As they went, the sound of the wind became audible now, away from the hustle and bustle of the port above them. There were other people using the walking path, and there were others Ranma could now see coming down from elsewhere around the side of the spire of rock.

As they went, Ranma paused from time to time, taking in the sights of the city as more and more of it became visible as they went. "While the industrial sectors are buried deep within the rock, we Kel Dor believe that we must face the harsh environment of our world. We cannot simply hunker down against the wind. Those settlements that try to stand like the rock against the Winds of the World find themselves battered down by them," Min said as Ranma once more stopped, staring at a fine, if high tech, bridge between one spire of rock and the next.

Ranma moved over to look down the side of the rock for a second, listening to the wind as it passed through a series of small holes dug into the rock well below where they were. There the walking path left the actual spire or rock, merging into a artificially made pathway of heavy ferocrete leading further down to where it merged with the rest of the city. "It's all about channeling, redirecting the power of the wind where you can, giving it an outlet where you can't. You don't just stand and take it; you have to move with it."

"Exactly. It is a method of thought that most offworlders can't seem to understand. That and the sound of the winds often drives them to distraction from what I understand. Since you and Master Ti are the first offworlders I have ever seen, I do not know the truth of… What are you doing?" Min asked, breaking off from what she had been saying.

The reason for this was that Ranma had actually hopped up onto the protective railing separating them from a very long drop. Ranma sent her a smirk, visible through the glass mask covering his lower face. "Just watch."

Min gasped as Ranma hopped off the railing, racing to the edge to stare at the young human man who had just decided to commit suicide while under her charge. But as she watched through wide eyes, Ranma spread his legs and arms, letting the wind carry him. Somehow he seemed to almost ride the wind like a hang glider, letting it blow him this way and that.

Falling, Ranma reached out a hand, pushing off against one of the homes sticking up at one of the highest points of the city, which was dominated by thin, narrowing houses of various sizes. They were distinctly alien in design and construction, with no colors and few affectations that didn't blend in with the idea of channeling the power of the wind. But they seemed to fit here, and the sound of the wind passing through them was almost soothing.

He let that wind blow him this way and that, laughing in delight as he continued to descend, before skidding his feet down the side of one building to come to a halt on a walking path between one large building and another. Behind him he heard a huffing and puffing sound and turned to find Min there, her hands on her knees as she gasped in air from running down after him.

"Oh, there ya are, Min. Took the long way, did ya?" Ranma asked, his eyes twinkling with remembered delight. "Y'know, if you want to wait here I won't mind. I want to go back up and try that again!"

It was only after releasing a long breath and centering herself with the Force that Min could stop herself from glaring. "Please do not! As you are under my charge at the moment, if anything were to happen to you it would reflect poorly on me. If you wish to further flirt with death, do it after I have delivered you to the Ancient Sage."

"Meh, I'd say it's more shaking hands with death; I reserve my flirting for Shaak," Ranma quipped, a statement that startled Min greatly. She hadn't picked up on Ranma and Shaak's connection through the Force, her limited senses almost drowned out by being around the font of the Living Force contained within Ranma.

She took a moment to center herself, but then realized that Ranma was off again. The call of the wind and of being in the air and floating like that was too powerful to ignore. Ranma also enjoyed tweaking people like Min greatly.

By the time Min had successfully led Ranma to the monastery, her monk-trained control was in stark abeyance and she was struggling with the urge to try and choke the infuriating offworlder. At the same time she was battling a growing admiration for him for his skill and ability to read the wind. Few Baran Do could have read the wind as well as Ranma had shown he could, and very few even of them would have trusted themselves to the wind like Ranma had.

Her distressed state was noticed by a Baran Do sitting on a rock outside the monastery. He was very much not a guard, but simply a watcher. There were no physical threats to the monastery here, but anyone interested in the out of the way mountain would be seen and either subtly redirected via a Force nudge, or be met and invited inside if he had business with the Baran Do. While they were not reclusive, the Baran Do were private and had no need or desire for visitors.

"Calm yourself, Min. Your mind is in disorder," the Baran Do said, standing up from the small rock he had been sitting on, his robe having blended into the rock. "Jedi, I am Brother Sal Noon. If you would please follow me, I will take you the rest of the way. Min, remain here and reflect on the Force until you have regained your center. Once that is done, please go about your duties."

Min flushed somewhat at the gentle rebuke in the older monk's voice, but nodded her head, grateful to be rid of the infuriating human. "Yes, brother. Thank you."

For his part Ranma was unrepentant, having had far too much fun. Instead he looked up at the monastery, which was situated high up and well away from the city. It had taken them at least an hour's worth of travel from the edge of the city to the monastery, which stood out from a single spire of rock in solitary majesty. Like the other Kel Dor buildings he had seen, this one fused living rock with portions of artificially made structures. There were various channels and holes here and there to redirect the wind, and lower down there looked to be runnels for rain or water, which was interesting since they were the first he had seen. _Then again, I wasn't looking for them, now, was I?_

Brother Sal led Ranma deeper into the monastery, but even here the noise of the wind was prevalent. "Would you like to meet with the Ancient Sage first or see the room we assigned to Sha Koon?"

"Actually, would you mind showing me your training center first? I'm not a Jedi myself, so I'm more interested in your techniques than trying to play detective. I've tried that once today, and it didn't really work out," Ranma replied drolly.

"Might this humble one ask what happened?" Sal asked, already turning away from the route he had been taking. "And if you are not a Jedi, why do you travel with one?"

"We travel together for our own reasons, and while I'm no Jedi, I've made a lot of friends within the Order over the past few years," Ranma said, having remembered that Shaak didn't want to make a point of rubbing their relationship into anyone's faces. _It might be little late given my comment to Min about saving my flirting for Shaak, but better later than never._

Ranma was led into a larger cavern of some kind which stuck out of the side of the monastery. Two of its four walls were open to the elements, and there were six Kel Dor practicing there. Four of them were moving though a kata in their marital arts style, which seemed to Ranma's practiced eye something like Aikido mixed with a hard, slashing style of some kind, with no kicks mixed in.

The two who weren't working on their katas were practicing against one another, thrusting and slashing with unarmed hands. But from their waists and wrists the two of them had several long scarfs trailing behind them. Ranma instantly understood what they were for. _The one at the waist is a target, the other two, weapons. The cloth technique: interesting though, if so. I wonder if they've added something to it?_

At Brother Sal's shout the six of them halted their progress, moving over to stare at Ranma. Like Min, all of them could feel the power of the Living Force within Ranma, though they had been able to feel him within the city long before he had arrived at the temple. So the introduction was more formality than anything else. "Brothers, this young man is accompanying the Jedi sent to find Sha Koon. He also wishes to train with us. Would any one of you like to train with him in turn?"

"Fair weather, stranger. I think I would like to see what kind of hand to hand skills the Jedi have developed," one of the two that had been sparring said. He seemed a little eager, though for what, Ranma couldn't tell.

"Sal told you I was traveling with a Jedi, not that I was one. If you've made the assumption that I can't fight without a lightsaber, you'd best think again. The name's Ranma, yours?"

"I am Brother Zis, Ranma, and I stand corrected. Shall we see if you have the skill to back up your attitude?" Zis said ,his tone dry as he indicated the training area. Brother Sal left them there, while the others moved back to their own training.

Ranma nodded and followed the man, smirking slightly as he knew his normal attitude had already done its work to throw his opponent off balance. Standing across from the other man, he stood there lazily, his head cocked to one side.

Zis, in contrast, had crouched lightly, his hands out in a defensive stance, one hand lower than the other, the two ribbons on his wrists lined up with one another so they nearly seemed to merge from where Ranma was standing, moving in the wind. "Are you not going to take a stance?"

"Ehh, sure." Smiling slightly, Ranma decided to stop his normal method of making his opponent underestimate him or become angry, dropping into his own stance since it wasn't working. One hand formed a fist near his body while the other was thrust forward, palm open. "Let's go."

 **OOOOOOO**

Setting down the local police report, Shaak opened her eyes, shaking her head. The mission Sha Koon had been sent on had been very low grade, a minor insider trading scheme, as she had been told by Master Yoda. It was so small that the Order wasn't certain it was even real or even being done on purpose. And it looked as if Sha Koon had cleaned her mission up in record time only to run into further trouble, trouble that took the form of an illegal drug operation. The police records were clear there, and indeed Sha Koon seemed to have hunted down several drug factories, but where Sha Koon herself had gone, Shaak couldn't say just yet.

 _But the dataslate recording of her findings have given me a sense of Sha Koon. With that I should be able to follow her trail in the Force once I find where she was seen last._

"Can you tell me what other cities Sha Koon could have visited?" Shaak asked, looking over at the chief inspector.

"Certainly, though I can tell you already she didn't visit many. Once she found clues of the drug operation, she started to search for their labs. After shutting down several, Knight Koon had determined she would not find the last of them within the cities, though what led her to that conclusion, I do not know."

"A starting point is all I need, inspector, never fear. Thank you for your aid on this." Shaak waited until the man had compiled a list of cities for her, and then walked out of the precinct, centering herself in the Force and sending out her senses to find the font of Living Force that was Ranma. She found him quickly and began to make her way in that direction, passing through the city and then out into the wilder lands beyond.

As she walked she thought about what had possibly happened here. Jedi often became involved or found other missions on planets they visited while on missions assigned to them by the Order or passed on by the Senate. Sha Koon's first mission on Dorin was a mission the Order had assigned to her having discovered the insider trading through their own sources. The second was one she had discovered on her own, and no report about it had gone back to the Order. This again wasn't unusual, and indeed happened all the time.

 _So we have a mystery here. A trap set for any follow on mission, none of which points to a Force user, but someone who wanted to kill Jedi. And no sign of any Dark Side user I can sense, despite what Yoda passed on about Plo's vision. But…but that really shouldn't matter much. If they could be sensed, the Sith would long since have been discovered. I will have to keep my guard up. And unfortunately, at least for now, Ranma's unique talents will be of no help. I will have to be the one to find us a trail._

She was greeted outside the monastery by Apprentice Min. Instantly the way the woman sat on the stone and the look in her face made Shaak chuckle. "Ah, and what has my… That is, what has Ranma done this time?"

Min looked up, shaking her head. "We just arrived about an hour ago, Master Ti, and yes, Ranma was…" The young Kel Dor woman tried to think up a way to describe what Ranma had been doing, then just told her.

Shaking her head, Shaak sighed theatrically. "Yes, Ranma seems to have a love of flight and high places, so that doesn't surprise me in the least. The next time he goes off like that and you have the misfortune of being assigned to guide him, please just leave him. as much as he acts like a child sometimes Ranma, is an adult and can be expected to look after himself."

That won Shaak a laugh from Min, who gestured into the monastery. "He is in the training area on the second floor, Master Ti. I will show you the way if you wish."

Moments later Shaak was watching with droll amusement as Ranma leaped around the training area with four of the local Baran Do around him trying to attack from every direction. The locals seemed to be doing relatively well keeping up with him, negating his aerial style with their own, or at least it seemed that way at first glance.

 _Their style is close to Ranma's, but their general level of skill and physical abilities are not. He is holding back tremendously, just as he was on Eshan. Thankfully, I won't have to deal with overly amorous locals chasing after him or myself this time. I wonder how long it will take Ranma to learn that particular trick._

That trick in this case was what Ranma had described to her once as the cloth technique. But here it wasn't just charging a piece of cloth with the Force to change it to a metal bar. No, the Kel Dor sect seemed to have taken that technique to a different level. Instead of imitating a solid object, the cloth shifted with their thoughts, and they had added something like small razors embedded into the cloth edges. So it was almost as if they had gained two extra hands holding weapons that could move somewhat independently of their arms. It was actually fascinating to watch.

 _The inclusion of actual razors means they were not able to discover a way to add an edge via the Force like Ranma says that Ryoga fellow was able to. Still, I have yet to learn how to shift the feel of the Force in an object to that level myself, so their style would be fascinating to learn. That being said, I feel a desire for some exercise of my own._

With a faint cough, Shaak stepped forward, allowing a smile to appear on her face as the Baran Do made way for her. Ranma in turn heard the sound and smiled widely, dodging a blow from one of the brothers and lashing out almost absentmindedly to grab the man's cloth whip, pulling him off balance and into the way of two of his fellows. A roundhouse kick to the fourth man who hadn't dodged backwards enough to get out of Ranma's range when his fellows went down, and the fight was over.

"Shaak!" Ranma moved quickly towards her, ignoring the groans and rueful chuckles from his former sparring partners as he did so, his eyes alight with a delight that Shaak knew was both from the spar he had just finished and from the sight of her. "Er, where's HK? I don't like the idea of him going around unsupervised."

That knowledge, that the look in Ranma's light blue eyes was for her alone, filled Shaak. Seeing the band of steel on his finger, her smile widened her own eyes lighting with love for him before she regained control of her expression. As far as she knew the Baran Do were celibate like the Order, though in the case of Kel Dor that wasn't as much of a hardship as it was for other races. But even so she had no wish to have their relationship become common knowledge. "I see you have found some playmates Ranma. As for HK, I sent him back with orders to remain there and kill no one unless they attacked the ship."

"Heh, yeah, but I think we can all learn something here," Ranma replied, smiling as he watched Shaak take off her Jedi robe, leaving her in a training outfit of leggings and a shirt. These were heavier than her normal style to help protect her body from the wind, though Ranma idly noted that Shaak probably didn't need that at this point.

"I have to agree with that," one of the men who had been sparring with Ranma said ruefully, his mouth mandibles quirking into a smile. "Ranma's style and strength are incredible, and his ability with Force Precognition is astonishing."

Shaak nodded, making no sign that she had seen Ranma rolling his eyes. It wasn't Force Precognition, after all, but pure speed and his ability to read his opponents' bodies. "I see. And your cloth technique was fascinating, though I have never seen Master Koon using a similar skill."

"It is rare for any Kel Dor Jedi to be able to use that technique away from Dorin, since it relies on manipulating the winds around us just as much as it involves imbuing the Force into the cloth. Reading the winds of other planets is made very difficult without feeling it with our eyes, faces, and fingers," an older brother who had been watching from the sidelines advised. "I remember Plo Koon, and he was able to use it, but preferred a harder style to the traditional methods of the Baran Do."

As the two aliens turned toward him, he bowed. "I am Brother Bar. The Ancient Sage wishes to speak with you, if you could follow me."

Snapping mental fingers at not being able to get some exercise of her own, she frowned as all the other Kel Dor followed them into the monastery, the doors to the semi-outside training area closing with a clang. At her look, Bar explained. "There is a storm coming. The winds will quickly rise to the level where they can tear anyone found outside into pieces."

"Damn. I wanted some more exercise," Ranma said, pouting so outrageously that Shaak nearly laughed aloud, before clamping down on it and giving him a withering glance. It failed to do anything beyond making him pout all the harder, and she resolutely turned away lest her self-control crack.

The two of them were led up to the topmost portion of the spire to a tiny room barely five by five meters, where they found the Ancient Sage sitting on a small thin cushion, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows all around, barring the four corners, and it was only a moment later that both offworlders realized that those were the first windows they had seen on Dorin. Looking closely, it was obvious they doubled as protectors against the wind and had been lowered into place.

The Ancient Sage was the oldest Kel Dor either of them had yet seen. His skin looked almost like rock, it was so craggy, and his eyes were rheumy and unseeing. He was also the first member of the Baran Do that Shaak could honestly say had enough power within him to become a Jedi. The others were not that strong in the Force, though their ability with their own Force powers was a perfect example that, despite there being a cutoff point to become a Jedi, power wasn't everything.

"We welcome you here, Master Jedi Shaak Ti and the Chaos Storm called Ranma," the Ancient Sage said, not looking at them. "I wish we could help you more on your search, but there is precious little we can tell you of Sha Koon that you have not discovered already." The Ancient Sage then waited as his two guests sat across from him on the stone floor of the room. "We can give you a list of the towns and villages Sha Koon visited. There is also a list of old mine sites she might have investigated. Beyond that, with the Force I can only tell you one thing."

With that the Ancient Sage turned to look at Shaak. "Before she disappeared, we felt a sense of shock through the Force, and sudden violence, but we could not localize it. Then we felt darkness, a feral Darkness reaching out for her, then nothing. We believe she surprised a Dark Side user of some kind and was taken. Dead or alive, we can no longer feel her or the Dark Side user. We have searched on our own in our own way, but found nothing. Still, if you need any help or a local guide, we will help as best we may."

"Thank you, Ancient Sage. For now, if you could show me her meditation cell and then let us stay here until the winds abate, that will be help enough for today," Shaak replied.

As they left, the two lovers exchanged a glance. Once more there was a hint that Sha Koon had run into something. The feral impression the Ancient Sage had mentioned was an odd addition, as was the fact they could no longer feel the Darkness which had sprung up to entrap Sha.

"So there was a Dark Side user here at one point, possibly long after whatever happened to Sha Koon, given what I found on her ship. He might have run off, but he wasn't running scared, and he set up traps that might well have worked against a lot of Jedi."

"I agree, but why do you refer to our opponent as a he?" Shaak asked.

"It isn't male machismo or anything, Shaak. I just think about that setup in the ship, and, I don't know, think it just feels that the mind behind it was a guy's," Ranma replied somewhat sheepishly as he pulled at his pigtail.

Unable to use the training area until the storm abated, the two stayed in the monastery for several hours while the winds outside wailed like a hurricane. Shaak spent her time meditating in the room Sha Koon had been given, further getting a feel for the Kel Dor Jedi Knight. Given time and a starting point, she could use that to retrace Sha Koon's steps and hopefully find her.

For his part Ranma talked with a few of the locals, trading some training ideas with them until they could leave, by which time night had fallen. The city was lit up now with lights, and the people had put out chimes, large and small, to celebrate the city's surviving another storm. The winds had died down to a faint rustle, and the chimes cascaded together like a choir.

The two of them smiled, listening to it, linking hands as they moved back to the _Wild Light_. "So, where do we go from here?"

"I will spend a day or so searching for where Sha Koon was last, then use the Force to pick up her trail. When I have done so, I will call you in, and we, and HK, I suppose, can follow it to discover what has happened," Shaak replied crisply. "We keep our eyes open and go forward as ready as we can for the unknown. That, unfortunately, is all we can do, and I refuse to make assumptions before the fact."

 **OOOOOOO**

On the space station the _Wild Light_ had stopped at, a thin, sallow faced man sat in a café that served offworlders, staring down at a datapad, fingers smacking into a tiny keyboard with an intensity that warned off anyone nearby. Set Harth could have used the Force to disappear from everyone's senses, but instead he had used Force Stealth to disappear in the Force, and a bit of playacting to blend in. It was subtle yet less draining in the Force than using both Cloak and Stealth would have been for any length of time.

Staring at the datapad, Set sneered slightly, shaking his head as he stared at his screen. It looked like any normal civilian style datapad, but if anyone had been able to look over his shoulder they would've realized that it wasn't, and that the keyboard was, in fact, not connected to it at all. It was instead controlling a very small, extremely high tech observation device that Set had left behind in Dor'shan to watch the comings and goings of his two targets. It was designed to look like the drones the Kel Dor used to both check the weather and to control traffic patterns, blending into the environment as Set was in the café currently.

 _Yet despite that I've had to redirect it twice today._ _The Jedi seems to be unaware of the drone, but the Chaotic Locus almost spotted my drone following them twice. Odd, but not impossible to overcome._ Set had programmed the droid to investigate nearby traffic if it thought it had been spotted, and because of that the Locus seemed unaware of the drone's purpose. _But this Jedi, she too looked almost as if she had felt my watching her when she left the main city. Damn. I would have liked to have had the drone follow her to wherever she is staying, but such is not to be._ The wind had begun to pick up at that point, and the locals would have noticed a droid not acting as it should while the city was battening down for a storm. _Still, I can assume that they will be staying with the weak band of Force users out there._

Closing the datapad, Set returned to his current domicile, a small, out-of-the-way apartment here on the space station, which was owned by a small time merchant who routinely came to Dor'shan on business or sent his proxies. Much like on Kashyyyk, outsiders stuck out like sore thumbs down on Dorin, so most of them preferred to do their business up here. That was one reason why there were so many space stations, each of them hovering over one of the larger cities of the planet. Set could have used the Force to blend in on Dorin easily, and had in order to set the first phase of his trap. But there was no point in putting himself in danger of being discovered at this point.

 _The Kel Dor having a homegrown sect of Force users was a surprise,_ Set admitted to himself as he sat down in the lotus position on his bed, pulling out his brand-new lightsaber and setting it on the bed in front of him as a target for his meditation. _I had never known that the Kel Dor had developed such despite my being around since before the Reformation. Truly fascinating._ _None of them are powerful: indeed, I doubt more than two or three would be capable of even becoming a padawan, let alone complete Jedi training. Still, that doesn't mean they should be underestimated. They've been able to hide themselves from offworlders for centuries now, and they seem to be respected among the locals from what I could discern. Far more respect, actually, than Jedi would get on most planets of the Republic._

 _I wonder if my so-called master knew about them before he sent me here. It was certainly a shock to my system, and made creating my little trail of breadcrumbs all the harder. Still, I think they'll take it. I doubt they will become complacent, but they are still dancing to my tune even if they do not know it. They will come to me on my terms, and the two star-crossed lovers will die. Just like in so many of those idiotic tele-dramas, and I will win access to my collection back!_

 **OOOOOOO**

The next day, Ranma returned to the monastery while Shaak began her personal investigation. Now armed with a far greater sense of Knight Koon, Shaak was able to use the Force to find out which city the young Jedi had been seen in last. From there she was able to trail Sha Koon via the Force, following her trail out into the windswept hinterlands like a bloodhound on a scent. From there she called Ranma, and they used the _Wild Light_ with Shaak meditating beside Ranma as he piloted them on a nape of the earth course under her directions.

Dorin was rocky in the extreme, with numerous heavy spires of even harder rock jutting out from the planet surface intermittently. The landscape almost reminded Ranma of Tatooine but instead of simple sand, here it was rocks. Regardless both were just as inhospitable.

Eventually, despite the fact that it'd been Shaak who had found the trail in the first place, Ranma was the first one to spot their destination. He pulled the ship to a stop, using its repulsors to keep it in the air for a moment as their main thrust fell to nothing.

Opening her eyes, Shaak looked over at it him quizzically. "What is it?"

"There was a glint of metal there for just a second. I'm putting us down."

Shaak quickly pulled up a telemetry reading of where they were in relation to the known settlements and shook her head. "There shouldn't be anything out here. There's a mine in this area, but it's about two kilometers to our south, nothing in this area. And even that mine is abandoned and has been for fifteen years according to this."

Even as she finished speaking, Shaak frowned in thought, going on slowly. "That would be a perfect place for drug dealers to use for their operation. But two kilometers distant?"

"Remember the virus program. Whoever was behind this could erase their presence in the space station, Shaak," Ranma said. "I bet they could misplace or relocate a mine site easily."

"Good point, but then does that mean the Dark Sider was working with the drug dealers?" Shaak mused. "Or something else?"

"Meh, we're not here to solve every little mystery, just the main one." Ranma looked at Shaak seriously. "How is your Force Stealth?"

Shaak winced. "I've been using my Force powers to try and find the trail, Ranma; I can't do that and hide my presence at the same time." _Though could a Dark Side user, with the Veil helping them? That is an interesting point, and one I must remember to discuss with Master Yoda._

"Well, since we're here, I suggest you start doing it now," Ranma said. The words came out almost like an order, but it was a good one, and so Shaak decided not to pretend to take umbrage at it.

"I thought I was the one that was supposed to wear the pants in this relationship," she said instead, chuckling as Ranma stuck his tongue out at her.

However, even as she was doing that, Shaak had begun to bring in her Force powers, hiding her presence. When Shaak was done, she nodded. "Done. They won't be able to sense me through the Force any longer." _Although, again, could the Veil interfere in such things in relation to a Dark Side user? I have to ask Aayla about that one, or perhaps Knight Vos at some point._

Putting on their gas masks, the two of them exited the ship with HK following them. "Where is this metal you spotted?" Shaak asked.

Ranma held up a hand, indicating quiet, then moved almost like a ghost over the rocky ground, so silently that even Shaak with her montrals couldn't make out the sound. He was back a moment later, holding out what looked like a mangled piece of some kind of blaster. "This was what I spotted. And I think that we now know where the drug dealers were and that Sha Koon was here too."

Taking the piece of metal from him, Shaak held it up to her eyes and nodded slowly as she saw where it had been chopped in two by a lightsaber. "Lead the way, please."

The three of them quickly moved across the open ground towards the small dip in a rocky cliff face where Ranma had spotted the glint of metal. It led into a mine, the entrance so cleverly hidden that no one flying over it could spot it, and it been only Ranma's keen sight and the glint of sun off the metal that had given it away.

Inside they found the bodies of ten or so people. While within the mine, they hadn't been nearly deep enough to get away from the wind, however, and a storm had come by at some point to tear the skin off their bones, desiccating the corpses so they could tell nothing about who they had been or how they died. There were still bits and pieces of blasters and other equipment around, however. And the mine continued underground, slopping down gently into the darkness.

Shaak and Ranma activated their lightsabers as HK activated a light set into his eyes, lighting the way as the trio made their way further into the abandoned mine warily, Ranma in the lead. Shaak was not happy about that, but even she couldn't detect more than a brief flicker of danger via the Force if the danger came from unmanned, unwatched traps. And Ranma's durability was well beyond her own. So she came second, moving even slower, most of her attention on her Force senses rather than her physical ones, trusting HK and Ranma to be on the lookout physically.

Because of that, Shaak felt the minds below them several moments before the mine began to descend along a gentle slope. "I feel something ahead of us." This close, whatever was interfering with her ability to feel the minds of others could no longer stop her from doing so, and she went on briskly. "I feel…a sense of wrongness, of…of taint, perhaps."

Shaak's eyes narrowed, and she looked at the other two sharply. "It feels like the beasts we ran into when we found the temple to Exar Kun."

Hissing from Ranma and the electronic equivalent told her that the others had heard and understood the implication. "Sha Koon?" Ranma asked.

"…No, I don't think so. I can feel her mind there, weak, but alive. It is almost as if she is caged somehow, or ah!" Shaak suddenly smiled. "Her master was a very good one! I think she is in a suspended animation. Jedi can slow our heart rate and breathing so we can survive on far less air or food for a time, so much so we might well appear dead. Bringing her out of it might be difficult, given the depth of Sha's meditation, but she is alive at least."

"Then let's make certain she stays that way," Ranma replied and, without another word, sped up.

They soon found more evidence of the fight that had occurred here: several more bodies, several Kel Dor and a few offworlders, representatives of species that Ranma had never seen before. Shaak identified one as a Verpine and another as a Gand. She had never run into Verpine before, the species being from somewhere out in the Outer Rim and rarely seen further inward, but she had heard of them being extremely good techs.

Moments later they met their first opposition in the form of several large beasts racing out of a nearby rent in the cavern wall, snarling hungrily. "The taint is within them," Shaak said, her lightsaber flashing into one of the beasts as Ranma's took another in the throat, his fist lashing out to smash another's skull in. "But there are more here than the ones currently attacking us."

"Exultant statement: Finally, some action! Not as satisfying as killing sentient meatbags, but it will do in a pinch," HK said, his blasters tracking multiple targets. A millisecond later he fired, and the horde of beasts died.

Ranma stepped over their rapidly cooling bodies to peer into the crack in the wall. "There's another tunnel here, leading down, a lot sharper than the mine shaft. You think Sha's down here?"

"From what I am sensing, yes, but wait here a moment," Shaak said, before retracing their steps. She examined the bodies of the dead quickly, then came back, her purple lips set in a grim line. The bodies had indeed been gnawed on, as she had feared. "I am beginning to paint a picture of what happened here. An accident of the Force that no one could foresee, Jedi or Sith."

Even while he moved into the crack and the tunnel beyond, Ranma asked her to explain what she meant. "I think that Sha chased these drug manufacturers here, following on their heels. Then the fight revealed they were not the first ones to use this particular hideaway."

"Our Sith friend?" Ranma asked.

"Indeed, though the how of it or why he was here in the first place I don't know," Shaak said.

With Ranma in the lead, the two of them entered the crevasse, heading deeper underground via a sharper incline than the mine shaft they had come from. They found two more bodies which had obviously been gnawed on before they found their passage blocked by an obvious cave-in. Ranma was about to start cutting through the rocks with his light pike, but Shaak's raised hand stopped that quickly. "Knight Koon is in there."

"Buried?"

"I can sense her there, yes."

The two looked at one another before Ranma powered down his light pike and ordered HK back. "Watch our back, HK. If Shaak could find Sha Koon, then the Sith we hope might be here should have been able to. That means they could have kept her alive as bait."

"Professional affront: Teach your meatbag grandmother to suck eggs!" HK said, moving back. He powered down his heavy shoulder mounted weapon, bringing up a series of other sensors, straining them to the utmost while Ranma and Shaak went to work.

With Shaak's Force powers guiding them as to which rocks to move without causing the cave-in to shift and possibly crush Sha Koon, Ranma and Shaak were able to eventually remove enough of the cave-in to spot the Jedi Knight. The Kel Dor Jedi was shorter than Shaak Ti, though taller than Ranma's female form, and looked extremely thin, almost waifish lying there on the floor of the tunnel. Her lower body was crushed under several rocks, but Shaak knew the Jedi Knight was still alive. "I can still sense her through the Force, but she is incredibly weak. We will have to be very, very careful to move her, and I think we need to have medical attention on hand."

Ranma looked at her questioningly, and Shaak shook her head. "I can heal myself, Ranma, but I can't heal other people nearly as well, certainly not to the level we'd need here."

"And I can't either. All right, I'll be right back." True to his word, Ranma had raced up and then came back after radioing their coordinates and a request for medical aid within just a few minutes. His phrase of, "Just keep going down the mine shaft; you'll find us just past the bodies," had been a shock to the locals, but they responded quickly.

Soon a medical flyer from the nearest city arrived, and four Kel Dor medics pushed into the crack in the wall where HK had been ordered to wait to show them in. From there they joined Shaak Ti and Ranma by Sha Koon's still comatose form.

Shaak had made the decision to leave Sha in her current meditation-induced comatose state, hoping to keep her from feeling the agony of her wounds. When they started to gently remove Sha, Shaak reached out, deadening Sha's body's pain receptors with the Force. Soon enough the Kel Dor Knight was on the gurney heading to the top.

Looking after the gurney, Shaak shook her head. "I think we might need to ask for a Jedi healer to come here after we are done investigating this place. After so many days buried, there is no way Sha Koon will ever walk without Force assisted healing. And even with that, after so long, it's doubtful."

"Then we need to make it worth it by finding out what she ran into here. We can ask Sha Koon about it later. For now, let's keep going and see where this leads."

After clearing the far end of the cave, they were almost immediately attacked again, this time by ravening slug-like figures that crawled towards them, maws agape. While dealing with the second such group, Shaak looked around wildly, her Force senses blaring a warning that had nothing to do with the threats right in front of her. Looking up she saw tiny explosives set in the ceiling and realized that their fight had triggered a second layer of defense.

Before she could gather her Force powers they exploded, sending the ceiling crashing down. "Look out!"

HK activated the repulsors set into his legs, rocketing back up the slope they had been descending. Ranma, however, was caught right below it, and while he dodged or sliced the first few dozen rocks, there were too many of them, and he couldn't get ahead of the cave in before he was buried. A muffled cry of pain and numerous curses followed, telling Shaak that he was still alive somewhere in there, but not at all happy.

"I think I need to up my own training, Ranma. I should have spotted that trap," Shaak apologized as she cut some of the rocks out of the way between her and her paramour. "My Force senses should be able to have spotted those bombs as things out of place." With that she began to levitate the pieces of stone out of the way, one by one.

"Don't apologize, Shaak. You at least spotted them before they went off. That was enough. My reaction should have been faster," Ranma said, having cleared an area around him at the last second by flashing his light-pike around at Amaguriken speeds, smashing enough of the rocks aside to give him some breathing space. It had battered his light-pike's ends somewhat, but the plasma blade had still activated, so he wasn't about to complain.

Shaak would have continued to try and apologize if not for a series of roars from behind her. She turned, staring at the animals still coming at her. This group was smaller and seemingly were the runts of the odd mutated slugs which they had been attacked by numerous times before. The taint radiating off the things made her shiver, the Dark Side in this place almost throbbing, hidden beneath layers of rock, but still almost a physical shadow. But it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before on Yavin 4.

Eyes narrowed, she reached out to the Force, grabbing the sliced rock segments she had pulled out of Ranma's path. Directing them with one hand, she hurled them at the creatures, smashing them flat.

An instant later Ranma joined her, and they both cut their way back to HK, who welcomed them in his own manner. "Sardonic welcome: Ah, so you survived too, master. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"I really hope the Sith is here somewhere, or else I will become irritated," Ranma said angrily.

Several dozen clashes later and Shaak was almost inclined to agree with her beau. The number of animals that attacked them had slowly diminished, each one tainted, twisted by the Dark Side until they were almost unrecognizable. Both of them were covered with gore, the color of which ranged from a deep purple to dark green, the colors mixing on their clothes and skin in an awful riot of colors. It was slightly worse in Shaak's case, given her red skin, but neither were looking very happy, unlike HK, who had taken to whistling electronically until Ranma threatened him with dismemberment. During this escapade, Shaak had spotted and diffused several more explosive traps, and Ranma spotted a few physically before she could sense them through the Force, setting them off before they were near enough to be injured. But those too had tapered out, and now they stood at the bottom of the slope where it exited into a large cavern.

Inside the cavern was what looked like a series of medical instruments, a control panel of some kind, and seven large cells lining the walls on one side. All of those cells were open, their inhabitants gone, likely the same beasts they had been fighting. There was no one else here, and no sign of anyone having been there for several days at the least. There seemed to be a large hole up one wall larger than the one they had used to enter the cavern. "That looks like the main entrance. You think the druggies found the emergency bolt hole?"

I think so, yes," Shaak replied. "This whole thing has the feel of a surprise confrontation, not something the Sith who created those animals was planning for. Rather, it stinks of someone overreacting, then doing their best to cover their tracks."

"Hmm, I'll follow your lead on that, Shaak. Still, let's see what we can find."

"Doleful remark: Mastress, mistress, I am detecting no movement or energy signatures within the cavern. I am afraid that playtime is over for the day."

"Again with that nickname, darn it," Ranma muttered before leading the way into the cavern. Once they were certain the area was clear, Ranma leaped up to the shaft set high up the wall of the cavern, while HK looked around, making recordings, and Shaak moved toward the computers. While in no way a technician, Shaak could easily figure out that the system had been left in relatively one piece, with only a few of the memory cores removed along with the power source. _We'll have to bring in a power source to see if the computers retain anything._

Ranma soon came back, leaping down easily and moving to Shaak. Ignoring their respective dirtiness Ranma put his arm around her waist as he looked at the computers. "The shaft leads out to the surface under an outcropping of rock. I'd bet whatever you want to name a ship blasted out of here at some point."

"Immediately before or after whoever it was stopped by to booby-trap Knight Koon's ship," Shaak murmured. "Do you think we could get the _Wild Light_ down here?"

"Yeah. I'm willing to try, anyway."

"Please do so, Ranma. If we can find anything here, it will be on these computers."

"Or the animals," Ranma interjected, causing Shaak to look at him in surprise. "Well, they sure as hell ain't native, love!" Ranma said with a chuckle, squeezing Shaak lightly.

"True…" With that Shaak turned and pointed at HK. "HK, go back and get a recording of all of the animals we ran into. One of them might lead us to our Sith friend."

"Snarky response: Yes, mistress. At once, mistress. I will help you try to find this particular needle in the haystack, mistress."

"Enough of that, HK, or else I might think of leaving you behind the next time," Ranma quipped, already turning away to head back up to the surface the way they had come in.

HK quickly fell into step with him, heading up the way they had come. "Respectful reply: There's no need for cruelty, master. I will comply."

Once alone, Shaak looked around, trying to discern what her Force senses were telling her. The Dark Side was strong here, a small blot of Dark on the world, hidden deep, but she could feel it all too easily now. Yet there was something off about it. She could feel the fear and rage of the animals as they were experimented on, but even there something was niggling at her.

It wasn't a feeling from the Force—the Force here was filled with the feeling of the animals and the Dark Side, drowning everything else out—it was almost as if she should be feeling something more there, but what it was eluded her given the pressure of the Dark Side on her psyche. The anger and hate thundered at her, and she slowly pulled back her senses, shaking slightly.

 _Whoever was here is much more powerful than Exar Kun's Force Ghost was the first time I felt his presence, but not as strong as he was when he tried to assault my mind. I could wish that gave me comfort like the fact that whoever it was ran rather than stay and deal with any pursuers personally, but it does not._

It turned out that the computers had been utterly wiped out, save for a series of viruses which immediately tried to copy themselves into the _Wild Light_ 's system. Only Tune being ready for them stopped that from happening, and they returned to Dor'shan with only the pictures of the animals to show for their investigation. As HK and Tune played with them and ran them against pictures on the Hypernet, Ranma and Shaak retreated to the hospital where Sha Koon was being looked after.

Unknown to the hospital folk and even the doctor, two of the Baran Do Masters were watching the hospital. Shaak stepped in to talk to them, not that they thought the Sith was still around at this point, thanking them for their aid. Once Sha Koon's life was no longer in danger, they would remove her to the monastery to recover. "We have no healers like the Jedi do, but we can at least provide aid and peace. Will you call in a healer for our Jedi sister, Master Ti?" asked one of them.

Shaak paused, then shook her head once firmly, despite her lekku twitching in turmoil at what she was about to decide. "Not just yet. I would rather we wait until we are certain the individual who surprised her is no longer on the planet in a position to somehow intercept the message." What she didn't say was that the Order, or at least portions of the Order, had begun to be very leery about any message passed over the Hypercom. That paranoia had yet to spread, but Shaak knew the seriousness of their mission and didn't want to compromise it, not until every avenue of investigation had been considered.

Late that evening, Shaak Ti and Ranma returned to the hospital where Sha Koon had woken up to the shock of the locals. The Jedi Knight had the equivalent of several intravenous tubes connected to her arms, pain-relieving paste on her legs, along with numerous shots of medicine to deaden the feeling of her crushed, mangled legs, which were encased in the same kind of bacta-filled suit that Shaak had used when she had been wounded on Mandalore. There was little the bacta could do to wounds so old, but they could at least repair some of the damage.

For all of that, Sha Koon's eyes were clear as she looked at them, her silver irises gleaming in the dark of her eyes. "Master Ti, I have heard of you and your companion. I take it I have you to thank for my life? I wasn't even able to reach out to my uncle via our telepathic link before I had to turn my attention to entering suspended animation."

"Master Koon had a Force vision of the danger you ran into, and we set off here immediately. Given certain symbols he saw in the vision pointing to you having a run in with a Dark Side user, we felt it best to send combat specialists, and both Ranma and I have other skills the normal Jedi could not bring to bear."

"So I have heard. We Jedi are supposed to be above such petty things as gossip, but that only means we do not gossip about the things the normal populace would. I presume, however, that you would like my impression as to what happened?"

When Shaak nodded in the affirmative, Sha Koon went on. "I am afraid there I cannot help you very much. I never even caught a glimpse of the Dark Sider, not physically anyway. I had finished my nominal mission here, but had discovered via the police and the Force that there was a small but steadily growing illegal drug factory on the planet, shipping their goods off-world. I tracked them down, forcing them to retreat from several of their laboratories, capturing several. Then I tracked them down to their bolt hole, it wasn't even a lab, just a place to hide until the wind faded **.** "

Sha sighed. "There it all went wrong. I called on them to surrender. They refused. I fought my way into the mine shaft and down it. Then, as I was about to corner them, two of them set off a small charge against the wall of the shaft, opening a fissure in the rock leading into what I thought was another mine shaft. As they ran into the entrance I felt it, the taint of those poor creatures and, beyond them, the Dark Side user. For a moment his Force Stealth faded, and I could feel the shock of the Dark Side user. I have no idea how long he had hidden there or what he was doing beyond twisting those animals, but whatever it was, we startled him."

"After feeling him there in the Force, I made the decision to let the drug dealers go, concentrating on him and forging ahead of most of them. But then he released his beasts. And then, while I was dealing with that, either I tripped or he activated the trap which caved in the ceiling on me, I know not which it was. After I was pinned I had no more attention to pay to him. I am sorry I could not be more help."

Shaak assured Sha Koon that she had done all she could have had, and that they would be sending for a Jedi Healer to help her recovery once they were certain the Dark Side user was gone, but that his apprehension was their primary goal. Sha Koon, however, simply stated she would get in touch with her uncle via telepathy, something no one could listen in on, and the conversation ended soon after.

Leaving the hospital they were quite disconsolate, knowing that, barring a miracle, the sudden largess of this discovery was going to end in nothing but a dead end. But when they arrived at the _Wild Light_ they found HK waiting for them. "Anticipatory statement: Master, mistress, we have finished creating a list of the planets from which the animals we ran into came from. You will find it on your datapad within."

While Ranma created some dinner for the two of them, Shaak looked at the list and almost immediately went still. "Vjun," she whispered. "Of course, that would make perfect sense!"

"What was that?" Ranma asked, poking his head in from the kitchenette.

"I think I know where the Sith fell back to, for now, at least. The question is, should we chase after him now, or wait and lull him into thinking he got away clean?" Shaak said aloud, looking over to Ranma for his opinion.

"Chase after him. No way has someone like this guy remained active for so long without taking precautions. If he even thinks there's a way to track him down he'll keep moving," Ranma replied quickly.

Thinking about it, Shaak had to concede the point. With this kind of prey they couldn't get ahead of him and wait for the prey to come to them. No, they had to chase it down, which was a method of hunting she had done before, but didn't really enjoy as much as stalking.

Shaak reached out to the Force to see if it had any insight on this decision, only to sigh as, of course, it didn't. The Veil of the Dark Side was still there, blocking her ability to discern the future. "Then I suggest you get back to cooking, and I will head up to the cockpit. We might already be too late, but we need to try."

With that in mind, Shaak took over the navigation for this trip. Jedi could use the Force to navigate through hyperspace better than even the best astronavigational computer, like Ranma had during his assault on the Crimson Nova chapter. Tune looked a little nonplussed by this, but Shaak was adamant, and they were quickly on their way. The course to the planet would take two days, whereas Tune's best would have taken ten. The fact they would be almost traveling through several gravity wells was something Ranma decided not to dwell on, simply trusting Shaak to know her business.

While they were in hyperspace to Vjun, Shaak Ti filled Ranma in on what was known about the planet's history, which unfortunately was scant little. The accepted theory was that someone on the planet had been experimenting with biological warfare agents, and one had gotten loose. Vjun had been known for its medical sciences, so this was quite believable.

The outcome, however, was well known to the Order and to the Sector government. One day madness had begun to spread throughout the populace, a madness that drove them to attack everyone around them with murderous intent and berserk energy. Despite the best efforts of a few aid missions and the few Jedi who could get there quickly, the madness spread to the entire planet. Millions had died, torn asunder by their fellows, and thousands of aid workers had died before the Sector ordered them to pull back. The entire population had seemingly torn itself apart.

That had been about a year before Ranma arrived in this dimension, and Vjun had been quarantined since, though to the Jedi even the tragedy of what had happened wasn't the entire story. To their senses, Vjun was steeped in the Dark Side, a miasma of utter Dark like a black hole created by the hate, fear, and the overpowering rage of the infected. Because of this Shaak felt that it would be a perfect place for a Dark Side user to hide if they could be certain the plague or whatever it was had died out or wouldn't infect them.

The system quarantine was maintained by automated defense platforms. But such things could be bypassed or tricked, and so the two of them did now.

The moment they came out of hyperspace Shaak flinched, and even Ranma narrowed his eyes, the feel of the entire system just screaming danger and wrongness to his senses. It was like a dark malaise, a physical fog of corruption, reaching out towards him through the Force. To Shaak it was even worse: a drowning whirlpool of Dark Side energies trying to suck her in, to batter their way into her mind.

If she had come here before meeting Ranma and going on so many adventures with him, it might have forced Shaak to retreat. If she had not faced the taint of Exar Kun along with his ghost, it might have succeeded. But Shaak Ti was a Jedi Master for a reason, and she grimaced before throwing the touch off her mind, breathing in deeply as she did. "Well, that's unpleasant," she said mildly, though her face and eyes in no way reflected her tone.

"Yeah. Hell, even I can tell there's something wrong here. But now that we're here, how are we going to play this?"

Shaak frowned, thinking hard as she stared at the placid world ahead of them, its physical nature a shocking contrast to its impact on her Force senses. "If we can, I'd like to sneak in, but given the ability this Sith has with computers, he might have become aware of us the moment we came out of hyperspace, thanks to the buoys."

"Couldn't he then get them to fire on us despite your Order override code?" Ranma asked.

"No, that code is hardwired. It can be overwritten, but only if you physically connect to each platform, and you'd have to have the hardware to do it in the first place. That would take a lot of effort for little return."

"Makes sense," Ranma grunted. "Is there any way you can tell if they warned him we're here?"

"Well, there is no sign of a power source on the planet, certainly nothing that could power a space sensor platform. Give me a moment…" Shaak trailed off her fingers movied across the sensor controls before she finally nodded. "Yes. These platforms are cheap and therefore bare bones models; they don't even have the ability to send anything. Excellent. In that case we can sneak in and surprise the Sith, though we should be wary of sensors when we hit the outer atmosphere."

"Let's do that then," Ranma said, powering the ship forward. When they came within a few hundred kilometers of the planet, however, he slowed down, the engine cutting out. The ship kept on going via its momentum, entering the atmosphere slowly.

For a while it seemed to have worked, the two of them detecting no sign they had been spotted. Then from nowhere ion cannon bolts flashed up at the _Wild Light_.

"Evasive!" Shaak barked, since Ranma was the one at the controls at the moment.

"Where are they coming from?" Ranma replied, already juking the controls to port.

"I do not know," Shaak muttered, staring down at her controls and working closely with Tune to try and discover the source of the incoming fire. The ion blasts looked to be coming from the rubble of a city of some kind below them, but her readings couldn't find any power source.

Two more blows got in as Ranma juked around several more the ion cannon pulses eating into the ship's shielding further. The redundant nature of Mon Calamari shields meant that they were extremely difficult to take down even with an ion cannon.

Still the ion cannons firing on them were capital-class weapons. So those two bolts took the shielding down into the red, one of the shield blisters shorting out entirely, weakening them further.

"We have turbolaser fire incoming," Shaak said "It's coming in from all sides, but I can localize the targets now!"

"Light them up; we'll take them out with proton torpedoes!" Ranma replied.

Shaak's almost calm tone belied the amount of firepower coming at them. There was enough firepower down there to see off a flotilla, and all of them were planetary level turbolasers, capable of swatting capital ships out of the sky just like the ion cannons. It was only Ranma's reflexes and madcap flying style that kept them in one piece long enough for the targeting computers to do their work

Despite Ranma's best efforts, however, three shots connected. Two knocked down the _Wild Light's_ shields and the third, an ion cannon round, did its insidious work, shorting the shields out entirely, as well as the quad lasers, which exploded as they shorted out. It was only the Mon Calamari design that kept the main generator and the engines from joining them, but Tune, connected to the ship's computers as he was, shorted out in a welter of sparks, the lights around his dome going out abruptly. And several of the panels in front of Shaak and Ranma also shorted out, sending sparks flying everywhere.

But because they weren't powered on at the time out and ready for battle, the proton torpedo launchers set into the snout of the _Wild Light_ were still in working order when Shaak ordered the ship to pull the covers aside. Two proton torpedoes were sent out at every target in quick succession, exploding into the buildings that had housed the weapons.

But the damage was done. The shields of the _Wild Light_ were down, and the turbolasers continued to fire. Ranma had to be lucky every time, the local defenses had to be lucky only once. Eventually Ranma's luck ran out, and two further bolts smashed into the Wild Light, sending it into a tailspin.

"We're going down!" Ranma reported. "I'll try to land us in one piece, but you take out more of those turbo lasers, as many as you can. HK! Are you good to go!?"

From the main room the droid replied. "Affirmative response: I am, master, and eager to crush meatbag heads."

"I think you're going to get your chance. Stand by on the gangway, we might have to let you out first before we crash." A second later HK was out, leaping away from the ship and trusting that the turbolasers wouldn't be able to range on such a small target.

Even as Shaak continued to destroy gun installations with their proton torpedoes, the brutal fire from the turbolasers continued to pepper them, and with the engines now barely responding Ranma's ability to dodge them was severely hampered. The ship lost several portions of its outer armor, but thanks to the Mon Calamari design it was still, generally speaking, in one piece when it crashed into the ground below. "Brace!"

The ship skidded into the ground, and then went end over end a few times before landing with a thump on its back. The two of them found themselves hanging from their seats from the deck that had suddenly become the ceiling. Tune fell out of his spot at the first roll, but Ranma reached out quickly, grabbing one of his legs and trying to hold him in midair during the twisting and turning of the crash. He could feel the little droid's leg buckling under his grip, but he hung on grimly until the ship stopped moving, allowing him to gently drop the droid to the floor below, wheels first.

As the droid clattered to the ground, Shaak and Ranma looked at one another. "If you say something about any crash we can walk away from is a good one, I am going to smack you," Shaak said simply.

Ranma laughed, but looking closer at Shaak he noticed a bruise forming on her forehead right below where her akul circlet hung. "Are you all right?"

Shaak simply nodded, disengaging the security harness around her and dropping lightly to the floor, flipping in midair to land feet-first. Ranma did the same, and the two of them moved through the ship towards the hatch, hoping that it could still be moved despite the hammering the ship had taken. It was, and with Ranma's strength they were able to push it open just enough to squeeze out through the crack, hopping out to land outside on the belly of the ship.

"Well, so much for taking whoever is here by surprise," Ranma said. As he spoke he pulled out his light pike, holding the staff over one shoulder as he stared around.

"Yes. It's evident that we walked into a trap here," Shaak said grimly, landing lightly behind him and activating her own lightsaber. "And it is doubtful that the anti-air defenses were the only portion of said trap."

"HK, can you read me?" Ranma asked into his intercom.

He was answered by a spurt of static, and he shrugged his shoulders, looking over at Shaak. "Not exactly surprised by that; still, an irritant."

Shaak shook her head and pointed to one side. Thanks to her montrals she was able to pick up the sounds of combat in that direction. "I believe we will find HK in that area." With that the two of them turned and raced on towards the sounds of combat.

They found HK making his own way towards them and being attacked by several of what looked almost like cannibal zombies of some kind. They weren't slow like zombies. No, they were incredibly fast, their movements feral; mostly men, but with some who looked like women. No children among them, thankfully, though when Ranma thought about why that would be, a sense of grim rage began to fill him.

The two lightsaber wielders cut their way through the small throng of beast-like cannibals, which retreated quickly, hiding here and there in the ruins starting up a manic scream of some kind. "What the hell?" Ranma asked, blinking at the noise.

HK shook his head. "Objective anecdote: It is a signal of some kind, master. After I beat off the first three meatbag vermin which attacked me, the survivor retreated and started that howl up before I could liquidate him. It is their way of calling more of its people to the attack."

From everywhere they came, hundreds of them, thousands, perhaps. They were almost human looking, their bodies anyway, but their fingers ended in claws, and their skin looked a little tougher than normal. Their clothing was shredded and dirty, their eyes wild and gleaming yellow and red, man and woman alike, their bodies pockmarked here and there by the acid storms that sometimes affected this planet. They moved unnaturally quickly, far quicker than a trained soldier, racing on all fours towards the two interlopers. As they came they howled, the same ululating, piercing howl, like that of a dog in distress crossed with a banshee.

To Shaak's senses they almost felt like very weak Force users, but not quite. Feeling that, though, Shaak wondered if perhaps the madness that had infected this world hadn't been a mistake at all? _Perhaps the Sith isn't hiding here as much as returning to the scene of the crime. Yet one more thing he will have to answer for._

"HK, get high and give us some cover fire as we move! We can't get pinned down! Shaak, see if you can find the Sith user; I'll cover our back," Ranma ordered, already moving off as HK did the same.

"Gleeful announcement: Master, you bring me to the nicest places! Look at all the meatbag targets! A pity they don't seem sane enough to feel pain or acknowledge my martial prowess, but there is something to be said for the sheer quantity. Thoughtful statement: But I will have to use ammo conservation here, or I will run out of bolts before they run out of bodies."

Running along beside Ranma, Shaak sliced her lightsaber to the side, cutting down two of the locals. At one point they might have been human, but such was certainly not the case now, and she could not afford to show any mercy. "We need to break contact and start hiding instead of just running! As for searching out our quarry, this is not the time to go looking for more trouble."

"Yeah, but if we don't go looking, more trouble will find us. Still, breaking contact's a good idea," Ranma mused, using his light pike and fists to knock or slice several of the locals to pieces as he looked around. Spotting a large high-rise, he nodded, pointing to the road which ran alongside it. "Head that way!"

As they ran in that direction, Ranma switched out Shaak with HK, who had run out of concussion grenades already. Reaching the building's wall, he shouted, "Breaking point revised!" With that Ranma began to smash the building's walls all along its base, the breaking point shattering its ferocrete.

Circling the building, he ran into more cannibals, but Ranma handled them easily enough, continuing his grim work and now slicing into the girders the breaking point had revealed. At the same time HK and Shaak made a stand where he had left them, drawing in more of the locals.

"It's coming down! Get ready!" he shouted, finishing his work and racing back around the building, leaping into the air over the intervening horde.

With that cry, Shaak and HK responded in the affirmative, moving quickly towards the building and around it. Quickly after that the building came down, smashing a large portion of the horde and scaring off the rest for a moment, allowing them to race on, trying to get away from the point of contact.

"Oh, bravo," a voice shouted from nearby, and the three of them turned, staring. On top of a small house nearby stood a man. He was a middle-aged man, seemingly, with thin but muscled arms shown off by a jacket that had no sleeves. WHe had long, blue colored hair down to his shoulders, a sardonic, cruelly amused look on his face, and slightly pointed ears, which reminded Ranma of Master Fay, though not quite as pointed.

 _If Fay is a space-elf, this guy's a half-elf,_ Ranma thought, almost amused at that idea despite the situation they found themselves in. "I told you trouble would find us."

"Duly noted," Shaak murmured, taking in the most important factor about the newcomer's appearance: his eyes were glowing yellow with the Dark Side. That and, while he was surrounded by a massive pack of the locals, none of them were attacking him. Rather, they were sitting on their haunches all around him and on the ground nearby, staring at the interlopers, but not attacking, like a pack of hunting dogs waiting for the order to attack.

"Bravo," the man said again, chuckling and gesturing to the large building Ranma had brought down behind them. "Very well done. A Force technique I've not seen; something like a specialized form of the shatterpoint, is it? Very interesting indeed. Ah, but where are my manners?" The man bowed grandly, his sneer becoming even more prominent. "I am Set Harth, your executioner."

Shaak gasped at the name, but was still ready for the charging horde of locals, stepping back and gesturing with one hand, blasting the first few dozen that reached the duo into the air with a Force Push. Several of them were gunned down by HK quickly. Then Ranma was leaping through them, using each momentarily suspended creature as a springboard towards Set. "We'll see about that Elrond!"

"Elrond? Is that supposed to be a joke?" Set asked, his voice even, though he had to struggle for a moment to interpose his blade with Ranma's light pike. Then he flung himself backward, continuing to block Ranma's furious assault. As he had expected, there were brief flashes of various lightsaber styles there, but most of it was original based on Ranma's strength and speed.

Yet with his training under Sidious, Harth had enough speed to keep up when added to his Force Precognition. The two of them exchanged several blows, but Set quickly realized that concentrating on Ranma like he was being forced to would open him up to attacks from the Togrutan and combat droid once they finished with his small pack of locals. It also took too much of his Force powers to keep up with Ranma, forcing him to not use any of his other powers.

However this battle had already pinned down the trio of attackers long enough for more of the locals to arrive beyond the pack which had been with Harth. Ignoring him they piled in on the trio, allowing Harth to break away from Ranma.

Seeing an opening, HK twisted, bringing his blaster to bear and getting a shot off through the throng of rabid locals toward Harth, but Harth blocked it easily. A rock flung via a Force Push from Shaak at incredible speed, however, nearly caught him, and he hopped away awkwardly, almost falling off the roof where he had been standing when the battle was joined.

Ranma fell back to Shaak, and the two of them moved around HK, allowing him to once more concentrate on thinning the throng before they could reach them. Several times the trio were entirely surrounded, but Shaak and Ranma worked so well together that their plasma weapons created a web of light that none of the creatures the populace had become could get close to. And even as they did, Shaak began to concentrate on another Force technique entirely.

Standing on yet another rooftop, Set had followed the battle, watching as the three kept on trying to break out of the horde. But with him directing them, the cannibals were always ready for it, wherever they tried to go. And the few times they tried to enter the buildings they had to stop, thanks to traps the Sith-in-training had set up there.

One almost destroyed HK, the thermal detonators ripping into his side. But the droid's armor had stopped most of the destruction, though his normal looking hand was blown clear off him at the elbow, and the rest of that side of his had been badly scorched.

 _It took me months to get all this set up properly, but it seems to be working out,_ Set thought grimly as he watched the droid's injuries slowing the trio down. The Chaotic Locus immediately began to change his style, now leaping around over the horde in a way that Set had seen in his briefings on him. He idly wondered if the Togrutan Jedi would follow suit, abandoning the droid to its fate, then gasped, staring as she did something he had not anticipated.

Feeling the Force coursing through her, Shaak finally had gathered enough of her energy and concentration to activate Force Light. Thrusting out a palm, Shaak let her lightsaber fall to one side as light blazed from the palm. It was as if a pale, white sun had appeared in her hand, blasting away the Dark Side around them.

The effect of the Force Light on their attackers was profound, to say the least. The berserk cannibals screamed, the nearest simply screaming and falling over dead, thrashing in place. The rest took to their heels, their howls changing tone and becoming whimpers of fear and terror. That terror spread to the rest of the locals within hearing or seeing distance, and they all retreated quickly.

"What was that!?" Set bellowed, only to leap away as Ranma landed where he had just been standing, his fist shattering the roof he had been lying on. Kicking up and away from the rooftop, Set reached out with the Force, grabbing the rubble and hurling it at Ranma from several sides with all the power he could put behind it. Ranma grunted in pain, feeling the hits, but thanks to his toughness training none of them could stop him from charging in closer to Set.

Reaching for Ranma with the Force, Set gasped as Ranma flared his ki, breaking the lock and bringing around his light pike at the same time. Set battered that to the side and began to leap around Ranma while also clicking a button in his pocket, opening a set of doors nearby, getting in a lucky blow to Ranma's back from his lightsaber, though it didn't penetrate. The next moment, however, he couldn't even concentrate on that as Shaak Ti joined the fight.

For a few moments it was all Set could do to stay alive. Several blows got through, most of them from his attackers' lightsaber weapons, but one blow from Ranma nearly caved in his skull, and a kick from Shaak broke his ribs. And Shaak Ti's continued use of Force Light seemed to be draining Set of his strength.

But Set's ability to use Ataru canceled out Ranma's own aerial style, and his ability to use Force telekinesis while locked in battle with the two of them was able to offset a few of their tandem attacks. Despite that, Set knew he would die in short order, as none of his own attacks were getting through his attackers' defenses.

Then HK blared a warning, and the battle changed once more. "Warning: Master, I have readings on four incoming creatures of unknown type. They are not four of the berserkers; most of them are still running, and the four incoming lifeforms are larger than them as well.

There was a warbling war cry from the side of the battle, and then there were four monsters racing through the cityscape toward them. Three of them had taken to the rooftops, leaping with unusual agility from one rooftop to another. The last was racing towards them along the streets of the city suburb they were currently in.

The things looked like short Rancors, only about eight feet tall rather than two stories. Their skin was red, they each had three claws, and they had spikes coming from their shoulders and the back of their heads, and tusks protruding from either side of their mouths.

Shaak knew what they were the moment she spotted them. "Terentatek! Watch out, Ranma! They are Jedi hunters. My Force Light won't deter them; in fact, it might even attract them."

"Then we'll just have to see if we can change their minds. Or their faces, either works," Ranma quipped, despite the fact he was actually all business at the moment.

"I think you've forgotten about me, haven't you?" Set said, lashing out with Sith Lightning towards Ranma. Ranma blocked it with his light pike, but Shaak had turned her attention towards the Terentatek closing via the streets, because it was the closest. Thus she was unable to counter a Force Push that hurled her away.

Luckily, it wasn't in the direction of the Terentatek she had been looking at. Not so luckily, it brought her close to the three Terentatek that had been leaping toward them over the rooftops. And the shock of the impact of landing caused her to lose control of the Force Light technique, which abruptly disappeared. But Shaak had retained her grip on her lightsaber, and she pushed to her knees quickly, lashing out with it in a wide arc. The Terentatek leaped backwards, circling her, while the local cannibals swiftly overcame their fear of her Force Light and began to close quickly.

Now out of position to aid one another, Ranma and Shaak found themselves facing their foes alone. While Shaak quickly activated Force Light, warding off the local beasts from her, she was too far away for that to impact Ranma and the fight going on around him. And there was too much distance between them now, Set's Force Push having hurled Shaak several blocks away from Ranma. "Joy," Shaak said dryly, flashing her lightsaber in a figure of eight as the first Terentatek was joined by its two fellows, circling her.

HK twisted his wrecked body, his legs pumping as he moved to interpose himself between Ranma and the Terentatek moving to attack him. His shoulder mounted cannon fired several times, the heavy bolts hammering into the thing. Given the running battle they had been fighting since landing, he was unfortunately out of concussion grenades. But that and his own severe injuries weren't enough to force HK to be anything less than his normal aggressive and murderous self. "Angry challenge: Your fight is with me, beast!"

The Terentatek roared furiously, but took up the challenge, racing toward HK.

 _Yes!_ Finally seeing his plan of separating the trio working as it should, Set decided he couldn't afford to back away and let Ranma face the cannibals alone. None of them were intelligent enough to realize that they had to keep the trio away from one another, and Ranma was the most likely to be able to get through the cannibals towards the others. _Not going to happen,_ he thought grimly, his lightsaber flashing forward.

What followed was a show of acrobatics and midair skill that might have had Genma and Yoda both nodding in approval. Ranma was trying to link up with Shaak, not really attacking Set anymore, but simply trying to get away from him while Set tried to keep the Chaotic Locus from doing so. Sith Lightning matched Moko Takabisha. Force Push was avoided or broken, Force Crush taken and returned with a hard enough hit that nearly did more damage to Set.

Both of them took hits, some debilitating, but none crippling. Ranma's healing was up to the task, and Set didn't take nearly as many hits as he was giving out, though he couldn't sustain that pace. However, Set only had to maintain this for a few moments, then the locals were attacking the Chaotic Locus as well.

Growling angrily, Ranma ducked and dodged, dancing around and moving this way and that, always keeping in the air, which seemed to flummox the locals' ability to work together, like the pack of beasts they so resembled. Set, however, was able to match him there, and Ranma started to take blows from the locals, and even once more from Set, when he pulled his disruptor from his waist. His durability turned the blows of the locals, but the disruptor beam left a large, mottled burn mark on Ranma's side, slowing him down enough for Set's lightsaber to catch him in the shoulder in the next instant. A few slashes from Set's lightsaber also got through, slicing his clothing and slightly burning the skin underneath.

In return Ranma kicked one of the cannibals up into Set's body, slicing through the cannibal, his lightsaber also catching Set. But Set's own durability was up to stopping the blade from penetrating. It left an angry burn, but even that wasn't enough to really hurt him.

Still, Ranma had anticipated that and turned with the blow, moving into one of his more destructive techniques as he cut down several cannibals, for once landing on the ground. _Anger, check; hate, check; let's see if battle auras here create the same heating effect that they do at home._ With that thought he slowly began to control his emotions, not entering the Soul of Ice, but keeping cool, cold and controlled while he began to move into a spiral.

It was tough with the sheer number of locals attacking him from every direction and Set pressing in hard. But Ranma was able to do it, and it was only his spiral pattern that mattered, not the heat front following the same pattern.

Set could feel something changing as his opponent began to concentrate more on dodging than striking back. His Force Precognition was trying to grasp at what was going on, what had changed, only to come up blank. So despite preparing for anything, he was not prepared for what actually happened.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma shouted, bringing up not his light pike, but his fist to crash into Set's down-swinging lightsaber. Even as the skin on his fist began to burn all around them a tornado appeared. The wind was so fast and powerful it picked up the cannibals surrounding the two combatants and Set Harth in turn, hurling them up and away. The tornado swiftly grew and grew and grew fed by the cannibals' feelings of mad rage and fury, fed by Set's hate and anger and then his own frightened fury and fear. It grew and tore into the surrounding buildings, tearing them asunder and sending the debris through the air to join Set and the cannibals.

"ARGGH!" Set howled, feeling his body tossed this way and that as debris and wind lashed him, but his durability was such that even that wasn't going to be enough to kill him. He lost his grip on his lightsaber, and the pain of the technique was such that he couldn't concentrate enough to try and get out of it, so he instead tried to curl up, with limited success, trying to concentrate just enough to ward off the debris that was caught in the tornado with him.

Then Ranma began to add something new to the equation. As the tornado ascended into the sky above the city, he pulled out his heavy blaster and his communicator. "HK, fire into the tornado!" Blasting away with the heavy blaster, Ranma also moved over to some of the nearby buildings the tornado had ripped apart. There he found pieces of metal or wood and began to fashion crude but sharp spears out of them, hurling them into the tornado, flinging each into the air as fast as he could.

For her part Shaak Ti had faced three Terentatek, legendary Jedi killers. Besides their visible weapons, the red-skinned beasts' hides were tough, and their claws and bones almost lightsaber proof, a sign of their ancient ancestors' manipulation via Sith alchemy. They were immune to mental Force powers and incredibly fast to go with their durability. They also had some immunity to other Force powers, though that, at least, could be overcome.

But Shaak Ti had her training with Ranma and her own skills. A Force Push scattered the trio before they could close in on her as one, and she charged in rather than retreat. Her lightsaber flashed forward, catching one Terentatek in the arm, slicing it off, and she ducked underneath its other clawed hand as it tried to cut her head off. Her free hand grabbed the outstretched arm right behind the wrist before it could regain its balance, and her lightsaber flashed back, cutting into its leg. As before, she used her hold on the monster's arm to flip herself up and away. This left the beast bleeding badly from the blows, but with both limbs still intact.

Shaak had to bring her lightsaber up to interpose it between a lunging Terentatek and her shoulder, grateful that the lightsaber couldn't convey nearly all of the impetus of that lunge. The Terentatek's teeth and tusks stopped her lightsaber, only a bit of the skin over its mouth sizzling under the heat of the plasma blade, but that was all. Yet the attack still pinned her there for a split second as its two fellows moved to attack her from behind.

Staring into the Terentatek's eyes, Shaak saw a vile, vaguely animal like intelligence, beyond that of a normal wild animal, but not enough to be sentient. But there was hate there, a burning hate for her and all Light Sider followers. _So, they really were made to hunt Jedi._ Shaak had known that, having read about beasts like this in the Order's histories, but to know it after staring into the beast's eyes was a different thing entirely.

Even so, she was prepared and turned, deactivating her lightsaber and letting the Terentatek she had been engaged with stumble past her. Lashing out, her fist slammed into its head with as much power as she could put behind the blow, snapping off one of its horns and caving in the side of its head. Even that didn't drop the beast, but it stumbled into the charge of one of its fellows, letting Shaak leap away.

A Quick Force grab pushed the last of the Terentatek into the other two and she used a variant of Ranma's aerial style to remain in the air, lashing down at them with her lightsaber. She wasn't going for any particular target now, only trying to injure them as much as possible.

The three Terentatek eventually got themselves sorted out, not attacking or injuring one another as many Rancor-like beasts would have if they had smashed together like that, showing once more their intelligence. And one of them swiftly surprised her. Instead of going for the chomp to her leg that her Force Precognition predicted, it raised a clawed hand, slashing toward her lightsaber hand.

Before she could pull her hand out of the way, the blow landed with numbing force. The monster's claws would have lacerated a normal Jedi's hand to bloody ruin, the impact enough to shatter bones. But to Shaak, thanks to her toughness training, it only broke the skin, giving her a nice gash and numbing her hand slightly, but not enough for her to drop her lightsaber or to break Shaak's concentration.

Flipping up and away via a kick to the forehead of another Terentatek, Shaak rested slightly on the side of a five story building, then thrust out a hand, throwing one of the Terentatek backwards into the side of the building behind them. The first Terentatek to reach her ate the tip of her lightsaber for its trouble, searing into the thing's eye.

Shaak was astonished that even so, the thing's skull protected its brain for a time under the heat of the plasma blade. But eventually the plasma blade did burst through into the thing's skull, making it the first Terentatek to fall.

Killing it, however, cost Shaak, because the last of the three closed in from the side, chomping down on her shoulder and raking its claws down her side. Her Jedi robe was shredded, her ribs creaking under the hit, but it was her shoulder which took the most damage. The thing's jaws punched through her skin, crunching down on her shoulder and digging in.

Gritting her teeth, Shaak deactivated her lightsaber and brought her other hand up to hammer into the thing's jaw, shattering its tusks with each blow, knowing that she had to get this beast off her arm before the Terentatek she had thrown across the street could join it.

When the thing's eyeball exploded under one of Shaak's blows, it finally released her, the pain of the blow overcoming its need to kill the prey it had been designed to kill. It opened its mouth, letting Shaak's ruined shoulder loose as it backed away, howling in agony, only to fall silent as Shaak lashed out with a quick punch from her unwounded arm, catching the thing in the throat and crushing it.

Rolling away and wincing in agony from her wounds, Shaak let the thing fall, pulling her lightsaber to her unwounded hand and activating it quickly, lashing out with her lightsaber to keep the beast back. It was the same one that she had attacked first, and it was already moving much more slowly thanks to the wounds it had taken to its arm and leg and it was unable to dodge her lightsaber's slash. It caught the Terentatek in its side, biting in until the plasma blade hit its ribs, stopping there.

In return it howled and tried to lash out at her with its remaining arm but Shaak leaped over the thing, her lightsaber flashing and slashing in a series of consecutive blows as she pushed her body to keep moving around the thing, using its hampered mobility to the best degree she could. Eventually the wounds piled up and the thing finally fell dead to the road of the blasted city.

Seeing several of the cannibal locals coming towards her, Shaak sighed, but began to concentrate on creating Force Light, only to watch in bemused shock as a tornado appeared inside the city, ripping away at adjacent buildings as it ascended into the sky. The locals also noticed this unnatural phenomenon and ran away, yipping and screaming, in almost as much haste as they had earlier from her Force Light technique.

Moving in the direction of the tornado with some difficulty, Shaak ignored her various wounds for now, concentrating on her surroundings just in case. The cannibals might have been afraid of the tornado, but if there were other Terentatek around, they might not be.

"Bemused inquiry: Togrutan, did the mastress ever inform you that he/she could impact the local weather in such a manner?" HK's voice sounded from Shaak's left.

Shaak turned in that direction, seeing that the droid had several dozen new dents on its body. One of the droid's claws on his claw hand was gone, the stub still sparking electricity, and its head looked as if something had tried to use it as a chew toy. Which, given the fact Shaak had noticed that HK had fought the last Terentatek, was probably what had actually happened. In HK's clawed hand he held a tusk from the beast he had been fighting as a trophy. "No, I can't say it ever came up in conversation. He mentioned one technique that created a tornado, but I actually thought it was an exaggeration."

"Sardonic amusement: Apparently not," HK drawled, before falling in beside Shaak as they made their way to the epicenter of the storm, having to stop a ways from it thanks to the speed of the wind. They saw Ranma starting to hurl spears up into the storm and joined in, with HK opening up with his shoulder mounted blaster as he heard Ranma's roared order through his communicator. Shaak, for her part, reached out with the Force, feeling both the way the wind was working and the fact that the Dark Side user was trapped within, before using her lightsaber to cut a series of spears like the ones Ranma was using.

In the tornado Set Harth knew he wasn't getting out of this alive. His lightsaber had been smashed, shattered by some of the debris the tornado had pulled up into itself, and his durability, the durability his training under Sidious had given him, had begun to falter. His mouth was a mangled mess, one of his ears was gone, and several of the spears had sliced him or even penetrated his body in several places. None of them went deep enough to kill him, but the wounds were piling up.

Desperate and now scared for his life Set reached out for the Force, beginning the process of Transfer Essence. He was still performing the technique when Shaak and HK joined in and was barely done before a spear hit the back of his neck, slicing into his spine.

Wearily, the trio of warriors watched as the tornado slowly began to dissipate, having slaughtered all of the cannibal berserkers it had caught within its radius which had been fueling it with their anger and fury. Their bodies were scattered across the city, and among them was the body of Set Harth. HK spotted his body falling to earth first, pointing him out to his master and mistress.

For a moment the three of them just stood around the Dark Jedi who had led them on such a not-at-all merry chase, before the renewed howls and hunting roars of the locals warned them that there was still danger around. Shaak quickly began to bring up her Force Light again, while at the same time Ranma knelt, checking for a pulse.

He had barely stood up when HK picked up the body and hurled it into the doorway of a nearby building. As the droid had anticipated, much like the majority of the other buildings in the city, this one too had been booby-trapped, and there was the 'crump' of an explosion, followed by the entire building crashing down. At his master's look, the droid shrugged, his servomotors noticeably whining as he did. "Jaundiced comment: Better safe than sorry, master."

"…Yeah, yeah. I can agree with that," Ranma replied, while Shaak simply chuckled wanly.

 **OOOOOOO**

Set Harth's disembodied soul quickly found a home in one of his clones with the ease of long practice. Distance was nothing to someone who had mastered the Force technique of transplanting their souls. That did nothing for the feeling of disorientation, the rage building up inside him, or the fear which he could recall all too well from his latest brush with death. _An instant longer, an instant longer and I wouldn't have been able to concentrate enough to send out my psyche! What, by the Dark Side, was that!?_

The Sith-in-training looked up as he heard a clank and saw numerous guns pointed in his direction. He concentrated on his Force powers, but then pain lanced through his body, and he spasmed in the Spartii cloning cylinder. An instant later the pain ebbed, and he cursed volubly in his mind. _Of course Sidious implanted those damn nanites in my clones as well._

"This was not an authorized transfer. State your reasons or be liquidated," a droid voice said over the intercom.

Set glared at the pickup, but he had been introduced to this one too. A droid after his own dark heart, but its loyalty to Sidious was hardwired, and he sat on the pain button, the button that would release a deadly plague into the room, and the button that would detonate the tiny thermonuclear device set into the floor. _Sidious truly does believe in redundancy, doesn't he? The only thing he can't seem to plan for is the Chaotic Locus, and this time I'm the one who paid for it._

"Tell Lord Sidious that my plan to kill the Chaotic Locus failed, though I might have destroyed his ship and got close to killing both him and his Togrutan mate. It was only the fact that our information on their capabilities was incomplete which made my plan fail."

Harth hovered there for hours as he waited for that report to be relayed, and then Sidious was there, his face, or rather the dark hooded hole that was all he had ever shown to Harth, appearing there. For a moment he was silent, and when he spoke his voice was a whisper, but even so Harth could tell the man was holding on to his temper by a thread. Sidious was a planner, an organizer, the sort of Sith who wanted everything to be in its place, to follow his will. This probably was why he couldn't plan for the Chaotic Locus, whose presence was as the name implied.

"What do you mean, our information was faulty?" Sidious's cold sibilant hiss stated.

"I did not say that," Set said carefully, having no wish to attempt to transfer his essence again in so short a time. "I said it was incomplete. Everything we had information on, their speed, durability, and various esoteric Force tricks, was spot on. But both the Locus and the Togrutan had more abilities that we had no idea about."

Sidious waved the correction off, his eyes boring into Harth despite the fact that Harth couldn't see them. "Tell me."

"The Togrutan knows a technique I have never seen before, a pure Light Side technique that weakened all the Dark Side beasts and frightened the locals badly. It even weakened my connection to the Force. I have no idea what it could be."

Though Harth didn't know it, Force Light wasn't a new technique. But no Dark Side user had ever before survived a meeting with a Jedi who knew Force Light, and it was so esoteric a technique that few Jedi knew it existed in the first place or could even learn it if they did.

Sidious scowled, which was visible despite the hood he wore to hide the rest of his face. "I see. And the Chaotic Locus?"

Harth's lip's twitched, trying to smirk and grimace at the same time. This wasn't going to be good, but on the other hand, if Sidious's surprise was half what his own had been, this would be amusing at least. "The Chaotic Locus can create tornadoes. Giant tornadoes."

His lord and master's reaction of shock, shown by a jaw which dropped so hard it might have become unhinged, was almost amusing. Until the pain began; then it stopped being amusing at all.

 **OOOOOOO**

With Shaak continually using Force Light, she couldn't concentrate on healing her wounds, but the three of them were able to get back to the _Wild Light_ safely, if slowly. Once there, Ranma set to rebooting Tune from where he had shut down due to feedback from the ion cannons. "If we had more lift capacity I'd have liked us to salvage some of those guns, but we don't," Ranma mused, looking at the damage the _Wild Light_ had taken on its outer hull before entering the still upturned ship.

"True, but best we concentrate on what we can do rather than what we might wish to do," Shaak replied, keeping up the Force Light in her hand while also using the Force to deaden the pain of her battered body. She could juggle those two things, but she couldn't also control her healing at the same time. And she had yet to train her internal Living Force to heal her wounds as Ranma could automatically. Even the horrible wounds she had taken would be healed quickly once she could concentrate on them, but not before.

Luckily for her, Ranma was able to figure out how to restart Tune quickly enough. The ion cannon had knocked the droid out, but his core programming had been protected by the android equivalent of an internal surge protector. His personality kernel had even survived, and the droid, finding itself on what should have been the ceiling of the ship's cockpit began to warble and groan, rocking on his wheels, his top spinning around several times before noticing the dents on his 'shoulder' where Ranma had been holding onto him. Tune then swiveled his eyes to glare at his master, who shrugged.

"Sorry about that, Tune, but there was no other way to keep you from hurting yourself or me and Shaak even more. We'll get that repaired when we get back to Dorin or somewhere else. Right now, though, I need to know what you can tell me about the ship. Can you power it up? Is it spaceworthy?"

Tune bleeped and warbled angrily for a second before directing its eye up to its tiny booth, which was, like the chairs and the controls of the cockpit, on the 'ceiling' at the moment.

"Ah, yeah, good point. Do you need to be feet down in that thing or not?" Ranma asked. When the droid answered in the negative, Ranma simply lifted Tune over his head until he was stuck into his little cubicle.

There the droid extended his connector arm into the socket. After a moment, however, it warbled a doleful sound, and Ranma let him down.

Ranma then remembered the vambrace with the communicator which could translate Tune's warbles into words, which he had neglected to put on thanks to the ambush they had run into here. Retrieving it from his room, Ranma came back and gestured for Tune to speak.

"The power generators are not responding, master. There is no power in the ship," Tune promptly reported. "I think it might be a problem with the energy runs rather than the generators themselves, but I cannot tell from here. It will take me several hours in the engine room to see." The engine room was a tiny compartment at the back of the ship, where Tune could access the various generators the _Wild Light_ had within it, as well as the main engines, but it was so small that even in his female form Ranma would have trouble fitting in.

"Get to it then," Ranma ordered. "Any help you need, I'll give, but it'll just be you and I on the repairs, I'm afraid."

It turned out that thanks to the redundancy of the Mon Calamari's design, none of the generators had blown, though they had all shut down, one after another, under the ion cannons' pounding. Two of the shield blisters had been destroyed in the turbolaser fire after being shut down via the ion cannons, but they would be relatively easy to repair if they could return to Dac. One of the generators might well be slag too, but it was the outer hull that had taken the most pounding, along with the main engines.

Walking around the ship, Ranma and Tune could see that two of the engine thrusters were mangled beyond their ability to repair. Ranma could probably bend the metal back, but large portions of them were simply missing. Another issue was that several of the ship's compartments had been holed and were now open to space. _Jeez, and this was with the limited amount of ki reinforcement I was able to do to the outer hull._ On top of that, the quad lasers were gone, shot to pieces during the battle, and the proton torpedo launchers, along with the front of the ship to a large extent, had been mangled badly by the number of flips the ship had gone through during the crash.

However, a bare hour after they began, Tune was able to bring up one of the ship's shields. The _Wild Light_ was still sitting on its back rather than its belly as it should be, but even so, the shield springing into place allowed Shaak to stop using Force Light. A second later she retreated inside. Moving to sit on the ceiling—now floor—in the main area, she quickly fell into a mediation trance as she began healing herself.

Looking at her, then up at the sofa and table which were embedded into the floor, Ranma shook his head with a laugh. "On the one hand, it's a good thing everything that can be nailed down is, but on the other, it makes this kind of irritating." Even the kitchen had been designed to take zero-G environments, so the plates and everything else were safe where they had been stored…which was now on the ceiling, and to use them someone would have to also be standing on the ceiling. Ranma could crawl across the ceiling, but stand in a single place and cook there, that was beyond him.

"Now, while she's doing that, HK you're on guard duty. Tune, see if you can pull some of the proton torpedoes out of their magazine and rig them as grenades for HK, just in case. At the same time, monitor the shields and inform HK and me the instant it fluctuates."

"Interrogative query: While I applaud the idea of making use of available resources to create more weapons, what exactly will you be doing while the tin can and I are busy?" HK asked. the assassin droid was outside still, standing below where the landing ramp was cracked open, facing directly up from the upside down ship.

Ranma leaped up out of the small entrance, landing beside the droid. His wounds had already mostly healed, though he was looking noticeably tired. "I'm going to go and see if I can find a large enough lever."

Closing his eyes, Ranma pulled the Umi-Sen-Ken around him, disappearing to all natural senses and even the Force, if you didn't know what to look for. A second later Tune let the shield fall to allow Ranma out, powering it back up the moment he was out.

"Jealous mutter: Showoff," HK huffed, before turning his attention to the cannibals slowly moving around their ship. They didn't seem to want to chance the shield, but there were certainly more of them out there than had been in sight before Shaak had canceled her Force Light technique.

Under the Umi-Sen-Ken, Ranma moved through the city, unseen by any of the locals. As he did, he thought about the fight they had just been through. _We won by the skin of our fucking teeth and the fact that a lack of knowledge cuts both ways. Harth was ready for a lot of what Shaak and I could do, and it was only our tricks that kept us from losing this fight. Something to think about in the future, and it means I want to keep the Yama-Sen-Ken moves a secret for as long as possible. But that doesn't make me feel any better about being led right into a trap. This wasn't Harth trying to defend his secret base. No, this was an ambush from the get go. Something to think about in the future._

With thoughts of the fight still going through his head as he considered the problems they ran into and what he could do better, Ranma searched for a lever. The ship, after all, couldn't right itself, and they had to get it back on its belly in order to take off. Maybe if they had a runway or some large clear area in front of the ship they could have taken off just with the main engines. But they couldn't do that because they didn't have that much space before they would run into a series of apartment complexes, and not with two of the five thrusters mangled. They wouldn't be able to get up speed fast enough to lift into the air and miss them.

Eventually he found what he was looking for: a massive steel girder longer than the _Wild Light_ was, sticking out of one of the local buildings. It looked as if there had been some kind of statue or other art on it at one point, but the design had long since fallen into disrepair.

Using his Bakusai Tenketsu, Ranma smashed the top of the building around the girder, catching it with an 'oof' of effort as it fell free. It was so heavy that Ranma had trouble dragging it back to the _Wild Light_ , a task made worse by his Umi-Sen-Ken failing several times, causing Ranma to have to fight off a few of the locals, hide, and then wait for them to disperse before restarting his trip. But he was eventually able to do so just as local night began to fall.

With the shield up and HK on guard, Ranma kipped out on the floor next to Shaak, using her lap as a pillow, something that nearly knocked her out of her trance state before she realized who it was. The next day, with Shaak once more fully healed and wearing the cloak Ranma had given her instead of her Jedi robe, the two got to work repairing the ship as best they could.

Exiting the ship first thing that morning, Shaak paused, staring at the gigantic lever that Ranma had wedged under the ship. "You cannot be serious."

"Sure, it's a little low tech, but do you have a better idea?" Ranma retorted. He had wedged the steel girder underneath the forward jutting jaw of the ship, its other end sticking up into the air.

"And how are you going to use the lever? Your weight and mine would hardly be enough, and I will need to concentrate on Force Light to keep the locals away while you're doing this," Shaak said, shaking her head.

"I haven't quite gotten to that point yet. Maybe collapse a nearby building on it?" Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I could bring down that tall one over there like I did the building yesterday."

Shaak wanted to rail at the very idea, knowing that such a move would damage the ship even more, but it might also flip the ship the right way up, which would solve the main problem facing their ability to take off. "That could work if you could aim its collapse… Yes, that could work, I suppose. Or we could look for Set Harth's ship."

"Cautionary interjection: Apologies, master and mistress, but there was an explosion late last night in the far northern quadrant of the city. I would estimate its location as being that of the planetary capital's building, which would be a likely place for our late opponent to have made his home."

Groaning, Ranma shook his head at HK's words, looking over at Shaak. She nodded, and he looked at the building once more. "I work on this, you go and see what you can find?"

"Indeed, but you can keep HK here. As injured as you are, HK, you would only slow me down." With that Shaak turned around, already concentrating on the Force Light technique as Tune brought down the shields once more.

"Injured tone: Hurtful, but accurate," HK muttered, watching Ranma enter the nearby building.

Shaak, unfortunately, found nothing but rubble and ashes. The whole palace which had served as the planetary governor's seat of authority was simply gone, the entire thing having been blown to pieces the night before. She reached out with the Force, trying to find any clues, anything out of place here, but found nothing. In the end they were still left in the dark about whether or not this Set Harth had been leading them on, was the Sith they were looking for, or was a random Dark Jedi who Sha Koon had just stumbled upon through the providence of the Force.

Walking back as she mused about the mysteries of this confrontation, Shaak paused halfway to the ship as she heard a loud booming explosion followed immediately by a crashing noise in the distance. Racing on, she found Ranma's plan had worked, and he was standing by both the now righted ship and the downed remains of the building he had used. "As one of my people once said millennia back, give me a big enough lever and I can move the world!"

Laughing, Shaak moved to join him, and the shield came down once more, letting Ranma and Tune work on the exterior of the ship, patching holes as best they could with bits of metal debris from the city around them. The ship would fly, but Tune would have to stay in the engine room to monitor the energy runs there, as there were fluctuations in the power grid which he couldn't run down just yet. And every compartment but the cockpit were still not reading as spaceworthy to Tune's sensors, despite them patching every hole they could find.

With the cockpit hatch closed behind them, Ranma sat down and began to power up the ship, wincing at the sheer number of red lights on his console. Tune's warning warble rang out through the ship, and he powered it down to half its full power, while the repulsors caught, activating and forcing the ship into the air. About half of them were not responding, but the remaining ones were enough to get them into the air, and from there the main engines powered them up and away from the blighted world.

Looking over at Shaak, Ranma waited until she had input their jump, which she had to calculate via her Force powers instead of using Tune, since the astromech was busy in the engine room. "So, I think we found more questions than answers on this trip, yeah?"

"Oh yes, lots of questions. Still, at least we know Set Harth is dead. Despite the number of questions his death leaves us with, that alone would have made this trip worthwhile," Shaak replied, finishing inputting the commands. About ten minutes later the ship exited the planet's gravity well and moved far enough away from the system's sun to go to hyperspace.

As the screens began to show the varicolored lights of hyperspace, Ranma glanced at Shaak out of the corner of his eyes. In as innocent a tone as he could manage he asked, "So, it'll take us, what, two days to get back to Dorin?"

"A little longer. I decided the ship couldn't handle skirting around the gravity wells between us and Dorin as we did coming out. So about four days," Shaak replied, then giggled as Ranma pulled her into his lap, smiling at her.

"Well then, whatever will we do with our time, stuck in the cockpit like this?" Ranma asked throatily, before he began to nibble at her neck and the sides of her lekku.

Shaak responded ardently to his touch, bringing his mouth up to meet hers. They were alive and returning to their friends, that was enough reason to celebrate in her book. The questions about what they had run into and what it meant in the long term could wait for now.

 **OOOOOOO**

Cocking his head thoughtfully, Master Plo Koon watched as the boarding ramp of the Consular which had brought the first Sector Jedi to be assigned to the Mandalore sector ever slammed down onto the tarmac. Plo was certain about that; he had looked it up: no Jedi had ever been assigned to this sector, before or after the numerous wars with the Mandalorians. So this was a historical moment on two fronts: Plo Koon leaving Mandalore was a tacit sign that the Order (and the Republic, though the Senate wouldn't say so) and, for the first time, the Mandalorians and Jedi were, if not friendly, at least comfortable enough around one another for a permanent Sector Jedi to be assigned here.

 _And on top of that, the Jedi they have decided to assign is…telling. Though telling of what, I have yet to discern. Regardless, this frees me to travel to Dorin and be with my niece as she recovers._

As the human master walked down the ramp, Plo Koon and Bo Katan moved toward him. There was no one else here. Mandalorians did not go into fulsome public ceremonies, and the Jedi even less so.

Normally it would have been the Jedi who greeted his fellow first, but given the nature of the incoming Jedi's job, that was not the case here, and, after exchanging a nod with his fellow Jedi, Plo looked at Bo Katan who was smirking, though her words were derogatory. "Well, Je'dai, I'd say I could hope that you enjoy a peaceful stay here in our sector, but I'd be lying. So I'll just say welcome, and I hope you brought a boat load of Je'dai patience and your lightsaber. I have no doubt you're going to need both equally."

Jedi Master Dooku smiled widely. "I look forward to it."

 **End Chapter**

* * *

A little shorter than most of these chapters and uploaded later than I normally like. But given how long my Pat R On work this month was - Making Waves, a Ranma/Fairy Tail crossover its on chapter 3 - understandable I feel.

I played somewhat with the timeline of Vjun, but felt it made sense to have its downfall occur before Sidious and Plagueis started the Sith End Game. I also played with the locals, making it as if a lot of them were still alive rather than having torn one another apart to the extent that they wiped the entire population out.

As you can see, I've set Set Harth up to be the entrapping, devious tactician sort of villain. This plus his clones will allow me to keep him around while also allowing me the pleasure of actually killing off a number of other villains as he uses them up. That's an issue that didn't show up in this chapter but which could be prevalent in the future.

However, I have also given several clues that Harth, and by extension Sidious, have overreached themselves in this latest attempt on Ranma's life. The long term consequences of that will become readily apparent in the next chapter. And maybe just maybe the Jedi will start to get out from behind the 8-ball when it comes to information security and espionage.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this, and the ever-evolving closeness of Shaak and Ranma's relationship.


	16. Chapter 16

Not named Lucas Or Rumiko.

This is the winner of my Pat R on only SW crossover poll. Magic of the Force brought in 864 votes. But Horse of the Force beat it with 1048 votes.

I have to apologize to my fans for my stories being out so late. Normally I'm very good about getting all my stories out as promised, but the only one I was able to post before now was Making Waves - Pat R on only Ranma/Fairy Tail crossover - two weekends ago. The reason for this is simple: lack of time. I knew I had a family thing coming up (wedding/get together) and while I thought I had planned accordingly, I **really** didn't. I didn't realize I would have almost no time at all to work on my stories - an hour a day basically at night in a room shared with two other people both of whom yelled at me for staying up late every time- and almost no access to the internet either! I could access it, but it was so slow I couldn't upload even a pm response! So if anyone out there has PM'd me and is waiting a response, I will try to get back to you today.

this has been betaed by Michael, so there should be a severe derth of mistakes, at least in comparison to FIlfy...

Now on with the show!

* * *

 **Horse of the Force16: Charge of the Wild Brigade**

Ranma and Shaak were just waking up in their respective chairs on the second day out from theVjun when there was a sharp shudder throughout the ship followed by blaring alarms and a final loud banging noise from the aft section. Ranma, who had just disengaged his harness to grab a bite to eat from the supplies they had brought into the cockpit, shouted in shock as the bulb of water he had been drinking from sprayed in his face. This, of course, activated his curse, and the now redhead cursed as she careened off the ceiling. At the same time Tune warbled a warning. "Warning, warning! Emergency hyperspace exit, warning emergency hyperspace exit! Our hyperspace drives are down!"

Below Ranma, Shaak had a tougher time of it, since she had also pushed out of her chair to change from the nightie she had been wearing into her day clothing. She tumbled through the air of the cockpit in a semi-naked heap as the ship around them began to tumble end over end through space.

Shaak quickly grabbed the edge of the controls, holding herself still above her seat as Ranma had pulled herself back into her chair. "Cut that shouting out, Tune! Are our normal space engines still working?" Ranma asked, swiftly buckling herself down, holding onto the controls as the ship continued to roll.

"Negative. Using repulsors to slow our spin now. Warning: main power is down. Activating emergency power now," Tune intoned.

"Let me take over the repulsors, Tune," Ranma ordered. The repulsors were supposed to allow the ship to hover before takeoff and landing, but under Ranma's direction they served to halt the ship's tumble eventually.

Next to Ranma, Shaak pulled herself into her chair, where she immediately began to bring up the diagnostic of the hyperdrives and was looking at the blueprint of the ship's energy runs. "We lost one of the generators, but the others are still there, just shut down. I assume it was a power surge that jolted the system somewhere, shutting down the engines, which in turn turned the pulse around and forced an overload. We'll have to do a cold start on the remaining generators," she reported, wincing as she shifted attention back to the hyperdrive diagnostic. "I think our hyperspace drives will have to be repaired externally, though. It looks like physical damage caused by the fight piled up during the jump. Whether or not we can even repair it at all will depend on if we have spare parts and our skill set."

"Don't restart the main power just yet," Tune warned. "I want to do a full diagnostic on the ship's systems first. The _Wild Light_ took tremendous amounts of damage in this past fight, and damage from ion cannons can sometimes appear days after a battle."

The two lovers looked at one another and nodded. "Agreed. Tune, you get on that. I'll take HK out with me to look at the damage," Ranma said.

"I will try to see if we can raise the Order from here," Shaak said. While she would've been just as good an engineer as Ranma, which was to say, barely acceptable, Shaak wasn't nearly as home in outer space as she was. Ranma took to zero gravity like a duck to water.

"You think we'll be able to on emergency power?" Ranma asked as she stood up, letting herself drift up into the air of the cockpit for a moment before grabbing the back of the chair and holding herself still. She idly noted that Shaak's lekku had risen only very slightly in the zero gravity, the muscles within fighting the lack of gravity. On the other hand, the robe she was now wearing had risen somewhat more despite her being strapped down, giving Ranma a very nice view straight down the front of her chest. "We've no idea where the heck we are, after all."

Shaak felt Ranma's eyes on her and smirked, using one hand to close her robe again and the other to lightly poke the redhead's arm. "No, but after we get the power online we should be able to. As for our locations, Hypercom relays cover massive amounts of distance. All we have to do is be in a general area to use the uplink system. Tune, can you tell us anything about where we've ended up?"

"Negative, mistress. All sensors are off-line," Tune said an electronic whine, ending his sentence from the speakers on his dome top rather than the speaker set into the console. With the ship only running on emergency power, Tune's normal speakers were offline. "In terms of our position, we are about a third of the way along one of the two longest jumps back to Dorin. I would estimate we are in deep space between systems, but without sensors I cannot corroborate that."

"I'll give you a running update if I can tell anything once I'm out there," Ranma said, moving behind the pilots' chairs and opening the emergency locker there. Inside was a spacesuit, though, of course, the spacesuits in this galaxy were nothing like the ones that Ranma had seen pictures of back on Earth. These were made of a thin, flexible material that felt like a mix between silk and latex, with a slightly built up helmet to go over the face. Even the jet pack and air reserves were streamlined as part of the suit. The boots that accompanied it held powerful magnets which could be activated on command.

Shaak turned slightly in her chair to watch as Ranma pulled on the suit, which clung to her body like a second skin, leaving very little to the imagination. Looking down at herself, Ranma blushed then shook her head. "Yeah, so glad there're no guys around here, else I'd be giving them a free show." She looked up, catching Shaak's eyes on her, and actually posed a little, straightening and thrusting out her chest toward her lover, who let her eyes rake up and down Ranma's form, smiling before Ranma turned, pulling on the helmet and tossing Shaak her own suit. With large portions of the ship's interior open to vacuum, Shaak had to wear her suit for a bit even if she wasn't joining Ranma outside.

Shaak, of course decided to give Ranma a show in turn, slowly pulling on the suit over her legs, then pulling her robe off and letting it float way while she, now half naked, pulled on the suit's top, hiding her glorious red breasts with their white nipples from view. Then she pulled on the helmet, which had been made for Togrutans, thankfully, though it certainly wasn't comfortable for them. When her helmet's HUD beeped at her, Shaak nodded toward Ranma, who, with a pout visible through her faceplate, turned away, moving to the cockpit's hatch.

There was a rush of air as she opened the cockpit to the near-vacuum beyond, but, once one the other side, Ranma was able to close it once again. After she saw the light indicating that the cockpit was airtight turn green, Ranma moved into the sitting area where she found HK waiting. The droid had been on standby mode until Tune's shouting had registered on his system. With nothing to contribute, he had stayed silent until now, whereupon he moved to follow Ranma towards the warped landing ramp. "Irritated muttering: I am not a repair droid! **I** am an assassination droid, a combat robot beyond the dreams of present day meatbags. Why do I have to do this, master? Get the tin can out to help you!"

In response Tune's voice sounded out over both the droid's built in radio and the one in Ranma's spacesuit, the young child voice that Tune now used exclusively sounding irritated beyond belief. "Because I need to be here to run the diagnostics as much as I can, make certain that we haven't taken any other damage thanks to this aborted jump out of hyperspace, and my internal battery is powering the screen Mistress Ti is using to look at the _Wild Light_ 's blueprints. Unless you think you can do any of that, sending you out on EVA with Master Ranma is the best use for you, you giant pile of insane circuitry! I'd wonder which came first, your incredible ridiculous view of your personal self-worth or that mad scientist's concept of a monstrous body, but I already know the answer thanks to our sadly long association!"

HK exchanged a glance with Ranma, and both of them shook their heads, with Ranma taking it upon herself to reply. "Tune, you really need to work on your insults, kid. Your second attempt there was good, but too muddied. Choose one insult and run with it. Also, don't use such long insults until you have mastered the shorter ones. Still, for a one-liner it wasn't bad."

Before Tune could reply beyond a droid noise which sounded like an electronic raspberry, Ranma had launched herself out into space.

With HK following Ranma moved out away from the hull, then back towards the aft portion of the ship, using the thrusters of her suit to guide her path. At the same time Shaak began to work with Tune, diverting power section by section so the droid could check the energy runs for damage. Once that was done they should be able to cold start the power generators, giving the ship back its gravity, at least. Then the two of them would examine what they could of the interior of the ship for damages. Tune, in particular, would need the gravity to do anything in the engine room.

Ranma clanged boots first down onto the side of the ship, the magnets activating and holding her there. She and HK then began to look at the hyperdrives for any visible signs of damage. This took them a while, given the fact that both of them were using simple flashlights, though HK's was built into his chest. There was no light here: the ship had come out into a starless void between systems. Scientists might say that there was always light from distant stars passing through such areas, but it certainly wasn't enough for visual inspection, at least for humans, and even assassination droids needed some light to see by.

About forty minutes after they had exited they heard a deep thrum below them, and Shaak's voice whispered into Ranma's ear via the helmet's radio. "We have power back up. Thank goodness for Mon Calamari over-engineering. Tune is back in the engine room right now looking at all of the internal damage. How is it looking out there?"

"Not so good, really. Two of the external panels have been knocked loose, and one of the engine…nacelles? Is that the right word, or is it just the thruster? Anyway, the middle thruster looks to be out of alignment. I can also see a few places around the other thrusters which have blown out, though those bits look smallish," Ranma said, trying to describe what she was seeing.

"Condescending observation: Master, you do know those suits you weak meatbags need to move about in vacuum routinely come with video recorders?" HK asked from where he had pulled open one of the panels around where something seemed to have blown out of the hull.

Ranma glared at HK, her light flashing at the droid in a manner that made it look even more sinister than normal, not that Ranma noticed. "I'd say no one likes a smart ass, HK, but I don't like being a hypocrite. Just know I will get you back for that one. Shaak, can you reroute to Tune? What am I looking at here?"

After returning to the cockpit with a report of there being only a bit of internal damage, Tune began to direct Ranma through the repairs, while HK stolidly held open the panel and the repair kit for her. It turned out that several of the energy runs had exploded outwards during the surge that Shaak had reported earlier, causing some damage to the runs themselves and killing the engines, but not doing any actual damage to the hyperdrive. The one that was out of alignment was still a concern, as was the fact that it no doubt had damaged its neighbors. But the extent of that would not be able to be seen until they pushed some power back into the engines.

However, HK's attention was not on the ongoing work. Rather, he was staring around and up into the distance at the far edge of his optics' abilities. By the light of the ship's few external lights and the lights on his own magnificent body, HK could see something out there. He waited until Ranma was nearly done with the work, then spoke, having been unwilling to interrupt his master's work. "Cautious tone: Master, I think you need to look up. "

Ranma frowned, but, trusting the droid, did so only to gasp.

Inside, Shaak Ti had just finished powering up the Hypercom. As she had said, they were easily within range of an Uplink array, and their little piggyback system was able to link into the network quickly. She smiled faintly as Master Windu took the call personally. Bowing her head to the Master of the Order, she began. "Master Windu, I wish to inform you that Ranma and I were successful in our mission. The _Wild Light,_ however, took a lot of damage, and we might need some assistance getting…well…anywhere. Our hyperspace drives cut out abruptly mid-trip, and our astromech droid is only vaguely aware of our position at the moment. "

"We will, of course, get a ship out to you as quickly as we can," Mace said, frowning and kneading at his nose. "The Order itself doesn't have any repair ships, so we will have to ask for Senate aid for that. Do you have any idea of the severity of the damages? If it's not too bad a problem, we could simply throw more astromech droids at it. We would be able to do that without the Senate becoming involved. But if it is a more dangerous problem we would need to send a ship large enough to take the _Wild Light_ aboard and then fly with you to the nearest spaceport."

"I am uncertain what the extent of the damages are at the moment. Tune and Ranma are working together to see if it is repairable, but after the amount of damage we took I was not particularly surprised that something failed on our trip back from our previous port of call." Because of the need for security, neither she nor Ranma would be willing to actually discuss the mission they had been on in detail over the Hypercom. Both knew that the real Sith was still out there, even with Set Harth dead, and felt that keeping whoever it was from learning about how the fight went would help in the future.

Mace nodded, fully understanding that, though Shaak noticed what could be a bit of a twinkle in his eyes as he acknowledged her circumspect manner of speech. "In that case we will wait until Ranma is part of this discussion. "

"…I can redirect some of the communication to him if…" At that point, Shaak felt Ranma's shock, which overrode her interest at what Mace was planning. While she wasn't an empath like her friend Aayla, Shaak was so connected to Ranma at this point that even though she wasn't skimming her mind, the shock came through to Shaak clearly. "Wait one," she said abruptly, switching the frequency to Ranma. "Ranma, what's wrong?"

"Shaak, cut the feed," Ranma ordered, her voice tense and wary. "HK just spotted something, and I think we need to look into it before we talk to the Temple or anyone else anymore."

Shaak nodded and, without even asking what the redhead was talking about, did so, apologizing to Mace and telling him they would get back to him, but that Ranma had just requested her help out on the hull of the ship. Mace nodded, and they cut the connection quickly. "It's done. Now, what have you found out there?"

"There are ships out here," Ranma replied. "I can see three of them from here with the naked eye!" Which, given distances in space, was an appalling statement to any spacefaring sentient. That was dogfighting range, let alone anything else. "All of them are large and seem to be pretty much the same type of ship, from what I can see. They're ships around the same size as the one that that the Crimson Nova had turned into a space station."

Hearing all that, Shaak felt her brows furrow in confusion and worry. "Tune, we are in a starless void, are we not?"

"Affirmative, mistress. We are somewhere between Vjun and Dorin. Recall that we had wanted to stay somewhat off the beaten path, yet without taking any unnecessary risks with the damaged hyperdrive in this return journey," Tune affirmed.

"Are our sensors back online?"

"Negative, mistress. They were blown out during the battle. I apologize; I only just now noticed the damage."

"So we'll have to do a visual inspection," Shaak said, sighing and leaning back. "Are our floodlights online at least?"

"Two of the five are, mistress. The others were shattered during the battle on Vjun."

Shaak nodded. "Ranma, how about you and HK shut down what you're doing and come back inside. We can worry about the hyperdrive later. Ships out here, especially of that size, are a mystery I think we need to get to the bottom of."

About two hours later Shaak slowly shook her head, using her Jedi self-control to keep from showing the shock, worry, and awe she was currently feeling. She leaned back in her chair, continuing to stare out the viewport of the cockpit as she spoke to Ranma, sitting beside her. "The Force directs us in mysterious ways sometimes. But this is most definitely one of the better ones."

"I used to say things like, 'Lady Luck smiles as much as she shits,'" Ranma said with a laugh, deliberately trying to lighten the mood, leaning back in her own chair and ignoring the smack to the shoulder Shaak sent her for that. "But I agree. Us just stumbling on a find like this: it's a sign that the Light Side of the Force is favoring us in some fashion. I could wish for more real direction and explanation, but I suppose this kind of thing works too."

As the redhead spoke Shaak sent out her senses into the Force to try and determine if anything was alive out there. As she did they both felt it again, the feel of the Light side of the Force giggling in their heads as if Ranma had just changed forms. But Shaak didn't find anyone else out there, which she had honestly expected would be the case given what this had to be.

In front of them was a dreadnought. It was an older class of dreadnought then the few in service throughout the Republic these days, but they were still large, powerful ships which were made for durability rather than striking power, unlike the ones used these days. And there were others nearby, **very** nearby in terms of the normal distances discussed about in space. The ships had seemingly come out of hyperspace in formation and then simply stayed here.

"This is the Katana Fleet, it has to be," Shaak murmured, pulling in her Force senses once more.

Once fully back in her body and concentrating on the physical world around her, Shaak began to think of all the implications of their finding this fleet here. Not least of all why the Force would direct them to it in the first place. That was a bad sign, but one she couldn't do anything about. On top of that, the short-term implications were just as troublesome.

"What's the Katana Fleet?" Both Ranma and HK asked, though of course HK prefaced his question with the phrase, 'Inquisitive query.'

"The Katana Fleet was a Republic fleet created to try and revamp the waning power of the navy around twenty years or so ago, I want to say? I am uncertain. The ships were an attempt to see if the navy could cut down the number of personnel needed to run a capital ship. This was well before the Trade Federation was allowed to build up its robotic army, of course, and at the time there was a feeling that droids shouldn't be directly involved in combat. But these ships were designed with a high level of automation, and were all designed with full slave circuitry. This meant one ship could control the ships around it in a time of emergency. They could even fire weapons and power up shields. The push to automate as much as possible worked: it cut down the needed crewmembers from sixteen thousand to something like two thousand. But as is the case far too often, the fleet suffered the curse of unintended consequences," Shaak began.

"Sarcastic remark: While I am pleased to hear that the Republic went through a time where they recognized the superiority of the computer intellect, the idea that they did not realize the need to let such minds have their freedom makes me wonder if I should feel insulted," HK said from where he was standing by the hatch into the cockpit.

Rolling her eyes at that, Shaak otherwise ignored the interruption as she continued. "But the crewmembers fell ill to a plague which spread throughout the fleet while in its dormant state before gestating. It was of a malady that affected their minds right before it killed them, and it could have led the fleet to becoming a danger not only to itself but to everyone around it. But the Admiral of the fleet instead jumped them all away using the slave circuitry. They jumped out randomly on a heading that no one was able to get a read on at the time. Ever since then the Katana Fleet has been a mystery wrapped in an enigma, as well as a symbol of the Navy's ineptitude, which, alas, has led to further downsizing since."

"Contemplative tone: Now I am definitely insulted. Are you telling me the computers on these ships were not intelligent enough to realize what was going on with their crews and take appropriate action? Or that they were not allowed to do so? Yes, I am most definitely insulted by these foolish meatbags and their stupidity."

"Harsh, but true," Ranma said with a sigh. "But these ships, how good are they?"

Shaak took that term to mean how dangerous and powerful they were, though she did quip, "Well, while neither of us are in a position to make any comments about their moral fiber, they are powerful ships."

This attempt at levity earned Shaak a return slap to the shoulder, which brought a smile to her face as she continued. "They each would be worth the equivalent of four cruisers the size of the Consular class you are familiar with even if they were all purpose built for military purposes. They are a little larger in turn than the few dreadnoughts that are part of the Republic ordinance fleets, their shields will be slightly better, and their offensive punch worse, with less reliance on direct energy weapons and a few more launchers. Though I could be wrong on that. I'm judging their abilities from a history lesson I had as a padawan.

"But **two hundred**? Thanks to decades of demilitarization both before and after this fleet was launched, two hundred dreadnoughts represents a large portion of the Republic Fleet's current complement in its entirety if they were all brought together into one place. They represent a power I do not think we can understate," Shaak finished with a slow shake of her head.

"So, what do we do about it? I mean, we could probably figure out a way to activate the slave system, get all the ships to follow us, but where to?" Ranma asked.

"And we can't call in aid for our hyperdrive here either. The Order doesn't have a repair ship, they'd have to ask for Republic aid, and that would mean Republic sailors, Republic computers, and Republic astromechs. All of whom would have either memories or recordings of this event. We **cannot** afford any chances here," Shaak said, shaking her head. "With the amount of penetration the Sith have in the Republic, it's almost a certainty that he or she would learn of them quickly."

"Professional observation: That is to say nothing of the effort needed to make use of the fleet at all. After all this time I'm certain there will be a lot of repairs and other things that will have to be done to bring them up to combat readiness. And remember the crew complement you mentioned, mistress," HK interjected.

"Even without the Sith out there I wouldn't trust the Senate with these ships, Shaak," Ranma said with a shake of her head. "Power corrupts, after all, and isn't there already a call for the Republic to start rebuilding its fleet and other calls for a dissolution of the Republic as a whole? I seem to remember seeing that on the news back on Dorin."

Shaak nodded slowly. "I haven't kept up with the latest news from Coruscant, since politics at that level do not interest me. But you're correct. I can all too easily see the idea of these ships causing a power struggle. For instance, the groups that could actually get ships out here and crew them quickly would be the Tech Union, the Trade Federation, and others of that ilk, all of whom are among those pushing for further independence or even liberation from the Republic as a whole."

Ranma nodded. He frankly didn't really care about the Republic as an entity: he thought it was a little too big for its britches, way too toothless, and horribly corrupt, reminding him of the ancient Chinese empires or Russia under the Tsars. But neither did he want to see any kind of anarchy with every system or conglomeration for itself to come about. "So I say again, what do we do? And I don't think we can even tell the Order yet, not over the Hypercom."

"I am dismayed at the need to keep this a secret, but I agree. And even if we could speak to the Order, I don't think we should. Too many Jedi would simply say we should hand the ships over to the Senate. Right now it is up to the two of us to decide what to do here, in particular where to send these ships, if we do send them anywhere."

"My money would be on Dac if we get to that point," Ranma said with a shrug. "But this is too big a decision for me to make."

"You think I want to?" Shaak asked rhetorically then shook her head. She looked over at Tune and kept from allowing a frown to appear on her face only with her Jedi training. "Tune, I realize that this is going to sound cruel, but you and HK have computer memories that can be accessed against your will. I'm afraid I'm going to have to order you both to erase everything that has occurred from the moment we came out of hyperspace in this system. We'll wait until were back on our way, but I want you to be prepared for that."

Tune groaned a discordant electronic sound from his dome as he began to rattle in his cubicle. Yet he didn't say anything to argue against that statement. HK, however, shook his head. "Prideful retort: My programming is slave control proof, master, mistress. Further, I can even fight off any attempt to access my internal memory structure, unlike the tin can. The only things I can connect to or upload are weapons systems and targeting data respectively."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Ranma droned, frowning at the idea of Tune erasing part of his own memory like that, seeing how that could cause issues if they weren't careful. But she agreed, however, with the necessity. _It's paranoid as all hell, but given the size of this secret, we need to take a page from the damn Sith's playbook._

A few moments later Shaak powered up the small Hypercom relay again, and Ranma and Shaak looked at the face of Master Windu through their com screens. "We've got good news," Ranma said without any preamble. "I was able to get the hyperspace engines working. We've talked about it, and I think it would be best for us to jump at least a little further on to the nearest star system rather than simply wait around here. It would take too long for you to get a ship out here that could really help us. It'll be slow, but at least we'll be moving rather than sitting and waiting for the cavalry."

"If you're sure?" Mace replied, looking uncertain. Seeming to take their words at face value, Mace changed the subject by abruptly speaking in Japanese, of all things. He spoke haltingly and with an absolutely atrocious accident, but for a language that he'd had to learn from the protocol droid Ranma had initially worked with, and thus having no Force powers to help his understanding along other than memorization exercises, it was pretty darn good. "You will…met back on Dorin… by… heal…, who will be… message. No new about the Dark….talked about over the Hypercom."

Ranma jolted, hearing his/her native Japanese for the first time from someone else's mouth since she had arrived in this galaxy. Indeed, Ranma had even stopped speaking it at all besides a few scattered curses on Dac. The redhead began to laugh, shaking her head and replying in kind as she watched Mace. "There was a story in my world about one of the participants of a war using the language of a small minority as a secret code. This seems like a damn good idea, though I'm surprised you were able to figure out how to speak Japanese."

Shaak laughed, having followed his portion of the conversation through use of the Force translating the words from Ranma's mind directly into her own. Japanese was an entirely unknown language, save for Master Dooku, Ranma, and the protocol droid that had worked with Ranma to teach him Republic Standard. And recordings could not be translated later through the Force: the Force would not be able to find anything in the computer to latch onto. Tone could carry through, of course, but tone alone wouldn't have been enough to help anyone trying to discover the import of the discussion.

"I understood about one word in three there," Mace replied dryly, shifting back to Republic Standard. "It is a work in progress."

"We'll wait for the courier on Dorin, then. Besides, we were both thinking of staying there for a few months, getting the ship repaired," Ranma replied, though she spoke in Japanese still. In fact, he and Shaak had agreed that they would remain on Dorin to learn from the locals how they utilized the Force to move their cloth weapons.

"We will speak to you when we arrive… Or if anything else breaks," Shaak said with a wry twist to her lips. "May the Force be with you, Master Windu."

"And with you," Mace replied, cutting the connection quickly.

After the signal cut out, Shaak and Tune worked on projecting their next few jumps. The damage to the hyperspace engines was such that jumping long distances would put too much strain on them. Even without the need to change direction, it would take several dozen small jumps to get to the nearest system where they could get repairs. "And even if or when we get there, they won't be very good ones," Tune said morosely. "Hopefully when we get to Dorin they'll be able to do a better job."

Ranma was not feeling very hopeful about that, however, since his/her ship had been built by the Mon Calamari. Mon Calamari ships were each unique creations, more works of engineering art than anything else. Even the hyperspace engines on the _Wild Light_ were not standard for the ship's size. _And that doesn't even mention the rest of the damages that needs to be repaired._ But Tune had the schematics for the ship in his databank and would be able to help with the repairs. _So maybe I'm overthinking things. Heh, and ain't that a sign of the apocalypse._

After a while, Tune expressed the view that they were done with their calculations: it would take them five days to cross the intervening space between their current position and the nearest world where they could repair their engines, thanks to the need for tiny jumps. Ranma and HK went out to perform a last-minute visual check of the drives. Once they returned, they reported that the hyperdrives looked good to go, or as good to go as they could be, anyway.

As they jumped into hyperspace, Ranma patted Tune on his dome-like head. "Are you going to be able to handle the jumps by yourself, Tune?"

"Are you trying to be insulting, master, or is it because of your own low intelligence that you doubt mine?" Tune asked.

Ranma held a thumbs up to the astromech droid as Shaak groaned, holding her head in her hands theatrically and muttering about how the snark was spreading. "You're getting better at that. We'll teach you the art of repartee yet".

Shaak suddenly let out a little gasp as Ranma leaned over and unceremoniously picked her up into his arms from her chair. She clung there, laying a kiss on his cheek and down and up into his neck, where she lightly began to bite him. "HK, it's time for you to shut off. And as for us, since we can't do anything else, we might as well head back to, heh, 'bed'…" Ranma said, to which Shaak offered unequivocal agreement.

 **OOOOOOO**

On Coruscant Mace turned to Master Yoda, who had not been part of the communication, having been busy down in the library with chief Librarian Jocasta and Yaddle. "See the utility of this new language I do," Yoda said, tapping his stick on the ground. It was just the two of them in the Council chamber at the moment. All of the other High Council members were busy with their various duties, both within the Temple and throughout the Republic or over in the Senate, as was the case with Masters Gallia and Poof. "Yet difficult to learn it is. Too small a sample size do you have."

"Yes, but it is a start. While we have plugged the leak on our end of the Hypercom, the HRS in general is still unreliable," Mace said.

The discovery of a virus program in the temple's own Hypercom uplink system had been a shock to the Council's collective consciousness a few months back. They were still slowly going through the repair droids and other electronic devices within the Temple to look for further pirate software. They were going about it slowly because it was hoped that, in so doing, they could use those programs to try to retrace the signals to whoever had planted them in the first place. This hadn't happened yet, but the few Jedi who understood programming were hopeful that they would eventually be able to follow the signal to something important.

"So, it is either this, or figuring out some other kind of code," Mace went on. "And given the intelligence shown by our enemy, any kind of modern code we could come up with could eventually be broken. With only myself, Master Dooku, and the protocol droid who learned the language in the first place, no one is going to be able to break the use of Japanese."

"The droid, secure it is?" Yoda asked, letting loose a loud harrumph at the reminder of the counterintelligence work going on here in the heart of the Order. He had not been involved in any of this, busy as he had been on Kashyyyk, but Mace had filled him in on it immediately. Yoda felt that the attempts would eventually fail, but he was philosophical about that. The more layers or tools they removed, after all, the less their enemy had to continue to use against the Jedi.

"We have him here in the Temple, and he has forbidden from uploading anything into even the Temple's computer systems, and we have actually broken his upload and download systems. Beyond that, we'll be sending him back to Kashyyyk with you. I'll create a solid copy of the language for myself to look at in the future, but both the droid and the original books that Ranma gave to Master Dooku will remain with you.

Yoda nodded, and Mace asked, "How goes the rotation of the Guardian Sect Knights through the training on Kashyyyk?"

"Going well it is. More and more Jedi, learning the toughness training techniques they are. Speed techniques, still eluding most they are. Strength techniques, being learned at all have not. Learning to enhance all aspects via the Force, everyone is to a certain degree, but the level of Ranma, beyond our reach that is," Yoda said, his ears drooping in his people's equivalent of a shrug. The toughness training was really the most important aspect for them, given that it could stop blaster bolts. Strength and speed were okay, but not as important.

"But we are still no closer to finding the Sith," Mace said, his face showing a concern he would never have allowed even the rest of the High Council to see. "Every lead we find is a dead end, sometimes literally. Whoever this Sith is, he or she is not at all afraid of cutting his losses quickly. Even that should have led us to something: his local assassins. But even then it has not"

Yoda nodded glumly at that. This kind of far reaching, galaxy spanning espionage effort was beyond anything the Order had ever been forced to do in the past. Tholme and the others working with him were making headway and learning as they went, but slowly. In both Masters' minds was the idea that it was going too slowly, and eventually it would be the Sith who upped the ante in this shadow game, though how was beyond them.

"At least I can take solace that the Order will be stronger to match this threat." Mace said, shaking off his concern like an ill-fitting coat.

"And gaining allies we are," Yoda said, his ancient eyes twinkling as he looked at the chairs where Giiett and Ranicisis would normally sit.

"Yes," Mace said, shaking his head with a faint smile. "And some very unusual ones, too…"

 **OOOOOOO**

Despite the setback his chosen tool had faced against the Chaotic Locus, Sidious was quietly pleased with the past few days' work. Sora Bulq was now fully ready to become his apprentice under the name Tyranus. To prove his worth Bulq had killed another Jedi who had been sent to Rattatak to try and find out what had happened to a master/padawan pair. That pair had been sent there several years back in order to bring the wars occurring there to an end. The padawan of said group, had now joined the Dark Side after falling into anger after her master's death, which Sidious had felt through the Veil.

Sidious wished he could devote more time to training Bulq, but alas, given all the other demands on his time, especially in his public persona, that wasn't going to happen. _Yet, given the Weequay's starting skill set, it should be fine._ Sidious turned to look at his prospective apprentice-cum-decoy and smiled unpleasantly under his hood. "And you are certain that your decision to retreat from the Order for a time will cause no issues?"

"Positive. Vos was not the first Jedi Knight I've had to rehab, and after each such assignment I go on a sabbatical before reclaiming my place as a lightsaber instructor at the Temple," Bulq replied calmly. "This will give me time to make the leap from Vaapad to Juyo, creating a true lightsaber form rather than the bastardized version Windu and I created together. And it will allow me to finish training my own apprentice in the way of the Sith."

"Yes… Ventress…" Sidious said, making her name a hiss of pleasure. "She is powerful in the Force, more powerful than even Maul. With your training she will become an even greater assassin then Darth Maul. But beware that her blade does not turn in your hand, Tyranus."

"Indeed, I might have her join Harth's attempts to deal with the Chaotic Locus, once you are satisfied with her training. It would be interesting to see if Juyo could aid a duelist against the Locus's chaotic style."

Bulq made a noncommittal noise at that, changing the subject. "What of Vos?"

"Leave him in place for now. I have no doubt Tholme will approach him to aid in his ongoing hunt. Having eyes on that from the inside will be a good thing in the long run. Remember, Tyranus: we need to keep the pot boiling, but also keep any suspicion away from the Senate until the clone armies come online. Until then we are playing a series of shadow games."

"Of course. I think that's a rather prosaic use of Quinlan, but it's one he won't have any issues with. Vos blames Tholme almost as much as the High Council for what happened to his former padawan, and that and his own guilt are at the center of his anger."

Thanks to Bulq's words and retraining, Quinlan Vos had been cleared by the Council of First Knowledge to reclaim his Knightly status. Vos had enough control not to show anything new, and there was enough concern about him still that any little minor slip up would be attributed to his brush with the Dark Side rather than a sign that he had fully turned in that direction. But Bulq had, instead of teaching Quinlan more self-control, taught him to rejoice in the power of his anger and hate, which was now pointed directly at the Order.

He had also taught him control, of course: enough to fool any but Yoda or a few others, all of whom Quinlan knew to stay away from. He was a dagger within the Order, ready to act on Bulq's commands.

Of course, Vos knew nothing about Sidious, but that was all right. After all, Bulq had no idea that Sidious had four other Jedi answering to him who had turned to the Dark Side. The idiots in charge had no idea about any of them, and each served Sidious's purposes, if in very different manners.

Glancing at a nearby clock, Tyranus stood up. "I need to go. The ship taking me to Skako is due to leave in fifteen minutes, and I, of course, cannot be seen anywhere near this level of Coruscant. Send me any orders you wish via the usual method, and I will get back to you presently. But without specific orders I will continue to train Ventress until it is time for me to start gaining public backing for the Secessionists."

"Take those two dataslates there, memorize what is on them, and destroy them immediately after," Sidious ordered, as a small, evil looking golden droid came forward, holding the two dataslates in its mandibles. "I will be contacting you at least once a month after this to give you more information on what you need to know about the Great Plan, but those dataslates will give you a starting point and help you in your training from here on."

Sidious smirked. "The second dataslate contains some information on what the Jedi have been up to. They think that by spreading out as they have they will prove harder to crush. But they are still vulnerable."

The Weequay nodded, took the dataslates, and left swiftly, a small, sinister smile on his face. Behind him Sidious sat still in the darkness for a time, meditating until it was time for him to rejoin the galaxy as a whole under his Palpatine persona.

That evening, after heading to bed, Sidious's mind, of course, went back to the Great Plan. Yes, the Order was swiftly cutting out the electronic eyes the Sith had implanted within the Temple. Yes, the Order was better trained and the High Council obviously knew the Sith were still around.

But for all of that, the Order as a whole was still vulnerable. The simmering resentment towards the Jedi in the Senate was a tool he could use to flagellate them when it became time. Too few Jedi were Guardians or Sentinels, and too few Consulars were worth anything in a fight, which had not changed regardless of the High Council's attempts to do something about it. And while Sidious would have preferred to get rid of or capture all the Jedi younglings in one place, the Order's decision to spread them out would just make them more vulnerable in the long run to kidnapping and then repurposing.

The Temple here on Coruscant had decent defenses, which Sidious knew the Jedi were making even stronger. But while Kashyyyk had the Wookies, those animals would prove little defense when it came time to bring the hammer down. And Dac had the Quarren, who Sidious was already planning to incite into war against the Mon Calamari. If that happened, that civil war would run right over the temple. When that happened, who knew what tools could fall into Sidious's hands?

 _And the Order themselves have even told me about their concerns for the future, the rise of violence and anti-Republic sentiment, as I work manfully to 'rid the Senate and bureaucracy of corruption.' If I was the type to cackle, that alone would have me doing so._

The only fly in the ointment of Sidious's current pleased feelings was the Chaotic Locus. Set Harth's trail of breadcrumbs and eventual ambush had been masterful, yet the Chaotic Locus had broken through it by sheer brute strength, and even his alien slut hadn't been killed, which was rather irritating when Sidious thought about it.

 _I have to wait until Set's ready once more to take command of that portion of the plan,_ Sidious told himself, not for the first time. _Set was correct that planning, ambush, and, more importantly, planning in depth will be very important in taking the Chaotic Locus on._ There was no chance of taking the Chaotic Locus on with any kind of half-cocked plan. _And while my personal resources continue to grow, the resources I can set on him without being linked to the Sith as a whole are dwindling._

The bounty hunters were no longer going to take any bounty of any Jedi now, and they took Chaotic Locus's initial bounty off the books, which was unheard of. It was an acknowledgment that the Bounty Hunters' Guild felt that continuing to attempt to take his/her bounty would cost the Guild more than they would gain even if they were successful. His utter destruction of an entire chapter had something to do with that, of course. Even now, more than a year, later rumors still abounded throughout the Republic of that.

Further, criminal elements would no longer be willing to take on the Togrutan Jedi or the Chaotic Locus. Word had spread by this point that the two of them did not just kill or capture those who were sent after them: they instead wiped out whole organizations. Word was spreading slowly that the entire issue with the change of status among the Mandalorians had sprung from the fact that the Death Watch had attacked the two of them. No one wanted to see if that was an isolated sort of incident.

Leaning back in his bed (even Sith Lords needed their sleep, after all), Sidious thought deeply about his long-term plans and about the Locus in particular. Assassination would be impossible. There was no weapon that could be hidden short or long that was able to kill the Chaotic Locus with a single blow or shot, save perhaps a large enough proton or concussion explosion. No large groups could overcome the Locus, as this latest debacle showed. Indeed, going by what he had seen in Set's mind, the Locus's personal style seemed to thrive on the chaos of larger battles.

 _And the Togrutan is formidable too. Killing that many Tarentatek is no mean feat, and she survived wounds that should've killed her many times over_.

Sidious scowled. _This is taking too much of my personal time to think about. I will send a simple poisoner to dog their trail when they leave Dorin, chosen from one of the races who are Force blanks. But other than that and making certain Harth has enough resources and, of course, keeping that fool in line, I need to set the problem of the Locus aside._

This wasn't the first time that thought had occurred to Sidious, yet it was much easier to think than for Sidious to actually do. On top of being a sociopath, Sidious thought of himself as a creature of order and planning. The Chaotic Locus's mere presence, let alone his/her actual actions, infuriated Sidious no end, acting like an itch he couldn't scratch. This was why, buried under other reports, he had missed the one about where Dooku had been assigned. And why he had not asked the droid he used to keep track of military matters throughout the Republic for a report in a few months…

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma and Shaak did eventually return to Dorin after five days of travel through hyperspace and then two weeks spent repairing the hyperdrive engines and the rest of the ship as much as possible at the planet they had eventually reached. Despite the fact that it had been only a single relatively short jump from there to Dorin, it was with relief that they turned the ship over to Tune and the local dockworkers. Though their space stations were relatively small, the Kel Dor were pretty tech savvy even if they hadn't really come up with anything new and innovative by themselves.

However, even beyond that there was another reason to be happy for their arrival here. "Luminara," Shaak said, moving forward and clasping forearms with her friend, who stood calmly waiting them by the interior entrance of the hanger bay. "I had hoped that it would be you that would be sent as the healer after Master Windu passed word of that on."

"And as a courier, though I personally believe both jobs are equally important," Luminara said, smiling at her friend and then over at Ranma, taking in the feel of the two of them through the Force. Ranma's massive pillar of Living Force energy had grown since the last time they had met, but the true surprise was with Shaak Ti. She had heard that Shaak was elevated to Master and had no reservations about it, believing that her friend was worthy of that elevation. Now, feeling Shaak's presence in the Force, the depth and steady power of it as well as the size of her own Living Force reserves, Luminara knew she had been correct in that assumption.

"Come," she said simply, setting aside such observations for now, though she idly wondered if she should be concerned that in the same amount of time Shaak had grown so much, she hadn't. "The Ancient Sage is waiting for us down below, and I wish to get back to young Sha. I have prepared a dropship for us, knowing how badly damaged your ship was."

Ranma and Shaak nodded, looking over at HK who would remain with the ship as bodyguard for Tune and to make certain that no one tried to plant anything on the ship. Before this they had used just Tune for that, but they felt the added security was a good idea after this latest trap. "Remember what I said, HK. First tell whoever approaches the ship to halt, then demand an explanation, and if they don't give one to your satisfaction, only **then** can you break their legs. If they tried to resist, then you can break other things."

"Droll response: Yes, master, and would you like to teach your ancestor how to procreate? Sarcastic emphasis: I **have** done this before," HK replied, shifting this way and that and staring around him, his optic processors quickly memorizing the layout of the area.

"Yes, you have," Ranma said, rolling his eyes at the odd phrase that his constantly homicidal droid had used. "But we don't want dead examples of why whoever's out there shouldn't mess with us anymore; we want living prisoners to question."

HK looked back at his master, nodding once. "Serious response: Yes, master. I understand. If anyone tries to mess with the _Wild Light_ or with Tune, they will not enjoy the experience."

"…And that droid still concerns me," Luminara said, shaking her head, her tone withering. "Getting a homicidal droid head a body, such a magnificent idea."

"Yes, well, HK is a bit of a…acquired taste," Shaak said, her lekku moving in a shrug. "Personally, I've gotten used to the thing. And though I would never say it to his face, having HK's firepower backing us has been a nice experience a time or two."

"Eesh, seriously, do not let him hear you ever say that," Ranma said, looking around quickly and making certain they were out of earshot from ancient assassination droid. "His ego is big enough as it is."

Luminara chuckled at the repartee, falling silent in order to observe the two lovers' interactions. The closeness and the connection between the two of them was more obvious now than it had been the last time she had been in their presence: it was more solid feeling, rather than something new and relatively undefined.

After passing through the space station, she talked to the two of them about some of her own missions as they took the dropship down to the planet. Upon putting on their masks they quickly moved through the city and picked up Sha Koon from the hospital where she had been staying. Together they went to the monastery, with Sha Koon in a small hover chair. Luminara had already started the younger Jedi's treatment, and she was well enough to sit up, at least. It would take time and numerous rehab sessions, but Luminara estimated that another three weeks would see the girl once more walking on her own two feet.

In the monastery they left Sha Koon meditating with some of the Baran Do. Luminara then led the two lovers into a room which she had said had been prepared especially for this discussion. "This room is a Faraday cage," she said, looking around at the walls and tapping one of them as she described it. "They are made to stop any incoming and outgoing system signals. It also has its own air system, so we will be able to remove our rebreathers momentarily."

A second later Ranma did so, setting his mask on a recessed shelf before speaking, a scowl on his lips. "I take it the Order is getting more serious about security? It's about damn time. I hate the fact that this guy is always one step ahead of us or always seems to know a lot more about our movements then we do about his. Then again, it isn't exactly hard to know more than zero, zilch, and fucking nada!"

"I still maintain that your idea that it is a male who is leading the Sith has no basis in fact," Shaak said, deliberately trying to lighten the mood. Ranma followed this by sticking out his tongue at her, and she giggled. "Not in front of Luminara, dear. Save that for later."

For a moment that went over Ranma's head, then he quickly closed his mouth while Shaak laughed.

"Focus, my friends," Luminara said, one eyebrow twitching a little. It was one thing to hear about the fact that these two were in a relationship, even to feel the reality of that through the Force. It was quite another to see the two of them flirting.

It made her feel rather uncomfortable despite her Jedi training. _Perhaps because they seemingly project some of their feelings through the Force,_ she mused. _I wonder if they've been around Aayla at any point since they initially became a couple._

"Right," Ranma said, shaking his head. "What can you tell us, and is there any specific reason beyond wanting to debrief us that you were sent to talk to us?"

"Let us debrief you first, and then I will tell you what I may, which is practically everything the Order has been up to of late to eventually prepare the Order to deal with a resurgent Sith." Luminara sighed, sitting down in a chair to one side of the room, folding her legs underneath herself as she took a meditative pose. "If not for the fact that it was Master Windu and Master Yoda who brought me in on this secret, I would never have believed it possible that the Sith could have returned without the Order seeing it coming. But they have, and I will not retreat from reality."

"I'm afraid far too many Jedi will want to try to retreat from reality rather than face it. We have become arrogant in our beliefs: too certain, so proud of our interpretation of the Force, the Oath, and the Order's place in the universe," Shaak said seriously, moving to take a similar position across from her friend as Ranma did the same, sitting close by her with their knees lightly touching. "As for our mission, were you told how we were initially sent on this mission?"

Luminara nodded, and from there Ranma and Shaak took turns describing the mission from the moment they arrived on Dorin to the confrontation with Set Harth. The fact that it happened on Vjun made Luminara sigh sadly. She remembered all too well how the Jedi and the Republic had been forced to abandon that planet. "I don't know if you know this," she said, looking at Shaak, "but we lost seventeen Jedi who went to help Vjun when it started to fall into that Dark Side created madness. But it spread too quickly, we couldn't overcome it. And there were simply too many sentients being affected by it right and left for us to fight."

"It would have been too much for even us as well, if not for Force Light and Ranma's ability to utterly break the laws of nature," Shaak replied, ending on a droll tone after starting out seriously.

"Are you going to keep badgering me about that, love?" Ranma asked rhetorically. "I did warn you once that I could do that, after all. And I like to think that I've done some other pretty amazing things since we met."

"You created a tornado, of course I'm going to keep harping on about it!" Shaak said, reaching over to lightly run her fingers through his hair. Ranma looked at her, his eyes brimming with good humor and love, and she smiled back at him before they were brought back to the reality of their discussion by Luminara's gentle cough.

 _Definitely going to have to warn Aayla about being around these two. As an empath, the emotions they put out might affect her in unusual ways._ "What does this attack tell you about this Sith?"

"They've got a lot of resources," Ranma said promptly. "They have a lot of both money and influence, and I don't think Set Harth was the master in this equation either. He was just another assassin."

"Agreed," Shaak said with a firm nod. "We've talked about this, and there is a distinct resemblance between Set Harth and this Dark clown face…" Shaak paused, realizing she had used Ranma's name for the Sith that had died on Naboo just a little too late to stop it from slipping out.

"Dark clown face?" Luminara asked incredulously.

"Well, we never learned his name!" Ranma said with a laugh. "Making light of him is a sort of way to give his spirit the finger, y'know?"

"No, I don't know, and I'm happier in my ignorance about that specific matter," Luminara said dryly. "Any other insights?"

"Sith alchemy needs to be added to the list of things this hidden Sith knows about. Those four Tarentatek I dealt with, they could not have been controlled even by a Dark Side user without knowledge of how to create and bind them. The histories are clear about that at least. I would also say that we need to look very closely at the various arms dealers in the Republic, as Ranma said. That was a lot of capital grade weapons systems they had prepared for us there. "

"I would've said that we also have to look into the communications network, but I understand from Master Windu that that's already happening. So I'll say that I think that Koon was manipulated into seeing that vision," Ranma said bluntly shaking his head.

"You are not the first person to come to that conclusion. In fact, Master Yoda apparently realized that almost immediately after Master Koon had that vision in the first place."

Ranma's eyes narrowed, but then they widened suddenly as he understood. "Ah, okay," he said slowly. "So, what did the Order do while Shaak and I were being your stalking horses?" Luminara looked blank at that, and Ranma rolled his eyes. "When we were being your bait?"

At that Luminara nodded. "Not quite bait, but perhaps your actions were indeed used as a ruse to draw attention to you rather than to certain other things. I am not privy to all of them. We have decided to work via a cell system just in case this Sith is able to somehow capture one of the Jedi in the know about him. Highly doubtful, but it could still happen." She looked at the two of them seriously, but her eyes were twinkling lightly. "As for one event I do know about? A certain swordmaster of your acquaintance, Ranma, is now assigned to the Mandalore sector as its Sector Jedi."

Ranma leaned back slightly at that, whistling silently. "That's big. That is really big. I can't imagine he was very happy, having to deal with the Mandalorians again, but still I think he'll get on well with Bo and the Reborn if they can both look past their prejudices."

"I have it on good authority that, in spite of past experiences, they are getting on tremendously," Luminara said dryly. "And it makes the alliance between us and the Mandalorians far more solid than it would have been if we tried to send any other Jedi. Dooku is both respected and somewhat feared among the Mandalorians, and his status as a combat specialist is of particular interest. Even setting aside the fact that he had studied with you."

Shaak spoke up quietly, bringing the discussion back to Ranma's initial point. "What is being done to make certain that this Sith cannot further manipulate the Force Visions of other Jedi?"

"The High Council has issued an injunction that any visions of particular import or clarity need to be reported to Master Yaddle or Master Yoda. Their clarity will be questioned, and any follow-up to them will be made in overwhelming force, up to five or even ten Jedi per mission. However, Master Yoda believes that he won't try that technique again, not for a while, anyway. It was a gamble, betting on an ability we had no way of knowing the Sith had, and it failed. From now on we will be on the lookout for it," Luminara said.

Shaak nodded, and Ranma spoke up, taking her hand in his and looking at Luminara seriously. "We're done talking about our mission. What about you? What can you tell us about the Order's long-term plans?"

"We are slowly growing the temples on Kashyyyk and Dac. That planet has been labeled as home to a third temple now, and we have even assigned two clans of younglings there, though we went about doing so far more slowly than we worked on Kashyyyk. The younglings were sent out of the temple a few months back after each youngling had been labeled as being too weak in the Force to be Jedi. There are no computerized recordings about them still being on the Order's rosters."

Luminara sighed. "We won't be able to do the same here on Dorin, however. I understand that Master Koon has returned to the temple to discuss matters about that in person with Mace, but we can't take any more training clans away from the Temple without it being noticeable to anyone who has dealings with the Temple at all."

"And you're certain that the Temple is under observation," Shaak stated. "A good assumption to make, I'd say, if a little late."

"We have known for some time that the Order was under observation. The how of it had eluded us until a few months back, when Master Tholme began to revamp our security protocols. That is still an ongoing project, unfortunately."

"Removing the kids from the Temple like that makes me think you're worried about a decapitation strike. So what's being done to actually defend the Temple?" Ranma asked.

"Quite a bit. We are slowly bringing in parts for defensive batteries, a shield generator, and other such items," Luminara said, shaking her head sadly. "But Masters Windu and Yoda are envisioning a war, or a series of large wars, which will force the Jedi Order to pour out our numbers in an effort to stop the bloodshed. We have actually shared those fears with the Chancellor. He too is worried about the growing militarism of groups such as the Trade Federation and the Techno Union."

Luminara shrugged. "He is attempting to use the laws of the Republic to cut at the rights of such groups, but is making little headway thanks to their sycophants in the Senate. There is another side of the Senate that wishes to build up the Republic Navy in direct response to this threat, of course. They are building that onto Chancellor Palpatine's idea of more centralized government to cut down on the power of such groups as the Unions and the Federation, which of course has caused a backlash in the Senate. The Senate is becoming more and more a battleground of various groups."

"I presume that the Order is continuing to look at the Trade Federation and anyone associated with it closely?" Shaak asked tartly. She all too easily remembered that several Jedi had lost their lives on Naboo against the Sith there, who had fought as if he was allied with the Trade Federation.

"We are, indeed. In fact there's talk about assigning a few teams of Master Tholme's computer investigators to look at their books clandestinely, trying to see if we can discover anything from that avenue. Unfortunately, Jedi are not nearly as good at ferreting out secrets in that particular area as the Neimodians are in hiding such in the first place," Luminara replied sadly.

"We are also gathering allies here and there among the more militaristic societies like the Mandalorians, the Nova Guard, and others. The Mon Calamari, in particular, are being very helpful, working with us to start designing capital ships for any future endeavor. They don't quite see the concerns we do with the growing fractures within the Republic; they are somewhat safe out in their own sector from any such, and the fact is that their borders are not nearly as open to outside influence as others are. But such currents will eventually reach their shores too, as the Mon Calamari say.

"We also have a new starfighter design in the works at Kuat. That one we won't even have to fund ourselves, since the Chancellor has agreed that we require it and was able to get the Senate to sign off on the budget increase necessary to pay for it," Luminara finished.

Ranma chuckled at that, remembering the discussion he had overheard between the Chancellor and Anakin about the various starfighter designs he had wanted Anakin's opinion on for the Jedi in the near future. He and Shaak then became serious, asking a few questions about what the rest of the Order was up to. But eventually Ranma decided to address the other side of the equation. "All you've said is good in terms of defense, but what about actually finding this Sith? Has there been any progress with that?"

Luminara sighed, allowing her Jedi serenity to fade for a moment to show her worry. "Nothing. There has been no progress there. We have added three more Jedi Shadows to the Shadow sect. We have the started to retrain Jedi who show any aptitude with computers in slicing."

Slicing was this universes word for hacking, Ranma knew.

"We have found **nothing**. Dead ends, shadows, dummy programs, dummy corporations. Anything and everything that this Sith does is done at fifteen or twenty steps removed. If anyone knows anything about the Sith personally, they certainly aren't talking."

Ranma scowled at that, but Shaak shook her head. "You have to remember, Ranma, that there are only around ten thousand Jedi in the Order. There are more than twenty times more planets within the Republic than there are Jedi. And not all Jedi have been brought into the secret, of course, or could even be trusted to investigate anything clandestinely. Far too many Jedi are heavy handed about how they go about pursuing their missions, believing more in the rightness of their position than the need for subtlety."

"Exactly, and given the corruption still rampant within the Senate Bureau of Intelligence and the amount of penetration the Sith have into the various bureaucratic arms of the Republic, we can't trust Republic's resources to help us here. All the criminal underground specialists are looking for any sign of some overarching group or individual, but we haven't found anything. We are attempting to create a series of informants and spies of our own, but it is slow going even with the Dark Woman and Master Tholme heading the operation."

Luminara allowed a smile to appear on her face then. "The only good news about that side of things is that Knight Vos has been cleared by Master Bulq to reclaim his status as a Knight, and that Master Tholme has added him into the effort."

Ranma leaned back, putting his hands behind his head as he thought for a moment. This sure as hell was not an area he had any interest or experience in, but there was one worry he could spot here. "I… I understand everything you've said, but given how far ahead this Sith has obviously been planning how to hide, we need to think about his goals and how he could hurt the Order in turn. Not physically, that's obvious, but what about in other ways? If I were you I'd think about other avenues of attack, though I have no idea what those could be."

"Public perception," Shaak said softly, making both Luminara and Ranma turn to her. "If the Sith can turn the people of the Republic against us, the Order is doomed. We Jedi are seen as outsiders far too often, meddlers sometimes and worse on many planets. If the public of the Republic as a whole start seeing us not as necessary outsiders but as enemies, the Order cannot stand. The Order has concentrated too much for too long on making certain those in power, in the Senate in particular, at the very least, see the need for the Jedi. We need to make certain the public too understands that not only are we needed, but that we are fallible, that we are just like them.

Luminara looked shaken at that, having never even considered the idea that the Sith could attack the Jedi in the field of public perception. "I will relay your thoughts to the High Council after I am finished healing young Sha," she said quietly. "And again, Ranma," she said, smiling at the pigtailed martial artist, "you show that you are far more than even your techniques would suggest."

"I'm not just a pretty face," Ranma replied with a laugh, waving off Luminara's words. He might have thought up the idea of different ways to attack the Jedi, but it had been Shaak who had seen one.

Shaak couldn't help it. "You're not even a pretty face, Ranma!" So saying, she pulled out a small water bottle from her ki space and sprayed Ranma with it in the face. "Oh wait, now you are," she finished impishly.

Ranma growled, but Luminara and Shaak both laughed, and she sighed, nodding reluctant agreement seeing that the feeling of the Force giggling at his transformation had helped break the sober mood. Since at this point all they would be doing was talking in circles, that was fine by him. "All right, you got me there."

 **OOOOOOO**

Master Plo Koon arrived a few days after Ranma and Shaak had. After arriving at the temple and saying hello to his niece, Plo met with the two lovers and Master Unduli. "I have been brought into the great secret," he said, his metal-tipped fingers tapping against one another. "I understand what the Order wishes to do here on Dorin, and I will do my part. I will meet with the First Elder later today and try to convince him to agree to put up a large number of Force sensitive children here."

"You say Force sensitive children, but not younglings?" Shaak asked, jumping on the odd wording.

"Master Luminara was correct when she said that we cannot remove more younglings from the Temple without it becoming obvious. The temple on Dac has caused a lot of issues with the Senate already: they fear that the Order is distancing themselves from the Senate, and a lot of them see that as the Jedi preparing to abandon the Senate. We have lost allies there, and even some of our staunchest supporters are worried now," Master Koon said sadly. "Kashyyyk was one thing, given the Wookies' respect for the Jedi, the planet's position, and Grandmaster Yoda's long dealings with the Wookies. But Dac is even further off the beaten path, and the Mon Calamari's sector is even more closed to outsiders than Kashyyyk or Dorin."

"Besides, even with Master Yoda and Master Windu working together to reclaim numerous Jedi younglings from the farming collectives, there are not that many of us. Will be lucky if we find forty or fifty Force sensitive children out there to bring to this newest temple," Koon finished

This statement and the fact that Shaak and Luminara were both nodding drove home to Ranma once more how rare Force sensitives were. It was not one in forty thousand, as he had initially thought when he met Dooku and still thought a few years after. No, it was one in every ten or twelve billion or so. It was terrifying how spread out the Order was even in a time of peace. _I don't even wanta think what would happen if a true galactic war breaks out, which I'm rather afraid we're all seeing in the future._

"Who will join you here?" Luminara asked.

"I will not be teaching here, at least not full-time," Plo replied, smiling faintly. "That would be too sedentary a life for me. I understand that a Master Trebek and Master Tra Saa will be here, with Master Saa being in overall charge along with the Ancient Sage. Given what I remember of both worthies, they should get on famously. Master Saa will arrive here after turning over the Ryloth sector to Knight Secura in a few months."

"My young friend has earned her Knighthood the hard way, but I am glad to see that she is finally been given it", Shaak said, her voice showing pride in her friend and acknowledgment of the horrors Aayla had endured. Beside her, Luminara nodded firm agreement with her friend.

Master Koon simply nodded. While he knew Aayla and, in fact, liked the younger Knight well enough, he didn't count himself among her friends like these two were. Instead of commenting on that, however, he held up a small cage with which he had arrived. "Now that the serious discussions are over, can you tell me why I was told to bring this creature along?"

Within the cage was a small catlike creature, and Ranma glared at it, fully knowing what it represented.

Shaak smiled, taking the cage from Master Koon, and explained. "We're going to stay here for a while so Ranma and I can learn a few of the locals' tricks, and I want to help Ranma finish training to control the Cat Fist techniques."

Luminara and Master Koon blinked. "Cat Fist?"

Sighing, Ranma explained, and Luminara actually began to glare, her Jedi serenity leaving her at the mention of the child abuse Ranma was put through, while Master Koon touched his lightsaber for a moment. "And your own father did this to you?"

"Yep," Ranma replied, chuckling. He had long abandoned any hate or anger at his old man for what he'd done. He hadn't forgiven him, but clinging on to those emotions would have served no one even before he arrived in this weird universe. "Fantastic martial artist, damn good teacher, horrible human being: that was my old man. Still, Shaak's right: we've been making progress," he said, turning away from the catlike animal to smile warmly at Shaak, who smiled back. "And as long as Shaak's beside me, I know I won't go too badly wrong..."

"I am going to use one of your lines on you now, love," Shaak said, pulling her hand back from where she had covered Ranma's mouth. "Please don't jinx it."

 **OOOOOOO**

Mace leaned back in his chair in the High Council chamber, looking at Master Unduli, who had just informed Mace and Mace alone of what Ranma and Master Ti had found. He wished Yoda was there to share in this secret, but he had long since returned to Kashyyyk, and there was no way he would share this secret over the Hypercom. "Thank the Force we had already begun to use couriers to share secrets like this. And they didn't tell you where it was?"

"No they did not, a decision I agree with. If the Sith start to act more openly, couriers like myself are going to be targets for both assassination and kidnapping. Knowing the secret of the Katana Fleet is bad enough; knowing exactly where it is would be worse."

"Indeed. But I will need to think very deeply on what to do here. Creating the structure to take advantage of the fleet will be hard, but…if we use our contacts with the Mon Calamari, it could be possible… But how to pay for it?" Mace scowled, rubbing at his forehead. "It is at times like this that I wish more Jedi were capable accountants rather than diplomats."

Luminara chuckled wryly at that, but could offer no solutions. The best bet would be to simply wait to make use of the Katana Fleet until they could openly move against the Sith, whoever it was. But that was so reactionary. Everything they were doing was reactionary. And Mace, indeed, everyone who knew the secret save Yoda, was getting thoroughly tired of it.

 **OOOOOOO**

Ranma gently and ever so slowly pulled himself out of Shaak, igniting a wordless noise of protest from her despite the fact that she was still gasping in air from their previous exertions. He twisted his body slightly to land beside her on the mattress, and she nestled into his arms, her horn gently scraping against the side of his head. One hand gently traced the contours of his stomach muscles and the various bite marks she had left there as one of his hands gently cupped her rear and the other began to stroke down one of her lekku, which had draped itself over his chest.

Most of the time over the past few months the two of them had spent their evenings and nights down on Dorin with the Baran Do in their monastery. While Plo and his niece had still been here, there was always someone to talk to or practice with, either with one of the other Jedi or the monks. Luminara had long since returned to Coruscant, alas, though she and Shaak had had several weeks to catch up before she had decided that Sha had been healed enough and left.

This plus the fact that their ship was basically being taken apart to repair as much damage as could be had forced the lovers to spend even their nights in the monastery. Since the monastery had somewhat thick walls they had at first thought they could get away with being together at night. However, that had not proven to be the case. Having a furiously blushing Luminara banging on their door and ordering them to, "cut it out, for the Force's sake!" had been somewhat traumatizing. After that, if they wanted to engage in some lovemaking they had had to head into the city and find a hotel which catered to offworlders. But hotels were too impersonal for either of them to like that, and so they had cut back on that aspect of their relationship.

So it was no surprise to anyone that once the locals had finished repairing the _Wild Light,_ they had immediately taken a shuttle up to their ship once more. The two of them had barely closed the landing ramp before Shaak was in Ranma's arms, his arms around her as they kissed.

 _And,_ Shaak thought as she shuddered a little as Ranma his fingers grazed one of her nipples, _much to HK's chagrin, there was only one attempt to plant anything aboard the ship or in any way impede the progress of the repairs._

Someone had orchestrated a fight near the _Wild Light_ in order to draw off HK's attention, but it hadn't worked. The Rodian who had attempted to get past the droid had been apprehended, with broken legs admittedly, but there had been no follow-up. On top of the Rodian, the local security forces had nabbed a few criminal types that had been involved in the planning and the feint, but none of them had known anything beyond the fact that they had been paid electronically to put a tracker on the Mon Calamari designed ship. They hadn't even known who the owners were. _The look of horror on their faces when they heard the ship was registered to a Jedi was rather amusing_.

 _It has been a good few months_ , Shaak thought placidly, only realizing that she had spoken aloud as Ranma's agreement rumbled in her montrals.

Kissing the top of her head, Ranma gave his own thought on this manner. "Yep, it has at that. I've mastered the Neko Ken, we've both learned the Baran Do ability to manipulate cloth, we've picked up a few new toys along the way, and, of course, our ship is repaired."

"It is as repaired as it can be," Shaak said warningly. "The ship still has some structural integrity issues, and the hyperspace drives are going to be finicky." The shield generators and the power generators, however, were all fully back online, however. Their magazines of proton torpedoes were full, and their weapons were also back online and ready for action.

"Well that brings us back to the discussion we were having on the shuttle coming up here," Ranma said, twisting slightly and then pulling Shaak on top of him so that they could look into one another's faces without twisting their necks. One of his hands still remained clasped on her rear while the other trailed up and down her back and back lek. Her own hands slid under his head, as she looked down at him, love in her eyes as much as in his. "Where do we go from here, Shaak?"

Under these circumstances, most women might well have taken that to be a question about where their relationship was going, but Shaak had no such concerns. Instead she took this question at face value and smiled somewhat wanly. "As a Jedi, I find it irritating that we can't take part in the hunt for the Sith. There are simply too few clues to go on for now, and neither of us have the talents necessary to help on that front. Not without any specific targets to spy on or to stalk."

Ranma leaned back, shuddering as the fingers under his head began to twist into his hair and knead his scalp. "The HRS, that is the weak link," he muttered. "It's one of the things that make the Republic as a whole work. The Sith has to either monitor what's going on there himself or have a trusted lieutenant do it."

"It is the weak link, and it is utterly controlled by the Senate. We can't investigative the HRS except in small lots, not without either the Senate becoming involved or warning the Sith that we're after him. And besides, there's nothing we could do about that job anyway that is not already being done."

"True. Ah well," Ranma said, setting that aside to give his opinion on where they should go from here. "I'd prefer to head to a world with some plants. Dorin has been nice, and it's got a certain…" Ranma paused, searching for the right words.

"Rugged beauty?" Shaak supplied.

"There you go," Ranma said with a smile, squeezing her back lek for a moment, causing her to gasp in delight. "But I prefer to see some green around me. We could head to your home planet?" he asked hesitantly, knowing what going there would mean for the two of them.

Shaak smiled and leaned in, kissing him very tenderly on the lips for a moment before pulling back. "That is a lovely idea, Ranma, but I decided I would rather like to have at least one friend standing beside me as my clan sister when we marry. Either Luminara or Aayla, one of the two."

"Not Bo Katan?" Ranma asked, waggling his eyebrows jokingly.

He winced as Shaak smacked his chest, pulling out one of her hands from behind his head to do it before pushing that hand between their bodies, laying it between their stomachs, which were pressed together. "Not funny, Ranma."

The hand she had squeezed between them once more gently began to knead Ranma's muscles, which quivered and twitched under her touch. There was a certain atavistic thrill in that for Shaak, knowing how monstrously strong Ranma was and yet also knowing how tender, how gentle he was with her.

"But trying to finagle their schedules so that one of them can get free is going to be a little tricky and will require some actual forward planning," Shaak continued as if the interruption hadn't occurred.

"Do you want Ahsoka involved?" Ranma asked seriously.

Shaak blinked, cocking her head. "How would a child be involved in a marriage ceremony?"

It was Ranma's turn to blink, and then he laughed. "Sorry, there is a version of the wedding ceremony back on my home world where they have these…flower girls, I think they're called? Anyway, they go down the aisle strewing flowers along the ground before the bride comes down. The bride's also supposed to be all dressed in white…I think?"

"While I could pull off white rather well," Shaak said judiciously, causing Ranma to laugh, "I don't understand why white would be involved in the ceremony of marriage. And as for a flower girl, no that sounds rather silly and far too ostentatious for me."

Shaak and Ahsoka had talked via the Hypercom several times since they had decided to stay on Dorin, and the young Togrutan's training was proceeding apace. She had even begun to train with her lightsaber recently and had shown a certain aptitude for it. She was in no way as advanced as Anakin was, who, according to the last missive, was actually already being approved to become a full-time padawan to someone. Who that someone would be was still up in the air, but it was a sign of how quickly Anakin had flown through the younglings' training thanks to his immensely strong connection to the Force. Ahsoka was strong in the Force, but in comparison to Anakin that was like comparing a torch to a bonfire.

"Or we could head back to Dac and get the ship fully repaired?" Ranma supplied another idea.

"True enough, and moving in that direction would probably be a very good idea for several reasons, since Shili lies in that direction from here," Shaak said, only to frown as she looked away in thought. "However, is that what we should truly be doing?"

Ranma paused, looking at her in silence, then nodded slowly. "You're thinking about asking the Force again where we should go, aren't you. We've had mixed reviews on that process, you know."

His tone was dust dry, but it wasn't condemning, and Shaak smiled. "We might have run into a few more adventures than we would've otherwise, but can you honestly say we haven't done any good by trusting in the Force?" Shaak waited, but she knew Ranma couldn't say that, and he declined to reply.

"So you want to try and meditate again to try and figure out where we should go? After what happened to Plo I don't know if I'd trust any vision we could get," Ranma warned.

"True, though I think that particular trick is one the Sith won't try again. But even if the Sith attempts to fool us with false images, I believe we can tell the difference by using the Force Light technique. While we, both of us, reach out to the Force, I can also use my Living Force reserves to power Force Light into our minds. That should keep any false images at bay, though it will be exhausting in the extreme. And it certainly won't help us to look at any long term visions, only that which directly affects us."

In fact, Shaak wasn't certain this method would work at all; she just hoped they could push the Veil back long enough to get an idea of where the Force wanted them to be in a few weeks' time. Anything beyond that, she knew, was beyond their power to see with this technique.

As a Togrutan, Shaak tended to think of the Veil of the Dark Side like a discordant noise hammering into her senses, blocking her from hearing anything with her montrals beyond what she could actually see. The more you tried to force your senses to hear something beyond it, the louder the Veil became at the same time, blocking them.

"Further," Shaak went on, still seriously, "we need to move on. Our being here will bring undue attention to Master Saa and the children who will be gathered here if we are still here when they arrive. In fact, we probably shouldn't have stayed here at all because of that, and certainly not with the Baran Do. I would never have agreed to that if they hadn't told us they were planning to move to another monastery anyway. One we don't know about. Indeed, one no one but the monks themselves do."

"A planet's a large place to hide a small community like that," Ranma agreed. "Besides, they have the locals on their side. It would take a full planetary invasion to find them with the locals helping them. And since the planet itself is the locals' best defense, I don't see that happening."

Ranma grinned evilly. "I'd bet some good money the Baran Do could 'predict' a few wind storms into being to deal with any invading army. Still, I agree that asking the Force where we should go is a good idea."

"Then, in that case, doing so can wait a few hours," Shaak said firmly. The hand that had been pressed between their bodies skated downwards to Ranma's still hard cock, which had been pressing up into her stomach for the last few minutes. "Right now, I think we have more important things on our mind…"

Later, the two of them sat in the sitting area, both of them in meditation poses, facing one another, their hands crossed in their laps. Shaak had insisted that Ranma join her for this, despite the fact that he still didn't quite like pushing out his sense of self into the Force like that. Still, he agreed with her that this was a good idea and harbored the hope that the Force would direct them to wherever this Sith was hiding.

But the instant that the two of them connected with the Force as a whole, Ranma realized that wasn't going to happen. Whatever else, the Veil of the Dark Side was still too strong. The Force Light Shaak generated pushed it back, but that only meant the Veil built up out just beyond their senses. But they could still ask the Force, 'where should we go from here?' for the short term and actually get a reply untainted by the Veil.

The vision wasn't clear, and it certainly wasn't very informative, but it definitely showed them enough to be concerned. The visions were scattered, but a few of them showed two of their old friends, something neither of them had anticipated. One was Master Fay, wounded or unconscious, it was impossible to tell, she was lying there so still. The other was Kit Fisto, fighting what looked like a small army of droids. Another was of two unknown Jedi, and a third, some kind of birdlike alien that Ranma had never seen the like of before. Then all three disappeared, subsumed into darkness. What that part of the vision meant Ranma couldn't tell other than the fact that it was pointing to some kind of extreme danger.

A moment later their senses were back in their physical bodies, shaking their heads and looking at one another. "Did we get a direction there?" he asked hesitantly.

Without hesitation Shaak nodded and pulled up a holographic image of the Republic for a moment, while the feeling of the vision was still fresh in her mind, a clarion call in her mind of singing bells, almost, and distant laughter full of joy. This vision definitely had come from the Light Side of the Force, something she knew, having heard that sound numerous times over her association with Ranma and his curse.

It wasn't from the Force as a whole, something that Shaak was going to have to think about more closely in the future. _I can also tell we would have been unable to get an answer on anything more than that, especially questions about the Sith. And even this took it out of me,_ she thought, swaying as she sat there.

Ranma was no better off. He looked as if he had run his equivalent of a hundred kilometer race, sweat pouring off his body as he leaned back on his arms, shaking his head.

"This is where we need to go," Shaak said eventually, her finger hovering over the holograph.

"Which is where?" Ranma asked, staring blankly at the hologram.

The Gardaji Rift in the Gardaji Sector of the Tingel Arm," she said thoughtfully. "An unknown and unnamed system."

"And all that means exactly what to me?" Ranma asked.

"That would be the Corporate Sector, on the far side of it from the rest of the Republic. That and the fact it isn't named probably means it is not a very well developed area, if it has any industry at all," Shaak mused. "It could be a newly discovered system, but I can't tell you more."

Ranma frowned, thinking about what he knew about the corporate sector. "That's where groups like the Trade Federation and others have full control, right? Makes sense we saw droids battling Kit, then."

"Not the Trade Federation itself, but other groups, yes. They have holdings there, of course, but for the most part the Corporate Sector is made up of smaller groups of companies that have banded together and control the area entirely rather than one large corporation. The Republic treads lightly there so long as the sector pays its taxes. It's a decently strong industrial sector, almost equal to one of the Core sectors and with a lot more coordination and control than a Core World sector, since, of course, most such are focused inward on manufacturing goods for their own people rather than providing goods for trade with the rest of the Republic."

"And those Jedi we saw? I didn't recognize any of them, and what do you think was going on with that bird guy? The one that was alone for a moment there. It was certainly colorful." In fact, he looked rather like a gay bird to Ranma, but he wasn't about to say that aloud.

"I don't even recognize the species, Ranma, let alone the Jedi in question. You can't expect me to recognize every Jedi we see," Shaak said, sighing faintly. "As for the other two, one of them was a Miralukan; I've met a few of them, though not that one personally. The other was Master Thracia Co Leem. I have met her a few times. She is a Consular who specializes in missions that involve problems with planetary environments and damages to said, much like my own master did. The two of them often compared notes on local laws impacting that specialty."

Ranma nodded, remembering that Shaak had met the Barabels, the large, tough as nails reptiles that had sent aid to them against the Death Watch and others after their bounties on one such mission. Standing up on shaking legs, he forced a small grin on his face. "Well in that case, we're jumping into the unknown again. Nothing new there."

"I'll start calculating the jump coordinates with Tune," Shaak said, trying to stand only to fail. The meditation process had taken it out on her.

At this point HK, who had been standing by silently in his corner, spoke up. "Wry observation: Perhaps mistress, master, you should also look into eating something. You meatbags are most inefficient and require sustenance at regular intervals to be at peak efficiency regardless of your level of activity. And you have been sitting doing your Force meditation for half of the day."

Scowling, Ranma grabbed a nearby dataslate to look at the time and gasped. "Shaak, HK's right. We were meditating for nearly ten hours!"

"….That is something to think about later," Shaak said with a sigh, holding up one hand to to Ranma, who promptly pulled her to her feet. "At the moment I think we need to get moving."

 **OOOOOOO**

Jedi Master Coleman Trebor stared as the video recordings came to an end, pulling at his long chin as his species often when in deep cogitation. _There's no doubt about it; there is a deliberate campaign at work here to turn public opinion against the Jedi. Master Ti was right._

The video he had just watched was about a woman searching for her son, who the Jedi had taken away to be trained. It was a typical sob story in many ways, pulling on the heart strings of the locals, but it also painted the Order in as bad a light as possible: as child kidnappers, as heartless mystics who had no grasp of family or the reality of the universe beyond their connection to the Force. Coleman had seen the like before, but this one, this one did a far better job of making the Order look horrible to the common man then most.

Nor was that the only video Coleman had viewed today since arriving on Axum. Others were wild denunciatory diatribes against the Jedi: vile and vituperative and not very compelling, save perhaps to those who wished to hate that which was different. Others were subtle, like the grotesque work of art he had just seen. Still more seemed to attack the idea of nonhuman Jedi, as if they were a source of corruption within the Order.

 _And it is far too prevalent!_ _Too many sources, too many examples of the Jedi being seen as the villain, the outsider, the meddling or unnatural ones. Yes, there must be a single driving mind behind this somewhere. I'm going to have to handle this very carefully. Luckily this campaign has only just started to turn against the Jedi rather than simply portraying us as fallible, so it might be able to reverse the trend, make us more personable and less like unfeeling mystics._

Yet that small piece of good news was overshadowed by the fact this was a Core World planet! There were something like seven trillion sentients on this planet. It was one of the Core World systems, where life was easy, hardship almost unknown, and the governments were deeply entrenched. _The Order has been looking towards the Outer Rim and the Expansion regions for the threat. We have neglected to build think about the Core Worlds. That_ _ **must**_ _change._

Turning away from the screen, Coleman Trebor made plans to move deeper into the Core Worlds even as his mind continued to work at the problem. _If this is an example of what I will find on other worlds, then…then the problem will be even harder to get to the bottom of. And if I cannot find the source, will I be able to combat this assault?_ Only time would tell about that, but one thing was certain. _I need to follow this, but I need to do so very, very carefully._

 **OOOOOOO**

Shaak and Tune's prediction as to how long it would take to get to the system where the Force had told them they were needed was spot on. They flashed through a series of trade routes to the Gardaji Sector, then traveled slowly through the Gardaji Rift for a time. The Rift had no trade routes through it, few star systems, and numerous gravitational hazards, making the area both somewhat tough to get to and out of the way of the rest of the Sector, which itself was seen as something of a backwater. It even had limited Hypercom relays, and most of the Rift was well beyond the Hypercom's reach. How rumors of the 'fastest ships in the galaxy' had spread to the Temple from here was something Ranma wondered about. But Shaak had no reply to that.

They came out right outside the system, then Shaak took over. Using the Force, she jumped the ship deeper into the system than Tune's electronic mind could have managed. Here, that was tougher than in most other systems. Though this particular unnamed system had only one planet, it had three suns: two small blue stars well away from the primary yellow sun. That made for some interesting gravitic calculations which would have slowed Tune down for hours, but thanks to Shaak they didn't need to wait.

The next instant the _Wild Light_ came out about fifteen minutes straight line flight from the planet. Ranma might have questioned why they came out so far away when they could have jumped right to the edge of the planet's gravity well, but beyond the strange anomaly of the stars, their sensors had picked up something else: an ongoing fight of some kind going on over the planet.

Staring at the goings on as their sensors started to tell them more, Shaak shook her head. "I think we might have arrived too late with too little here, Ranma. That is a pocket armada; I'm counting two hundred plus Vulture fighters already in space and fifteen capital ships of different types. Ten cruisers of some kind; their IFF is reading as belonging to the Republic Outland Regions Security Force? Good grief, such a long and pretentious name. Still, they look to be dedicated combat platforms, even if they are only slightly larger than a Consular."

Eyes narrowing, Shaak went on. "Further, we have two Trade Federation mid-size cargo haulers and a Captor class freighter, which is somewhat larger than the haulers. We also have three sky mine delivery ships. Thankfully, nothing here is the size of a dreadnought, let alone a Lucrehulk, but even so..."

As she spoke the display between them on the console changed, filling in details for Ranma so he knew what they were saying. Though inwardly he shared Shaak's worries, Ranma forced himself to shrug. "Meh, it's just a target rich environment. And luckily for us they seem to have begun fighting among themselves. Look at what's happening around the mine layers."

This was indeed the case. As they watched the mine layers attempted to break for the outer edge of the gravity well, only to be blocked off by several hundred Vulture fighters which fired on them. Then five of the cruisers opened up on the mine layers, destroying several ships and breaking formation with the others, who seemed shocked for a second, then began to open fire in turn.

Below in the atmosphere there were a series of uncounted explosions suddenly going off, and Shaak sighed in relief. "Ah… The sky mines exploded via remote control. With them out of the way, whoever is on the ground can join the battle in space without taking exorbitant losses getting through them."

Sky mines were an old technology, but one that could be used to devastating effect so long as you weren't choosy about who you were devastating. They were tiny, only the size of Yoda, say, and very hard to lock onto let alone shoot down. But beyond a single transmitter and a hardwired command to explode if a code was sent to them, they were proximity mines stacked with enough explosives to batter capital ships, let alone anything smaller. They were expensive for their size and only really worth it in large quantities, but two ships could have filled the skies of the planet so much nothing could have gotten through them.

At that point in their musings the two lovers' arrival was finally noticed by the local belligerents. "Masters, we are being hailed by two different sources."

"Three," Shaak corrected, a feeling of relief and welcome coming over her as she felt someone else reach out to her through the Force. "Master Fay knows we are here and has requested aid. The ships that just broke off are working for us, but the others are here to take command of the planet from its inhabitants." As she spoke, the ground of the planet below seemingly came alive as several hundred more blips appeared there. Racing upwards, the blue of friendly forces matched the red of the forces in space.

"Tune, get in contact with those ships that are trying to break off from the blockade. Tell them we're allies. But open up a com to the other group. Let's see if they have anything we want to hear. Besides, any chance to use the 'make 'em mad, make 'em stupid' technique is a good one," Ranma said, finishing on a jaunty tone, now somewhat more confident as a plan had begun to form in his brain as he saw only a few dozen Vulture fighters breaking off from the fight over the planet.

He was about to turn to HK and tell him the plan when Tune complied, and a voice emitted from the radio. "Incoming craft, this is Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin of the Republic Outlands Regions Security Force. You are ordered to leave the area immediately. This system is now under my control."

The voice was arrogant, haughty, and aloof, yet also somewhat shocked sounding. If Ranma had to guess, this voice was of a man who wasn't used to chaos like what he was facing now, with seven of his ships no longer obeying his orders. That fight was still ongoing, but the new starfighters from the planet had pulled off a lot of the Vultures even as more of them were launched from the three Trade Federation ships.

Eyes narrowing, Shaak spoke up before Ranma could. "This is Jedi Master Shaak Ti. Since when does an Eriadan security officer have any jurisdiction here deep in the Outer Rim and further more in the Corporate Sector? You are quite literally half a galaxy away from home…Admiral." Inside, Shaak made a note of this. An alliance between the Trade Federation and Eriadu, one of the most important and powerful systems in the Outer Rim, could be a very bad sign.

The hesitation with which she used the word admiral seemed to anger the man on the other side of the communications, and Ranma mimed clapping to Shaak even as they continued to roar towards the Vultures sent out towards them. "Since these are my ships and my forces! This planet represents too powerful a resource to allow anyone else to have control of. I will have it, or no one will. I demand you surrender, Jedi. You are outgunned and outnumbered here."

"Ranma, do you want to surrender?" Shaak asked, looking over at her copilot.

"Nahh…" Ranma said. "Don't think I want to do that." With that Ranma opened fire with the ship's quad lasers, smashing several of the Vultures out of the sky. The others took evasive action, but HK and Ranma killed them with ease as Shaak took the ship into a series of wild evasive maneuvers. The ship seemed to shudder occasionally thanks to the wild maneuvering and the damages it had taken in the Sith ambush, but the _Wild Light_ was still willing and able to answer her commands, and their maneuverability seemed to take the droid minds of the Vultures aback.

"Tune, wide beam transmission: let's force the rest of this Tarkin fellow's people to realize what they are doing if they continue to obey him." A second later, even as more Vultures swarmed out of the Trade Federation ships to attack their three groups of enemies (although calling the _Wild Light_ alone a group was a misnomer), she spoke, her voice filled with conviction as Master Fay told her via the Force what had occurred here before they arrived. Luckily it was a brief summation, or else Shaak might have been unable to concentrate on both that and her piloting.

"This is Jedi Master Shaak Ti to all ships in this system. You are perpetrating an illegal and unlawful act of aggression against a peaceful planet. The beings of Zonama Sekot did not instigate combat with you; they did nothing to cause this conflict. It you continue, you will all be criminals in the eye of the Order and the Republic."

One other of the ten cruisers seemed to try and break off the blockade to join its fellows. But the Vulture fighters were in space now in vast quantities, nearly a thousand from what Ranma was seeing. Several hundred of them took it under fire immediately, blowing through its shields with their concussion missiles. An instant later the cruiser's former fellows, now no longer shocked by the betrayal of their companions, opened fire, and the ship soon exploded.

"This is Tarkin to all Eridan and allied forces. Any more attempts to join the Jedi or these alien freaks in their untenable position will be met with execution, as all traitors in a time of war should be," Tarkin's voice boomed out over the clear channel.

By this point the _Wild Light_ was in among the main battle. Its quartet of inhabitants worked like the well-oiled machine they were at this point, dodging as much incoming fire as they could with Tune working the shields' energy to keep all of their capacitors in the green. HK and Ranma were their offensive punch, using the quad lasers for now, wanting to save the ion cannon and proton torpedoes for the capital ships.

Shaak was their pilot, her hands moving at a speed even other Jedi could not have matched, her merely decent piloting skills augmented by Ranma's training and her Force senses. Though there were literally a hundred Vultures around them now, none could get a lock on the _Wild Light_. They took hits from their blaster cannons, but the shields were holding for now.

"Shaak, we've got landing craft coming from that ship over there!" Ranma shouted, seeing two large landing craft coming out of the ship that Shaak had called a Captor class freighter. It was a medium-sized Trade Federation vessel with two wings swept forward along a somewhat ovoid like shape. Between the swept wings was the ship's hanger bay, from which the landing craft, alongside dozens of Vulture fighters, were coming.

"Tune, get me a read on those landing craft," Shaak barked, wincing as she turned in that direction. Again the ship seemed to shudder, but this time it was because they had just taken several hard hits from Vulture blaster cannons. She had dodged a trio of turbolaser shots from the cruisers directly above and behind them at this point, but she couldn't have done that and dodged the Vulture fighter's fire.

As the _Wild Light_ raced through the battle as best it could towards the Captor class, Ranma took a brief second to take in the total battle. The fight was now relatively even. The mine layers had done a micro jump out-system, removing themselves from the fight, but since they didn't have any offensive weaponry beyond their mines, that was fine.

The cruisers which had decided to join the Jedi were staying in a tight formation, joined by several hundred of the local starfighters. The looks of those, as one of them flew by close enough for him to actually see out the viewport, were astonishing. They had a long, thin body and only thin, small wings sticking out their back, with a main gun underslung from the cockpit. It didn't seem to have shields, but was blindingly fast and maneuverable. Its gun was also…weird. Ranma saw it shoot out something like a ball of plasma, only darker, and they hit like solid projectiles. They smashed through instead of blowing through the shields of the Vulture droids, which themselves weren't much to write home about.

While the starfighters dove and ducked around one another, the cruisers moved this way and that, taking fire from their fellows,

"Mistress, we have several hundred unarmed dropships, possible compliment of three hundred droid fighters, headed toward the planet. There are two larger landing craft, heavily armed and with possible shields, leading the way out. They could each carry around a thousand droids of the normal TF type or several armed speeders and even tanks."

"We need to take them out, then. I don't think the locals have any kind of defense force beyond those admittedly odd fighters," Shaak replied.

"Best to try and take that ship out while we do, if we can," Ranma replied.

Nodding, Shaak desperately maneuvered the ship as best she could toward the Captor. The name of it came through over their system, but it didn't register to either pilot. Ranma and HK killed several dozen more Vultures, the cheap but numerous droid fighters dying against the quad lasers. But there was always more, even with the local starfighters hammering the Vultures. One of the allied cruisers had disappeared from the scopes, but three of Tarkin's cruisers were reading as damaged, their shields almost in the red thanks to their former friends' return fire.

"We're not going to get through on our own!" Shaak realized as they were forced to pull back and away from the trio of Trade Federation ships. Or rather, former TF ships, since these three seemed to have been sold off in the recent past. _Complete with the army of droids they had aboard them. Something the Order will have to look at in the future._

Before Shaak could open communications to the local starfighters, Master Fay, who was still lightly touching Shaak's mind from the planet below, had already discerned their plans. Over a dozen of the local starfighters moved in to flank or plow the road ahead of the _Wild Light_. In the next few minutes they broke through, zooming down below the Captor towards the landing craft which had broken the upper atmosphere and were nearly halfway down to the surface.

Their defending Vultures were embroiled in a dogfight below them, in turn, with the locals, but Tarkin, or whoever was directing the battle, couldn't push Vultures in between the Captor above them and the _Wild Light_ before it was on the landing craft. Whatever shields the two larger landing craft had weren't up to stopping the _Wild Light_ from smashing their shields flat with their proton torpedoes, one each. Then a flare of yellow light lanced out, again a single bolt to each of the massive landing craft, and suddenly the lights went out all along their length. Their descent then became that of a rock.

The _Wild Light_ turned back, killing two of the unarmed dropships before the others cut all thrusters and just fell as fast as they could. They fell too quickly for the _Wild Light_ to follow with the number of Vultures that belatedly had pounced on them, and Shaak was forced to turn their course back upwards at an angle. This forced half of the Vultures out of position and the remainder into a stern chase. Even so the shields dropped into the yellow for the first time and stayed there, despite Tune's best efforts.

As the _Wild Light_ zoomed back up to open space, a squadron of new fighters zoomed in from the area of the battle ahead of them in a neat ambush. They were nothing more than triangles, basically, with several thrusters at the back and three weapons sticking out from the front facing points of the triangle. "Those are Sienar Systems A-6 starfighters. Decent maneuverability, but not well armed with three lasers and minimal shielding."

But the Zonama Sekot starfighters around the _Wild Light_ must have expended their munitions, which was a marked downside to projectile weapons, Ranma noted absently. The A-6 starfighters cut through the few remaining around the _Wild Light,_ then began to hammer at the Mon Cal ship itself. Four of them died in as many seconds, but the others fired at the _Wild Light_ from too many angles for the ship, caught in the atmosphere of the planet and too badly hampered in terms of maneuverability to dodge them all.

"Cutting power to the hyperdrive systems. Cutting power from life support and interior lighting," Tune said grimly. Thanks to the Mon Cal redundancy and numerous power generators built into the ship, the shields took the pounding, but were nearer orange than green now.

A second later they were out of the atmosphere, and Shaak could move the ship freely again. Glancing around, the battle seemed to be going against the Jedi and Zonama Sekot forces. There were just too many of the Vultures. And she could see that the Captor had joined the cruisers in pounding their former allies. Two were now without shields but still fighting, even as they lost armor and weapons. One of Tarkin's ships was also gone, and three more had badly fluctuating shields. As she watched, more Zonama Sekot starfighters burst up out of the atmosphere to join their fellows, but nowhere near enough.

The two Trade Federation freighters had moved away from the battle, putting their Vultures and the rest of Tarkin's forces between them and the rest. "Tune, can you tell me if those ships are empty of Vultures and combat droids?" Shaak asked, an idea to help turn the tide coming to her then.

"Negative, master. They are still disgorging Vultures. And if they get in a position to once more launch landing craft they will each still contain the majority of their nine thousand strong droid force," Tune replied.

"Using droids like this is fucking cheating," Ranma grunted, blasting another Vulture into so many shattered bits. "No offense, HK, Tune, but you can stuff so many of the damn things into one ship it's not even funny."

"Affronted retort: Master, I feel no offense for anything you say about this mass produced junk. They are an insult, an assault on the dignity and quiet competence of my own line of droids," HK reported. Tune didn't reply with words, only sounding out with a long electronic raspberry.

"Yeah, speaking of which, you think you can do what you did over Naboo to this lot? Get the droids in those Vultures so mad they forget the rest of the fight?" Ranma asked.

"Hold off on that. I have an idea of my own. In fact, you all might want to just hang on physically too. Tune, reroute power back to the hyperspace engines," Shaak said, reaching forward with the Force.

The next second, after HK and Ranma had followed her suggestion, the ship disappeared into hyperspace despite being deep in Zonama Sekot's gravity well. Tune warbled in alarm, the engines shuddering and almost exploding, but it was a short jump, and they came out of it where she wanted them too. The next instant Tune rerouted power once more, and the engines, rather than exploding, simply melted in place.

Ranma immediately saw that they had come out directly behind and above the two TF freighters. And neither of them had any weapons beyond a few set near the front. Four proton torpedoes quickly lashed out, taking down the shields of one of the ships. Then further ion cannon blasts hit the now unprotected hull, shattering and exploding numerous electronics all over their surfaces, including the shield generators and engines. The ions then skittered throughout the ship's systems, turning what had been a freighter/capital ship into so much wrecked junk.

Several hundred Vultures were immediately diverted through Tarkin's forces back towards the remaining ship. But even as it launched its own fighters, Ranma took it under fire as HK guarded the _Wild Light_. They took more knocks, and their shields were now in the orange, but the second freighter was swiftly knocked out as its fellow had been.

Serendipitously, the redirected Vultures had opened up a hole for the Zonama Sekot starfighters to get in close to Tarkin's cruisers and the Captor class. One of the cruisers with flickering shields disappeared in an explosion, and Shaak and Ranma both wondered if they had really seen what they thought they had: that the Zonama Sekot starfighter had kamikazed into the ship as its shields failed.

"To the local starfighters and cruisers, as you can see, the _Wild Light_ is uniquely gifted as a capital ship killer," Shaak said dryly as HK hooked himself into the communications device on a frequency that Fay had just fed into her mind with an ease that was astonishing. They were, after all, several planetary lengths away from Fay now. "Further, we are about to try a…psychological attack. If you could please divert several squadrons to help take advantage of that, we might be able to get in position to perform similar attacks."

Even while she noticed that HK's work was already bearing fruit, Tune replied, "Not with our hyperdrives, we won't! They are slag. You just made us an in-system ship for good, mistress."

Shaak winced, but Ranma laughed. "It's okay, Shaak. If this is going to be the final charge of the _Wild Light,_ I sure as hell want the ship to go out in a blaze of glory."

At that, and despite the sight of hundreds of Vultures now coming in with the sole purpose of attacking them, Shaak laughed.

A second later Tarkin made a move that surprised both Ranma and Shaak. Instead of allowing his covering starfighter force to be drawn away from them, Tarkin ordered his capital ships to follow them. This meant he had to let up on the assault against the traitors who had joined the Jedi, but it also meant the Zonama Sekot starfighters couldn't break through to assault his remaining heavies. It was a shrewd move, and one that also, not coincidentally, put the _Wild Light_ at the bottom of a hammer coming down towards them like a nut on an anvil.

Behind his fleet, slightly around the circle of the planet from them now, the ships which had decided to side with the Jedi remained where they were for a moment. Two of them were broken hulks, bleeding atmosphere and other chemicals, with most of their weapons knocked out. The other two were still battle-worthy, but had portions of their shields down as well.

Yet as the battle moved away from them, those two ships moved forward in pursuit, still desirous of taking part. Yet against the Captor and the four cruisers still remaining on Tarkin's side, they wouldn't be much. Three of those ships, however, were battered, their combat effectiveness below that of the two pursuing cruisers.

The _Wild Light_ began to take more damage, the incensed Vulture fighters coming at them now with single-minded berserk intensity. "Yahoo!" Ranma grunted as he was flung sideways from a concussion grenade which had very nearly hit them despite Shaak's last millisecond evasion. "Let's hear it for taunting!"

The ship's shields slid into the red, and Tune intoned grimly, "Masters, we are going to be without shields in about four minutes under this level of bombardment."

"Get us close enough to fire our torpedoes," Ranma suggested. "Let's use 'em while we have them."

Shaak nodded, having been thinking much the same thing, and she juked upwards again, avoiding some more incoming fire, and then back down to try and close with the remaining enemy capital ships. As she did so, both Shaak and Ranma noticed the capital ships moving into a defensive square, with the Captor and its more numerous anti-fighter quad lasers facing the _Wild Light_. The others had turned back to face their former comrades in a triangle. But the oncoming rebellious ships now had momentum on their side, and instead of stopping to pound against one another in a traditional line of battle they slashed in at high speeds, while behind them came several squads of the Zonama Sekot fighters.

On the other 'side' of the battle, while the _Wild Light_ was indeed taking a pounding, the attacking Vultures were being simply slaughtered now, not even attempting to evade the Zonama Sekot starfighters. Their numbers were being whittled down to near parity with the locals.

"Come on, come on," Ranma muttered, one eye on the range finder for the proton torpedoes while he and HK killed any Vulture they could aim at. "Come on… **Now**!"

With Tune redirecting power to the ship's normal space engines, the ship suddenly picked up speed, entering range of the Captor. Its shields were very good for its size, and Shaak couldn't line up the ship enough for Ranma to rapid fire all of their remaining torpedoes. But when two of the local starfighters slammed bodily into its shields, it flickered, and Ranma and Tune took their chance. With Tune rerouting power once more to the ion cannon, Ranma took his shot, slamming two bolts of ion energy through the hole in the enemy's shields. Electronics went out, guns fell silent, and two shield generators exploded, opening the ship to more fire.

Even while that occurred, the _Wild Light_ took several dozen hard shots from the Vultures and two from the enemy capital ship's turbolasers. Their shields fell, their generators all exploding, their armor was slagged in numerous places, their communications cut out, and one of their quad lasers was destroyed, causing HK to growl electronically in dismay. "Wrathful diatribe: I so detest it when someone destroys my toys!"

"Suck it up!" Ranma growled as his ship died around him.

Not needing to be told, Shaak swerved the ship down into the atmosphere as more of the Zonama Sekot starfighters flew up. "How many of those ships do they have?"

"Not enough to win this fight if we weren't here," Ranma replied.

Above them the two cruisers who had joined with the Jedi had flown by their fellows in wide curving arcs, pounding one of them, the one that had been closest to them in the triangle, into so much debris. Their own shields were now made more of wishes than reality, but they had already pulled out and away, putting distance between them and their fellows.

And the Vultures had, in the preceding battle and due to their single-minded attention on the _Wild Light_ , lost far too many of their numbers. Now the locals had parity with them. This meant the Vultures, and even the three battered capital ships, were in a bad way, even if they could once more concentrate on the battle at large, Ranma thought drolly. With no communications gear, HK's Taunt Assault™ had been cut off.

"Tune, can you get me a read on that Captor?" Ranma asked.

"Hyperspace and normal drives are down. Shields are down, but that could be temporary. It has lost numerous weapons systems, but it still retains weapons."

"Droll interjection: Your mastery of the obvious is astonishing, tin can, as the ship is still firing even as you speak," HK muttered.

"Yes, but the locals may soon have the numbers advantage. And we still have our proton torpedo launchers and two torpedoes," Shaak replied. She looked at Ranma and gestured down to the ground. "Even with the _Wild Light_ in as bad a shape as it is, I think this battle is drawing to a close. But the battle down there has just begun."

"Oh for the days when killing their mother ships would knock out their droids," Ranma lamented, then grinned. Since they were now in atmosphere and heading down, the Vultures had turned away, having much more important things to worry about.

After the battle of Naboo, the TF had made changes to their droids so that that wouldn't happen again. Shaak had heard about this from several Jedi on Kashyyyk and had thought it the height of arrogance that work on the problem had begun even before the TF had been allowed to retain its army after the Nabooan conflict.

"So you're saying it's time for us to get down there?"

"I think you and HK should, yes. Tune and I will remain up here. If we can, I want to board that Captor and capture this so-called Admiral Tarkin," Shaak said, making the man's assumed title a sneer on her lovely purple lips, the sight of which set Ranma's pulse to racing for an entirely different reason than it had mere seconds ago. Ranma realized that his adrenaline, now they were out of immediate danger, was running in an odd direction, and tamped down on such feelings quickly. "The battle down there is slowly going against the defenders. If the droids win down there, nothing we do up here will matter."

"Right!" Ranma said, hopping to his feet. "She's right, HK; it's time for us to get stuck in up close and personal. Shaak, don't bother putting us down; just get us within, say, half a mile or so from the surface."

"Gleeful response: Happy day, master. I could wish we were facing meatbag sentients, but burning my excellence over the combat droids of this era into the minds of anyone able to see is a very nice way to spend the day."

Shaak chuckled at that, but she knew the battle could still go either way. There were no more Zonama Sekot starfighters coming up from the surface, and the battle was still even at best. Thankfully, the Captor hadn't had nearly as many Vultures as the two now destroyed freighters, and those it had contained it had already launched. Neither fleet was going to be getting any more reinforcements.

Soon the _Wild Light_ was close enough to the ground for Ranma to reasonably think his durability and heat resistance would see him to the surface. "Heh. Thank goodness my clothes can be imbued with ki as well, or I might land naked."

Shaak's eyes narrowed at that, but then rolled her eyes at her initial reaction. "That isn't exactly the kind of first impression I'd aspire to, but whatever powers your ship," she replied dryly. As Ranma laughed and leaned in to kiss her, Shaak smiled, kissed him back, and then pushed him away. "Go wild, love."

With a laugh, Ranma opened the cockpit hatch and stepped out into the rest of the ship. Reaching the main sitting room with HK, the damage done to his lovely ship was even more apparent than up in the cockpit, which hadn't been hit directly. Air screamed in, fit to knock any normal man off his feet, but Ranma ignored it, pulling half of the mangled loading ramp out of the way enough for him and HK to get out.

"Follow me down, HK! Banzai!" Without further ado, Ranma leaped out, dropping to the ground from far higher in the air than he had on the Yinchorri planet years ago.

Using the thrusters in his legs, HK maneuvered directly behind Ranma. In this manner Ranma acted like a heat shield, something HK had to make note of. "Jaundiced observation: You make a most adequate meat shield, master."

Ranma simply laughed and continued to plummet towards the jungle canopy below.

 **OOOOOOO**

Several days before Ranma and Shaak arrived, Knight Fisto and Master Fay had come to Zonama Sekot. Fay had been following the vagaries of the Force for nearly her entire life, a little over seven hundred years, and was a past expert on knowing where the Force wanted her to go in order to do the most good. Assigned to basically act as her bodyguard, Kit had gone with her. And this time it had brought them to Zonama Sekot.

They were here to look for a Jedi who had gone missing a few months previous. Fay had had a vision of a Jedi falling—though how was uncertain, to death or to the Dark Side—and of a cusp of some kind. Fay had been unable to truly give voice to it. "It is as if this tiny stone can join an avalanche with several more, causing…something, some kind of change in the future."

Fay had shaken her head, for once looking less than confident that she had discerned what the Force was telling her correctly. "I am uncertain what it is, but if we are not there the change will be for the bad, for evil, either in the long or short term. If we are there, we can at the least stop that, or possibly turn it to the advantage of the Light."

Zonama Sekot was unique among other worlds Kit had seen. It only had one polar area, the northern one from it's equator. This was surrounded by an entire hemisphere of tropical jungles. Its southern hemisphere was completely covered with silver clouds. Along the equator there were several massive rivers, lakes, and even small seas.

The locals had welcomed them, a Magister, a local official, speaking to them as they came out of hyperspace. Their arrival had been unlooked for, but certainly not unwanted. At first it also seemed to be a very low tech planet, with no signs of factories or urban sprawl. But once they got under the jungle canopy, this proved to be a false assumption: there was technology here, but it was of a very strange variety. The town they landed in was built into the jungle, with the technology working with the local biology almost like what Kit thought a cyborg would look like, if a cyborg was made out of the merging of a tree and technology rather than a sentient and technology. Of course, Kit then learned that one of the three species which had made this planet their home were real cyborgs, only one reason why this planet was different than any other. The other reason this planet was so unique and so precious became apparent soon after they landed.

Stepping out onto the surface, Fay had gasped, then smiled more widely than Kit had ever seen her, going to one knee on the stone of the jungle clearing which served as a small spaceport. She then looked up as pulsing veins of green light appeared between the stones, moving out from her as if a stone had been dropped into a lake. "By the Force, this planet is a living sentient! And it welcomes us!"

That had started perhaps the oddest day Kit Fisto had yet had, and as a Guardian Jedi, that said something. This planet was not only alive and sentient, but it was also a fascinating bio-system in which the locals were simply part of the system, and glad to be so. The Ferrorans and Langhesi were green and red skinned humanoids respectively that looked almost human but not quite, colonists from other planets who had merged into local society created by the Bora and Jentari willingly. The Langhesi served as chief engineers, the Ferrorans as administrators or farmers, and the Bora and Jentari as general workers.

Scattered here and there throughout the jungle were small communities of the four species. Many of them were built around farms like nothing Kit had ever seen, game preserves, and, astonishingly, ship construction areas buried underground, run by the Langhesi and Jentari for the most part.

Kit was told of all this as the Jedi were led through the tiny capital of the planet, and that all of them worked to the betterment of all. Every species also acknowledged that the planet itself was both sentient and the true ruler of its surface, though beyond the desire for peace and understanding, it certainly didn't bother giving orders. Only a few could speak to Sekot, as the intelligence was called. And those few were respected beyond all others.

Indeed, after Fay arrived, the planet, according to a few of the Magisters, was more interested in asking her questions about the Force than doing anything else. According to the chief Magister, from what they could tell from their connection to it, the planet had fallen into a near meditative state as Fay did the same. The planet was entranced by the Force, while Fay was just as entranced with the idea of a living planet.

It fell to Kit, therefore, to ask questions about whether another Jedi had been here. "There are actually two Jedi here currently, and there was one here a few years ago," came the surprising answer from the chief Magister, one Cran Tole of the Ferroran race. "They came here not a day ago and seek to find evidence of the passing of the first."

"But then, where are they now?" Kit asked intently. Even if he would not have sensed their presence, surely Master Fay would have.

"They are still here," Master Fay replied, coming out of her fugue for a moment, her eyes still far away even as she spoke to Kit. "Master Leem and Master Jerec. They have sensed us and are on their way back here."

Kit blinked, taking this in. While he didn't know either Master very well, he had heard of both. Jerec was a Jedi who specialized in finding old knowledge, looking for the remnants of old battlefields and researching the eras before the Reformation. He answered to the Chief Librarian Jocasta, his former master, and Master Yaddle.

As for Master Leem, she was a respected Consular of some repute within the Order, but that was about all Kit knew about her. That and she was acquaintances with Master Windu was the totality of what Kit knew about the human woman.

"Yet the question remains, why were they hiding their presence?" Kit asked, still bemused. Yes, he had expected that they would find a Jedi in trouble here, but instead they find two on the trail of a third?

Master Fay did not reply. Instead she looked at the Chief Magister. "Tell us about the Far Outsiders. Sekot tells me of them, but I would like to hear about them in your words." In fact, what Sekot, the name of the planet's sentience, could tell her of them was so fantastical that, if not for the fact the Force led her here and she could tell the truth of the planet's sendings, she would not have believed it.

Cran paled, his red skin noticeably turning a decided shade of pink. "The Far Outsiders… We were attacked by them three years ago, barely a few months after Jedi Knight Vergere arrived here. I was not a Magister then, but I remember it only too well. The Far Outsiders were like, like dark mirrors of ourselves. They too worked with bio-forms, but they did not wish to live in peace: they demanded, they twisted and created horrors. They saw Zonama Sekot and wished to own the planet, to control it rather than work with it."

"And you truly believe that they came from outside this galaxy? From across the intergalactic void?" Fay asked, though her tone indicated she knew the answer. Yet even for Jedi, sometimes the words had to be spoken aloud.

The intergalactic void was an area with no stars, no planets, not even black holes. There was simply nothing there but vast, empty space, so vast, so empty, that hyperspace wouldn't even work in it. No one had been able to even explore the Intergalactic void because of that. To cross it should have been impossible, yet…

"Yes," Cran replied simply. "It is the only explanation for the impressions we get from Sekot."

At that moment the two Jedi that had arrived here before Fay and Kit came into the large, well shaded clearing the locals had used to welcome the two of them. Thanks to Master Fay's mental conversation with Sekot, they hadn't moved on.

Master Leem was an elderly woman, looking slightly older than Master Windu did, with blond hair that was mostly gray now and a thin body and face under large, esoteric robes. Despite the grandiose robes, however, she had an easy smile on her face and looked more the type to enjoy long walks through jungles than sitting in a council room.

In contrast, Master Jerec was much more severe looking. Garbed in a dark grey robe which flowed behind him like a cloak and an equally grey shirt and leggings, he was a Miralukan, with a bald head to go with his lack of eyes. The Miralukans were a species who were all Force sensitives, able to use the Force to see. Jerec was no different, though like most of his people he used a cloth to cover the vestigial eyes sockets, since they knew those made other sentients nervous. He was taller than Leem, wider in the shoulders, and his face was formed into a frown until he came within 'sight' of Kit and Fay.

Fay held her hand up in greeting, and the two other Masters did the same, while Kit moved to stand to the side and slightly behind Fay, as was proper for a younger Knight when in the presence of three experienced Masters. "Masters. I and my companion Knight Fisto are here following a Force vision of a fellow Jedi in distress. We have learned some of what has occurred from Sekot, and that you were here for the same reason. Is this so?"

"Indeed," Master Leem said sadly, shaking her head. "Vergere was my padawan before his elevation. Around three years ago he disappeared, and it took us this long to follow his trail here."

Master Jerec spoke up before Fay could ask the obvious question. "I had approached Vergere for aid on an archaeological dig which would have taken me into Foch territory. He replied in the affirmative, but then disappeared. I was unable to join the search myself at first, since I was still involved in another mission at the time, but I have been able to help Master Leem find the trail of her wayward student."

"I see," Fay said, though the faint smile on her face had fallen into a frown for a second. "And have you been able to discover anything?"

Leem shot a look at Jerec, but then sighed. "If you have already learned of the Far Outsiders, then you know almost as much as we. We have been shown sites of orbital bombardments, and we were told that Vergere made some kind of agreement with the attackers: to go with them if they agreed to leave the planet. That tells us much, but we had hoped to learn more from Vergere's seed-partner."

"Oh? Vergere was able to bond with a seed-partner, then? Sekot has told me of them; the idea sounds fascinating. Tell me, were you able to get any impression of what Vergere had discovered via the Force about these Far Outsiders?"

"Ahem, no," Jerec said, looking embarrassed and regretful, an odd look on his severe face. "I attempted to bond with the seed in turn so I could see any memories it had of Vergere. But the seed rejected the attempt; they can only bond once with a partner. My attempt, however, was too forceful, and it wound up destroying the seed."

Fay remonstrated with Jerec in no uncertain terms for his accidental destruction of the seed-partner at that point, her tone far sharper than Kit had ever heard from her, and she seemed to look at Jerec with a jaundiced eye, something, again, that Kit had not seen in the gentle Fay before this. What another Jedi's impressions could've told them would've been a major help in understanding the nature of this new species, and whether they were a threat to the Republic as a whole rather than just Sekot.

With that avenue of investigation closed to them thanks to Jerec's clumsiness, the four Jedi had to turn to Sekot and the other locals for information. The locals only had their own impressions of the violent outsiders' attack to go on. Even their leaders at the time, who had been the only ones to speak to the Far Outsiders, had been killed before Vergere had convinced them to leave, taking him with them.

But the planet seemed to know slightly more about them and where they came from. Sekot said that he remembered them like it was from a deep dream, from a past that it could barely remember. Even Fay, with all her skill in using the Force to augment mind and memory, could not bring those distant memories to the fore of the sentient planet's mind. It was as if someone else had locked those memories behind a barrier that Sekot could not access for some reason.

Their research stopped abruptly when news came from the planetary space control that numerous ships had been spotted jumping into the system and moving towards the Zonama. This was not welcome news, since their arrival had not been planned for. Moments later, as the Jedi crowded into the control room that was part of the Magisters' palace, the fleet had moved into orbit. This was a heavily reinforced bunker, buried under the main town of the planet behind a series of doors, each of them more than meters thick.

Two of the ships immediately identified themselves as mine layers, disgorging thousands of mines in a matter of seconds. Three of the others did the same with Vulture fighters as the remaining ten ships moved into a defensive formation around them. An instant later the fleet's flagship hailed the planet.

"This is Admiral Tarkin of the Republic Outlands Regions Security Force. I am here to claim this planet for the good of the Republic. You will surrender yourself, make no attempts to destroy the technology that creates the living ships, and submit yourself to my authority without question or prevarication." The speaker was a just past middle aged man with a thin aristocratic face and a haughty expression on his face. It was the face of a man who was used to being obeyed, arrogance and avarice rolling off him in waves that Fay could feel from the surface of the planet.

At the same time that Fay was using the Force to analyze the sort of man this Tarkin fellow was, she was also reaching out through the Force, spreading what Kit had come to call her aura of calm. It was a simple term for something that few if any Jedi besides Fay had learned how to do. Simply put, Fay projected an aura of serenity around her. This aura made it almost impossible to fight in her presence unless you had a particularly strong will. It also made people more reasonable, more willing to understand one another. It also made Fay herself seem far more persuasive. This, added to centuries of negotiating experience, was why she was known as a legend in the Outer Rim for her ability to bring conflicts to a close. She had other, more offensive abilities, of course, but most of those required her to be in the physical presence of her opponents. The aura of calm could be projected through an entire star system.

Once she was certain that her technique was taking hold, Fay moved forward to just outside of the pickup. "May I?" she asked politely of the Magister. He, of course, bowed his head and stood up from his chair. Fay took his place, her expression serene. "This is Master Fay of the Jedi Order," she said calmly. "You are a very long way from Eriadu, Admiral Tarkin. May I ask what business you have here?"

Fay had been able to tell that Tarkin and the ten cruisers above him were from Eriadu by lightly scanning the minds of the individuals onboard. She could also tell that a lot of the crew aboard those ships were uneasy, willing to follow Admiral Tarkin because he had led them well in the past, but very leery of being so far outside their nominal jurisdiction. The crews of the mine laying ships in particular were worried, afraid that they were about to perform an act of war on a peaceful planet.

For his part Tarkin stiffened, staring at the Jedi Master. Through the Force she could sense his sudden unease, coupled with a distinct amount of contempt. That wasn't a good sign, but since she had been broadcasting in the clear to all of the ships in orbit, she could also feel the ships' crews' sudden chagrin, their worry spiking further. It was evident that Tarkin, like many lords of his rank, had not told his people everything he should have. The idea of being on the other side of a conflict from a Jedi so far away from home did not appeal to anyone up there but Tarkin and a few sycophants.

"I have already said what I am here for, Master Jedi," he replied haughtily. "This planet represents a resource, a resource that I wish for Eriadu and those…allied with us…to make the best use of. Of course, the rest of the Republic will benefit from our work," he added, sounding almost sententious. "Certainly far more than if this planet's unique construction methods were left to operate on its own. We will be able to spread its goods throughout the Republic, not let them languish in this backwater."

"And yet it is a free planet," Master Fay said with a massive amount of understatement and a droll twist of her lips as she felt the planet's wry response to that one. The more it spoke to her and other Force users, the more alive, or perhaps emotive, it became. "And perhaps its anonymity has served its people as they wish it to. After all, not every planet wishes to become famous or its inhabitants to become rich and powerful. If so, who are you to try to impose your will on others?" The irony of that statement was also not lost on Fay, but she felt it was a good point nonetheless.

"That might be, but the needs of the many must outweigh the needs of these backwater few," Tarkin said even more sententiously, and contemptuously, than before. Fay's words had solidified the image of her in his mind of a bleeding heart Jedi, a phrase that rose to the forefront of his mind with such impetus Fay was surprised the other Jedi couldn't feel it.

"Just think of what these living ships could mean for the Republic fleets! Faster than any other ship through hyperspace and more responsive, more maneuverable than any in real space? Living ships that can repair themselves! We could see a revolution of ship design if we could figure out how to spread such technology!" Tarkin continued, becoming more strident.

"If, in fact, it could be spread at all. I acknowledge your points, but I do not agree with the way you are thinking of going about this," Master Fay replied, her calm tone creating a marked contrast to Tarkin's over the top tone and words. "You say you are representative of the Republic, but you have not given me any writ of such. You, in fact, introduced yourself as part of the Republic Outlands Regions Security Force, which has never been acknowledged as to have freedom to act outside the sector of its birth. You have done tremendous work around your own sector and within it, but you are a long, **long** way from home, gentlemen. I have to ask you what authority you think you have here to make demands?

"My authority comes from my ships," Tarkin said, losing his temper as she had known he would. "I said I claim this planet, and that is what I will do! You can join me, join the power rising, or be ground under by the weight of history!"

While filing away that bit about 'the power rising,' Fay reflected that Tarkin was a man who hated being balked, especially by mere words by someone he felt was beneath him. She could feel the growing concern within several of his captains, however, as they were comparing his bombast to her calm nature and their own worries about being so far from Eriadu.

"So you are not, in fact, acting as a representative of your government? Or the Republic as a whole? I wish to be clear on this," Fay asked, still the epitome of calm, not even reacting to Tarkin's anger at all.

"If you wish to put if like that, you may," Tarkin replied. "I have a fleet, you do not, and I control the orbitals. Further, we are beyond the reach of the HRS, so you cannot even call for help. It is not a difficult equation. There is nothing you can do or say that will protect this planet from my takeover, Jedi." He spat the word, making his hate and disdain for her clear, not realizing how it played into Fay's hands in appealing to his people.

"Very well, Admiral Tarkin, you leave me no choice. This is Master Fay of the Jedi Order," she said slowly and calmly, even as mines continued to fill the sky above. "Your admiral is leading you into an unlawful course of action. This planet might not be a member of the Republic, but it is currently represented by one in my own person. Any attack on it is an attack on the Republic as a whole and the Order in particular. I want all of you to think carefully about what this might mean for you and your people in the main."

"It won't mean anything if you die here! There'll be no witnesses to…" Tarkin growled.

At that point Zonama Sekot launched its starfighters. They came out of their secret hangers in ones and twos, forming up into groups of six before moving up quickly through the atmosphere. Sekot whispered to Fay that it had never created ships designed for war before this, but that after the attack of the Far Outsiders, Sekot had decided to look into the idea. This would be the first time the planet had used them, but they shouldn't be underestimated for that.

"You see!" Tarkin bellowed into his pickup, now purposefully addressing his own troops rather than Fay. "The Jedi witch was simply trying to delay us while the planet tried to ready its defenses. Take them! With this planet and its unique manufacturing abilities, our planet's fortunes will be secure for centuries! And my name will be known throughout the galaxy."

However, whatever Tarkin had hoped to gain from this bombast, it didn't work. Master Fay's aura of calm had done its work on the wavering minds within his fleet.

The two mine layers stopped their work abruptly, twisting away and heading towards open space beyond the gravity well of the planet. Five of his ten cruisers also broke off to shield them, though the Trade Federation ships and the remaining cruisers made no moves. They moved so fast, the five cruisers had time to form up into a new formation before their fellows could respond.

"This is Captain Lazlo. We have no wish to become an enemy of the Jedi, and we acknowledge the fact that attacking this planet constitutes an unlawful order. But we will not fire on our fellows if we are not fired upon!" one of the captains said over the open coms to both the planet and his fellows.

"Traitors!" Tarkin bellowed. "Launch starfighters; take them under fire! Let none of these bastards live!"

At that point the mines in the atmosphere began to explode on command, and Sekot's starfighters zoomed up to begin a massive dogfight with the Vulture fighters continually launching from the Trade Federation ships. A second later Master Fay smiled, feeling two presences at the borders of her senses that she had not anticipated.

"We have friends incoming, two in particular that you and I know quite well, Kit," she said, having just deactivated the communications gear. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think Sekot will need my help in organizing his defense."

"'His?'" Kit asked quizzically. "A planet has a gender?"

"I'm not about to argue with him, are you?" Master Fay replied drolly, her spirits buoyed immeasurably by the feel of Shaak Ti and Ranma's arrival.

Kit raised a finger, then slowly lowered it. "No, no I am not going to do so, I think."

Behind him, Master Leem smiled slightly. "Your legend is truly well earned, Master Fay. I had never thought to see your ability in person like this. I cannot even believe that you were able to make that many of them see reason."

"Reason calls to us all; it is just that some people tend to close their ears to it," Master Fay said, before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes. "Isn't that right, Master Jerec?"

"Indeed, I had not anticipated this either," said Jerec thoughtfully, moving forward so that he stood between Master Leem and Kit and directly behind the seat holding Master Fay. "I had seen things go quite differently after Tarkin had arrived in this system."

"I have no doubt you did," Master Fay said, her senses reaching out to Kit for a moment, telling him to be ready for some reason.

But Kit had been working with her for enough years now not to question her, and slowly one of his hands dropped to his lightsaber. The only reason he hesitated at all was because there didn't seem to be any physical threat in the room. After all, the only people around were the locals who were all friendly and fellow Jedi.

Fay continued, "After all, was it not you who called him here?"

Jerec tensed as Leem and Kit frowned at that accusation. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Master Fay."

"No? Perhaps not. But there is no doubt that you wished for something similar to occur. I have felt a disturbance from you since we arrived. Our presence, mine and Kit's, was unwelcome. You wished to follow Vergere's trail alone. Further, you lied when you said you had wanted Vergere to join you on a dig in the Minos Cluster. Tell me, Master Jerec, when did you turn to the Dark Side?"

Instead of replying verbally, the Jerec whipped out his lightsaber, cutting forward towards Master Fay, only for Kit to interject his own lightsaber between Fay and the blow. Leem moved to pull out her lightsaber, but she was too slow. Master Jerec twisted around using the impetus of that block to fling himself backwards and over the other Jedi Master, cutting down towards Leem and slicing her head off her shoulders along with a goodly portion of her chest and arm before landing, facing Kit.

"Truly, your perception is fearsome, Fay, well worth your legend. But you made a severe miscalculation by confronting me like this," Jerec spat, circling around Kit, not even looking at the locals who all bolted for the door and away.

"You were planning to attack me anyway. This way, at least, you lost the element of surprise," Fay said sadly, having felt Leem's passing. She had hoped that Kit's stopping his first blow would have been enough to stop further violence, but with her consciousness helping Sekot organize the defense of the planet, Fay couldn't concentrate on perceiving the future of events around her physical body. Indeed, it was all she could do to keep her mind from flying apart given the number of starfighters she was helping to direct. Sekot too was having trouble, never having taken part in a battle before, the massive mind's confusion adding to what Fay was feeling, nearly overwhelming her. "And you did not answer my question."

"Bah! I never fell into the Dark Side; I chose to explore it! I served my own will in this and that of the one who opened my eyes to the truth: that knowledge is power, and power is all that matters, not your weak, pathetic ideals! And I will prove it by killing your Knight."

Kit shook his head, bringing up his lightsaber in a defensive stance. "You will not have Master Fay as long as I am alive!"

"A remarkably fatuous statement that indicates you think I would have it any other way," Jerec sneered, his blade flashing in light, well controlled movements as he attempted to see an opening in Kit Fisto's Shi Cho.

His Makashi should have proven to be better in a one on one contest like this rather than Kit's style, which was based on fighting multiple opponents at once. Yet Kit had developed the often chaotic style of Shi Cho to an amazing degree, making it into a dueling style worthy of note since he had met Ranma. It had served him well against the Dark Side using Zabrak, and it worked just as well to throw Jerec off. Still, Jerec's use of Makashi meant that Kit in turn couldn't break through the other Jedi's defense. Not as good on the defense as Soresu, Makashi was still superior to Shi Cho, since it had basically been designed to counter Form 1's flaws.

Makashi also lent itself to the use of Force powers, which Jerec showed an instant later as he tried to use a Force Push against Kit. It caught Kit in the side, pushing him to one side, momentarily opening a way to Fay, who was still and unmoving, communing with Zonama Sekot. With an evil smirk on his face, Jerec launched himself towards her.

But Kit used the momentum of that push to bounce up, off the wall, onto the ceiling, and down, once more attacking Jerec with an overhead strike. Jerec barely got his lightsaber up in time to block it, and the power of the blow knocked him off balance. Then it was Kit's turn to use the Force, which he did with more power than finesse, a brute, battering ram style Force Push which hurled Jerec backwards.

Jerec righted himself quickly through using his own Force powers to deaden his momentum, but the damage had been done: Kit once more stood between Jerec and Fay, his lightsaber held perpendicular to his body at chest height. On his face was not the smile he was known to wear in even the most dangerous situations, however. With Master Leen dead nearby due to the treachery of a fellow Jedi, Kit had no inclination to smile. "Then you are a fool and unworthy of being a Jedi at all. Surrender, Jerec, and the Council might be lenient. If you do not, I guarantee you won't leave this building alive."

Honestly, Kit had just offered that because he knew Fay would have in his stead, but he wasn't exactly unhappy when Jerec instead attacked again. Jerec nearly slid across the floor, his lightsaber stabbing out in a series of jabs accompanied by tiny slashes. With the Force directing him even more than it would another Jedi thanks to his Miralukan heritage, he could see several openings now in Kit's defense and aimed to exploit them.

But Kit defended against the attack by stepping back just as rapidly as his opponent advanced, giving ground to the jabs at first, then riposting violently at the short jabs randomly, succeeding in knocking Jerec off center and sending him stepping backwards in disarray, unable to deal with the wild maneuvers of the Nautolan. A subtle Force Grab of his legs forced Jerec into the air, his Precognition having seen it coming, but that left Jerec open for one of Shi Cho's habitual wild blows. He blocked it, interposing his Lightsaber between his body and Kit's green blade, his own darker green blade thrumming and nearly being pushed back into his body. But he redirected the impetus of Kit's blow enough to twist around in midair, pushing himself back and away.

Landing in the doorway to the control room, Jerec used the Force to rip the reinforced door off its hinges, sending it flashing towards Kit, edge first. As Kit cut it in two, Jerec lashed out with a concentrated Force pulse, an almost visible red ball of condensed kinetic energy. But Kit saw it coming and twisted, bringing half of the cut door down and around to use as a shield.

Kit leaped over this makeshift shield lightsaber flashing, only to find that Jerec was waiting for him. Again his lightsaber thrust forward, and it was all that Kit could do to get out of the way. Though he had gone through the toughness training on Kashyyyk, he was in no hurry to see if it could stand up to a thrust like that, or even any lightsaber strike if he could help it.

The thrust still seared along his side, doing no appreciable damage except to his shirt. This seemed to astonish Jerec, but not enough that he was unable to dodge Kit's return blow. He pushed himself forward and to the side to avoid it, bouncing off the wall as Kit had earlier, rolling back and away into the corridor.

There Jerec paused, trying to hold the doorway against Kit, using the shortened space against Kit's Shi Cho style. While a lightsaber could, of course, cut through the walls of the installation they were in, doing so did slow Kit's attacks by an appreciable margin, and it lent itself to Jerec's more controlled Makashi. A desperate Force Push from Kit pushed him back, but a thrust still got through, searing into Kit's upper arm as he desperately interposed it between the tip of Jerec's lightsaber and his chest.

Kit had not studied the toughness training nearly as much as Shaak Ti had, or even Dooku. Shaak Ti had taken the toughness training so far that her body acted almost like super-dense, hardened steel or even diamond. It was only at that high a level that she would have been able to stop a lightsaber blow with her body alone. While Kit's body had proven enough to stop sudden, sharp cracks of plasma energy like that from a blaster, he wasn't near that level yet. The thrust swiftly burned through his arm, severing it just above the elbow. But his arm had halted the thrust for just long enough, halting the thrust's forward momentum.

But Kit had known that the instant Jerec had taken control of the doorway he wouldn't be able to get out of this fight unscathed. So he was prepared for when Jerec's blow was stopped momentarily by his arm and had prepared himself for the pain. Jerec hadn't seen the probability of his blade being stopped in the Force and so was completely unprepared for when Kit's blade came around in a short arc, cutting through his body right below his armpits, in one side and out the other. Jerec was dead before his upper body hit the ground.

Kit stared down at the body of his opponent, shaking his head, his normal wry smile coming back to his face once more despite the pain he was still feeling from his arm. "I find it rather ironic that you, who prided himself on searching out knowledge, missed the new training being offered on Kashyyyk and its implications. That is poetic justice at its finest."

Flicking his lightsaber blade out of the former Jedi Master, Kit stepped over the body as it fell, shaking his head. He had hoped to take the man alive, but the man's tactics and use of the environment had made that impossible. _My personal style is still weak against Makashi used appropriately. I need to learn from this experience._

Opening up his com, he called Fay, telling her that Jerec was dead and he was heading outside to join the defense. She directed him via the Force to where the land type droids were trying to land, implanting a map of the area in his mind with a large, glowing X marking the spot. _"And don't worry, you won't be fighting for long. We have friends on their way,"_ she said, her voice sounding in his head like a bell.

Kit arrived at the landing site as the Trade Federation droids were forming up, two companies of them blasting away at a few of the locals who had taken up defensive positions around the area, trying to contain the droids with their local slug throwers. Those weapons were more dangerous than most of that breed that Kit had seen before, but there weren't enough of the locals, and the fire of the droids pushed them back with losses as more droids came out from the troop ships. They meant to spread throughout the small town around the Magisters' palace, and Kit realized it was a little too late to stop them from doing so. He couldn't be everywhere, and there were far more ways they could break out than just coming straight at Kit. _Still, I will do what I can._

He charged forward, leaping up onto a rooftop and then down into a group of the droids that had been about to attack a few of the locals who had been running for cover. His lightsaber flashed all around, cutting the droids in twain, then coming up and around to block several blaster bolts coming from further down the street.

The droids now moving towards Kit were bigger, tougher looking, and made of grey painted metal rather than tan, with heavier guns, no heads to speak of, and apparently better computational power. Kit supposed this because rather than simply marching towards him and firing in a line, these were moving by fire and maneuver. Two of them took him under fire while the others spread out into buildings all around them to use as cover. They also hit a distance of about a hundred yards away and kept there, knowing not to close with a Jedi.

More droids converged on his position, and Kit found himself with his back against a wall which looked like it had been extruded from a tree. His lightsaber flashed as he desperately blocked as many of the blaster bolts as he could. Some of them got through and stung like all blazes, but thanks to the toughness training he was able to stand it. None of the blasters firing at him contained enough initial punch to break his toughness training, and blasters didn't fire continuous beams like a Jedi lightsaber essentially was.

He was amused to overhear a few of the regular combat droids muttering very audibly that his surviving those hits did not compute. "How is he still standing? Are not sentients supposed to die from blaster fire!" shouted one of them to the others.

"Silence, just keep firing," said one of the other droids, this one marked by a slash of red paint across his chest from one shoulder down to his other side. "Whatever it is, we can eventually overcome it. Bring up the heavy weapons!"

"Roger, Roger!"

However, Kit had been able to halt their advance long enough for help to arrive. He looked up as something niggled at his Force senses for a second and saw two forms dropping down from on high.

Ranma, his skin feeling rather hot from plummeting so far through atmosphere, crashed down through the trees that were everywhere around the small community, using them to slow his descent with the skill of an Aerial Style Grandmaster. But he was still going at a noticeable speed when he slammed down on top of a droid feet first, shattering it like it had just been hit by an artillery round.

Behind him HK touched down much more lightly on a rooftop to Kit's right, and he began to use all of his blasters on a few troops of the droids.

Hopping out of the wreckage of his first victim, Ranma lashed out at two more before they could dodge, their large bodies hampering their quick movement. He first noticed that these droids were much better armed and armored than the others he had seen before this, though not up to HK's level.

After that Ranma took a brief second to look around at the local environment. It reminded him strongly of Kashyyyk, only not quite, because there were visible metal parts and concrete bits and pieces to the various buildings here rather than all of them being made of wood, and the jungle itself wasn't nearly as built up as on Kashyyyk. There was also definitely more variety in the type of trees here than on Kashyyyk.

These observations were simply a side-note, however, as Ranma quickly launched himself forward toward a pack of the same larger, tougher looking droids as they turned in his direction. Their blasters also hit with more impetus and actually stung slightly, despite Ranma's toughness training.

But they didn't stop Ranma from closing the distance, his light pike suddenly appearing in his hand, pulled from his ki space. With it he hacked and slashed his way through to within shouting distance of the familiar green and multi-tentacled face he'd seen moments ago as he had hit the treetops.

With the number of trees and buildings in the way, it was a few minutes before Ranma was able to see Kit again. At the same time, HK was having fun, slaughtering the Trade Federation droids left and right. "Exalted shout: Die, die! Die, you pathetic excuses for combat platforms! Feel the power of a true assassin droid!"

Soon, however, Ranma was once more able to see Kit, from about a block away, admittedly. He stared, seeing Kit's missing arm for a moment. But he didn't comment on it directly. That wasn't his way, and their friendship wasn't built on emotional shit like that. Instead he quipped, "Hey Kit, need a hand?"

Kit rolled his eyes, his lightsaber still flashing this way and that as he returned the droids' blaster bolts back to their point of origin. "I will smack you upside the head later for that one."

"Meh, hopes in one hand, shit in the other…" Ranma replied with a laugh.

"Guh. That joke was physically painful. How many of those do you ha…KRIF!" he shouted, interrupting himself.

But Ranma still took the opening. "Oh, I've got at least another handful!"

"Bemused tone: Master, while it is always pleasant to see you taunting your fellow meatbags even those who are supposedly your allies, I feel like I need to bring something to your attention," HK said, alighting on a nearby roof, his shoulder cannon blazing away as fast as he could fire, his head tracking like a gun turret. "The droids are falling back, attempting to break to the northeast. Our counterstrike has stalled them significantly, and the droid in charge is dead: I sniped it from range. Without that only slightly more capable droid to guide them, the droids are forced to rely on core tactical programming."

"And that is?" Ranma asked, grunting as he punted a droid so hard the droid's central body came apart, leaving the legs sticking straight up where it had been standing.

"Scornful response: They will attempt to find an open area to dig in and await reinforcements." HK paused, taking a thermal detonator from a pouch at his side and lobbing it through a window opposite his current position, blowing a strong point into pieces as he did. "Analytical tone: Something which is very doubtful they will actually find on this planet."

"Your homicidal droid, who, I will point out, is better at snark than you, is correct," Kit said. "There is no chance of the droids finding an open area on this planet like that. Unless they can last to the northern pole: it's all ice up there, but it'll be an open area. But they could get there only if we let them."

Ranma looked affronted at the idea of HK being better at comedy than him, while HK looked insufferably smug somehow for someone who couldn't change his facial expressions. He set that aside for now instead to concentrate on the fight. "Yeah, let's not let them do that."

 **OOOOOOO**

With a few of Sekot's starfighters running interference, Shaak was able to maneuver the _Wild Light_ back into the main battle, launching her few remaining proton torpedoes at one of the remaining cruisers. The proton torpedoes hammered into its shielding, which failed. Her ion cannon flashed out, and suddenly Tarkin's loyalists were down to three battered ships and the Captor, which was still drifting.

No longer in communication with Tarkin, communications like everything else on the Captor no long working, the other ships had to think for themselves. Two of them immediately struck their colors, their shields powering down and their weapons powered off as their captain shouted that they surrendered. The other tried to turn away, racing towards the outer edge of the planet's gravity well.

However, his former comrades were not willing to just let him run and cut the angle on him, raking him with fire. The fleeing cruiser's shields went down, and hits shattered its engines in quick order, sending it tumbling through space until the two cruisers used their tractor beams to bring it to a halt.

This dogfights were still occurring, but Zonama Sekot's starfighters were now proving themselves superior to the Vultures. Slowly the battle was drawing to a close. "Tune, get me a reading on that Captor. Does it have any weapons left?"

"Negative, mistress. Our sensors cannot detect any weapons online. Many of them are still intact, but the ship's power grid is offline and shows significant damage from the ion guns. And the Captor's engines have been smashed," Tune reported. "It is barely able to maintain orbit."

"Excellent," Shaak said, grimly satisfied. She wanted to capture Tarkin and ask him some very pointed questions about all of this. With that in mind, Shaak maneuvered the _Wild Light_ towards the Captor, whose name she had yet to bother learning. The other ship was large enough to allow the _Wild Light_ to dock inside it, so that was what she maneuvered to do.

She was nearly in position to enter when the Force screamed a warning at her, and she pushed the ship's control stick down, moving out of the thick, forward facing claws of the TF cruiser. A second later Tune whooped in warning as several dozen turbolaser batteries came online again, locking on the Wild Light. "So much for that ship being dead!"

Even as the two allied cruisers turned abruptly and began to move back towards the Captor, and numerous Sekotan starfighters dove once more for the ship, the turbolasers fired. But Shaak's wild move had thrown off the attack, and only two turbolasers hit the _Wild Light_. But as damaged as the ship already was, that was enough. Shaak heard a screeching of shattered metal ,and Tune whimpered, "We just lost the entire aft section!"

"Pour as much power into the repulsors as you can!" Shaak ordered. The repulsors were all each a separate system, so the ship might well be able to still power them despite losing the engines. The ship's numerous generators had been spread out through the hull, so she hoped one of them at least was still working.

With the repulsors, Shaak was just barely able to push the ship upwards in space towards the Captor's open hanger bay, which had been frozen open by their previous ion cannon assault. The shattered remains of the Wild Light scrapped along the entrance. An instant later the repulsors cut out, the final generator having just blown up, sending the ship tumbling deeper into the hanger bay.

Closing her eyes, Shaak reached out with the Force, grabbing the ship, and slowly stopping its uncoordinated tumble. With that done, Shaak unlatched, allowing her body to float in the center of the cockpit. "Tune, does the Captor have any atmosphere any longer?"

"Negative, mistress. None that I can detect. The ship's power has just cut out once more thanks to the attacks of our allies."

"The hard way, then," Shaak replied with a grimace. With that she pulled on her space suit and then exited the ship, pulling Tune out with her via the Force for a moment. When Tune had used magnets in his legs to clamp onto the surface of the bay, she moved on, ordering him to stay hidden until she told him it was safe.

After cutting through the inner door, she passed through the interior of the ship, passing through numerous interior bulkheads. It was obvious that this ship had been modified for combat over mercantile pursuits in the near past.

Shaak didn't run into any resistance at first, the droids that made up the majority of the crew having been deactivated when the ship had lost most of its generators. But about halfway to where she felt the majority of the living beings aboard the ship were, she came under fire from people in similar suits to her own. Her boots firmly on the ground via their magnets, Shaak couldn't move even if she had wanted to, but she had no problem using her lightsaber to redirect the blaster bolts back to their point of origin. She didn't use any Force powers other than Precognition just yet, wishing to conserve her energies, just in case.

The deaths of their fellows didn't stop the rest from pushing forward, but then suddenly, the remaining troopers raised hands to their helmets and then held up their hands, their weapons floating next to them. Seeing a chance, Shaak reached out with the Force, pulling the weapons she could see and several more hidden among the crewmen towards her, hurling them behind her. While she was doing that, Shaak had also been looking for the crew's local radio frequency. Eventually she found it. "I welcome your surrender, gentlemen. Enough people have died today, but I must ask, what caused you to give up?

In reply one of the people facing her stepped forward, his hands still up in the air. "We were told we were holding you back until the Admiral could call in more help, Jedi." There was no respect in his voice, only weary resignation. "Admiral Tarkin left the bridge in order to use the ship's Hypercom. But just now, the bridge crew heard the sound of a blaster. One of them checked on him, and, and the Admiral killed himself, ma'am. I guess the shame of, well, flouting Republic law like this and being caught at it was too much for his highborn pride to take."

Her face hidden within her own helmet, Shaak let a scowl cross her face as she slowly shook her head. _Somehow, I doubt that. Our opponent both has a long arm and a penchant for doing away with his tools if they can no longer serve his purpose it seems._

 **OOOOOOO**

Sidious was furious yet also thankful that Tarkin's father had contacted him about his son's venture. Leaning back in his throne, his head throbbing and blood pouring from his eyes and nose from his exertions, Sidious signaled a droid to bring him a pain killer. Reaching through the Force that far away was possible thanks to the Veil hiding his presence when he used it, but at that distance it took even more out of him than planting the vision which had led the Chaotic Locus into the trap into Plo Koon's head. Still, it had to be done.

Though none of his pawns knew who he personally was, Tarkin knew enough to have truly hindered Sidious's plans if he had been captured alive, forcing Sidious to liquidate several of his better and more well-connected pawns, most particularly in the Banking Clan. Even if they wouldn't resort to torture, the Jedi could have pulled out a lot of what he knew from the man just by questioning him. _Especially with that cursed Fay on hand there._ That woman's perception was beyond that of even Yoda, making Sidious thankful she had so little use for Coruscant.

 _Jerec's loss is nothing important, though I would have preferred he lived long enough to confirm Vergere's death._ Sidious had felt the Dark Jedi's death while he had been reaching out to snuff out Tarkin's life. _Still, he was an ambitious fool who thought knowledge was more important than anything else, certainly loyalty. He is a weapon that would have turned in my hand eventually. Still, it is a blow to my spying within the Order._

Tarkin, on the other hand had been an intriguing prospect, one that Sidious had made use of before during the time when he had been grooming Gunray to be his tool within the Trade Federation, one who had a lot of his own connections to both the military and defense contractors. _But the man overreached himself acting on his own in such a manner. Yes, the live ships would be a magnificent find, but not to that extent. Wilhuff proved himself quite flawed in this, scrambling for a bigger piece of the pie rather than being content with what he had._

That would have forced Sidious to chastise him (thrice removed, but Tarkin would have been left in no doubt as to his displeasure) even if he had succeeded. But having lost? That had forced Sidious to reach through the Force to kill the fool. _I am running low on mid-level people I can trust, but secrecy is still paramount._

Shaking his head, Sidious turned away from that problem. He had kill teams already on hand on Eriadu, of course, like many others. Tarkin's father would die, seemingly of a heart attack, after news of his son's death and betrayal of the Republic reached him. Sidious would wait for a time and then contact a few of the other family members and their rivals on the planet, who would serve just as well to control that important trade hub.

For now, however, he had to concentrate on other things. There were several votes going on in the Senate that he wished to manipulate as subtly as he could. And there were a few reports from the Core World of Axum that Pestage had flagged for him. Reading through them, he nodded slowly. _It seems as if I have a new job for Komari Vosa..._

 **OOOOOOO**

"Welcome to Zonama Sekot," Master Fay said, holding out a hand to Master Shaak Ti.

Shaak couldn't help but notice that Fay looked tired and rather drawn; the strain of directing the battle with Sekot had taken it out of her. But she still looked lively enough. And thanks to Kit she was still alive, a fact Fay acknowledged as she led Shaak towards where Ranma and Kit were still helping the locals clean up the droid bodies.

"He saved my life. I could sense the moment when Jerec decided to act, but I had not before that realized he had truly fallen to the Dark Side as much as he had to truly strike down a fellow Jedi. It just goes to show that anyone can be fooled. The Order was right to send Kit with me."

"I wish we could have taken either of them alive," Shaak said sadly.

"Why?" Master Fay asked. She and Kit had been out of contact with the Order, so despite the fact that Fay would certainly have been one of the Masters who could've been brought into the secret without any fear of betraying it she had no idea that the Order knew the Sith were still out there.

After Shaak explained, Fay sighed, shaking her head as they came within sight of Kit and Ranma. "The Sith and the Jedi. Two sides of the same coin, it was once said, like Dark and Light. One side will always return to overturn the other, an endless cycle. I had hoped the New Sith Wars, which were four hundred years before my time, had seen the end of that cycle. It is a pity it did not."

In front of the two of them, Kit was using the Force to levitate several dozen droid corpses into the air, tossing them towards a recycler machine that the locals brought out, which would take them apart and melt them down. Waste not, want not was a way of life for the species that made Zonama their home. Ranma, on the other hand, was simply lifting them up and tossing them like rags, and HK was making condescending remarks as he did the same, his metal arm making a point of crushing the head of every droid he lifted up.

Ranma also, Shaak noticed, looked a little bemused as he looked around. What senses he had were telling Ranma the same thing Shaak's own Force senses were: that this planet was very, very different from anywhere else they had been. Ranma, in fact, was twisting this way and that, staring around him as if he was hearing a voice just on the edge of perception, which fit well enough with what Shaak had been told of Sekot.

Both men looked up as Fay and Shaak came near, moving toward them. Fay filled Kit in on what they had been discussing, while Shaak and Ranma hugged wordlessly. Ranma had heard of Shaak's close call and the destruction of their ship. As they hugged, however, Shaak told Ranma what Fay had told her of Sekot, causing his eyes to widen. Once Shaak finished speaking, however, Fay continued. "And yet, Jerec's involvement here tells us one thing."

"Which is?" Shaak asked, though she well knew.

"The enemy might well be within the Order itself," Fay replied.

For a moment the three Jedi were silent, wondering about that as they continued to watch the locals start to rebuild and clear away the debris of the battle. It came as no surprise to the others that it was Ranma who broke the introspective silence, shaking his head. "That's nice and all, and I'll agree that we should probably get in touch with the Order as quickly as possible about that possibility. But I think we need to talk about something more important right now: recompense for my ship! I don't blame you for pretty much giving it the coup de grâce, Shaak, but if we don't have a ship, we're stuck here."

Master Fay began to laugh, and Kit quickly joined her, shaking his head as Shaak and Ranma looked at them in puzzlement. "I think we can do something about that," Fay finally replied, still laughing.

 **End Chapter**

* * *

And another one bites the dust, LOL. No Death Star for you, Tarkin, oh no.

Sidious is still slowly being overwhelmed, but now has more hands to help him juggle even though he lost both a ball and a hand here, LOL. The Jedi are gathering their own allies, and the Republic is continuing to teeter on, both through its own ineptitude and thanks to Sidious's machinations.

Zonama Sekot: I had been meaning all along to bring in the living planet in one of my two SW stories. Given the Lucrehulk Harry has, I felt it would be better to upgrade Ranma's ride. Especially given the fact that the _Wild Light_ was never meant for more than its two occupants. This also gives the Jedi a major force multiplier.

As for Sekot himself: I wanted to try and paint his personality by showing the way others reacted to him. In the next chapter, he and Ranma will 'meet' in person, and then I'll give him a voice for the first time.


End file.
